PDP Loses Woefully At Fayose's Polling Unit, Ward

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has lost woefully in Afao Ekiti, Irepodun Ifelodun Local Government Area, the ward of Ayodele Fayose, immediate past Governor of Ekiti State.

At Fayose’s polling unit at St David’s Primary School, Alhaji Hakeem Jamiu, APC’s candidate in Irepodun/Ifelodun constituency (2), polled 168 votes against PDP’s Sunday Omosilade, who got a disappointing 26 votes.

PDP lost the ward to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
At Fayose’s polling unit at St David’s Primary School, Alhaji Hakeem Jamiu, APC’s candidate in Irepodun/Ifelodun constituency (2), polled 168 votes against PDP’s Sunday Omosilade, who got a disappointing 26 votes.
Omosilade, who was Fayose’s personal assistant, had notified the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of his intention to withdraw from the race, citing lack of confidence in the neutrality of the commission to conduct free and fair elections.
However, INEC rejected his letter of withdrawal, stating that he should have withdrawn at least 45 days before the poll, as contained in the provisions of the Electoral Act.
At Units 15 and 003, Igbemo ward, APC polled 171 and 335 votes, respectively, while PDP polled 0 votes in both units.

PDP also lost in Fayose's his Afao/Araromi ward, as APC scored 648 votes against PDP’s 67 votes.

‘APC has sacrificed enough for Lagos’

The Ezendigbo Alimosho General and Chairman, Council of Elders of Non-Indigene Forum in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State, Dr. Lawrence Eze, has urged the people to vote for the All Progressives Congress (APC) tomorrow.

At a general meeting yesterday, Eze noted that since the APC took over the government in 1999, the party has achieved conspicuous achievements and therefore deserves continuity.
He told the meeting that tomorrow’s election is wholly for APC candidates, and so urged them to vote for the interest of the non-indigenes since it has been agreed that non-indigenes would be included in the party’s leadership.
According to him, the party’s governorship candidate, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, is more of an administrator than a politician, having been in the system for long, and so knows the need and yarning of Lagosians.
He said: “Sanwo-Olu has promised to build link bridges in Alimosho, therefore he needs our vote to deliver these promises.”
The Seriki Hausa, Alhaji Haruna, agreed with Ezein, and told his people to be realistic and focused in their dealings.
“Tomorrow’s election, as noted by the Ezendigbo, is about interests. And since the leadership of APC has concluded to involve the non-indigenes in their government more than before, we should therefore vote APC and work assiduously for a landslide victory of APC.

The Onu of Igala, Chief Anthony Ayegba, described Sanwo-Olu as the best man for the job considering his long service in the government of Lagos State, and verse experiences. “Four years of continuation of APC is better than four years of trial and error,” he added.

No certificate of return for candidates declared winner under duress – INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission has said it will not issue Certificates of Return to candidates in places where its officials are held hostage or forced to declare winners under duress in the governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections on Saturday (tomorrow).

The commission also threatened to record zero vote and cancel the results of polling units where its personnel deliberately failed to deploy the Smart Card Readers.

The Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said this on Thursday during the meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security held at the commission’s Conference Room in Abuja.

Yakubu said, “The commission is concerned that many of our materials, including ballot boxes, voting cubicles, voter registers and Smart Card Readers were lost to acts of hooliganism and thuggery in the elections held two weeks ago. Most worrisome is the attack on electoral officials.

“Some of our staff were abducted and taken hostage in an attempt to disrupt elections or influence the outcome. In fact, some of the supplementary elections were caused by such acts of thuggery.

“I am confident that working together with the security agencies, we will consolidate the largely peaceful conduct of the Presidential and National Assembly elections while also taking decisive steps to deal with the minority of violators’ intent on disrupting the conduct of peaceful elections.

“However, the commission will not tolerate the act of holding our officials hostage and forcing them to declare winners under duress. Where such occurs, the commission will not reward bad behaviour by issuing them Certificates of Return.

“We have once again reconfigured the Smart Card Readers for the elections on Saturday. The use of the card readers is mandatory and there will be no exemption to their deployment for accreditation of voters.

“Under our regulations and guidelines, there are clear penalties for the deliberate failure to deploy them on the part of our members of staff. Where such happens with the connivance of communities, the result of election in the polling unit(s) will be cancelled and zero vote will be recorded.”

According to him, governorship election would be conducted in 29 states, state assembly poll will elect 991 members of Houses of Assembly in all the states of the Federation, six Chairmen as well as 62 councillors for the Area Councils in the Federal Capital Territory.

The INEC chairman said that in addition to elections into 1,082 constituencies nationwide, the commission would conduct supplementary elections in 14 states of the federation covering seven Senatorial Districts and 24 federal constituencies.

The supplementary elections, he said, were necessitated by electoral fraud, violence and thuggery perpetrated by political thugs and politicians in the February 23 elections.

The INEC chairman also stated that materials for the polls on Saturday had been delivered to all states and the FCT.

With this arrangement, Yakubu said the commission was confident that all polling units would open at 8am nationwide.

INEC also hinted that Cs of R for governors and deputy-governors-elect, members of state Houses of Assembly-elect and chairmen and councillors for the FCT “shall be presented in each state of the federation by the Supervising National Commissioners and the Resident Electoral Commissioners on a date to be announced next week.

For Senatorial Districts and Federal Constituencies in which winners have already emerged, Yakubu said the commission would issue their Certificates of return  next week.

He said, “On behalf of the commission, I extend our deepest condolence to the families of those who lost their lives, including personnel of the security agencies. We are glad that the police have made several arrests and investigation is ongoing.

“I wish to assure Nigerians that the commission will work closely with the police to ensure the diligent prosecution of all violators of our electoral laws. Citizens are asking for effective but non-intrusive protection before, during and immediately after the elections in which their rights are respected and their choices safeguarded.”

Campaigns end, 29 states to elect governors on Saturday

Meanwhile, campaigns for Saturday’s polls ended officially on Thursday.

 According to the timetable released by INEC, the campaigns which started on December 1, 2018, would have ended on February 28 but for the postponement of the election from March 2 to March 9.

Seven states whose governors have yet to serve out their terms will not take part in the exercise.

The states are Anambra, Bayelsa, Ondo, Osun, Ekiti, Edo and Kogi.

But elections into the various seats in state Houses of Assembly will hold in the 36 states of the federation.

In all, 1,158 governorship candidates will contest the governorship positions in the 29 states, while 14, 643 candidates will contest 991 posts in the various state Houses of Assembly.

Although almost all registered political parties are taking part in the elections at the state level, the contest is a straight fight between the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party.

The states to look out for, however, include Ogun where the state governor, Ibikunle Amosun of the APC, is supporting the governorship candidate of the Allied People’s Movement, Adekunle Akinlade.

Akinlade will be slugging it out with the APC governorship candidate, Dapo Abiodun.

The PDP is in crisis in the state. While INEC recognises Buruji Kashamu as the party’s candidate based on court order, the national leadership of the party is backing Ladi Adebutu.

Similar scenario is playing out in Imo State where Governor Rochas Okorocha, though of the APC, is supporting the governorship candidate of Action Alliance, Uche Nwosu.

It is a straight contest among Nwosu; the candidate of the APC, Hope Uzodinma; and that of the PDP, Emeka Ihedioha.

Although the APC in the state had adopted the governorship candidate of Africa Action Congress, Awara Biokpomabo, for the election, it is yet to be seen if that can pose any serious challenge to Wike.

In Lagos State, the APC candidate, Babajide Sanwo-Olu; and PDP’s Jimi Agbaje, are the leading contestants.

In Oyo State, APC’s candidate, Adebayo Adelabu, has Seyi Makinde of the PDP as his main challenger.

Cohen gives documents to House panel on Trump attorney alleged changes to 2017 testimony

Michael Cohen on Wednesday provided the House Intelligence Committee with new documents showing edits to the false written statement he delivered to Congress in 2017 about the Trump Organization's pursuit of the Trump Tower Moscow project into the 2016 campaign season, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

The documents Cohen provided are intended to further explain his public testimony last week, in which Cohen said that President Donald Trump's then-personal lawyer Jay Sekulow made changes to his statement to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, and that it was reviewed ahead of time by lawyers like Abbe Lowell, an attorney for Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, the President's daughter and son-in-law who are both White House advisers.

It's unclear what Cohen's documents show was specifically changed in the statement. Cohen is testifying Wednesday behind closed doors at the House Intelligence Committee.

"There were changes made, additions -- Jay Sekulow, for one," Cohen said last week. "There were several changes that were made including how we were going to handle that message, which was -- the message of course being -- the length of time that the Trump Tower Moscow project stayed and remained alive."

Sekulow pushed back on Cohen's allegations in a statement last week, saying that the "testimony by Michael Cohen that attorneys for the President edited or changed his statement to Congress to alter the duration of the Trump Tower Moscow negotiations is completely false."

As CNN previously reported, according to two of the sources familiar with the preparation, including one close to the Trump Organization and one close to the President's legal team, the lawyers had no indication that any of the information in the testimony of Trump's now-former longtime attorney and fixer was inaccurate.

Cohen also accused Trump in his public testimony of encouraging him to lie about the Trump Tower Moscow discussions, though he said Trump did not tell him to do so directly.

"He doesn't tell you what he wants. What he does is again, 'Michael, there's no Russia, there's no collusion, there's no involvement, there's no interference.' I know what he means because I've been around him for so long," Cohen testified. "That's the message that he wanted to reinforce."

Cohen was supposed to report to prison Wednesday to begin serving a three-year sentence for tax crimes, tax evasion and lying to Congress. Instead, President Donald Trump's former lawyer is on Capitol Hill talking about the crimes he is now accusing Trump of committing.

Cohen, who is now slated to begin his prison term on May 6, is back on Capitol Hill on Wednesday for his fourth appearance in the last eight days, concluding his closed-door testimony before the Intelligence Committee that began last week.

In the first round of testimony last week, Cohen was asked about a range of topics, with lawmakers seeking additional details on the drafting of Cohen's statement as well as any discussions about a possible pardon. The session also included some of the partisan fighting that plagued the committee during its Russia investigation in the last Congress, according to sources familiar with his testimony.

Republicans on the committee objected to what they felt were untoward Democratic tactics in the run-up to the interview, noting that Democratic committee staff met with Cohen several times before the hearing without telling the Republicans, according to the sources. They also asked Cohen about his comments in last week's public hearing that he had discussed "topics" with House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff before the hearing, the sources said.

Rep. Mike Turner, an Ohio Republican, sent Cohen's attorney a letter on Thursday asking for details about his contact with Schiff and his committee staff, suggesting the staff may have "coached" Cohen.

Patrick Boland, a spokesman for Schiff, said that the committee was running "a professional investigation in search of the facts, and we welcome the opportunity to meet with potential witnesses in advance of any testimony to determine relevant topics to cover in order to make productive use of their time before the committee."

"Despite this professed outrage by Republicans, it's completely appropriate to conduct proffer sessions and allow witnesses to review their prior testimony before the Committee interviews them — such sessions are a routine part of every serious investigation around the country, including congressional investigations," Boland said.

Consultation with witnesses ahead of a hearing or interview isn't necessarily out of the ordinary. For instance, Cohen's lawyer, Lanny Davis, also spoke to Republicans on the House Oversight Committee ahead of their hearing last week. But the questions about Schiff's consultation from Intelligence Committee Republicans underscores the divisions between the two parties on that panel when it comes to the Russia investigation.

Cohen's final day of Capitol Hill testimony, notably, comes in an even more heated environment than last week, after House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler announced Monday the start of a sweeping investigation into the President. House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings signaled after Cohen's public testimony that he wanted to interview Trump's eldest son Donald Trump Jr. and Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, among others.

And the House Intelligence Committee has signaled interest in Weisselberg, while Schiff said the committee would hold a public hearing next week with Felix Sater, the Russian-born Trump business associate who worked with Cohen on the Trump Tower Moscow project.

Trump has aggressively pushed back on the House investigations following Cohen's testimony, charging that "the witch hunt continues" and Democrats have effectively "started the campaign."

House Oversight to pursue interviews with Trump family members, close associates

"The witch hunt continues. The fact is that -- I guess we got 81 letters. There was no collusion. It's a hoax," Trump told reporters Tuesday when asked about the investigations.

In his public testimony last week, Cohen accused Trump of directing him to make hush-money payments to women alleging affairs, and then displayed a reimbursement check he was paid with Trump's signature. He also accused Trump of telling him to publicly lie about Trump's knowledge of the payments in February 2018, along with committing financial fraud.

He followed up that public House Oversight appearance with the first part of his closed-door House Intelligence interview the following day, where Schiff said the committee was able to "drill down" certain issues in even more detail.

"We are in communication with, obviously, Mr. Cohen and his counsel about further document requests following our interview today that we'll be able to discuss at our next session," Schiff said after Cohen had finished for the day. "We also went through documents in our possession, dozens of documents in our possession with Mr. Cohen, but we have additional document requests that we will be in discussion with him about."

There are a host of topics that lawmakers are interested in hearing from Cohen about, including his public testimony about overhearing a conversation between Trump and longtime confidante Roger Stone involving a WikiLeaks' email dump, presidential pardons, and Cohen's public testimony that the Southern District of New York could be investigating his conversations with Trump.

The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Cohen's former lawyer, Stephen Ryan, discussed the possibility of a pardon for Cohen with Trump's attorneys after the FBI's raid on Cohen.

The House Judiciary Committee is also asking questions about pardons, as they asked a number of Trump officials related to possible pardons for Cohen, former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn.

This story has been updated with additional developments Wednesday.

I Don’t Want To Call Atiku A Poor Student Of Statistics, Says Oshiomhole

“When Alhaji Atiku Abubakar talks about statistical impossibilities, I don’t want to call him a poor student of statistics. But talking about statistical impossibilities, I invite you to reflect on the number of new registered voters," Oshiomhole said.

Adams Oshiomhole, National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), stopped short of calling Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a “poor student of statistics” on Thursday.

At a press conference held in Abuja to analyse the 2019 presidential election, Oshiomhole specifically referred to Atiku’s statement rejecting the result of the presidential election on the basis of “statistical impossibilities”, among other reasons.
He congratulated APC supporters and Nigerians in general, just as he commiserated with the families of those who lost their lives during the election, and called on government to bring those behind the violence to justice.
He went on to say Atiku deserved to lose in the election, as he is a candidate of “doubtful integrity”.
His words: “I believe that what happened last Saturday was a referendum between a man of integrity and a man of doubtful integrity and Nigerians have resolved the issue satisfactorily and we believe Nigerians have spoken.
“However, yesterday, the PDP candidate who lost, and who was a signatory to the peace accord, went into this race knowing that Nigeria cannot possibly elect two presidents. Only one president will emerge.
“Having suffered defeat, which I believe he deserved, he went on to say that he rejects the result and adducing very laughable argument as the basis for his decision. But I have found out that in this country, you recycle lie over and over, some people begin to think that there is truth in it. The conventional wisdom is that there is no smoke without fire. But in Nigerian politics, there is huge smoke and yet, there is not fire at all.
“Now, I want to speak to some facts as we know them and I challenge you as members of the media to crosscheck from your own records, as a way of enabling yourselves to debunk effortlessly the falsehood that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar tried to parrot yesterday in order to discredit what otherwise represents the very peaceful election, in spite of those isolated incidents and I am happy that the international community, as well as the Nigerian observers, are unanimous that this election and no election anywhere in the world is perfect. We have people in some parts of the western world who are leaders of democracy, who are still conducting enquiry into how their own last election was conducted. So, it’s not about whether this election was perfect. It is whether it is substantially free and fair and whether indeed, it represents the will of the Nigerian people.
“I am convinced as INEC has announced that this election reflects the will of the Nigerian people and that for us is something for which we beat our chest and we congratulate the great people of Nigeria. Alhaji Atiku Abubakar describes what he calls statistical impossibilities and he claimed that the two zones where he is strongest, that votes in those areas were smaller, and that the margin of victory was also small. He specifically referred to the South-South and the South-East. I want to refresh the minds of Nigerians and indeed, all those who are interested, by just rolling out the voting pattern since 1999.”

Oshiomhole went on to reel out figures from elections in past years, and how the card reader had affected those votes, adding that “When Alhaji Atiku Abubakar talks about statistical impossibilities, I don’t want to call him a poor student of statistics. But talking about statistical impossibilities, I invite you to reflect on the number of new registered voters.”

APC records zero votes at Ekweremadu’s polling unit

The Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, has convincingly delivered his polling unit to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with the All Progressives Congress (APC) recording zero votes in the presidential, senatorial and House of Representatives elections.

Mr Ekweremadu, who voted at polling unit 003 at Amachala Primary School, Mpu Ward, Aninri Local Government Area of Enugu State, polled 490 votes while his main challenger, Juliet Ibekaku-Nwaugwu of the APC, scored zero.
The polling unit, which has a total of 1,287 registered voters, was divided by INEC into polling units 003A and 003B.
At the polling unit 003A where Mr Ekweremadu voted, he scored 265 votes and recorded 225 votes at the polling unit 003B, totalling 490.
In the presidential poll, while Mr Muhammadu Buhari of the APC scored zero, the candidate of the AAC and publisher of Sahara Reporters newspaper, Mr Omoyele Sowore, scored one vote.
PDP’s candidate for the House of Representatives in the constituency, Toby Okechukwu, scored more votes than other candidates at the polling unit including Mr Ekweremadu. Mr Okechukwu scored 492, two votes ahead of the senator.

PREMIUM TIMES reported on Saturday Mr Ekweremadu’s complaints about an alleged shortfall of ballot papers and result sheets in some of the polling units in about two local government areas in the district.
Mr. Ekweremadu, who is seeking re-election into the Senate for the fifth time, had said in spite of the one week extension, lapses were identified in some of the units in his Enugu West Senatorial District.
Shortly, after voting, Mr Ekweremadu told reporters that his contacts across some wards confirmed the lapses, but said he had complained to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
He said; “Specifically, I made contacts with Udi Local Government Area and I was told the ballot papers for Senate at Amaupe Ward is yet to arrive and in Uduma Ward 1 and 2, the result sheets are not available. Also in Umuabi ward, they are still looking for result sheets.
“Also in Nnewe Ward 1 and Achunu Ward 3 ballot papers are not complete. But in places where they have started such as this place where I voted it, though they have challenges of card readers initially, you can see now it is very orderly and they have been able to move seamlessly.
“I also learnt that the security situation is still fine and we can only hope that as we move forward it can be sustained,” he added.

Atiku speaks on election results

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has said that with the results collated so far, he is sure of winning the presidential election.

Mr Abubakar stated this on Sunday morning in a statement by his campaign spokesperson, Phrank Shaibu.

“With strong shares of vote in SS, SE as well as an increased share in SW and NC we are very pleased with the progress the PDP has made. We look forward to sharing some exciting news in other parts of the country very soon, which will confound all the armchair pundits,” Mr Shaibu said.

Mr Abubakar is the main challenger to President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress.

See full statement below.

Presidential candidate of the People Democratic Party and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has thanked Nigerians for turning out to vote for him in their millions and confirmed that the initial indications from the PDPs Simultaneous Vote Count show a PDP victory is assured.

Atiku in a statement issued in Abuja by his Special Assistant On Public Communication,Mr. Phrank Shaibu said “I would like to sincerely thank the millions of people who, despite having to bear the additional burden of a postponed election, came out yesterday to vote for me and the other PDP candidates standing in this election.”

The statement said with the PDP’s high tech, cloud-based SVC system – which is able to collate in real-time the results from the 176,000 voting points across the nation – the Presidential candidate could boldly assure his supporters that victory was at hand.

“With strong shares of vote in SS, SE as well as an increased share in SW and NC we are very pleased with the progress the PDP has made. We look forward to sharing some exciting news in other parts of the country very soon, which will confound all the armchair pundits.

The people of Nigeria can take solace that very soon the living Nightmare of the last four years will come to an end so that together we will get Nigeria working again.”

The PDP Presidential candidate urged Nigerians on the need to maximise their eternal vigilance in the next 48 hours to prevent the majority votes recorded at the polling units being disrupted by force by the APC at the collation centres.

“I am familiar with how brazen and the complete lack of shame the APC can exhibit, but even I was shocked to witness just how low they went last night by accusing the PDP of ‘recruiting armed thugs’ to do just that. Why would we want to do that when we are winning?”

“Furthermore I would like to say how proud I was of PDP supporters who conducted themselves so peacefully despite the significant provocations and threats of violence, removal and burning of ballot boxes and the likes.”

The statement also thanked the security forces and election officials who in the main conducted their duties with exemplary professionalism but tasked General Buhari on his promise of a free and fair election.

“General Buhari you have promised our people and the world that you would conduct ‘free, fair and credible elections’ so please call off the wilder elements within your party and deliver on your promise.”

BREAKING: PDP campaign spokesman abducted

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said its presidential campaign spokesperson in Kogi state, Mr. Austin Okai, has been abducted.

It said he was whisked away Friday night by armed thugs allegedly unleashed by the All Progressives Congress (APC).
PDP spokesman, Kola Ologbodiyan, also asked the Inspector General of Police, Adamu Mohammed, to immediately disband the checking point in Banda, Lokoja-Abuja highway, where the members of opposition are being harassed and intimidated.

He urged Mohammed, to immediately step into the matter to forestall a break down of law and order.
The image maker noted: “This is because, if Mr. Austin Okai and others are not immediately released by the APC, it would send a very wrong signal to the already agitated youth and lead to a resort to self-help.
“The PDP also alerts of the arrest of its ward chairmen in Rivers state by soldiers, particularly in Abua-Odual Local Government Area, ostensibly in compliance with the orders of the Buhari Presidency.

“The mass arrest in Rivers is coming on the heels of the clampdown of PDP members in Kano state with the arrest of our party leaders and campaign officials including our Senatorial candidate Ahmed Haruna Bichi and a serving member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ahmed Garba Bichi.
“The PDP notes that these are two very volatile states and any act that suggests a clamp down by the authorities might lead to vehement resistance by the people and trigger crisis in the state.
“We call on Nigerians to note how the Buhari Presidency and the APC are pushing Nigerians to the wall and invite the international community to hold President Buhari directly responsible for these infractions against innocent Nigerians,” he said.

Power Players: The World’s Top 25 Wealthiest Politicians

 

Politicians are known for their charm and their ability to work the system. We typically have a very love-hate relationship with our leaders, but one thing’s for sure: some of them are really, really rich. Richer than they might want you to know.

Many politicians gain their wealth in business before getting into politics. Others use their political connections to make them money. Some are heirs or heiresses before they ever enter office. What follows are some of the wealthiest politicians in the world – and the stories of how they made so, so much money.

Start Slideshow                                        

Page 1/50

“I have not forgiven Obasanjo and I won’t forget what Babangida did to me” – Buhari

In an interview with the Sun Newspapers, General Muhammadu Buhari, who hardly lets his emotions get the better of him, bares it all like never before.