Governorship flagbearers The shape and character of the 2015 general election got clearer on Monday with the emergence of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidates in most of the states across the country. In a few other states, the results were not ready as at the time of going to the press last night. Some notable political and sometimes controversial figures emerged yesterday in some states. While some of themfulfilled political predictions, some others sprang a surprise by upturning book predictions. In Delta State for instance, political pundits were taken aback with the emergence of Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, a serving Senator, against the system support for Chief David Edevbie and Mr. Tony Obuh. In Rivers, not many were surprised that controversial former Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike emerged as the PDP gubernatorial candidate. In most other states, aspirants supported by state governors emerged as the partys candidates. Dankwambo Clinches Gombe Ticket Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo of Gombe State yesterday got overwhelming votes from PDP delegates to fly the flag of the party in the 2015 governorship election in the state. The governor who got 492 affirmative votes since he was the sole candidate, promised to continue with the delivery of the dividends of democracy and the good ideology of the PDP. Announcing the result of the primary election, chairman of the electoral committee and former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ghali Umar Na’Abba, stated that out of the 504 registered delegates, four of them were absent while eight votes were voided. He therefore returned Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo as the party’s standard-bearer for the 2015 governorship election in Gombe State. Ribadu Wins in Adamawa Former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu has won the PDP governorship ticket for Adamawa State. Ribadu, who contested against the governor, Bala James Ngilari; son of the former PDP National Chairman, Awwal Tukur, former governorship candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in 2011, Dr. Marcus Gundiri, former Executive Secretary of Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr. Ahmed Modibbo and General Aliyu Kama, scored a total of 688 votes to clinch the partys ticket. Gundiri got 33, while Ngilari had 26 and Tukur scored 25. The least figure of three votes went to Kama. Two votes were declared invalid. In his acceptance speech, the former EFCC chairman extended hands of fellowship to all aspirants and promised to bring his anti-corruption stance to bear in all facet of governance if elected Adamawa governor in 2015. Emmanuel Emerges in Akwa Ibom True to expectation, the immediate past Secretary to Akwa Ibom State government, Mr. Udom Gabriel Emmanuel, has emerged the winner of the PDP governorship primaries in the state. The exercise, which took place inside the main bowl of the nest of champions stadium in Uyo, saw Mr. Emmanuel sweeping more than 98% of the total votes cast by the delegates. There were 25 aspirants, including a woman and senator representing Eket Senatorial district of the state, Mrs Helen Esuene, who took part in the exercise. Addressing the congress, the Returning Officer, Prince Bola Oyebowale announced that a total of 1,360 delegates were accredited for the primaries. Despite the objection raised by some aspirants, the exercise went on, as the electoral panel returning officer Mr. Oyebowale and the state chairman of the party Paul Ekpo, advised the aggrieved aspirants to register their protests with the electoral appeal panel as stipulated in the constitution of the party. In Abia, Ikpeazu is It The anxiety over the possible outcome of the governorship primary election of the PDP in Abia State ended with Dr Okezie Victor Ikpeazu defeating seven other aspirants to emerge the standard-bearer of the party. He polled 487 votes or 76 per Former Labour and Productivity Minister, Chief Emeka Wogu, got 33 votes to place third while former Deputy Governor, Chief Acho Nwakanma and Mr. Friday Nwosu got five votes each. The former boss of defunct Hall Mark Bank, Marc Wabara, and Ambassador Okey Emuchay also ended the race on equal footing with each of them scoring three votes while Chief Iheanacho Orji got only one vote. In declaring Ikpeazu the winner of the race, the chairman of the primary election committee, Hon (Dr) Angela Mba, who also doubles as the returning officer, said Ikpeazu had satisfied all the stated conditions. The victory of Ikpeazu, a scientist by training and former Deputy General Manager of Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA), was a triumph for Governor Theodore Orji and the state leadership of the PDP in their resolve to ensure that power must shift to Abia South come 2015. Folarin Wins PDP Ticket in Oyo Former Senate Leader Teslim Folarin in Ibadan emerged the PDP candidate in Oyo State in the primary election. But the outcome of the exercise is being contested by another aspirant, Seyi Makinde, who stayed away. . A total of 211 delegates voted in the primary with Folarin having 167 votes. A former governor of the state, Adebayo Alao-Akala, who also stayed away from the exercise, had two votes while Alhaji Hazeem Gbolarumi, a former deputy governor to Alao-Akala, had 12 votes. However, Alao-Akala, who addressed his supporters in Ogbomoso while the primary was going on in Ibadan said he was still in the race for the governorship election and that he would announce his next political move soon. Ladoja Emerges Oyo AP governorship candidate Still in Oyo State, former Governor Rashidi Ladoja, was confirmed the governorship candidate of Accord Party in the forthcoming gubernatorial election. In what was a mere affirmation of his candidature rather than contest, Ladoja polled 1,692 votes to emerge winner in a race where he had no opponent. During his acceptance speech, Ladoja said his emergence marked the beginning of a big struggle that would end with the 2015 elections. He said: “This is not the victory itself but the beginning of the struggle taking us into 2015 election. The beauty of AP is that it is violence-free. We do not believe in sharing money or spending money excessively on elections as it is done in other parties.” While canvassing for the support of the people of the state, Ladoja said having been a former governor, his vision was clear on what the needs of the people were. “We have done it before and we will do it again. The people of this state are waiting for us because AP is the party to beat in the state. It is not for nothing that we are the darling of traders, students, teachers and everybody, this is because of the good work we have always done,” he added. Confusion Trails National Assembly Primary Result in Benue State A mild disagreement has ensued over the result of the just concluded National Assembly primaries in some federal constituencies of Benue State . In the Obi/Oju National Assembly election, the incumbent, Mr. Samson Ukwu, who was announced victorious in the election, was however announced to have lost the election to Nick Eworo. But yet in another counter announcement on a radio station in the state, Okwu was declared winner of the poll by the returning officers in the election. Also, the federal lawmaker representing Ado/Ogbadibo/Okpokwu federal constituency at the National Assembly, Mr. Hassan Saleh, and his counterparts from Gwer/Gwer West, Mrs. Christie Alaaga, and Benjamin Aboho of Kwande/Ushongo constituency lost out at Saturdays PDP primaries in Benue State. The three who were the major casualties of the primaries in the state, lost out to Chris Abah, John Tion and Bob Tyough. Among the casualties were the immediate past Media Adviser to the Governor, Dr. Cletus Akwaya, who lost the race for the Vandeikya/Konshisha seat to former Commissioner for Works, Mrs. Mnena Shija. While at the Gboko/Tarka constituency, Mr. Bernard Nenge was unanimously elected by delegates. In the meantime, only three incumbent members from the state secured the ticket of the PDP. They include Adamu Atonu of Apa/Agatu, Ezekiel Adaji of Otukpo/Ohimini and Emmanuel Udende of Logo/Ukum/Katsina-Ala federal constituencies. Reacting to the outcome of the primaries, Abah attributed his victory to the handiwork of God and the will of the people. It is only God who used my people to make this a reality; it is a victory for the people, he said. Aggrieved Aspirants in Adamawa Petition PDP, INEC Seven National Assembly aspirants from Adamawa State have petitioned the PDP and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the change of venue of the partys primary election from Yola, Adamawa State to Abuja. This is coming as the partys National Working Committee (NWC) has cancelled the outcome of the governorship primary election in the state, explaining that it did not authorise the conduct of the election. In a petition signed by Senator Grace Bent, Hon. Aisharu Dahiru Ahmed, Elisha Ishiaku and Patricia Bonos for the senatorial aspirants and Commander Usuman Sali Bodes, Alhaji Tijjani Kwaghe and Dr. Mustapha Saidu, they kicked against the conduct of the Adamawa State National Assembly in Abuja instead of Yola, stating that it is against the partys constitution to move the primary election venue of the to another place. In the petition made available to THISDAY, they said: We humbly write to lay complaints on the illegal and improper conduct of Senate and House of Representatives primaries for Adamawa Senatorial Districts and House of Representatives constituencies held to elect the flag bearers of our great party for the forthcoming 2015 general elections. The aspirants said it is perhaps apt to state that the irregularities and flagrant breaches are too obvious and overwhelming to be brushed aside and/or trivialised.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 06:29:55 +0000
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