| INEC suspends declaration of results in Bayelsa | ||||||||||||||||
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Indications emerged on Tuesday that the Independent National Electoral Commission had suspended the further declaration of the pending results of the National Assembly polls in Bayelsa State. The commission's Information Officer in Bayelsa State, Mrs. Priscila Sule, said in an interview with THE PUNCH in Yenagoa that the 48 hours time limit for the release of all results had expired. Sule, however, refused to speak further on the matter and urged our correspondent to seek details from the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Edwin Nwatalari. She said, "The 48 hours stipulated for the release of results have expired. We are no longer releasing results for the election. But you have to wait for the REC for details. He is in Abuja attending a meeting." There has been controversy over the conduct of the election in the state, following allegations by opposition parties that the polls were marred by irregularies. While INEC has been able to release results for Bayelsa East Senatorial District, Nembe/Brass Federal Constituency, Kolokuma/Opopuma/Yenagoa Federal Constituency and Ogbia Federal Constituency, others are still pending. Areas where results are yet to be announced are Sagbama/Ekeremor Federal Constituency and Southern Ijaw Federal Constituency, where the commission in a statement signed by Sule said the polls were marred by malpractices. The commission had also in the statement withdrawn the result of Bayelsa West Senatorial District it earlier announced on the grounds of widespread irregularities. The Peoples Democratic Party cleared all the seats declared so far. | ||||||||||||||||
| Ogboru, Kokori besiege INEC Delta office | ||||||||||||||||
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The Democratic Peoples Party's governorship candidate in Delta State, Chief Great Ogboru, on Tuesday laid siege to the state headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission's in Asaba. Ogboru vowed not to leave until the appropriate results are announced. Ogboru, who was accompanied by a former President of the National Union of Petroleum and Gas Workers, Chief Frank Kokori, accused INEC of declaring the PDP senatorial candidate for Delta North, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, as the winner of the election in the zon in spite of the fact that the Returning Officer in the district was forced to do so at gunpoint. The DPP governorship candidate further maintained that no election was held in Delta South, where the DPP also lost, adding that all polls in the area must be cancelled. Ogboru, who was irked by the reluctance of INEC officials to address him and his supporters, also accused the commission of "conniving with certain elements to keep Delta state under perpetual bondage." He stated, "In Delta South, no constituency elections were properly held. On January 6, during the rerun, this was the same thing they did. Delta State is fed up with this nonsense. "We are taking our future in our hands. You can see there is no single INEC person to talk to. We will remain here until they attend to us. "We are tired of going to the tribunal. "Just imagine that the PDP did not allow our agents into the riverine areas where they usually do all the manipulations. We must make sure elections are free and fair." But at a separate press conference held at the Jonathan/Sambo campaign office in Asaba, the Commissioner for Communication and Strategy, Chief Paulinus Akpeki, accused the DPP candidate of planning to cause violence in the state. Akpeki, who is also the director-general of the PDP Campaign Council in Delta State, argued that if the PDP were to take up issues with the DPP, elections in the central senatorial district where Ogboru's party won would be cancelled. He accused Ogboru of attempting to take over the Delta Broadcasting Service, with the intention of addressing the people of the state. Akpeki said, "There will be total chaos if we want to go the way of the DPP. In Delta Central, the INEC declared DPP winner, but we didn't protest. Our candidate in Sapele/Okpe/Uwhie told us that the election was inconclusive, yet the REC declared the DPP winner. "The DPP should know that no party has the monopoly of violence. If we decide to meet violence with violence, then there will be a complete breakdown of law and order. But if the security agents cannot stop them, we are going to meet them force for force." | ||||||||||||||||
April 12, 2011Dear Compatriots:I have been looking at my watch. Time now is 10.30 am Nigerian time, Tuesday April 12, way more than 48 hours after all counting should have stopped following the National Assembly elections in Nigeria of Saturday April 9.Yet, despite scouring all the news items, I am yet to read any definitive election results from these states where elections were supposed to have taken place:SS: Bayelsa, Delta (except for controversial Delta North Senatorial District), Cross-RiverNW: Kano (Senatorial), Kebbi, Zamfara [Sokoto Senatorial was postponed]NE: Gombe, Taraba, Bauchi, Yobe, BornoNC: BenueGranted that elections were officially postponed in the following 69 Districts:SW: Ekiti (3 Senatorials, 6 HORs), Lagos (3 HORs), Ogun (5 HORs), Osun (1 HOR), Oyo (1 HOR)SE: Abia (1 HOR), Anambra (3 HORs), Ebonyi (1 Senatorial, 1 HOR), Imo (1 HOR),SS: Akwa-Ibom (1 Senatorial, 1 HOR), Bayelsa (1 Senatorial), Cross River (2 Senatorials, 1 HOR), Delta (3 HORs), Edo (1 HOR), Rivers (1 HOR)NW: Jigawa (1 HOR), Kaduna (1 Senatorial, 5 HORs), Kano (3 HORs), Sokoto (1 Senatorial), Zamfara (3 HORs)NE: Bauchi (1 Senatorial), Gombe (1 Senatorial, 3 HORs),NC: Benue (1 Senatorial, 2 HORs), Kwara (1 HOR), Nassarawa (1 HOR), Niger (1 Senatorial, 2 HORs), Plateau (3 Senatorials , 2 HORs)-----------------------------Totals: Senatorials - 17, HOR - 52
one would have expected all the results of the states/districts that were contested to be in by now.
So what is happening, INEC? Talk to Nigeria way before next Saturday April 16.
One also expects ALL the political parties to be over-analyzing polling-unit-by-unit the results that are in already. After all, ALL political parties are in OPPOSITION somewhere in Nigeria, and should therefore be vigilant SOMEWHERE in and all over the country.And there you have it.
Bolaji AlukoPS: Some problems in Delta and Bayelsa are featured below.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________PUNCH
Monday, April 11, 2011 Delta results inconclusive - REC
Emmanuel Addeh, Asaba
More than 24 hours after the conduct of the National Assembly elections in Delta State, the state Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Gabriel Adah, on Sunday evening said he had not received any senatorial results from his returning officers.
The REC who addressed journalists in his office said all the House of Representatives elections held in the state were inconclusive and therefore could not be announced.
Adah added that he would consult with the commission's national headquarters before announcing new dates for places where elections could not take place as a result of violence.
The Independent National Electoral Commission which had earlier shifted elections in three of the six federal constituencies, noted that its officials were prevented from conducting legislative elections in some parts of the state.
In Ndokwa/Ukwani federal constituency, Adah said, elections did not hold in some places.
He explained that after deducting the vote of the highest scoring party, the Democratic Peoples Party, which scored 28,054 from that of the Peoples Democratic Party's 26,433, INEC came to a conclusion that the 10, 216 electorate that did not vote were capable of swaying the results in favour of any of the parties.
The same, he said, obtained in Isoko federal constituency where the PDP had 38,089 as against DPP's 11,649.
He noted that the difference between the DPP and PDP was 26,440, adding that areas with the cancelled results had a voter strength of 28,682.
In Sapele/Ovia/Okpe federal constituency, he noted that the PDP was leading with 26,420, while the DPP had 21,405.
In a related development, the number of casualties in the poll held on Saturday swelled in the state on Sunday following the death of a policeman.
Four youths had earlier been killed in Oghume, a community in Ndokwa West and Otor-Ogor in Ughelli North of the state in the violence that erupted during the poll.
There were also reports of two suspected ballot snatchers who were shot dead by some security men attached to the polling centre in Ogor in Ughelli.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Charles Muka, who confirmed the death of the policeman, described it as regrettable.
The police officer and his colleagues, were attached to secure voting materials and were returning from duty at Ogriagbene town around 8.20pm when their speed boat which was sailing without a marine illuminator crashed into another speedboat from the opposite direction.
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GUARDIAN
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Six killed while attempting to snatch ballot boxes
From Hendrix Oliomogbe, Asaba
THE rescheduled National Assembly Elections was held in Delta State in an atmosphere devoid of rancour in the South Senatorial district but there were cases of violence at Ughelli town and Orogun, Ughelli North in the Central Senatorial district and Oghume, Ndokwa West Council in the North Senatorial district which resulted in the shooting of six persons.
At Ughelli, four persons were reportedly shot dead by the police when some suspected hoodlums attempted to snatch ballot boxes, while in a similar incidence at Orogun two others were shot and wounded by the police.
It was gathered that the suspected thugs who were heavily armed engaged the police in a shootout while attempting to snatch the ballot boxes.
In Asaba, at the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) , party supporters besieged the Commission's office over the content of a Hilux van at the premises which turned out to be result sheets for the House of Representatives election.
Following the order by the Resident Election Commissioner, Dr. Gabriel Adah that the booth be opened, six bundles of 500 copy each of Form EC 8A (i) were discovered to the consternation of all, including security agents and reporters.
Both Rev. Gabriel Egoh of National Transformation Party (NTP) and Chief Chike Onukwu of the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP), had insisted that the booth of the van, marked FG 711 VO1 (PRESIDENCY), which arrived the office at about 1am on Saturday be opened to ascertain the authenticity or otherwise of the claim.
The Public Relations Officer, Mr. Chinedu Onyeji explained that the forms were received through Benin airport late last night and they were meant for the postponed House of Representatives elections in Aniocha/Oshimili, Patani/Bomadi and Ethiope federal constituencies.
Some voters were however disenfranchised as they could not find their names in the register at Uzoigwe Primary School Polling Centre in Asaba and other neighbouring communities visited.
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TRIBUNE
Bayelsa: ACN, LP, others call for cancellation of results * Says REC must go
Monday, April 11, 2011THE Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Bayelsa State, Mr Edwin Nwatalari, on Sunday, came under fire, as opposition parties, including the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the Labour Party (LP), called for his immediate removal, over alleged irregularities recorded during the conduct of the National Assembly election, on Saturday.
Protesting the conduct of the election, members of the opposition parties stormed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) secretariat, submitting that election did not hold in six local government areas of the state.
This is even as they said the results released by INEC, which saw the emergence of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as winner in Kolokuma/Opokuma/Yenagoa Federal constituency was characterised by irregularities.
Protesters, led by the gubernatorial candidate of the ACN, Dr Imoro Kubo and chieftains of the LP, lamented the use of security operatives and ex-militant leaders to intimidate as well as hijack election materials, especially in Southern/Ijaw Local Government Area of the state.
The chairman of the LP, Addo Badou, accused the PDP-led government of using the instrument of office to manipulate votes in the state, adding that the whole essence of having credible election had been defeated.
Calling for the outright cancellation of the result, the protesters said this would be in the best interest of the people of the state, adding that in Ammasoma and some parts of southern Ijaw, the INEC officials took materials to some places without result sheets.
Reacting to the development, the state Commissioner for Information, Mr Nath Egba, described the allegation levelled against government officials as unfortunate and unfounded.
He said that instead of protesting, they should collate their evidence and in readiness for the tribunal that will hear their cases.
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