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Flashback: I will campaign because this election is a do-or-die affair for PDP – Obasanjo in 2007

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Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo rigged April 2007 Presidential election for his party, the People’s Democratic Party.

The former president presided over an electoral process that was globally condemned as flawed. The Guardian UK described the election as a “fraud-tainted election” and the EU described it as “not credible.”

Washington called it “deeply troubling”.

The head of the EU’s observer mission, Max van den Berg, said in a statement that he could not endorse the vote as legitimate.

“These elections have not lived up to the hopes and expectations of the Nigerian people and the process cannot be considered to have been credible,” he said.

The US state department said the elections were flawed, “and in some cases deeply flawed.”

Prior to that election in 2007, while addressing elders and stakeholders of the PDP in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, on 10 February 2007, Obasanjo sounded tough and categorical.

Like a warlord, he declared that the 2007 general elections would be a “do-or-die affair” for both himself and the ruling PDP.

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“We want those who are going to succeed us to continue where we stopped,” he professed.

The President added that the electorate should be careful with their choice of leadership. According to him: “I read that somebody said I was campaigning. I will campaign because this election is a do-or-die affair for PDP. Why should we have criminals as leaders?” he queried.

His remark may have been the outpouring of a sincere heart, but it revealed the intentions of Obasanjo – PDP losing will never be accepted by him.

With the tough stand of Obasanjo, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, became a biased umpire in doing the bid of its master.

Expectedly, the election was a landslide victory for Obasanjo and the PDP. The PDP won the 2007 elections as Yar’Adua secured 70 percent of the total votes counted, and PDP candidates won 28 out of the 36 governorship races. The elections were seriously marred by ballot fraud and violence. Electoral observers, most notably the European Union Mission and the Transition Monitoring Group (which deployed 50,000 observers), were unanimous in underlining numerous irregularities in the voting process. Both stated that the elections were not credible and fell far short of basic international standards.

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Obasanjo himself would later acknowledge electoral fraud. “Our elections could not have been said to have been perfect,” he said. “Cases of electoral fraud reported from parts of the country,” he said.

The head of the national election commission at the time, Maurice Iwu, said the ballot had “not gone without difficulties” and that it was “far from perfect” but blamed logistical difficulties.

He declared that overall the elections were “free and fair and credible”.

The Nigerian press strongly criticized the election calling it a “rape of democracy” and “fraudulent”.

That was the story of the 2007 election which brought the emergence of the late Umaru Yar’Adua.

But on Monday, February 27, 2023, Obasanjo, now wanting to play the role of a ‘statesman’ questioned the credibility of INEC even when the process was still ongoing. Political analysts have said Obasanjo’s statement was simply “pot calling kettle black.”

Prior to the 2007 general elections, electoral violence had been recorded in several parts of the federation. In Lagos, Engr, Funsho Williams, a PDP governorship aspirant was brutally murdered in his home at Dolphin Estate. The election proper was nothing to write home about as monumental violence was recorded.

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Yusuf Abba: Kwankwaso’s PA, son-in-law who will be governor of Kano

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Yusuf Kabir Abba was declared the winner of the 2023 governorship election in Kano state on Monday. The flagbearer of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) beat his arc-rival, Yusuf Gawuna of the All Progressives Congress (APC), to claim victory in the state.

From personal assistant to governor-elect — who is Yusuf Abba, the man who will become Kano governor?

Abba was born in the year Nigeria became a republic, in 1963. He was born on January 5, 1963 in Gaya LGA of Kano state. He would later attend Sumaila primary school and government secondary school Lautai in the old Kano state.

His secondary education was in Gumel LGA, which is now in Jigawa State. Upon graduation from government secondary school in 1980, he went on to the federal polytechnic, Mubi, where he obtained his national diploma in civil engineering in 1985.

He went on to specialise in water resources/environmental engineering in 1989 at Kaduna Polytechnic. Upon graduation, he served in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) at Kaduna Environmental Protection Agency from 1989 to 1990.

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QUICK FACT: On May 29, 2023, he will become the second Water Engineer to be governor of Kano state in the fourth republic.

GOVERNOR’S PA WHO WILL BECOME GOVERNOR

Abba might be the first personal assistant (PA) to a fourth republic governor to become governor. Abba served as PA to Rabiu Kwankwaso, the presidential candidate of the NNPP, while he was governor of Kano state from 1999 to 2003.

He also served in the same capacity and also as special assistant to Kwankwaso, in his role as minister of defence in the Olusegun Obasanjo cabinet from 2003 to 2007.

In a 2019 interview with Daily Trust, Abba said he served as PA to Kwankwaso for 12 years, from 1999 to 2011. In 2011, he served in Kwankwaso’s government as a private secretary to the government and was later appointed commissioner for works, housing and transport.

Abba has been with Kwankwaso for 37 years, serving in different capacities.

“Kwankwaso is my leader. I worked with Kwankwaso even when I was in the civil service in the state. I worked under him and have been with him for almost 33 years,” Abba said in 2019.

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“In all these years, he has been over and above me so I know him to be my leader, my oga! So people shouldn’t be surprised if I give him the utmost respect and utmost trust. I was his PA during his first tenure from 1999 to 2011”.

KWANKWASO’S SON-IN-LAW-TURNED AVENGER

In 2014, Kwankwaso supported his deputy, Abdullahi Ganduje, in becoming the governor of Kano state. In a few months after the election, both men fell out. Ganduje launched what became a clear attack on Kwankwaso and the Kwankwasiyya movement.

By 2019, Kwankwaso mobilised against Ganduje and supported Yusuf Abba in unseating Ganduje. Abba went on to win the election in the first round, but his victory was not to be as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared a supplementary election in 28 of 44 local government areas in the state.

Following the conduct of the supplementary poll, Ganduje was declared the winner with less than 9,000 votes ahead of Abba, who had initially won with over 26,000 votes.

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Abba, who is also married to Kwankwaso’s niece, moved with Kwankwaso to the New Nigeria Peoples Party, where they both became flagbearers for presidential and gubernatorial elections. Both men won the elections in the state, but Kwankwaso lost the presidential poll.

As Kwankwaso’s loyalist and son-in-law, Abba will be putting an end to Ganduje’s reign in the state, with expectations that he would be avenging the Kwankwasiyya movement.

He has however said he will not be tied to Kwankwaso’s apron, but be a man for himself, stating that he will only take advice from the former governor.

“He will never interfere in my work. Secondly, if he interferes, in terms of advice, I know that where I go correctly he will encourage me to put in more and where I go wrong he will correct me and tell me what to do. But as far as issues of governance are concerned, believe me, sincerely he is not going to interfere,” he had said.

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APC’s Reverend Father Alia wins Benue guber election

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Hyacinth Alia, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has won the Benue state governorship election.

Alia, a reverend father, garnered 473,933 votes to defeat Titus Uba, the candidate of the Peoples Democracy Party (PDP), who polled 223,913 votes, to be declared the winner on Monday.

Herman Hembe of the Labour Party (LP) scored 41,881 votes.

Faruk Kuta, vice chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, and the returning officer of the Benue state gubernatorial election, announced the results on Monday at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) collation centre in Makurdi, the state’s capital.

Out of the 23 LGAs in Benue, Alia secured 17, while Uba clinched four and Hembe got one.

TheCable had reported how elections were rescheduled in Kwande LGA over following a mix-up of ballot papers on Saturday.

However, Kuta, said Alia was declared the winner in line with the electoral act and the INEC guidelines.

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The law provides for a winner to be declared if the margin of lead of the candidate surpasses the number of registered voters or those who have collected their permanent voter’s cards (PVCs) in an LGA.

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Breaking: APC’s Otu wins Cross River governorship election

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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Senator Bassey Otu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner of the governorship election in Cross River State.

He defeated Sandy Ojang Onor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party.

Otu polled 258,619 votes to emerge winner of the election, while Onor of the PDP scored 179, 636 votes to come second, while Labour Party’s candidate polled 5,957 votes.

Eleven political parties contested the election in Cross River State.

See full results below:

Total registered voters: 1, 766,460

Total Voters Accredited: 466, 294

APC: 258,619

PDP: 179, 636

LP: 5,957

Valid Vote: 451, 933

Rejected votes: 8923

Total valid votes: 460826

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