{"id":396013,"date":"2011-04-25T08:52:44","date_gmt":"2011-04-25T08:52:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/04\/25\/tension-mounts-over-governors-assembly-polls\/"},"modified":"2011-04-25T08:52:44","modified_gmt":"2011-04-25T08:52:44","slug":"tension-mounts-over-governors-assembly-polls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/25\/tension-mounts-over-governors-assembly-polls\/","title":{"rendered":"Tension Mounts Over Governors’, Assembly Polls"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n

Daily Independent<\/a> (Lagos)<\/p>\n

24 April 2011<\/p>\n

\n

Lagos \u2014 Lagosians are in high spirits for the Governorship and Assembly elections on Tuesday, in a state where residents in the domain of Babatunde Fashola are too busy making money to hate anyone.<\/p>\n

But there is uncertainty in the camp of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the neighbouring Oyo, where its Governorship candidate, Isiaka Ajimobi, has not struck a deal with former Governor Rashidi Ladoja, candidate of the Accord Party (AP), to produce a double whammy against Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).<\/p>\n

Some states in the North are even too close to call.<\/p>\n

Three parties are in a do-or-die gig in Borno, the opposition has rejected ballot papers in Niger, and All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) Zamfara Governorship candidate, Abdulziz Abubakar, has accused the Commissioner of Police of plotting with the PDP to rig the vote.<\/p>\n

Besides, Borno ANPP Chairman, Mala Othman, on Sunday accused Works and Housing Minister, Sanusi Daggash, and five other PDP stalwarts of possessing already thumb-printed ballot papers to rig, a claim state PDP Chairman, Baba Basharu, denied.<\/p>\n

Opposition political parties in Niger rejected plans by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct the Governorship election with ballot papers meant for a possible rerun.<\/p>\n

Leaders of the opposition political parties fielding candidates – ANPP, CPC, ADC, ARP, SDMP, NTP, and CPP – decided at a meeting to oppose the timing of the elections<\/p>\n

They said the use of ballot papers with the logo and names of the 63 registered political parties run counter to the policy of the INEC which, to ensure transparency and equity, should use the generally recognised and approved ‘customised ballot papers.’<\/p>\n

They also raised the alarm over alleged plans by the INEC to rig the election in favour of the PDP by using ballot papers that omit the names and logo of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and the Citizens Popular Party (CPP).<\/p>\n

Spokesmen of the parties, state NPP Chairman, Jumai Mohammed, and CPC Chairman Umar Shuaibu alleged that the PDP has already thumb-printed ballot papers to perfect rigging.<\/p>\n

However, despite threat of boycott by the ANPP, ACN, and CPC, INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Emmanuel Onucheyo, said arrangements have been concluded to conduct the vote.<\/p>\n

The Governorship contest in Borno is a three-way fight involving the ANPP, the PDP, and the CPC.<\/p>\n

Kashim Shettima (ANPP) has the backing of Governor Ali Sheriff (ANPP), but Mohammed Goni (PDP) has wide-spread acceptance based on his achievements in his previous stint as Governor.<\/p>\n

Mustapha Shehuri (CP), a National Assembly (NASS) member, benefits from the pro-Muhammadu Buhari sentiment.<\/p>\n

In the NASS ballot on April 9, the PDP, which had been in opposition for over a decade, sprang a surprise when it captured two Senatorial and two House of Representatives seats in the state.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the CPC, which did not do well at the NASS poll, got nearly all the votes in the Presidential election: this the PDP and the other parties see as a cautionary tale for the Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The ANPP secured nine of the 12 NASS slots, but was left bruised by the defeat of Sheriff in Borno Central Senatorial District.<\/p>\n

Sheriff has warned ANPP supporters of the danger of losing the Governorship to the opposition.<\/p>\n

Yet Goni Campaign Organisation Director General, Umara Kumalia, maintained that, “We have all it takes to win the state, because the people have said they are tired of them and they are ready to push them out next Tuesday.<\/p>\n

“It is the end of the road for Sheriff and his people in Borno. The people of Borno want change and the change they want is in the PDP.”<\/p>\n

State CPC Chairman, Zanna Shettimam countered that, “The (NASS) election was jointly rigged by the ANPP and the PDP, but our popularity claim was fully vindicated at the Presidential election; and people have realised that it is only through the CPC that Borno will get its desired change.”<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Boko-Haram, the deadly Islamic sect, added its own twist by threatening to plunge the state into another violence.<\/p>\n

“We are against democracy and those practicing it and we will do everything to scuttl it,” the sect stated in a letter to media houses on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Abubakar, the ANPP Governorship candidate in Zamfara, accused the Commissioner of Police of colluding with the PDP to rig the elections.<\/p>\n

“We are therefore appealing to the Inspector General of Police (Hafiz Ringim) to immediately re-deploy (him), and (Ringim) should also direct in-coming Commissioner to be posted to our state to discharge his responsibilities without fear or favour,” Abubakar said at a press conference in Gusau.<\/p>\n

“The state government has already acquired 40 vehicles to be used and is claiming to be in possession of illegal ballot papers for their evil plan.<\/p>\n

“The Commissioner of Police has promised the Governor (Mahmud Shinkafi) to use mobile police force and other security officials to terrorise innocent citizens on election day to put the acquired illegal ballot papers in the ballot boxes.”<\/p>\n

In Oyo, the last minute effort by the Archbishop of the Ibadan Archdiocese of the Catholic Church, Felix Alaba Job, to make either Ajimobi or Ladoja to step down failed on Sunday as Ladoja stayed away from a meeting called in Ibadan.<\/p>\n

Ajimobi, a Muslim, attended St. Mary’s Catholic Cathedral, Ibadan for the Easter celebrations, and met with Job after the service.<\/p>\n

Some elders in Ibadan had contacted Job to appeal to Ladoja to step down for Ajimobi after they adopted him as their candidate.<\/p>\n

Back in Lagos, the police reassured on security and urged the residents to go to the polls to elect the Governor and the members of the state Assembly, as well as pick their choices for the three House of Representatives seats in Shomolu, Ifako-Ijaiye, and Ikorodu, where ballot had been postponed.<\/p>\n

Commissioner of Police Suleiman Abba disclosed that 35,000 officers have been deployed on election duty, along with personnel from the Customs, Immigration, NDLEA, FRSC, and the Nigerian security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).<\/p>\n

He implored the public to continue to partner with police and other security agencies to ensure a peaceful and transparent exercise.<\/p>\n

Abba reminded everyone that, “Violence, including the unlawful brandishing of weapons at election venues, or anywhere at all in the state, threatening violence or disrupting the elections through snatching of election materials or the mishandling of election officials will be promptly and decisively dealt with and culprits arrested.<\/p>\n

“Also, the sponsors of any violence, on the election day and or the period thereafter, be warned; no one will spare you.”<\/p>\n

A statement issued in Ilorin by ACN National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, warned that the PDP would incur the wrath of the people if it rigs on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

He said the warning is particularly necessary because the PDP has been “huffing and puffing” about how it will capture Lagos – which it has always “inordinately set its eyes on in spite of the deservedly huge acceptance of the ACN in the state.<\/p>\n

“The plank of the PDP’s bravado is that it will ride on the back of the ‘victory’ of President Goodluck Jonathan in the state in the April 16 Presidential election.”<\/p>\n

The ACN insisted that the same warning applies to any of the states in which it is poised to carry, “Barring any systemic rigging by the irredeemable PDP, especially Ogun, Oyo, Kwara, Akwa Ibom, Benue, and Imo, just to mention a few.<\/p>\n

“What the people want is a genuinely free, fair and credible election. The seemingly free and fair poll so far, under the Modified Open Ballot System, has now been proven to be a facade in the real sense, since the poor oversight by the INEC as well as observers at the various levels of the collation stage has given room for the PDP to massively doctor or outrightly cook up figures.”<\/p>\n

Mohammed alleged that a former Presidential aide, “who is adept at doing dirty deals,” has been dispatched to Lagos to bribe electoral officers with N200 million ahead of Tuesday’s poll, even though “no amount of money can force the people to vote for a party that can only reverse the much-acclaimed giant strides made by the Babatunde Fashola administration in the past four years.”<\/p>\n

By Chinwendu Nnadozie (Minna), Andrew Utulu (Lagos), Abdulkareem Haruna (Maiduguri), Gbenga Abegunrin (Ibadan) and Idris Salisu (Gusau).<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\nMore News on allAfrica.com<\/strong><\/legend>\n<\/fieldset>\n

AllAfrica – All the Time<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

View the original here:
\nTension Mounts Over Governors’, Assembly Polls<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Daily Independent (Lagos) 24 April 2011 Lagos \u2014 Lagosians are in high spirits for the Governorship and Assembly elections on Tuesday, in a state where residents in the domain of Babatunde Fashola are too busy making money to hate anyone. But there is uncertainty in the camp of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the neighbouring Oyo, where its Governorship candidate, Isiaka Ajimobi, has not struck a deal with former Governor Rashidi Ladoja, candidate of the Accord Party (AP), to produce a double whammy against Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Some states in the North are even too close to call. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-396013","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"\nTension Mounts Over Governors', Assembly Polls - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/25\/tension-mounts-over-governors-assembly-polls\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Tension Mounts Over Governors', Assembly Polls - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Daily Independent (Lagos) 24 April 2011 Lagos \u2014 Lagosians are in high spirits for the Governorship and Assembly elections on Tuesday, in a state where residents in the domain of Babatunde Fashola are too busy making money to hate anyone. But there is uncertainty in the camp of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the neighbouring Oyo, where its Governorship candidate, Isiaka Ajimobi, has not struck a deal with former Governor Rashidi Ladoja, candidate of the Accord Party (AP), to produce a double whammy against Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Some states in the North are even too close to call.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/25\/tension-mounts-over-governors-assembly-polls\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/25\/tension-mounts-over-governors-assembly-polls\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Tension Mounts Over Governors’, Assembly Polls\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-04-25T08:52:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/25\/tension-mounts-over-governors-assembly-polls\/\"},\"wordCount\":1416,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Business\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/25\/tension-mounts-over-governors-assembly-polls\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/25\/tension-mounts-over-governors-assembly-polls\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/25\/tension-mounts-over-governors-assembly-polls\/\",\"name\":\"Tension Mounts Over Governors', Assembly Polls - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-04-25T08:52:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/25\/tension-mounts-over-governors-assembly-polls\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Tension Mounts Over Governors', Assembly Polls - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/25\/tension-mounts-over-governors-assembly-polls\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Tension Mounts Over Governors', Assembly Polls - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"Daily Independent (Lagos) 24 April 2011 Lagos \u2014 Lagosians are in high spirits for the Governorship and Assembly elections on Tuesday, in a state where residents in the domain of Babatunde Fashola are too busy making money to hate anyone. But there is uncertainty in the camp of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the neighbouring Oyo, where its Governorship candidate, Isiaka Ajimobi, has not struck a deal with former Governor Rashidi Ladoja, candidate of the Accord Party (AP), to produce a double whammy against Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Some states in the North are even too close to call.","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/25\/tension-mounts-over-governors-assembly-polls\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/25\/tension-mounts-over-governors-assembly-polls\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Tension Mounts Over Governors’, Assembly Polls","datePublished":"2011-04-25T08:52:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/25\/tension-mounts-over-governors-assembly-polls\/"},"wordCount":1416,"commentCount":0,"articleSection":["Business"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/25\/tension-mounts-over-governors-assembly-polls\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/25\/tension-mounts-over-governors-assembly-polls\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/25\/tension-mounts-over-governors-assembly-polls\/","name":"Tension Mounts Over Governors', Assembly Polls - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-04-25T08:52:44+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/25\/tension-mounts-over-governors-assembly-polls\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396013\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}