News
We’ve no contract with MC Oluomo – INEC *Why we can’t extend PVC collection
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on Thursday, said it does not have any contract with the Lagos State Parks Management Committee led by Musiliu Akinsanya popularly known as MC Oluomo to convey election materials for the Commission in the state during the general elections.
Against the backdrop of a claim that the popular transport union leader, who was once former Chairman of the Lagos branch of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and a strong ally of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has been engaged for the electoral duty, some stakeholders in the election, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had railed against the move.
But INEC, while clarifying the situation, INEC said its contract would be with individual transporters in the various forms of transportation business across the country, including land and waters and not transport unions, adding that the only relationship with the unions was to commit them to maintain order during the elections.
Festus Okoye, while making the clarifications on The 2023 Verdict, a special programme Channels Television designed for the 2023 polls, on Thursday, said the commission would be engaging owners of vehicles and motorcycles for the road transportation and boats for water.
His words: “For the 2023 election, this Commission is going to hire at least 138,000 vehicles and we have hired vehicles in the past. This Commission is going to hire at least 4,000 boats; we have hired boats in the past, and this Commission will hire at least 88,000 motorcycles. Now the Commission enters into individual contracts with the vehicle owners; we don’t enter into any form of contract with the union. What we have with the National Union of Road Transport Workers and with the National Association of Road Transport Owners and the Marine Union is what we call a Memorandum of Understanding.
“We don’t enter into a contract with them. So, the issue of the name of an individual being mentioned to the effect that the individual is going to provide all the vehicle that the commission needs or for the purposes of this election is just mischievous.”
Explaining that that INEC’s MoU with the transport unions was for accountability in case a driver absconded or did not turn up for duty, he stressed that the Commission usually dealt with each state according to their peculiarity, adding that the Supervising National Commissioner in Lagos State had assured of a hitch-free arrangement.
Okoye, National Commissioner on Information and Voter Education, also spoke on the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) during the mock accreditation exercise recently conducted in 436 polling units, saying the performance was not only quite satisfactory, but that Nigerians who participated in the exercise expressed satisfaction with it and commended the Commission for the advancement, as well as the device effortlessly captured the fingerprints of registered voters or their facials.
Okoye, on the same day, explained why commission would not extend the collection of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs), saying the need to move the staff to other sectors that yearned for attention ahead of the elections, necessitated that aspect of the electoral process to be closed.
“Unfortunately we are not going to extend the collection of PVCs. The periods we have extended are sufficient and we need to get right into the election and do some other things. If we don’t move our staff away from the issuance of PVCs, other sectors that we need to take care of will definitely not be taken care of,” Okoye said, adding that the commission did not have the figures of the number of cards collected yet.
“We have informed all our electoral officers in all the local government of the federation and all the resident electoral commissioners to compile all the details of PVC collection based on each polling unit, based on each registration area, based on each local government, and also based on state specifics and forward immediately to INEC at the national headquarters to enable us to publish so that Nigerians will know the number of PVCs collected,” he said, adding that the commission would gather uncollected PVCs and deposit them at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) until after the 2023 elections.
The Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi says he is aware of some evil designs against himself and his supporters in the coming months.
The former Anambra State governor disclosed this in a statement released on his verified Twitter handle on Monday, May 29, 2023.
The release of the statement coincided with the inauguration of Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as Nigeria’s President at the Eagle Square in Abuja.
I am aware of some evil designs being hatched against me and my supporters in the coming months. Efforts will be made to taint my image. Campaigns of calumny are being perfected to defame my character and diminish my hard-earned integrity.
— Peter Obi (@PeterObi) May 28, 2023
See full statement:
For all Nigerians, this is a time for deep reflection. It is also a time to re-examine our assumptions, even as we reaffirm our hopes. Let us calmly review our aspirations, in order to recalibrate our expectations and pin down the causes of our missed opportunities and disappointments.
We stand at that critical moment in time when, as a people, we must collectively come to grips with the reality of our injured destiny as well as the reasons for that injury. It is for us to reassess our plight as a young democracy and identify clear pathways to a better and greater future for us all. As we await the verdict of the election tribunal, I urge all Nigerians to use this opportunity to renew their commitment to the Nigerian ideal. That ideal remains noble and worth every sacrifice we can make.
Nigeria remains our only patrimony and it is a patrimony we must protect, rather than violate. We have no other nation but this, so let us remain committed to rescuing and rebuilding it.
The judiciary is part of the democratic enterprise and a critical governance tool for determining the propriety of the decisions and actions of every citizen and every institution of state. To that extent, and for that reason, I urge everyone to treat it with the respect and dignity it deserves.
We expect that the Nigerian judiciary will use the election cases now before it to reaffirm its independence and integrity. It has to do so, for all our sakes and for itself.
Nigerians must, therefore, remain peaceful and law abiding. No matter the depth of anyone’s reservations about what is going on in the polity today, no matter the real and imagined provocations, and no matter the disagreement out there, we should remember that this will not last forever.
I remain committed, and untiring, in my determination to work with like-minded fellow Nigerians to end the curse of missed opportunities and squandered hope that has become our lot here.
I will never shrink from that original commitment, because I firmly believe that we must change from the present politics of criminality, and corruption, in order to make a new Nigeria possible.
I call on fellow Nigerians, especially the youths to remain steadfast, calm, patient, and peaceful. Our journey may be long and difficult but it is worth it in every way. Victory is assured.
We have to work together to move our beautiful country from corruption and criminality to a center of productivity rather than aimless consumption.
I am aware of some evil designs being hatched against me and my supporters in the coming months. Efforts will be made to taint my image. Campaigns of calumny are being perfected to defame my character and diminish my hard-earned integrity.
These schemes will aim at degrading our support base and confusing the public. But, no evil campaign will alter the substance of my character; nor diminish my patriotic commitment to a better Nigeria. It is about the future of our youths. it is about ending the Years of Locust.
In all of this, I thank Nigerians, our great party (LP) and the media. The latter, as the Fourth Estate of the realm, has remained a trusted ally.
This Estate must continue to guide our people on the immense promise of a future in a new Nigeria.
God bless Nigeria and protect the troops keeping us safe in this season of vaulting insecurity.
Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria. –PO
Channels
James Faleke, lawmaker and Secretary of the now defunct All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council (APC-PCC), has revealed that President Bola Tinubu would unveil members of his cabinet within 60 days.
Channels Television, which quoted him as saying on Monday, at the inauguration of of Tinubu and Kashim Shettima as president and vice-president of Nigeria was underway at the Eagle Square in Abuja, said the President, would , unveil his cabinet as soon as possible.
Faleke, who promised that the new President would bring a different approach to power, was quoted as saying: “Of course, within 60 days, that’s what the law says. He can announce anytime but I just know he must do it within 60 days.”
Eradication of terrorism, waging war against corruption and battling the crippling poverty in Nigeria, would form the fulcrum of a new Nigeria President Bola Tinubu, says he would strive to put in place as his new government began hours ago after assuming the reins of power as the 16th President, after Muhammadu Buhari handed over to him at an elaborate ceremony at the Eagle Square, Abuja, on Monday.
Vowing to defend Nigeria from all forms of terror, as well as end extreme poverty in the country, Tinubu, told Nigerians: “I will do that through job creation and food security and end to extreme poverty. I will ensure that corruption is tacked by strenghtening anti-corruption agencies.”
He also promised that his administration would discourage corruption through the introduction of a credit culture, stating: “Our government will continue to take proactive steps such as championing a credit culture to discourage corruption while strengthening the effectiveness and efficiency of the various anti-corruption agencies.”
It was also on a day the President, who had during his presidential campaigns, promised Nigerians that he would remove subsidy on petroleum products, made good his words by announcing suspension on them, adding that the era of payments on fuel was gone, as the 2023 Budget made no provision for fuel subsidy “and more so, subsidy payment is no longer justifiable.”
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