Bauchi Governor reclaims PDP ticket for second term

Senator Bala Mohammed, the Bauchi State Governor returned home for a second term after participating in the People`s Democratic Party (PDP) convention where he unsuccessfully contested for the party`s presidential ticket for the 2023 election, securing only 20 votes.

The former senator returned from the convention to participate in the State`s rerun primary for the PDP gubernatorial ticket, which was held in trust for him by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr Ibrahim Kashim Mohammed.

Kassim was the State Secretary General (SSG) before resigning to step in temporarily to hold the ticket in trust for the governor, when the first PDP gubernatorial primary election was held last week.

He stepped down for a rerun after Bola Mohammed returned from the national convention in Abuja, which now paved the way for another primary election, allowing the governor to reclaim the ticket for a second term.

Mr. Kassim was reappointed by the governor as the State Secretary General (SSG) following his stepping down.

The governor was declared the winner of the rerun which was held on Saturday at the Zaranda Hotel, Bauchi, effectively making him the People`s Democratic Party (PDP) flag bearer in the state and giving him a chance to run for a second term as the state governor.

The rerun primary election was a mere formality as the governor was in full control of the party structures, which is evidenced by the fact that the ticket was held in trust for him until he was done with his participation at the national level.

He secured all the 646 votes that were cast in the primary as he had no challenger for the ticket.

NOTABLE QUOTES

The Chairman of the Electoral Committee for the election, Murtala Damagum, while declaring the results of the election, said:

“I, Hon. Murtala Damagum, by the power vested on me as an Electoral Officer on this occasion, having satisfied all the electoral processes, do hereby, declare our last presidential aspirant and our new gubernatorial aspirant, Senator Bala Mohammed, the winner.

“He had the total votes of 646 complete votes, he is hereby declared the winner and he is returned elected,” declared the Chairman.

In a victory speech after been declared the winner, Governor Bola Mohammed said:

“On behalf of myself, my family and the Peoples Democratic Party, I thank God for this day and moment, and I thank the PDP family and the people of Bauchi for giving me the opportunity.

“You are aware that have gone on a solo trip to run for the presidency of Nigeria and that did not work but today, I must thank my brother, the Secretary to the State government who felt that I should be allowed to go for a second term by stepping down for me.

“What he did is not only a sign of loyalty but a spirit of comradeship which he expressed and I will not take that for granted. I am very grateful to God, I’m grateful to the PDP family, and I’m grateful to him (SSG). I will not disappoint him and I must also thank our national leadership for also accepting

APC chieftain dismisses Tinubu`s comment as “arrogant assumption”

A former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Babachir Lawal, has dismissed Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu`s claim that he was instrumental to President Mohammadu`s victory in 2015 as an “arrogant assumption.”

Senator Tinubu is the National Leader of the All Progressive Congress, APC, and a major contender for the APC presidential ticket for the 2023 election taking place in February.

While addressing party delegates last Thursday at Abeokuta the Ogun State capital, the visibly angry Tinubu recounted how President Muhammadu Buhari repeatedly failed previous attempts until he (Tinubu) came to his rescue in 2015.

In a life interview at the Arise Tv studio, while responding to Tinubu`s comment, the former SGF said that no one man could have made President Buhari successful at the elections.

He reminded Tinubu that Muhammadu Buhari already had a consistent 11 million voters in his support, before he (Tinubu) declared support for Buhari who won the presidential election.

However, the former SGF also tried to make excuses for Senator Tnubu, noting that Tinubu was influenced by the negative developments and vibes that has been widespread in APC in the recent time.

He also said that the former Lagos State governor might have spoken from the effect of stress.

Mr. Babachir Lawal is himself also a supporter of Senator Tinubu`s presidential ambition. It is however, not very clear where he may swing after the unsavory outburst from Tinubu and his response to him.

NOTABLE QUOTES

While responding to questions on the life Arise Tv interview Mr. Babachir Lawal said:

“No individual can make someone a president of Nigeria. Before we went for Tinubu, Buhari had consistently scored more than 11 million votes at the polls. The claim that he made Buhari president is an arrogant assumption,”

“You know APC has gone through all manners of needless crises in recent times. First of all, there was an issue of why did they extend the sale of forms or why did they extend the date for submission of forms.

“All these issues gave rise to conspiracy theory. The issue of Goodluck Jonathan coming to contest. All sorts of things put a lot of pressure on the candidate. Nigerians, being who we are, like conspiracy theories,”

But Yakubu said: “Logistics in an election is much wider than the movement of sensitive material for the election. Take the case of Ekiti for instance, all non-sensitive materials have been delivered to Ado-Ekiti and they are in all the LGAs of the state.

“But sensitive materials are usually delivered on behalf of the commission by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which are inspected in the presence of the bank and then moved out by our officials.

“I want to say that since INEC started this collaboration with the CBN, we have never experienced a single issue with the movement of materials. The agency has been such a good partner to the commission.

According to the INEC chairman’ chairman, “but we appreciate the current circumstances, and it is for that reason, pending the time we find an alternative, the materials for the Ekiti election will not be routed through the CBN.

“We will move the material to the airport in Akure and move the material to our office in Ado Ekiti and do the distribution from there. We are not going to use CBN. And when it comes to the general election, we have to look for an alternative way of doing it.”, the INEC chairman stated.

INEC abandons storing electoral material with CBN

Following the involvement of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele`s involvement in participation politics as a card carrying member of the All Progressive Congress, INEC says it is discontinuing forthwith its earlier partnership with the CBN on storing of sensitive of electoral materials.

The Chairman of INEC, the Independent Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu made this disclosure in Abuja over the weekend.

The INEC Chairman said this following the revelation that the CBN governor, is a card-carrying member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), a development, which has raised doubt and credibility issues.

This change of course for INEC in the storage of electoral materials will commence with the next gubernatorial election in Ekiti State.

NOTABLE QUOTES

The INEC boss tried to clear any doubt about whether its earlier arrangement with the apex bank may have led to compromising of the electoral materials in their custody. The INEC said:

“But sensitive materials are usually delivered on behalf of the commission by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which are inspected in the presence of the bank and then moved out by our officials.

“I want to say that since INEC started this collaboration with the CBN, we have never experienced a single issue with the movement of materials. The agency has been such a good partner to the commission.

According to the INEC chairman’ chairman, “but we appreciate the current circumstances, and it is for that reason, pending the time we find an alternative, the materials for the Ekiti election will not be routed through the CBN.

“We will move the material to the airport in Akure and move the material to our office in Ado Ekiti and do the distribution from there. We are not going to use CBN. And when it comes to the general election, we have to look for an alternative way of doing it.”, the INEC chairman stated.