Again, Ifeanyi Ubah empowers APGA gives mini buses and Jeeps to the party leaders*

Days after empowering 119 party secretaries from the 119 wards of Anambra South, Dr. Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah, the Chief Promoter of Afaigboefuna and Senator hopeful of Anambra South 2019, on Sunday, empowered officials of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) with 21 minibuses and 4 SUV jeeps. Dr. Ubah handed the 21 mini buses to the party’s local government seven women leaders, seven secretaries and seven youth leaders, and four SUV Jeeps to the four local government Chairmen in the Senatorial District at his Umuanuka Residence in Otolo Nnewi, said the donation was borne out of his desire to assist the beneficiaries in the discharge of their duties.

The four local government party Chairmen that benefited are; Orumba North, Orumba South, Aguata and Ihiala.

http://www.statereporters.com/2018/10/08/again-ifeanyi-ubah-empowers-apga-gives-mini-buses-and-jeeps-to-the-party-leaders/

*PRESS RELEASE*

*Breaking: Ekweremadu Picks PDP Senatorial Ticket in a Landslide Victory*

The Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has picked the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, ticket for the Enugu West Senatorial District in the 2019 general elections in a landslide victory.

In the Senatorial primary conducted at the Enugu West Zonal Headquarters, Awgu, on Tuesday, Ekweremadu polled 690 votes to beat his closest rival, Mr. Isaac Okah, who garnered 84 votes.

Mr. Ogochukwu Onyema polled 61 votes to place a third, while Mr. Uche Onyekwelu and Mr. Oscar Egwuonwu polled 22 votes and 5 votes, respectively.

Declaring the outcome of the exercise, the Returning Officer, said: “By the powers conferred on me as the Returning Officer for the PDP, Enugu West Senatorial District primary election, I, Hon. Innocent Ezeoha, hereby declare Prof. Ike Ekweremdu, having scored the highest votes cast, as the duly nominated and returned candidate of the PDP for the 2019 senatorial election in Enugu West Senatorial District”.

In his acceptance speech, Ekweremadu declared the primary election as the best in the country and an example in free, fair and credible election.

He praised his co-contestants for joining the race, noting that he had absolutely nothing against those, who contested against him.

“This is the true spirit of democracy and, as a person, I like peaceful contests. I salute and urge them to join hands with me to ensure that the PDP works as a family to win the main election and continue to deliver quality representation to our people. I will continue to be fair and equitable to all”, he assured.


ENDS

*Uche Anichukwu*
Special Adviser (Media) to Deputy President of the Senate
02/10/18

http://www.statereporters.com/2018/10/02/breaking-ekweremadu-picks-pdp-senatorial-ticket-in-a-landslide-victory/

There is no voting yet, says Clement Ebri, NWC Panel Chief
Lagos Gubernatorial Primary Update:

There is no voting yet, says Clement Ebri, NWC Panel Chief

…Urges Lagosians to be wary of fake results.

Accreditation and voting at the APC Gubernatorial Primaries, are yet to commence at the various centres according to the latest report by the Chairman of the Lagos Governorship Electoral panel, His Excellency Chief Clement Ebri.

Distribution of electoral material to commence by 1pm today, followed by accreditation and voting which will be conducted by the APC NWC appointed officials, in order to ensure a free, fair and credible primary.

Lagosians, particularly members of the APC are hereby urged to disregard reports and footages of ongoing elections in some wards in the State, as no State party official is empowered to accredit or conduct the Lagos Gubernatorial primaries.

The Committee has also stated that all registered members of the party, with their membership slip are entitled to participate and are therefore urged to peacefully proceed to their various wards for accreditation and voting.

Meanwhile, Bola Tinubu was at the Protea Hotel, Alausa ostensibly to lobby the Election Committee to accept whatever his stooges have done on the field because the Committee has not sent it’s staff to any LG for the conduct of the Governosrhip primary yet.

Out of desperation, he has finally own up as the Campaign Manager for his boy. What a pity! Yet he wants to be accorded the status of National leader

http://www.statereporters.com/2018/10/02/lagosapcprimaries-no-voting-yet-says-clement-ebri-nwc-panel-chief/

Tinubu’s camp stages fake primary
There is an ongoing to attempt to rig Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, out of the All Progressives Congress’ primary scheduled for today as loyalists of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu have begun voting in a fake primary which is going on at the moment.
In a video that has now gone viral, the Tinubu camp were seen conducting a fake primary with so-called would-be voters queuing to cast their vote in favour of Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Ambode’s major opponent in the race to clinch the APC governorship ticket for 2019. There was nobody on the line to vote for Ambode
Tinubu and his camp have been hell-bent on edging Ambode out of the race by hook or by crook as this latest event indicates apart from previous efforts to intimidate the governor with impeachment and other threats to stand down as an aspirant in the 2019 governorship poll.
This is despite the fact that the party’s National Working Committee-appointed panel led by a former Governor of Cross River State, Clement Ebri, said voting had not commenced as the party was still trying the party was still working out the modality for the election.

Speaking with journalists, Ebri stated as of the time of filing this report that voting had not commenced as materials had yet to be made available to all the polling points.
According to him, voting in the primary could not have started at the moment because efforts were being put in place to ensure a hitch-free exercise.
“I can confidently tell you that we have not commenced voting for the governorship primary in Lagos. We’ve yet to work out the complete modalities for the elections to begin. There are not materials yet distributed for the start of the voting.
“If any election is holding at the moment, it cannot be one sanctioned by the APC’s NWC. It is a mock election. Please ignore it,” Ebri told journalists.
During a visit to Lagos State governor yesterday, Ebri had promised Lagosians: “We have people of integrity in this panel and I can assure you that we have the experience to conduct this exercise. We assure you of our sincerity and transparency and credibility.
Responding, Ambode had expressed confidence in the NWC and Ebri’s team.

Read more

http://www.statereporters.com/2018/10/02/tinubus-camp-stages-fake-primary/

Nigeria’s minister of communications and a governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State, Adebayo Shittu, has said that he is willing to embark on the mandatory National Youth Service Corps, NYSC.

Mr Shittu, a lawyer, made this known in an exclusive interview with popular Ibadan-based broadcast journalist, Edmund Obilo, on his programme ‘State Affairs’.

Although Mr Shittu was later disqualified from the governorship race by the APC because of his failure to present his NYSC certificate on Thursday, the interview held earlier on Tuesday and was broadcast on Saturday.

PREMIUM TIMES had exclusively reported how Mr Shittu failed to carry out the mandatory one year of service.

The minister told this newspaper that he refused to serve because he was elected a lawmaker after graduating from the university, a reason faulted by the NYSC.

But speaking during the interview on Tuesday, barely 48 hours before he was disqualified by the party, Mr Shittu said he was willing to embark on the NYSC if it becomes necessary.

“Will you still like to go for Youth Service?” asked Mr Obilo. “Of course I will go; it will be a pleasant thing to go after I have been governor by the grace of God,” Mr Shittu said in response to the question. “Yes, why not?”

When Mr Obilo jokingly asked the minister whether he would like to serve in Daura, home of President Muhammadu Buhari, he responded in the affirmative.

“Whichever camp…it doesn’t matter, Daura is part of Nigeria,” he replied, adding that, “I will serve in any place if it becomes necessary for me to go.”

Again, Mr Obilo asked Mr Shittu whether he would serve if he does not become the governor of Oyo state.

If it becomes necessary I will,” he said. “Court will have to decide whether serving in the house of assembly and being minister is not superior and does not replace service in the NYSC.”

The minister later said his case was, however, different from that of Kemi Adeosun, the immediate past minister of finance.

Mrs Adeosun resigned her position as minister few weeks ago after PREMIUM TIMES blew the lid off her forged NYSC exemption certificate.

“I am not Kemi Adeosun because I didn’t have any forged certificate of exemption,” Mr Shittu said. When probed further on the response, he explained that Mrs Adeosun did not forge her certificate but was only a “victim of circumstance”.

“Who forged (the NYSC certificate)?” Mr Obilo asked again.

“I wouldn’t know. You will (have to) ask Kemi Adeosun,” Mr Shittu said.

It is unclear whether the minister, considered a strong ally of President Buhari from his days in the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), would still go ahead with his governorship ambition having been disqualified by the APC.

It is also unclear how the Nigerian government would react to Mr Shittu’s failure to serve in the NYSC despite holding public office.

The governorship primaries of the party will hold on Sunday.



http://www.statereporters.com/2018/09/29/willing-serve-nysc-minister-shittu/

As battle for 2019 general elections heats up across the country, the Young Progressives Party (YPP), may have added an interesting twist to the governorship race in Abia State with the entrance of a 36-year-old, Joseph Nkoro, as he picked the party’s governorship nomination form on Monday in Abuja.

Nkoro, who appears to be unopposed in the governorship candidature of the party, would be slugging it out with the incumbent Governor of the State, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, former Managing Director of Diamond Bank, Plc, Dr. Alex Otti, who squared up with Ikpeazu in 2015 election, an oil mogul, Dr. Uche Oga and a host of others come February, 2019.

Addressing journalists after obtaining his forms from the YPP national secretariat in Abuja, Nkoro, a graduate of Mechanical/Production Engineering from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Akwa, Anambra State said his reason for throwing in his hat in the political ring was propelled by the failure of leadership in the state.

He decried the lack of infrastructure, stagnated economy and the relegation of the youths to the background, adding that championing the cause of the youths formed part of his reasons to run.

The young governorship aspirant hails from Nnentu in Aba South local government area of the state. He called on the youths of the state to support him to give Abia a facelift, stressing that the previous governments had failed the people.

Asked how he intends to prosecute the task ahead given the huge financial obligations it entails, Nkoro said that it was not about money but the vision and mission.

He said: “I have been an avid follower of what has been happening in Abia State all these while and I have seen that there is a lot of suffering in the state. There is a lot of backwardness. But I have always had the belief at the back of my mind that a lot could be done: the state of infrastructure, the economy even the youth are jobless, doing nothing.

“ I have thought about these things and I know I can do a lot for my people. We have a serious leadership issue in Abia State. I decided to make myself available to right all the wrongs in the State. By the grace of God and with the support of the people, I am the next Governor of Abia who will change the leadership narrative in the state.
“I was born on May 17, 1982. I am 36 years old this year. I am from Nnentu in Aba South Local Government Area of Abia State, so that makes me an Ngwa man.

“This is a big challenge though. We have waited for the first and second generations of our parents to do something about the leadership issues in the state but nothing seems to be forthcoming. We have been so redundant as a State. The youths are the leaders of today, no longer leaders of tomorrow. So, the responsibility of good leadership is now upon our shoulders. We can’t just continue to sit by and watch our state go down. That’s why I took up the challenge.“It is actually a huge task and I am calling on the every young person in Abia State who actually has the welfare of the state at heart to come out and support us. We can change the state for better. The state of things in the state is such that we should rise and change it.”

Asked if it was not a Herculean task for him to face governor Ikpeazu and others in the contest, Nkoro said he had no apologies for his decision to take his state out of the economic and political woods by providing the lacking leadership.
“Actually, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, the present governor of the state is from my senatorial zone, Abia South. But since the reason I have come out is essentially as a result of leadership failure in the state, I have apologies coming out to do what is right.
“Now, concerning the other contestants, I am confident. Leadership is about what you have to offer and NOT about money. I have the support of the youths and I am stilling calling on every single youth, every young person in Abia state, I need their support and vote to become the governor and change things in the state.
“Look, the youths have been relegated to the background by the previous governments. You asked for their support, they gave you and eventually they are pushed to the back. I am the easiest route for the young people to get to the government. So, it is not about money but what you have to offer. This particular election in 2019 is about competence, yes Abia state guber election 2019 will be zoned to competence not to any senatorial zone!” he added.
He however, called on Ohaneze Youth wing which he said represents the entire Igbo youths and other Nigerians to support the Presidential bid of Prof. Kingsley Moghalu instead of seeking the VP slot from the PDP for an igbo man.


http://www.statereporters.com/2018/09/27/abia-2019-36-year-old-joseph-nkoro-picks-form-unseat-gov-ikpeazu/

MY RESPONSE TO EKWEREMMADU’S RECENT NO CONFIDENCE VOTE ON INEC.

In response to the no- confidence vote passed on INEC by the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremnadu CFR, I reserve my comment on it, till we see the example Senator Ike Ekweremnadu will set with the Enugu West PDP Senatorial Primary Election slated for 2nd October, 2018 by 11am at Awgu Local Government Field- the Constituency Headquarters of Enugu West Senatorial Zone.

The Deputy Senate President is expected to use the said Primary Election of PDP which he is one of the contestants to show INEC how transparent elections ought to be; and how religious he is with upholding legitimate Internal Party democracy and elections devoid of corruption and irregularities.

The Deputy President is aspiring to contest PDP Primary election for the Party ticket to be returned to the Nigerian Senate for the 5th time.

While a school of thought holds the view that the 5th term ambition of the Deputy President Senator Ike Ekweremnadu is unwarranted, and is totally rejected by Enugu West constituents who prefered my humble self Chief Sir OAU Onyema; Ekweremnadu has struggled to showcase to the world the wrong impression that it is his constituents that wants him back to the senate.

It is only the outcome of the Enugu West PDP Primary Election, and how it will be conducted, that will re-affirm the credibility of Ekweremnadu’s vote of no confidence on INEC.

In the years 2003, 2007, 2011 & 2015 the ENUGU WEST PDP SENATORIAL PRIMARY ELECTION were held at Awgu LGA field, the Constituency Headquarters; and surely unless there is a plan to rig the election, the Primary election will hold at Awgu Field as usual.

This fear of trying to tamper with the venue, is occasioned by the information from the grapevine that the Incumbent Senator is working hard to subvert democracy at all cost as concerns the upcoming Primary Election.

I can only gear towards lending credence to the no confidence vote of the DSP on INEC, after I must have had the opportunity to compare how his Primary Election was conducted, and then compare it with allegations agains INEC.

http://www.statereporters.com/2018/09/27/enugu-west-pdp-senatorial-primary-elections-litmus-test-ekweremmadu-credibility/

Yes buhari must go ,why

Inconclusive Election





Osun: Ekweremadu faults INEC on Inconclusive Election

…Says Commission descending into the arena, decries role of security agencies

The Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has faulted the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for declaring the Osun governorship election as inconclusive, saying the Commission was “descending into the arena”.

Ekweremadu also described the fast-declining independence of the election management body as well as vote-buying syndrome and misuse of security agencies as major problems ahead of the 2019 general elections.

He made the observations in Abuja on Tuesday when he received a joint high-level delegation of the International Republican Institute, IRI, and the National Democratic Institute, NDI, Washington DC, USA, which was on a preliminary visit to Nigeria ahead of its planned Joint International Elections Observer Mission during the 2019 general elections.

He said: “Prior to 2010 electoral reforms, INEC was barely independent. It was the 2010 Electoral Act and Constitution amendments that deepened the independence of the electoral body and strengthened the electoral system as evident in the 2011 and 2015 elections.

“Unfortunately, as we head towards 2019, there have been a lot of challenges, particularly the challenges of implementing the existing laws; and this has taken us back to where we were, instead of making progress.

“INEC needs to exercise the independence conferred on it by previous electoral reforms to be able to stand its ground, irrespective of whoever or whichever party that is in government, whether APC or PDP. It should not tend towards the government that is in power.

“Looking at Osun State, for instance, an election took place, somebody won from the results declared at the polling units, ward collation centres, local government collation centres, and the state collation centre. But contrary to the provisions of our electoral laws, INEC has asked the people to go back and repeat some of the elections. That is completely unacceptable.

“Ironically, just recently, we had instances where similar situations arose in both Kogi and Bauchi, among others, and winners were declared.

“Under our electoral legal regime, once results are declared, you cannot go back on it. It is only the tribunal that can order for election to be rerun, not the electoral commission. But now, INEC is descending into the arena.

Ekweremadu stressed the issues of vote-buying and abuse of security agencies: “One of the greatest challenges we have is the issue of vote buying, which was not in existence before now. Vote-buying emerged because the electoral reforms have tried to block a number of loopholes that have helped people to rig elections in the past.

“We are hoping to handle the issue legislatively and probably make it one of the reasons you can challenge an election at the tribunal and also put stiff penalties to ensure that this is discouraged. We are also looking at ways of addressing the issue through technology.

“The deployment of security personnel has been a major challenge because what we have experienced in the past few years is that they are often partisan. There are so many allegations of intimidation of voters and provision of cover for those buying and selling votes”, Ekweremadu added.

Speaking earlier, the leader of the 10-man delegation, Mr. Mvemba Dizolele, said the team was in Nigeria to witness the Ekiti and Osun elections and also consult with key stakeholders ahead of its Joint Observer Mission during the 2019 elections.

“We are here to watch the Ekiti and Osun elections, to consult with stakeholders to see what lessons we can take and where there are gaps, which we can improve ahead of the 2019 general elections”, Dizolele said.

Other members of the delegation include Robert Benjamin, Senior Associate & Regional Director for Central and East Europe, NDI; Sarah Jegede-Toe, Co-Chair, Liberia National Elections Commission; John Tomaszewski, Africa Division Director, IRI; Sentell Barnes, Program Director, IRI, Nigeria; and Raymond Esebagbon, Deputy Country Director, NDI, Nigeria.


http://www.statereporters.com/2018/09/26/osun-ekweremadu-faults-inec-inconclusive-election/

[Enugu West PDP Senatorial Aspirant Sir OAU Onyema has Petitioned the PDP National chairman over planned rigging of Enugu West Senatorial Zone Primary Election in Favour of incumbent Deputy Senate President Senator Ike Ekweremmadu.

A copy of the petition obtained by STATEREPORTERS NEWS CABLE and addressed to the Peoples Democratic Party National chairman, through the National Secretary of PDP and through State Chairman PDP Enugu State, copied to Enugu State Governor, Security Agencies, Independent National Electoral Commission etc. noted that there is “Surreptitous Plan To Illegally Manipulate And Rig The Enugu West PDP Senatorial Primary Election”



http://www.statereporters.com/2018/09/24/ekweremadu-seat-threatening-as-o-a-u-petition-pdp-over-primaries/