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Reset of BVAS a must for governorship poll – INEC

Published

2 weeks ago

March 8, 2023

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on Tuesday, said that the reset of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines must be done before Saturday’s governorship and House of Assembly elections can hold across the federation.

The electoral agency explained that it required adequate time to reconfigure the BVAS machines before the polls.

According to INEC, the order granted to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Atiku Abubakar, and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Peter Obi, to inspect the machines should be varied.

The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) sitting in Abuja is expected to rule today at 2pm on the LP’s legal battle with the electoral umpire.

It will also rule on the motions by the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), for leave to inspect materials used by the commission the recent presidential election.

The tribunal, during yesterday’s proceedings, also fixed ruling for the same time on the motions by INEC, the Labour Party (LP) and its candidate.

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Tinubu’s lawyer, Akintola Makinde, while moving the two motions ex-parte, said they were to seek the court’s permission to inspect materials used for the election and obtain copies and other materials to prepare his case.

Lawyer to the APC, Omosanya Popoola, moved the two ex-parte motions filed for the party and in which it seeks similar prayers as contained in Tinubu’s motions.

Earlier, lawyer to INEC, Tanimu Inuwa (SAN), while arguing his client’s motion on notice, prayed the court to grant the prayers sought.

Inuwa said it was necessary that the order granted Obi and Atiku to inspect the BVAS be varied.

He said the commission should be allowed to store the date currently being held in the BVAS on INEC’s back end server to enable it deploy the same machines for the governorship and House of Assembly elections slated for March 11.

Inuwa said time was of the essence because INEC required adequate time to reconfigure the BVAS machines before the proposed elections.

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He said INEC was particularly concerned with Orders Four and Five, which relate to the digital and forensic analysis of the BVAS machines.

Lawyer to Obi and LP, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), objected to INEC application and urged the court to dismiss it.

Ikpeazu subsequently moved the motion he filed for his clients’ for the court’s permission to conduct physical inspection of the BVAS machines to enable them extract information embedded therein.

He added that his clients also wanted to obtain a Certified True Copy (CTC) of the report of the BVAS machines.

Ikpeazu said Obi and LP wanted the evidence in the BVAS machines preserved before they are reconfigured, because information on the INEC back end server vary from time to time.

Responding, Inuwa cautioned the court against granting the application by Obi and LP on the grounds that it could negatively affect INEC’s preparation for Saturday’s elections.

He said the granting of the application “will cause us serious delay in the conduct of the governorship election coming in 11 March”.

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Inuwa said: “We need the BVAS for the next election. Granting the order will act as clog in our preparation and may affect the conduct of the election, which date is circumscribed by the constitution,” he said.

He added that each machine needed to be configured separately and done one after the other, because each polling units is peculiar.

Inuwa said no data would be lost if they are moved to INEC’s back end server, because the data transferred there are secure.

The court could not hear similar motions filed Atiku.

When lawyer to the PDP and Atiku, Emeka Etiaba (SAN), informed the court about the motions he filed, Inuwa said he was just served and required time to respond.

The court’s three-member panel, presided over by Joseph Ikyegh, ordered lawyers to parties to return on Wednesday at 2pm for the hearing of the motions.

Related Topics:BVAS Governorship INEC STATE ASSEMBLY POLLS

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Zulum reelected Borno governor

Published

26 mins ago

March 20, 2023

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Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum has been reelected for a second term .

The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was declared the winner of the March 18 governorship election in the state having polled 545,542.

Zulum defeated his closest contender, Mohammed Jajari of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who scored 82,147.

The result was announced by INEC Returning Officer, Jude Rabo on Monday afternoon.

So far, the results of 20 governorship polls have been announced. The APC takes the lead with 14 states, the PDP with five states and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) with one state. The election in Kebbi was declared inconclusive by the electoral body while the collation of the results of governorship polls in Abia and Enugu was suspended.

Officially, nine of the 11 governors who sought reelection in the March 18 polls held across Nigeria in West Africa have been declared winners by INEC to return to office for another four-year term each.

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They include Zulum as well as Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State, Governor Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State, Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State, Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State and Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State.

Of the 28 states, 11 serving governors sought reelection while 17 outgoing governors are in the final weeks of their constitutional two-term limits of eight years, having been sworn in on May 29, 2015.

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BREAKING: INEC declares Adamawa Gov election inconclusive, Fintiri, Binani in tight race

Published

33 mins ago

March 20, 2023

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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the March 18 governorship election in Adamawa State inconclusive.

The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Senator Aishatu Dahiru famously known as Binani scored 390, 275 while the incumbent, Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, polled 421,524.

However, INEC declared the election inconclusive due to the margin of votes.

So far, the results of 20 governorship polls have been announced. The APC takes the lead with 14 states, the PDP with five states and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) with one state. The election in Kebbi was similarly declared inconclusive by the electoral body while the collation of the results of governorship polls in Abia and Enugu was suspended.

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They are Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State, Governor Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State, Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State, Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State and Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State.

More to follow…

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

Published

2 hours ago

March 20, 2023

admin

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.