Sahara Reporters Latest News Monday 25th February 2019

Sahara Reporters Latest News Monday 25th February 2019

Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 25/02/19

target=_blank>BREAKING: ‘Small Alhaji’, 35-Year-Old SDP Candidate, Declared Winner Of Ondo Reps Seat

Tajudeen Adeyemi Adefisoye, the House of Representatives candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), has won the Idanre/Ifedore Federal Constituency seat of the National Assembly election in Ondo State.
Adefisoye, popularly known as ‘Small Alhaji’, was declared the winner of the poll by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
He polled 16,186 votes to beat his closest rival, Kayode Akinmade of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the keenly contested election.
Akinmade, a former Commissioner under the immediate past government of Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, polled a total number of 14,191 votes to come second in the poll.
Professor V.A. Bello, the INEC Returning Officer for the federal constituency, announced the election result at the collation centre in Owena on Sunday.
According to Bello, having satisfied the INEC rule of having the highest votes at the election, Adefisoye was declared the winner.
“The SDP candidate, having satisfied the INEC rule of having the highest votes of 16,186 against his closest rival of the PDP who had 14,191 votes, is hereby declared winner of the election,” he said.
Speaking on his victory, Adefisoye said the successes recorded in the weekend election was due to the unrelenting effort of his supporters who came out in their large numbers to exercise their franchise for him.
“It brings me boundless joy to know that our party, the Social Democratic Party (SDP), attained victory not only in Idanre my very local government, but also won handsomely in Ifedore local government.
“There was no way this victory could have been possible without the relentless and uncompromising commitment of our supporters.
“I say a big thank you from my heart for not only ensuring our victory at the polls, but your eternal vigilance up to the collation centres, which did not allow our victory to be stolen, is equally very much commendable.
“Let me reiterate once again that this victory is not only for Tajudeen Adeyemi Adefisoye ‘Small Alhaji’, but for everyone that has contributed in one way or the other to this overall electoral success.
“As a follow up to the official declaration of Alhaji Tajudeen Adefisoye by INEC as a member, House of Representatives elected for Idanre/Ifedore Federal Constituency by INEC, you can be assured of mild merriments to celebrate our collective victory.
“Once again, my most profound appreciation to everyone that has given us reasons to celebrate. Our teeming supporters have proven to be vital shoulders that never allowed my clothing to fall off.”

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target=_blank>BREAKING: Elections Have Not Been Cancelled Anywhere In Nigeria, Says INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says elections have not been cancelled anywhere in the country.
Professor Mahmood Yakubu, the INEC Chairman, stated this at a press briefing on Sunday afternoon at the International Conference Centre (ICC) in Abuja.
Responding to a question on the electoral process in Imo, Lagos, and Anambra states, where various electoral malpractices were recorded, and the need to reschedule elections in the entire states or parts of the states, he said: “Where violence occurs, or where there are violations that make it impossible for us to conduct credible elections in parts of a state, then obviously, our solution would only apply to that part of the state.
“I remember in our regulations and guidelines, we made it clear where there is a wilful refusal to use the smart card reader, the commission will appoint another date to go back to those constituencies on that elections and I’ve enumerated the number of states where, yesterday, we directed the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) to conduct elections, before we can finally conclude on those states.
“So, wherever there are violations, and these violations would require going back to conduct elections, we’ll do so. But so far, there is no state where these violations are wholesale, across the state to warrant full repetition state-wide.”
There had been rumours that there were moves to cancel the elections in the FCT because the ruling party lost. However, the INEC chairman refuted the claims.
Responding to the question on if the FCT area council elections were cancelled, he said: “As chariman of INEC, I’m hearing this for the first time. We have cancelled no elections; not in the FCT, not anywhere in the country.
“Under our laws, once the returning officers make a declaration, then only the judiciary can reverse those declarations. Much of the elections in the area councils in the FCT will be a matter for returning officers appointed by the commission to make declarations. There is one senatorial seat, and two federal constituencies in the FCT. We only collate the results for the presidential election. And we will look at it in the context of nationwide results. No election result has been cancelled in the Federal Capital Territory or any part of Nigeria for that matter.”
He also said Ekiti State had concluded all that has to do with the presidential elections as the collation officer for Ekiti State is already on his way to Abuja with the result of the presidential election.

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E2%80%99s-next-president-%E2%80%98-not-too-distant-future%E2%80%99 target=_blank>BREAKING: INEC To Declare Nigeria’s Next President ‘In The Not Too Distant Future’

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it will declare the next President of Nigeria “in the not too distant future”.
Professor Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman of INEC, stated this in Abuja on Sunday at the end of a brief interaction with the media on the state of results following Saturday’s vote.
Yakubu expressed satisfaction with the election but also admitted that there were glitches in several parts of the country — from Lagos to Imo and Abuja.
Afterwards, he said: “Work continues; I am inviting all you who are accredited, at 6pm, to please come to the national collation centre.
“There will be a formal inauguration and it is from there, hopefully in the not too distant future, the commission will make a formal declaration of who the next President of the Federal republic of Nigeria is.”

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target=_blank>LIVE: #NigeriaDecides2019 INEC Briefing

LIVE: #NigeriaDecides2019 INEC Briefing

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target=_blank>Nigeria: A Nation Of Idiots And Evil Leaders By Bayo Oluwasanmi

Nigerian elections continue to be marred by extensive violence. National election processes are mangled by pre-election violence. Our elections have history of violent local relations connected with which party should control power in the state. Electoral polarization is fueled by ethno-religious divisions and facilitated by escalation of violence by local social and political networks of political thugs paid to disrupt the voting process.
We say we practice democracy, yet the underlying logic of our politics does not reflect such. Power and resources are still largely concentrated in the hands of few cabals dominated by ethnic bigots, thus raising the stakes of elections. In a country where the winner takes all and the loser is left with nothing, in a country where election is politicized and polluted with stolen treasury money, the big whales and sharks of the Old Brigade of Thieves would do anything to protect their interests.
Because of the immense benefits better still, immense looting, to be gained from the control over the executive office, and the high costs often associated with electoral loss, the stakes to achieve electoral victory through violence becomes higher. Consequently, the ways in which candidates and political parties seek to influence electoral outcomes and processes in Nigeria have become violent, deadly, diabolical, and full of blood letting.
In 2011, President Muhammadu Buhari incited his supporters to take to violence in northern Nigeria after 2011 presidential election. That year, he lost the democratic election but achieved his dream of violence. He refused to condemn post-election violence. The Red Cross reported that thousands of people were killed in the north and many displaced in the 2011 post-election violence. As a serial election loser, in 2015, Buhari threatened that “If what happened in 2011 should again happen in 2015, by the grace of God, the dog and the baboon would all be soaked in blood.” In 2019 in his pre-election speech, he ordered the military and the police to shoot any ballot box snatchers.
As expected, the locals armed with the Commander-in-Chief marching order, capitalized on it and turned the electoral process into a killing exercise. One Demola who was allegedly responsible for snatching ballot boxes was apprehended, stoned, and burnt with his motorcycle. In Amukpe near Sapele Local Government Area of Delta State, three people were killed when thugs of APC and PDP shoot at voters. The list keeps growing by the day.
The four-year term of President Buhari has been nothing but management of savagery. The country has been oscillating between chaos and crisis, violence and killings, insecurity and instability. Buhari didn’t see anything wrong with the anarchy in the country. He didn’t take decisive action to stem the tide of violence and killings. Indeed, Buhari didn’t give a damn! When Boko Haram and Buhari’s kinsmen herdsmen beheaded believers, children, farmers, women, wiping out communities, destroying farms and people’s livelihood, Buhari was more concerned for the life of cows than citizens. He didn’t order the military and the police to shoot at sight Boko Haram and herdsmen terrorists.
President Buhari has proven over and over again that he is too morally stunted to end ethno-religious cleansing, Boko Haram terrorism, and uniting this three nations – Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa – hostile, separate, and unequal. Under President Buhari, our personal freedom has been taken away. Our splendid culture and our jealously guarded values and morals have been destroyed and replaced with a mindless barbarism. The disturbing and painful irony of it all is that Nigerians especially those at the receiving end of Buhari’s reign of terror, don’t seem to feel they were being tortured, impoverished, cowed, and held down by unscrupulous aging tyrant. On the contrary, they support him with genuine enthusiasm, and they endorsed his evil and barbaric ways of governance. Nigeria is a nation of idiots and evil leaders.
bjoluwasanmi@gmail.com

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target=_blank>Early Setback… Saraki Loses First Of Four Local Governments To Former Party APC

Senate President Bukola Saraki’s bid for re-election to the Senate on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has suffered a setback, as results confirmed by SaharaReporters show that he has lost in one of four local governments.
Although he won in his polling unit, when the total result for Asa Local Government Area was announced on Sunday, Saraki lost by thousands of votes to the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Saraki had dumped the APC to contest for the ticket of the presidency on the PDP platform. He lost the ticket and went on to retain his PDP senatorial ticket.
According to the official result for Kwara Central Senatorial District in Asa Local Government Area, APC secured 15,932, PDP polled 11,252 votes, while SDP got just six votes.
The local government recorded low turnout as while the figure of registered voters stood at 73,425, number of accredited voters was 29,023.

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target=_blank>An Experience Of A First Time Voter By Emmanuel Daraloye

The road leading to the polling unit was free from vehicular movement due to the restrictions ordered by the security agencies. In view of this, I had to trek for circa 15 minutes. I almost shelved the plan of exercising my franchise, when I realised the delimination unit was Owode/Imuagun; the latter was an unknown town to me, while the former was 10 kilometres away from my abode. I informed my sister and she told me she had a similar thing on her PVC and implored me to go to my registration unit and check if my name is on the voters’ list.
This was about 8:19am. Despite the plea from my guardian to eat before going out, I didn’t yield to it. I was excited and anxious; anxious to perform my civic duty; excited because this was my first time of voting.
I got to the polling unit at exactly 8:47am, the INEC ad hoc staff were assembling the cubicle; some were pasting the voters’ lists on the wall. The pasting took them over 30 minutes. Some instructions were later passed on to the intending voters; this binds on the modalities of voting – the need to be of good conduct in the course of the process, etc. The voting exercise began at 9:20am.
We were a few minutes into the exercise when a middle aged man ran into the building, panting like a 400-metre runner. He was gesticulating and was unable to speak for some seconds. When he did, all he could say was that some people were chasing him. I learnt he was given some money to dole out to the INEC officials and the security personnel as feeding allowance. The other party agents were not cool with this arrangement.
There were two policemen on duty: a male and a female. The former was tipsy, uttering all sorts of gibberish and threatening to cancel the election if it was disrupted by the party agents. The voters had already deciphered his predicament and left him. Nine ad hoc staff, as well as a presiding officer, were on ground in my polling unit.
Two domestic election observers came to the polling unit, spoke to the security personnel and INEC officials and jotted their responses in their book.
I voted at about 10:11am. Priority was given to the elderly. I left the polling unit at about 10:15am.
Daraloye is a radio presenter on M&C 106.5 FM, Ondo City.

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target=_blank>Awaiting The President-Elect By SOC Okenwa

SOC Okenwa

Last Saturday the presidential poll finally took place in Nigeria after having been postponed controversially for one week. The crucial presidential and legislative election for a new President and federal legislators respectively went relatively well despite minor hiccups and hitches here and there. In a vast federation like ours it was not unexpected that some minor incidents would be witnessed given the volatile nature of our national politics.
Nigerians of all walks of life trooped en masse to the polls across the federation to exercise their inviolable constitutional right of choosing among scores of candidates (jostling for the most powerful position of power and authority in the land) who was best suited for the coveted executive and legslative jobs.
Every four years cycle in Nigeria the elective season is replete with violence, arson, murder and ritualism — power and money being about everything in our fantastically-corrupt motherland — politicians of fortune go to the extreme sometimes to gain access to the national or states’ treasuries. And upon gaining power by hook or by crook they proceed to inflict fiscal damage to the system leaving same bleeding and gasping for breath as it were.
Months leading to the general elections the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) had issued a boycott notice to its teeming supporters in the South-east warning that failure to abide by the no-election-in-Biafraland directive would have dire consequencies. There were palpable fears in Igboland given the nuisance value of the so-labelled ‘terrorist’ organization. But days to the rescheduled polls the Kanu-led IPOB had rescinded their decision urging people to go out and vote.
Post-postonement of the general elections there were tensed atmosphere of mutual accusations and counter-accusations against INEC. The recriminations bothered on politicking and attempt at political horse-trading. For the ruling APC coalition the opposition PDP colluded with INEC to postpone the polls! And for the latter the APC were manipulating INEC in order to be favoured. But Prof. Mahmud Yakubu and his team remained focused and concentrated refusing to be drawn into the petty politics of partisanship or favouritism.
INEC must do everything possible to remain neutral, above the fray. Any attempt to play games with the destiny of millions of our people would not augur well for the politico-social and economic well-being of our beloved nation. To this end, therefore, the outcome of the election must be made to reflect the wishes and aspirations of Nigerians. There must not be any compromise on this score!
Whoever wins must be declared as such and whoever loses must be announced as having lost. It is only by so doing that the electoral process would be judged and adjudged to have been a resounding success. Anything less would be unacceptable! The silent majority would rise and defend their votes and that could provoke a mass revolution whose impact could be devastating.In Nigeria it is a sad commentary to say that politics has been so bastardized that one cannot aptly describe the political motions and emotions at any particular point in our national tortured democratic trajectory. Among the politicians we are ‘cursed’ with as ‘leaders’ you can easily find professional treasury raiders, killers, ritualists, and glorified philanderers. What they have in common is nothing but corruption and ineptitude.
As we await the ‘new’ President-elect Nigerians must maintain the fragile peace and tranquility in our dear country. No Nigerian blood is worth being shed for the election of any President!If President Buhari is re-elected against all expectations then Nigerians back home would be subjected to another four odd years of more ‘change’ that hardly translated into a better life for the people. In the ‘improbable’ event of Buharism coming out of the poll victorious then there would be ‘next level’ of ubiquitous poverty, generalized insecurity accentuated by both the Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen terrorism. If he wins then our poor people would be made even poorer while the identified cabal running the national affairs by proxy would be made richer and more powerful!
On the contrary, however, if the formidable opposition PDP’s Atiku Abubakar triumphs expectedly then the expectation of a restructured Nigeria would be made manifest in his presidency. In the event of ‘Atikulated’ being declared the winner then Nigeria would witness a rapid economic and social transformation given the pedigree of the Wazirin Adamawa as a workaholic and good manager of men and resources. With Peter Obi as his Vice the South-east, long neglected, would feel a sense of belonging to the ‘mere geographical expression’ called Nigeria.
Very few Nigerians doubted the capacity and preparedness of Alhaji Abubakar to ‘make Nigeria working again’ having coveted the top job for many years without achieving his desperate desire. But the problem remains: are we poised to witness ‘Atikulated’ at work or ‘Atiku-looted’ at work? Between Atikulated and ‘Atiku-looted’ the future could be said to be uncertain indeed.If INEC announces Comrade Omoyele Sowore of the AAC as the winner then Nigeria would definitely witness a revolution of epic proportions. In that epochal event the political gerontocratic establishment would have been politically beheaded and killed for good!
With Comrade Sowore as President Nigeria would certainly experience real change in the way we do things and conduct our national affairs. Institutional corruption would be nipped in the bud or eliminated, employment opportunities would explode, health would be given deserved attention, security would be a priority. Sowore as President would knock sense back into the present senseless situation of things as he executes his ambitious project of taking Nigeria back. Besides, the stagnant economy would be given a boost with foreign investments. Workers across board would be paid livable wages.Whoever emerges winner in the presidential poll democracy must be made to be triumphant! The victor must be magnanimous in victory while the vanquished must accept their fate and wait for another opportunity in the next four years. Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan had demonstrated how possible it could be to congratulate a political adversary who trashed one during an electoral process. His good patriotic example must be followed. Elections come and go but Nigeria must survive and be made great in our generation.
Long live democracy! Long live Nigeria!!
SOC Okenwasoco_abj_2006_rci@hotmail.fr

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target=_blank>DEVELOPING: Melaye On The Way Out Of Senate As Smart Adeyemi Leads By Over 20,000 Votes

Dino Melaye, the senator representing Kogi West at the National Assembly, is unlikely to return to the legislature from 2019 to 2023, unless an unexpected turnaround of events favours him.
Unofficial results seen by SaharaReporters reveal that Melaye may have lost the election to Smart Adeyemi, who is leading in at least five of the seven local government areas, especially in Lokoja and Koto, by more than 20,000 votes.
However, INEC figures put Dino Melaye as leading in Mopamuro Local Government Area, while the final announcement of the result at the state level is expected to happen at Yagba Federal Constituency later today.
Details later…

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Buhari Loses Tambuwal’s Polling Unit To Atiku By Just Five Votes

Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has won at the polling unit of Aminu Tambuwal, Governor of Sokoto State.
But it was a very close contest, as Atiku defeated President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) with just five votes.
APC got a ?total of 439 votes, while PDP got 444 votes.
Tambuwal was an APC member until last year when he dumped the party for the PDP.
He won his governorship election under the flag of APC.
The Governor voted at Unit 011, JNI Nizamiyyah Islamic School in Tambuwal, Tambuwal Local Government Area, at 11:45am on Saturday.
The APC won two of the three voting points for the presidential election in the unit, but PDP won with the total votes.
The governor is also seeking reelection as a candidate of the PDP.

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