The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar on Thursday, urged voters in Osun state to protect their votes to curb the ruling party from stealing their votes again. Atiku spoke in Osogbo while canvassing votes for the PDP governorship candidate in the state, Senator Ademola Adeleke, at the party’s mega rally at the party secretariat. “This is a PDP state. Don’t let them steal your votes this time. They have been rigging election here since 12 years ago. In 2010 they rigged through the court, in 2018 they rig through the ballot. “Don’t allow them steal this time around. Make sure you votes and defend your votes, if you allow them, you will go back to darkness”, he said. Details later….

  The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it is not its job to prevent vote-buying during an election. INEC’s Resident Electoral Commissioner in Osun State, Prof Abdulganiy Raji, stated this while speaking on Channels Television’s Daily Sunrise on Thursday morning. Raji was speaking about the menace of vote-buying ahead of the Saturday governorship election in Osun State. Vote-buying has become one of the greatest challenges during elections in Nigeria as the last month’s governorship poll in Ekiti State was marred with massive buying and selling of votes. On Wednesday, the Head of Secretariat, National Peace Committee, Rev. Fr. Atta Barkindo, expressed concerns over vote-buying during the country’s elections. The cleric said the electorate in Osun were already waiting to sell votes during the election, lamenting that poverty in the land was glaring. But while speaking on Thursday, Prof. Raji said, “As far as vote-buying is concerned, let me tell you that INEC can not prevent vote-buying. We can only make efforts to ensure that people are discouraged from doing it through voter education and sensitisation which we have been doing extensively. “Vote-buying and selling is a criminal offence and INEC is not a security agency that can actually make arrests. We can only inform the security agents when it [vote-buying] is taking place. Then, they (the perpetrators) will be arrested and prosecution will take place where we will be joined. “I am always surprised when people are talking about vote-buying and selling and they expect INEC to be able to stop it, an act that has nothing to do with the mandate of the management of an election. “The people that are involved in vote-buying and selling are actually those that should be addressed.” He, however, said INEC would work with other critical stakeholders to curb the menace of vote-buying in Nigeria’s elections. Analysts said the placement of the voting cubicles during the Ekiti State Governorship election encouraged vote-buying but the Osun State REC said INEC had made a new design for the cubicles as part of efforts to discourage election rigging. He also disclosed that voters who refused to fold their ballot papers after thumb printing should be arrested by security agents.

  Former finance minister Rishi Sunak came out on top in the latest round of voting Thursday by Conservative MPs to decide Britain’s next prime minister, followed by bookmaker favourite Penny Mordaunt. Mordaunt earlier came under blistering attack after she surged in the race to succeed Boris Johnson, as another long-shot candidate for leader was eliminated. The little-known Mordaunt, a committed Brexiteer who was briefly Britain’s first woman defence secretary before she was demoted to less senior roles, has emerged as the darling of Tory grassroots members. In the second round of voting by Conservative MPs, the Royal Navy reservist again came a strong second with 83 votes, behind former finance minister Sunak with 101. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss — the favoured candidate of Johnson loyalists — was third with 64, after formally launching her campaign with vows of tax cuts and a smaller state. Promising “an aspiration nation”, Truss said she would be ready “from day one” to fix the enfeebled UK economy and take on Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine. Attorney General Suella Braverman was eliminated from the race after coming last, with the five remaining candidates proceeding to the next round of voting by Tory MPs on Monday. Polls point to Mordaunt beating Sunak, Truss and the others comfortably, once the party members decide between the final two candidates in the coming weeks. But Mordaunt was savaged by her former boss in the Brexit ministry, David Frost, who called her unfit for office. And she is barely known nationally. A poll of more than 2,200 adults by Savanta ComRes said only 11 percent could identify Mordaunt from her photograph, and only 16 percent of Conservative voters. Two respondents thought she was the singer Adele. Former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt, after his elimination on Wednesday, threw his support behind Sunak, whose resignation from the cabinet last week helped spark a ministerial revolt against Johnson after months of scandal. Drawing a pointed contrast to Johnson, Hunt said the former chancellor of the exchequer was “one of the most decent, straight people with the highest standards of integrity” in politics. – Character not wealth –Rishi But the wealthy Sunak faces questions about his family’s tax affairs and his prior decision to retain US residency. And he is opposed to immediate tax cuts to confront a post-pandemic cost-of-living crisis, stressing the need instead for fiscal responsibility. “I don’t judge people by their bank accounts, I judge them by their character,” Sunak told BBC radio. “And I think people can judge me by my actions over the past couple of years,” he said, pointing to the economic support he designed as chancellor during the pandemic. Mordaunt, a junior trade minister who is relatively untainted by the scandals of Johnson’s premiership, has come up the middle between Truss and Sunak with a campaign strong on patriotic themes. But the Daily Mail took aim at her stance on transgender people, one of Britain’s “culture war” debates that has energised the party’s right-wing. Mordaunt was “telling lies” after previously supporting transgender women in the role of equalities minister, only to take a harder line at her campaign launch this week, the newspaper quoted a Truss ally as saying. – ‘Grave reservations’ – Mordaunt’s political enemies have also jibed at “Part-time Penny”, alleging she has not taken her government roles seriously. That line of attack was given new impetus from a dramatic intervention by Frost, who resigned as Brexit minister last year. Based on their time working together, “I’m afraid I would have grave reservations” about her entering 10 Downing Street, Frost told TalkTV, revealing that at his request, Johnson had removed her from their department. “I’m sorry to say this that I felt she did not master the detail that was necessary in the negotiations (with Brussels, over Northern Ireland) last year,” he said. “She wouldn’t always deliver tough messages to the European Union when that was necessary, and I’m afraid she wasn’t sort of fully accountable, she wasn’t always visible. Sometimes I didn’t even know where she was.” Mordaunt supporters rejected the portrayal, while Downing Street refused to comment. Several television debates between the remaining candidates loom, with the first Friday night, ahead of weeks of nationwide hustings in front of Tory members. The eventual winner is set to be announced on September 5.

  Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), says he is open to meeting with Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers state. Abubakar said this on Thursday while fielding questions from journalists in Osogbo, Osun state capital. When asked if the party is divided into factions, Abubakar said: “It is a social media drama. There is nothing like a Wike camp or Atiku camp. There is one PDP family.” Atiku was also asked if there is a plan to meet with Wike for reconciliation, and he responded by saying: “Why not? I am open to that.”   The former vice-president added that the party will surmount its present challenges. “Some people get angry when things don’t go their way and so on and so forth. We will overcome that. I have every belief that we are going to do that,” he said. The opposition party has been embroiled in rancour since Abubakar named Ifeanyi Okowa, governor of Delta state, as his running mate for the 2023 presidential election.   Some party stakeholders, including Samuel Ortom, governor of Benue, had expressed concerns over Atiku’s decision to overlook Wike, who was recommended for the position by the party’s national working committee (NWC). Wike placed second in the party’s presidential primary election which took place in May. A few days ago, Abubakar had said actions are being taken to address the grievances of party members. “We are taking action to address the feelings of all party members,” the former vice-president had said.   “The unity in our community is my priority. Our resolve to unify Nigeria starts in our party and moves to the community, then on to society.”

  VICE President Yemi Osinbajo, on Thursday, distanced himself from a memo purported to have originated from his office to President Muhammadu Buhari, seeking permission to resign his membership of the All Progressives Congress, APC. A memo dated June 24, 2022 with reference number SH/VP/605/2./0 and sighted by our correspondent, listed, among others, family pressure, his (Osinbajo) continuous participation in active and partisan politics and membership of the APC as the reasons for his decision. However, when contacted to confirm the authenticity of the said memo, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Office of the Vice President, Mr. Laolu Akande, described it as fake. He said the language of the author of the memo was not that of Vice President Osinbajo, pointing out that his boss would not write a memo so full of errors. According to him, “Where do you people even get these things from? Who gave it to you? Anyway, for the avoidance of doubt, the memo is fake. VP didn’t write any such thing.” The memo with the heading, “Permission to Resign from APC”, and purportedly signed by Vice President Osinbajo, is reproduced verbatim: “I have the honour to inform you that for some time now, I have been having series of meetings and pressure from my immediate family members on some matters. “One of the issues borders on my continuous participation on active and partisan politics, and by extension, my continuous membership of our party, the All Progressives Congress, APC. “As a father and great member, whom without you, I would not be where I am today, regrettably, I write to seek for your permission to resign my membership of the All Progressives Congress, APC. “However, if the timing of this plan is not convenience or acceptable by Your Excellency, I will surely abide by your decision and advice, which I will consider to be the final. “Please accept the assurances of my highest regards and loyalty.”

  Ex-Governor of Edo State and former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, has dismissed the controversy over the choice of a Muslim running mate by the APC presidential candidate, Ahmed Bola Tinubu. Oshiomhole said it is high time the country did away with primordial sentiments such as religion and ethnicity, and concentrate on competence and courage of candidates to save the country. Speaking on TVC on Thursday, the former governor expressed satisfaction with the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC, while also commending Tinubu for making that decision. Tinubu had chosen former Governor of Borno State, Senator Kashim Shettima as his running mate. He said, “The more opposition party joined the Muslim-Muslim debate, the more I’m satisfied that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s decision is right. “We need courage. We have struggled to balance this religious issues in recent years. Tinubu’s decision shows that he will take bold step when elected. “If the number of churches and mosques we have built over the years is equal to number of factories, we won’t be at this poverty level in the country.” Oshiomhole added that he was also satisfied with the choice of Shettima due to his capacity and some of his achievements. He said, “We can’t continue with business as usual. I’m satisfied with the quality of Shettima. He is well-read and well-exposed. He is well awarded both home and abroad. “We should spend time interrogating the personality, competence of Tinubu’s nominee. Soon, pagans will organise themselves to say otherwise too.” He further described the Tinubu/Shettima ticket as a “balanced ticket” for the party, stating that Tinubu’s track record and Shettima’s impressive qualities would translate to defeat for the opposition party. “It is a balanced ticket; balanced ticket in terms of competence, and their antecedents. The opposition party are threatened by this bold decision because they are sensing defeat.” The former APC national chairman dismissed the concerns over “islamization agenda” with the Muslim-Muslim ticket, saying that Tinubu couldn’t even islamize his own family. “What are the fears of people making this comment? They are saying there are plans to islamise Nigerians. The candidate himself (Tinubu), has he islamised his own family members? His wife is a Christian and a pastor. “Our presidential candidate is a happily married man. He has demonstrated religious tolerance by the fact that his own wife is practising her own faith. How can a man who allowed freedom of worship in his home Islamise the country?” Oshimohole also spoke on the lingering ASUU strike, stating that issues as such should have dominated the political commentary in the country. He added, “Despite a Muslim president and a Christian vice president, it hasn’t translated to anything. “And right now, I think what should feature most in our political commentary is: what is the problem between ASUU and the federal government? Even as a former Labour leader, I am not sure I know all the detail. “I can imagine the pains parents are going through. So, we don’t discuss these issues and we are discussing religion. “Okay, as we speak, we have a balanced ticket (Muslim-Christian), where has it translated to?”