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Wike
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has claimed that the enemies of the state were struggling to stop the collation and declaration of the governorship election in the State.
According to Wike, the police was now inviting Electoral and Collation Officers to intimidate them over collated results in the governorship election.
Wike spoke during a solidarity visit to his office at the Government House, Port Harcourt on Wednesday, by the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Prince Uche Secondus and other members of the party’s National Working Committee.
Wike said, “The Police is trying to intimidate Collation and Electoral Officers by inviting them for one offence or the other so as to impinge on the Collation Process.
“Imagine where the police is inviting the entire Returning Officers and Entire Electoral Officers because allegations have been made against the INEC officials. This is just to let the entire world see what we are talking about “.
The Governor said that the enemies of the state have continued to roll out strategies to destroy the governorship election collation process.
“They go by this strategy, if it fails, they go by the other strategy. They brought the Army, it failed. They have gone to the court and now they want to use the police.”
Governor Wike said that the good people of Rivers State will overcome all the challenges thrown at the state by the system.
“Like I said, this victory will be the best. It will be the sweetest amongst all the states. That is what I see coming. There is no election that will be held in this state and another party will win.
“Not to talk about a party that is not on ground. They have failed and that is the truth of the matter”, he said.
Governor Wike said the political situation in Rivers State has exposed the negative aspects of the system.
“In the end, PDP will emerge victorious in this State. It is a victory that can be delayed, but not denied.
“This morning, the other political party went to court to stop Collation. As God will have it, the court did not grant them their request.
“You see how funny it is. The candidate of AAC said he won the election. The same candidate has gone to court to stop Collation and seek for the cancellation of an election, he claimed that he won”, he said.
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Abba Kabir-Yusuf, has got the highest number of votes from results of the 44 Local Government areas in Kano State.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of the state, Riskuwa Shehu, had ordered for fresh collation of results from the wards in Nasarawa local government after the local government collation centre was attacked and the main result sheet was torn.
However, Kabir-Yusuf, a son-in-law to ex-governor Rabiu Kwankwaso, won the pending local government which had delayed the final announcement of governorship election result in the state.
After collation of results from 10 wards of the local government last night, PDP scored 54,349, votes while the governing All Progressives Congress (APC), scored 34,297 votes.
Based on the results collated at the state collation centre, the PDP, which had earlier polled 960,004 votes from 43 local governments now has a total of 1,014,353 votes.
The APC which had polled 953,522 votes from 43 local government areas now has 987,819 votes.
Activist-lawyer Ebun-Olu Adgboruwa has said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has no power to withhold the certificate of return of an election winner.
He said there was no basis in law for INEC to review an already declared result of an election “no matter the circumstances”.
He faulted the commission for withholding the certificate of return of Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha.
INEC said Okorocha was declared winner of a senatorial seat “under duress”.
Adegboruwa said the ommission of Okorocha's name from the list of those presented with certificates of return “is illegal and ultra vires the electoral body”.
He argued that based Section 68 (1) (c) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), only a tribunal could overule an election.
The Section reads: “The decision of the Returning Officer on any question arising from or relating to declaration of scores of candidates and the return of a candidate, shall be final, subject to review by a Tribunal or Court in an election petition proceedings under this Act.”
Adegboruwa said: “In the case of Governor Okorocha, there was a declaration of his scores in the election and he was announced and returned as elected, by INEC.
“However, the Returning Officer claimed that he did the declaration and return under duress to save his life. This is an allegation, coming from INEC.
They are facts that will aid the Election Petitions Tribunal to take a decision on whether or not to nullify the election, in view of the alleged violence or duress.
“But INEC cannot in law raise an allegation of duress or violence and then proceed to investigate it and then take a decision on it. You cannot be a judge in your own cause!
“Whereas I do not support that any electoral officer should be threatened or compelled to make a declaration, but once when a declaration has been made, it becomes final.
“It cannot be reviewed, retracted, reversed or investigated by INEC. Section 68 gives that power of review to a Tribunal or Court in election petition proceedings. This is clear beyond any controversy, from the letters of section 68 above.
“INEC has no power under the law, to withhold or refuse to issue a certificate of return, to a person whose scores or votes have already been declared, even if done under duress or through violence.
“Section 75 of the Electoral Act provides as follows:
‘A sealed Certificate of Return at an election in a prescribed form shall be issued within seven days to every candidate who has won an election under this Act: Provided that where the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court, being the final appellate court in any election petition as the case may be, nullifies the Certificate of Return of any candidate, the Commission shall, within forty-eight hours after the receipt of the order of such Court, issue the successful candidate with a valid Certificate of Return.’
“From the foregoing, INEC must issue a certificate of return to every candidate who has been declared to have won an election, it has no discretion in the matter.
“Whether he won under duress or with violence, is immaterial. Okorocha has been duly declared and INEC has no choice than to issue him a certificate of return. The facts of how he got himself declared are for the Election Petitions Tribunal.”
Adegboruwa said based on Section 75 (1), where a certificate of return has become a subject of litigation and is nullified by the court, then INEC will issue a new certificate of return to the other candidate who has succeeded in the court case, as the old certificate of return stands nullified by the court.
“Thus, it is not the candidate who has been declared in any election that will go to court to compel INEC to issue him with a certificate of return, but rather for the aggrieved candidate to approach the Elections Petition Tribunal to have the certificate of return nullified.
“Section 75 (2) of the Electoral Act: ‘ Where the Commission refuses or neglects to issue a certificate of return, a certified true copy of the order of a court of competent jurisdiction shall, ipso facto, be sufficient for the purpose of swearing-in a candidate declared as the winner by the court.’
“Section 75 (2) is simply meant to enforce the proviso to section 75 (1). It is about what happens post-litigation. It does not confer INEC with power to withhold certificate of return for a candidate that was originally declared winner of an election.
“Reading sections 75 (1) and (2) together, here is what the law says:1. Once a candidate’s score or election results have been declared, INEC must issue him with a certificate of return.
“Where that certificate of return has been challenged and is nullified by the court, INEC must issue a new certificate of return to the person newly declared by the court as winner of the election.
“If the candidate newly declared by the court is unable to get INEC to issue him with a new certificate of return within 48 hours of the judgment of the court, then he can rely upon a certified true copy of the court judgment for his swearing-in, in place of the certificate of return.
“It is clear that INEC has no power in law, to review the outcome of election results or declarations and it has no power to withhold certificate of return.
“We must be careful not to create monsters and terrors from our institutions, where the law has not conferred such powers on them.”
All appears not to be settled in the camp of Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP ) sitting Senators and Senators-elect.
Feelers indicate as All Progressives Congress (APC) Senators are plotting for position of the Senate President, PDP Senators have launched intense scheming for the slot of Senate minority leader.
It is gathered the intrigue and scheming for leadership positions in the Senate clearly manifested during the issuance of certificate of returns to Senator and members of the House of Representatives on Thursday.
The PDP is expected to produce the minority leader in the ninth Senate with its 42 senators. APC boasts of 65 and YPP has one.
A competent source in the National Assembly told our reporter on Monday the calculation is the South East geo-political zone with its 13 senators, still counting, would produce the Senate minority leader.
He noted the South South geo-political zone is already out of the race for Senate minority leader because the zone occupies the exalted position of PDP Chairman in the person of Prince Uche Secondus.
Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu and South East caucus leader in the upper chamber, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, are said to be highly favoured to clinch the Senate minority leader.
The source, who said he is aware the PDP leadership would soon come out to declare its position, said: “On who gets what in the Senate and House of Representatives” noted that “the position of Senate minority leader is not elective position.”
He said: “Senate minority leader position is a party affair. The PDP leadership will soon declare its stand about who should occupy the position.
“PDP wants to get it right in order not to make the mistake of Senator Godswill Akpabio who abandoned the position to defect to APC in the build up to the general elections.
“It is incumbent on the party to decide. The position is purely a party affair. It is not elective. Especially now that the momentum seems to be on the side of the PDP with expected more states to its fold, it is for the party to sustain the tempo by installing effective opposition leader.
“The Senator Godswill Akpabio scenario must not be allowed to play out again.”
The source also said that the PDP planned to install “a cohesive opposition leader that would articulate the position of the party in the Senate.”
Asked who is likely to get the slot between Ekweremadu and Abaribe, he hesitated and said: “PDP leaders are weighing options but what I can deduct from the body language of some party leaders is that perhaps they would want Ekweremadu to now play a father-figure role in the Senate which former Senate President, Senator David Mark, effectively played in the Eight Senate.
‘It is on record that Ekweremadu, having served as Deputy Senate President for three consecutive times with active support of the PDP and its Senators, nobody challenged him, it is widely expected that he should now play a father-figure role in the Senate. Senator David Mark, a former Senate President, did it to the admiration of party members. Nobody should be desperate about anything.”
He assured that “PDP will put its house in order and come up with a suitable name.”
THE Federal Government appears to be in a dilemma on how to source funds to pay the new N30,000 minimum wage to workers.
The development is generating tension as the government fears that this might lead to another round of crisis between it and organised labour.
It was reliably reliably gathered that between N200 billion and N300 billion is required annually to handle the payment of the new N30,000 minimum wage but the Federal Government budget of about N150 billion is said to be grossly inadequate to take care of the workers’ new salary structure.
Though the Federal Government has indicated its willingness to pay, having assured workers, the calculation by appropriate ministries shows that the government requires about N300 billion annually to cover all agencies of government.
More worrisome is the fact that both the Senate and House of Representatives have recommended the N30,000 but government appears to be in a big mess because it doesn’t have that amount in the budget. It was further gathered that with N150 billion, some agencies of government such as the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, will not have money to pay salaries.
A competent source in one of the ministries told Vanguard that serving members of the NYSC are supposed to be paid the N30,000 new minimum wage and additional ten percent of the N30,000, which makes it N33,000 monthly.
The source further said that with the present budgetary allocation, the corps members may not be part of it. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source told Vanguard that it was expected that adequate budgetary provision should be made, taking cognizance the relevance of workers in all the agencies and parastatals that are expected to benefit from the new salary payment.
“We had expected that the economic team of the federal government should make adequate budgetary provision for the payment of the new wage. In fact, what is required is between N250 billion and N300 billion. “As it stands now, the budget of about N150 billion will not take care of the new salary payment.
Even the NYSC members are not captured in the new payment. The corps members are supposed to be paid the N30,000 plus ten percent of the amount which makes the total package N33,000 per month.”
“I don’t know what was the intention of the economic team when they were making budget. It is not that the money is not there.
If nothing is done to make up the shortfalls, it is going to create another crisis between labour and government. “I am quite sure that organized labour will not accept anything less than the newly approved amount and will not listen to excuses from government,” the source said.
Attempts made to get the government’s position on the matter did not yield any results as the Director of Budget, Mr. Ben Akabueze, neither picked calls to his GSM lines nor replied the text message sent to him. Recall that President Buhari had, while hosting the leadership of organized labour, led by the National President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, that paid him a congratulatory visit at the Presidential Villa, Abuja after he was declared winner of the February 23 election, called for cooperation from the labour unions.
While recalling the negotiations that led to the approval of the N30,000 minimum wage, he said he had to ask the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, to remind the workers what his administration met on ground and what it’s been able to achieve with minimal resources.
President Buhari had said: “During your negotiation with the minister of labour and when he briefed us in council on N30,000 minimum wage. I gave an analogy of a mad woman, who went to fetch firewood but then she realized it was to heavy for her to carry, instead of reducing it, she added more. “I said we are struggling to survive as a nation.
You (workers) knew what this country was earning between 2009 and 2015, you knew the state of infrastructure when we came in, God gave them 16 years of unprecedented earnings. Multiply 2.1 million by $100 by 16 years. I don’t think the PDP has been been able to successfully explain to Nigerians what they did with that money.
“Most of you are unanswerable to Nigerians, I appealed to you through our mutual friend, the minister of labour, to tell you where we found the country, where we are, and what we have been able to do with the resources available to us.
“We cannot succeed without your cooperation. I appreciate the pressure you are under from your respective constituencies, most especially if you have to submit yourself for elections, you have to prove to your members that you are with them rather than with the government and we understand.”
The Federal High Court sitting in Asaba today sacked the Jones Erue-led executive committee of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Delta State.
In its two-hour judgment, the court, presided over by Justice Toyin Adegoke upheld the Cyril Ogodo-led Delta APC faction in the state, declaring the executives as duly elected.
Justice Adegoke further held that all actions purportedly taken by the Erue-led executives were null and void, thereby nullifying the candidacy of the candidates who emerged from the primaries conducted by the Erue-led executives.
According to Rowland Ekpe, the counsel to the Cyril Ogodo exco, the re-election of Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, representing Delta Central and other candidates in the just-concluded elections, is now null and void following the judgment since they all emerged from the primaries conducted by the Erue-led executives.
“The Primaries conducted by Mefor Progress, those names are the authentic names,”Mr Ekpe stressed.
Other candidates affected by the judgment include the state governorship candidate, Great Ogboru, and the senatorial candidate for Delta South Senatorial District and immediate past governor of the state, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, among others.
Meanwhile, Mr Okubo Nwachukwu, counsel to the Erue-led executives said they would review the court’s judgment, noting that they would appeal the verdict passed by Justice Toyin Adegoke.
“We will look at the judgment, and see what we are going to do, but hopefully we are going to appeal against the judgment. I am very certain that the appeal will be favourable,” Mr Nwachukwu stated.
Source: https://www.channelstv.com/2019/03/18/2019-elections-court-nullifies-omo-agege-others-candidacy/