We are Ready For osun Governoship Election- Jega

pmnewsnigeria - National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, on Wednesday said all was set for the Osun gubernatorial election slated for Saturday.

Jega announced this at a stakeholders’ forum organised by the commission ahead of the poll in Osogbo. “We have prepared adequately and meticulously to ensure that the election is free, fair and credible.
“We have paid a lot of attention to the training of our staff and ad hoc staff to use and we will protect members of the National Youth Service Corps we normally use.

“We have put measures in place to protect lives and property and to ensure that voters exercise their franchise in a peaceful environment,” he said.

The INEC chairman said the commission would ensure that ballot papers for the election had been serially printed to ensure they were not in another state.
According to him, INEC has also customised result sheets at every polling unit so that no politician can use them to produce unauthorised results.

Osun 2014: INEC plans to deploy heavy security in Osun, says REC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it was planning heavy security presence during the August 9 governorship election in Osun State as was the case during a similar election held on June 21 in Ekiti State.

The state’s Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Segun Agbaje, who spoke in Abuja Wednesday, said the decision was informed by the heightening security situation in the state, arising from the unfriendly utterances of the major political players.

“There will be improved security deployment. I cannot say the level of security deployment in Osun will be less than that of Ekiti. This is because of the utterances of the political leaders and the heavy threat of violence,” he said.

The REC said, of the 1,407,222 total registered voters in the state, INEC has distributed permanent voter card (PVC) to 63 per cent, translating to 792,200 of the registered voters. He said 1,250,569 of such PVC were received from the INEC headquarters as at July 11.

Agbaje said 19 candidates have been cleared to contest the election as at today. He said no voter will be allowed to cast ballot without PVC. He assured that as against the case in Ekiti, any voter with valid voter’s card will be allowed to vote.

He spoke at an event tagged “Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room,” a platform provided by a group, the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) for civil society organistions to assess the level of INEC’s preparedness for the Osun election.

Court fixes March 10 for hearing on INEC’s refusal to register DPC

premiumtimesThe Federal High Court Abuja has fixed March 10 for hearing in the suit instituted by the Democratic People’s Congress, DPC, against the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

The Counsel to the DPC, Ezekiel Ofou, filed the suit before Justice Gabriel Kolawole, challenging the refusal of INEC to register it as a political party after fulfilling all requirements.

A statement issued in Abuja on Sunday by Mr. Ofou quoted a notice of hearing served on the respondent in suit No FHC/ABJ/CS/880/13 with 22-paragraph deposed to by Olusegun Peters.

Balarabe Musa : Credible elections difficult to achieve in 2015

A former Kaduna State governor, Balarabe Musa, on Saturday said the time table released for the 2015 general elections has given reasonable time for the conclusion of litigation before the inauguration of elected officials. Mr. Musa said this in a telephone interview from Kaduna.

He said the time given was reasonable enough to dispose of all cases that would arise from the election; “provided the judiciary would do its work dispassionately.” Mr. Musa also said political parties now had the freedom to openly campaign and woo voters before the elections.

According to him, before now some of the politicians were campaigning discreetly without the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, calling them to order.

Elections time table Released by INEC

Feb 14, 2015: Presidential, N/Assembly elections Feb 28, 2015: Guber, State Assembly elections June 21, 2014: Ekiti Guber Aug 9, 2014: Osun Guber The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed February 14, 2015 for next year’s Presidential and National Assembly elections. This was contained in a statement issued last night in Abuja by the Secretary to the Commission Mrs Augusta Ogakwu.

The statement further indicates that the Governorship and State House of Assembly elections would take place on 28, February, 2015. The Commission’s Scribe also released the detailed time table for the Ekiti State governorship elections scheduled to take place in June this year.

The statement shows that June 21, 2014 has been set aside for the conduct of the Ekiti State Governorship election, while the Osun State gubernatorial polls has been scheduled for August 9, 2014.

For the Ekiti Governorship polls the detailed electoral time table indicates that the commission shall issue notice for the election on March 3, 2014.