I have no regret, I was only doing my job says Fani Kayode

The Director of Media and Publicity of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential campaign, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode has congratulated Gen. Muhammadu Buhari for his victory in the presidential election. At a media briefing in Abuja on Wednesday, Fani-Kayode said: “we start by saying that we commend and we congratulate General Muammadu Buhari for winning this election”. On the hate campaign he championed against Buhari and other leaders of the opposition, Fani-Kayode said: “There was absolutely nothing personal as regards this Directorate or myself. I had nothing personal against anybody. I was simply doing my job for which I have no regrets and I wish them well and I sincerely hope that they will take Nigeria to a level that we can all be proud of.” He also commended President Goodluck Jonathan for having the courage to accept defeat at the earliest moment and also for being able to stand up and rise above party politics and being able to speak like a statesman.

According to him, the PDP fought a virile, strong, aggressive and very effective campaign, trying to justify why Jonathan deserved a second term. He continued: “It has however come to a point that we must tell the world and the Nigerian people about how we feel about the outcome of the election. What we will say here today is basically to reiterate and to reflect the words of our leader and President, President Goodluck Jonathan.
 “We therefore urge the Nigerian people and our teeming supporters to stand firm and continue to support the democratic process and continue to agitate for a better Nigeria. “We urge them to continue to support our party the PDP as best as they can, even though we lost this election. We ask them to co-operate with the incoming government and to remember that we are first and foremost Nigerians before anything else. “On the day of the election when I went to vote at Ile-Ife, I held a press conference in which I told the people that more than anything else, that we should try our very best to keep the peace in this country and to keep the country moving forward. “I also reminded them that in every election there will always be a winner and a loser. It is a mark of our humanity and it is also symptomatic of the type of people that we are and who we are that when the time comes we can say we fought a good fight but we lost. “And having lost, it does not mean that it is the end to the world, it just means that we need to re-group, re-organise ourselves and begin the process all over again because another election will come in a few years time.

“And that is where we are today. We have conceded that we have lost. We acknowledge the fact that we fought a good fight. We do not have any fears about the future. “We did the right thing during the campaign. We have no regrets about our candidate or the way in which we conducted our campaign and we will live to fight another day “May God grant each and everyone of us peace. May He watch over our nation. May He guide our President for the next two months whilst he is still in power and thereafter and may He guide and lead the President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, in the herculean task that lies ahead of him. “My prayer is that he brings our nation together, heals the wounds and that he builds the bridges in terms of religion, ethnicity and region that he needs to build in order for us to make Nigeria a better place and to ensure that Nigeria becomes a great country that she is destined to be”

Thugs unleash terror on Ekiti APC secretariat

There was tension in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, yesterday when a gang of thugs attacked the secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC), smashing five vehicles. Party members claimed that the thugs were sponsored by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led government. They stormed the secretariat in three Hilux vehicles. The unprovoked attack, which occurred at 3.30 pm, caused panic at Ajilosun/Mobil. The hoodlums destroyed APC flags and fired bullets at cars. One of the vehicles smashed was that of the party’s Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatubosun. APC members at the secretariat named the thugs who carried out the attack. Olatubosun said party members had returned from a road show to celebrate the victory of their presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, and most of them had dispersed before the thugs struck.
  He said: “The thugs came in three Hilux vehicles, shooting directly at our party secretariat. They entered our premises and destroyed everything in sight. “We do not believe that the governor will stop our celebration of Buhari’s victory because we have heard him say that there would be no celebration in Ekiti. “It was the same killer- squad that has been wreaking havoc in the state that came to attack us at our party secretariat. Police can testify to our peaceful conduct; we did not abuse anybody, we did not attack anybody. “They were fully armed, they came with guns, charms and machetes and the Hilux vehicles carried government number plates.” But the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, denied the claim that the thugs were sent by Fayose. Adelusi said: “Such allegation should be disregarded by every reasonable human being, because the governor did not send anybody and has never done such a thing in the past.” The governor’s spokesman denied the existence of any killer-squad, saying such an allegation exists in the imagination of the opposition. “We also appeal to the police and other arms of the security agencies to maintain law and order, protect lives and property and never allow any hoodlum to turn this state into another theatre of war.” The Commissioner of Police, Taiwo Lakanu, said he deployed a team of policemen to bring the situation under control, saying “our timely arrival scared away the miscreants”. Lakanu said the police succeeded in flushing out the miscreants from the APC secretariat. He denied the claim that the thugs were given security cover by some policemen.

Rivers rigged election: Prof. can't read "his own collated result"

The professor who collated the rigged rivers state election result find it difficult to read out the collated results when Prof. Jega asked him to tell the whole world what he collated.
He was helped by flooding the whole area with light still our Prof. turn himself to a laughing stock at the venue where National collation is taken place.
This is really a show of shame of the educational sector in Nigeria.

Sensing Defeat, PDP decided to Frustrate Result Announcement

Officials of Nigeria’s ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on Tuesday moved to frustrate the further announcement of presidential results.
The electoral agency, INEC, in Abuja had Monday released the results of 19 states which showed the candidate of the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, leading by over 2 million votes. Results that have also been announced by state INEC officials in other states, yet to be announced in Abuja, also show the opposition candidate set to emerge as the elected president.
However, as the announcement of results was to continue at the International Conference Centre in Abuja on Tuesday, PDP officials stampeded the process accusing Mr. Jega of bias. For several minutes, they prevented the further announcement of results alleging among others, that Attahiru Jega, the INEC boss, refused to collect a petition they sent about the elections; and that he also gave unverified results to the APC.
“Jega is not supposed to be bias. Jega is not suppose to be tribal,” former minister Godsday Orubebe who was among the protesters shouted.
He said the Mr. Jega commissioned a fact finding team on reports of malpractices from Rivers State but has not acted on the Peoples Democratic Party complaints on results from Kano, Katsina, Kaduna and Gombe, which were won by the opposition.
He was unyielding as Mr. Jega and other INEC officials appealed to him to allow the collation to go on.
He said the collation would not continue except Mr. Jega leaves the venue for his office to “address PDP complaints.”
What a Shame!

Buhari Campaign Group Calls for Femi Fanikayode arrest

The Buhari Support Organisations has called for the arrest of Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, the Director, Media, Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organisation, for announcing unofficial results.

The Director, Media and Information of the BSO, Dr. Chidia Maduekwe, made the call on Monday in Abuja at a news conference.

According to Maduekwe, this is the time for security agencies to show their neutrality by arresting Fani-Kayode because the only authority to announce election results is the Independent National Electoral Commission.

The organisation claimed that Fani-Kayode had breached relevant sections of the Electoral Act by announcing on Sunday that the PDP was leading in the presidential election in 23 states of the federation.

“We ask the security agencies to immediately arrest Fani-Kayode for breaching relevant sections of the Electoral Act which forbids any organ outside INEC from officially declaring election results.

“His arrest for further questioning will be a clear indication that the security agencies are truly unbiased participants in this electoral process.

“His declaration is also a breach of both the first and second Abuja Peace Accord signed by the presidential candidates,’’ Maduekwe said.

He called on the international community and observers to note the steps being taken by the ruling party to cause severe breach of peace and call them to order.

He urged APC supporters to maintain the peace as they await the official announcement of authentic INEC results for the Saturday elections.

“We ask Nigerians to join us in saying `No’ to this recent manifestation of habitual impunity.

“We appeal to all our numerous supporters to sustain their calmness in the face of current provocation and abuse of our electoral processes,’’ he said.

Maduekwe said that APC would reject “in its entirety, the use of security to compromise an election process that has been commended as having high quotient of integrity’’.

He urged INEC to adhere strictly to guidelines for elections which protected candidates through active participation of party agents.

“We request INEC to adhere to the guideline which makes it mandatory for polling unit party agents to sign result sheet forming the basis for collation of reslt at collation centres.

Military aid PDP rigging in Imo says Rochas Okorocha

The Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, has frowned on the way the Peoples Democratic Party “rigged” the elections of Saturday and has therefore called for the outright cancellation of the results in six local government areas of the state.

He also said that the election in the state was full of combined conspiracy with military intervention.

The governor, who addressed journalists on Monday at the Government House, Owerri, accused notable chieftains of the PDP in the state of using the military to terrorise voters.

He alleged that such areas as Oru East, Ohaji/Egbema, Ngor Okpala, Aboh Mbaise and parts of Owerri West did not only witnessed unprecedented rigging but also abduction and kidnapping of agents of rival political parties who were manhandled and forced to lie prostrate on the ground by soldiers acting on the orders of the Federal Government.

He said, “Armed soldiers were used by the PDP as aides to the collation officers and there was no collation of results at the ward levels as prescribed by the Electoral Act. All the collating officers and presiding officers were directed to go and submit their results at the LG level, from where they collected all the results from the booths in the presence of soldiers.”

Okorocha also lashed out at security agents who he alleged barred agents of the opposition parties from entering into the INEC office while giving those of the PDP unfettered access to the premises of the electoral commission.

The governor also said that 250 students of the Rochas Foundation College who duly registered for the election and were issued with PVC, were arrested and held hostage at Ogboko on what he called trumped-up charges and were prevented from voting by soldiers working for the PDP.

“Most of these helpless children are orphans and I am their father, they duly registered for the election but soldiers arrested, humiliated and detained them without food and water and they were not released until the following day being Sunday.”

Okorocha insisted that election did not take place in the Isiala Mbano area and parts of Aboh Mbaise. He expressed shock that results were still announced in these areas by INEC.

The governor also denied allegations of tearing result sheets and added that his convoy was shot at by security agents during which one of the boys in his entourage was seriously wounded and immediately rushed to the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri.

APC loses six reps seats to opposition in Lagos

The All Progressives Congress has lost five House of Representatives seats to the Peoples Democratic Party and a seat to the Accord Party in Lagos.

Investigations by our correspondent showed that most of the reps lost in Igbo- dominated local government areas.

Sources in the APC said the love the people of the South-East have for President Goodluck Jonathan positively affected the PDP candidates, some of whom had not even been rigorously campaigning.

In Amuwo Odofin local government, which has a very high Igbo population, especially in areas like Kirikiri, Satellite Town and FESTAC, the PDP candidate, Oghene Egboh, who is from the Niger-Delta, defeated Mr. Ganiyu Olukolu of the APC.

In Ajeromi/Ifelodun, which is one of the most densely populated areas in Lagos State and is home to Ajegunle (another Igbo dominated area), the PDP candidate, Mrs. Rita Orji, who also hails from the South-East, defeated Taiwo Adenekan of the APC.

The story was the same in the Igbo-dominated Ojo LG, where the PDP candidate, Mr. Tajudeen Obasa, won the seat.

In Surulere federal constituency 2, which is home to Aguda and a few Igbo settlements, Mr. Tunji Soyinka of the PDP defeated Mr. Hakeem Bamgbala of the APC.

It was learnt that apart from the ‘Igbo’ factor, the incumbent rep, Mr. Aliyu Kazeem, had been in court with Bamgbala over the conduct of the primary.

It was learnt that the division within the party gave the PDP the opportunity to penetrate the community.

An APC leader in Surulere said, “We are still in shock. Haliyu Kazeem, who is the incumbent, lost the primary in December last year and refused to work with Bamgbala. He took Bamgbala to court and they are still slugging it out.

“If they had put things in order, we would not have lost. Bamgbala is a former chairman of Aguda Local Council Development Area and a good grass roots politician.”

In Mushin federal constituency 2, the APC candidate, Yemi Alli, lost to Dauda Kako-Aare of the Accord Party.

Kako-Aare, who is the incumbent, lost at the APC primary last December to Alli and defected to Accord.

In Oshodi/Isolo federal constituency 2, the incumbent, Mr. Akeem Munir, lost to Mr. Tony Nwoolu of the PDP.