BARRING any last minute change, the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Lagos State, Dr. Olajide Adeniran, popularly known as Jandor, may pick Nollywood actress, Funke Akindele, as his running mate. Vanguard was told by a reliable source that Jandor settled for Funke Akindele after unveiling her to party chieftains at a meeting held in Lagos. A top PDP leader, who spoke to Vanguard in confidence, said Jandor refused the choice of Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour to be his running mate. The source said: “He (Jandor) introduced her before elders of the party and local government chairman this week. “You know, this thing has limitation because of the new Electoral Act (amended) which says the candidate has the right to choose his running mate, but he must consult with leaders and elders of the party. “Since he refused the choice of Rhodes-Vivour, there is nothing we can do about it. He has since settled for Funke Akindele. “I have never heard of her, but she was presented before the elders of the party. I understand she is a lawyer and an actress. “The candidate will announce the choice of Funke Akindele soon.” Recall that the PDP chairmen of the 20 local governments in the state had endorsed Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour as the deputy governorship candidate. “The Chairmen noted that Rhodes-Vivour would bring his wealth of knowledge and expertise to bear in effectively governing Lagos, especially given several years of misgovernance by the All Progressives Congress, APC.” The PDP council Chairmen said in a signed letter that “as the Chairmen and Managers of our great Party, the PDP in Lagos State, we consider it to be well within our rights and obligations to play a major – nay, a leading – role in guiding our Party in the choice of its flagbearers for elective positions at various levels in the state as we begin the countdown to the 2023 general elections.” The Chairmen further noted that several electoral benefits and criteria were considered before their endorsement. Some of the criteria listed were “that the deputy governorship candidate should be a young person who can also be relied upon in terms of galvanizing electoral value across the length and breadth of the state.” The Chairmen stated that “we hereby endorse Architect Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour (fondly known as GRV among his teeming admirers), as the absolute best option among those that have indicated their interest in becoming the deputy-governorship candidate of our great Party in the 2023 polls.”

  Outgoing Resident Electoral Commissioner in Imo State, Prof. Francis Chukwuemeka Ezeonu, has said that Imo state has the least number of registrants in the ongoing voters registration exercise. Ezeonu will be bowing out as Imo REC. He is one of 20 resident electoral commissioners whose tenure would end by August. Speaking at a valedictory news briefing in Owerri, the state capital, Ezeonu said though Imo still parades the least number of newly registered voters, there has been tremendous improvement in turnout of registrants in the State. According to him in the first two quarters of the exercise which lasted from June to December 2021, the State registered a total of 16,511 out of which 7,145 (43.3%) were found to be invalid, meaning that they had registered previously (sometime between 2011 and 2018), leaving with a balance of 9,366 valid registration. He said, “The last data published on 27th June show that the total number of registrants in the State is now 97,371. This figure is just for new registrants alone and excludes those who have applied for review, transfer of polling units or replacement of Permanent Voters Card (PVC).” He appealed to those who have registered before not to do so again, adding that contrary to rumours, the PVC does not expire. “If you have lost your PVC, be honest enough to say so rather than attempting a fresh registration as that will be fruitless.:” He also reminded the electorates that it is an electoral offence to attempt multiple registration. Ezeonu, who lauded the staff of the commission and the media for the cooperation rendered to him, asked them to give the sane cooperation to his successor.

  The crisis in the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may not come to an end soon as Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, is insisting on immediate resignation of the National Chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu and a stop to the plot to undermine his close allies like the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom; former Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose and others.   Governor Wike was said to have fumed yesterday’s evening when information reached him that Senator Ayu was allegedly planning to use his position as national chairman to undermine the likes of Fayose, Ortom and others in their various States. The governor is also said to be insisting that Senator Ayu must resign in line with what he said was agreed upon before he (Ayu) was made the national chairman. A close ally of the Rivers State Governor told Vanguard that even though the governor is not against dialogue, he will not have any one-on-one meetingç with the PDP Presidential Candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. The Governor’s ally, who preferred anonymity confirmed to Vanguard that Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, Governor Ortom, Fayose, former Governor of Gombe, Ibrahim Dankwambo and former Governor of Cross River, Donald Duke have been named as members of Governor Wike’s strategy team. “The strategy team will be responsible for holding talks with Atiku and his men. “Also, Governor is insisting that Ayu must step down from his position as national chairman since the party has picked its presidential candidate from the North. “Wike is of the opinion that the North cannot have both the presidential candidate of the PDP and national chairman at the same time. “He is also watching events in some State chapters of the party, especially where his allies are involved. He told some of his men yesterday that should anything be done to undermine the interest of his allies because of their support for him, even his team will no longer be available for any peace talks. “For instance, look at what they did Ekiti during the governorship election. Look at how those at Wadata abandoned the party in Ekiti just because of Fayose’s support for Governor Wike. He (Wike) is has said that he will no longer sit back and allow any of his allies to be undermined under any guise,” he said.

  The Yoruba community in the northern states, under the aegies of the Northern Yoruba Agenda for Tinubu (NOYAT), has disclosed that the Governor of Kaduna state, Nasir El-Rufa’i is the best choice as the running mate of Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The group, in a statement jointly signed by the Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of the group, Abdullahi Muhammed Jika and the National Coordinator of the group, Hon. AbdulRasheed Adekeye, said that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), while weighing options for the position of the Vice President, should consider El-Rufai looking at his performance in Kaduna state. According to group, El-Rufa’i, haven proven himself as Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) under the government of former president Olusegun Obasanjo and also as the present governor of Kaduna state ,is a confirmation of his capacity and abundant political experience as a man who knows the needs of the people. ” It is obvious that the best match to the APC presidential flagbearer, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is El-Rufa’i , a combination that can lead the country to an enviable position in the global scene,” they said. The group explained that Tinubu being an experienced accountant and a political guru deserves a better running mate like the governor of Kaduna state. According to the group, the infrastructural develoment in Kaduna state in recent times has scored Governor El-rufai high.