Monarch places curse on subjects who vote against Obaseki

Ahead of the September 10 governorship election in Edo state, the Iyase of Udo Kingdom in the state, Patrick Igbinidu, has placed what seems like a curse on his subjects who votes against the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Mr Godwin Obaseki, in the election billed to hold next week.

The monarch placed this curse yesterday when he received Obaseki and members of his campaign team at the palace, in Udo, near Benin, in Ovia South West local government area of Benin.

This calls to mind the widely-reported threat by the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu in April last year, that Lagos residents of Igbo descent who failed to vote for the APC governorship candidate, Mr. Akinwumi Ambode, in the Lagos election, risk drowning in the lagoon.

Toeing the same path yesterday, the Edo monarch said, “The ancestors of the land await those who will vote against the governorship candidate of the APC, Mr Godwin Obaseki.

“You all have seen it; this is who the Udo people should support, who said he won’t vote for him, he should wait for the ancestors. The entire Udo kingdom should vote for him and anyone who gives his votes to another person is on his own.

“You all should support him because he is the person who Oshiomhole, our benefactor, have chosen to succeed him.”

Igbinidu explained that his position stems from the development strides of the incumbent Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, particularly as regards the dualisation of the road leading to the kingdom, Siloko road.

-DP

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Jimoh Ibrahim not PDP’s candidate for Ondo guber – Makarfi’s faction insists

The Ahmed Makarfi faction of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has disowned Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim as the party’s candidate for the forthcoming Ondo gubernatorial election, stressing that Ibrahim who is of the Ali Modu Sheriff’s group, illegally emerged as the candidate of the PDP.

The Makarfi faction equally declared that the PDP had no other candidate apart from a former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in the state, Mr. Eyitayo Jegede, who emerged the candidate of the party last week during the primary of the Makarfi faction, held at the International Events Centre, Akure.

Whereas, Ibrahim won the primary of the Sheriff faction held in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital on Monday.

The Makarfi faction, in a statement issued on Wednesday by its Publicity Secretary in Ondo state, Mr. Banji Okunomo, maintained that the primary of the Sherriff faction was illegally conducted, adding that it was not attended by the “real stakeholders.”

According to the statement, “All the persons that fall in the various categories making up the governorship primary had already participated in the Congress that produced Eyitayo Jegede (SAN) as the flag bearer of the party.

“These persons cannot be impersonated and their roles in the electoral college cannot be replicated, duplicated or copied in whatever guise.

“It is also very important, at this juncture, to tell the whole world that Jimoh Ibrahim, the acclaimed candidate of the illegal parallel PDP primary, is not a member of the PDP from ward to state level.”

Makarfi faction held that Ibrahim had left the PDP and had allegedly joined the Accord Party, AP, and he had not yet relinquished his membership of the AP. It also alleged that Ibrahim had not followed the procedure necessary to rejoin the PDP.

The statement asserted that it is not only illegal for a member of another party to pick the governorship ticket of the PDP, but it also amounts to double standards. Hence, the Peoples Democratic Party in Ondo State has declared Jimoh Ibrahim a ‘persona non grata.’

The PDP, in the statement, encouraged members to remain steadfast and work for the success of the party in the governorship election slated for November 26, 2016.

_DP

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Atiku speaks on ‘new party’, alleged plan to contest presidency with Mimiko

A former Vice President and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Atiku Abubakar, has dismissed reports alleging that he has formed a new political platform on which he will run for president in 2019, with the Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, as his running mate.

A statement, signed by Abubakar’s Media Adviser, Paul Ibe, said the report bore the features of a political hatchet job planted by his opponents who were desperately trying to invent events in order to draw a wedge between him and President Muhammadu Buhari on the one hand and the leadership of the APC on the other hand.

Ibe noted that: “ the report was an incompetent product of fiction, so shallow and vacuous that even its authors could not validate its credibility with reliable and verifiable sources.

“Some people of bad faith trying tooth and nail to spread the seeds of discord in the party, and destroy the much needed unity, harmony and cohesion, which are the pillars of strength for every political organisation.”

Ibe said despite all the smear campaigns and reputation lynching and sponsored falsehoods, Atiku’s loyalty to President Buhari and the APC leadership would not be shaken an inch.

“Atiku Abubakar would ordinarily have ignored the malicious report, but says he chose to react, lest his silence would be mistaken as an admission of the falsehoods published against him”, he added.

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Pastor Ize-Iyamu is a thief that should not be voted in as Governor – Obaseki warns Edo People

As the September 10 governorship election in Edo State draws closer, the two major political parties in the state continues to heat up the political atmosphere by throwing tantrums at each other.

The latest of such tantrum is coming from the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Mr. Godwin Obaseki who yesterday dared his counterpart from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu to disclose the source of his wealth.

Obaseki, who threw the challenge during a town hall meeting with artisans and youths at the Imaguero College Hall in Benin, the state capital, warned people of the state against electing “thieves” who have no record of “managing people and resources.

According to Obaseki, “I will tell Edo people mine and let him tell us because sometimes we look at those who said they want to be governor, ask them where they have worked before.

“Somebody who has never created any job, only made money from politics, ask him which company he has ever worked before and I will tell you where I have worked.

“The truth is that you cannot have anything to offer the people when you have not had the experience of managing people and resources as it is done in the private sector.

“Let us not elect thieves into government because these are people who believe that politics is about them and their families and not about the general public.”

-DP

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Benue LG Poll Cancelled, “No money” - Ortom

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has told people of the state to forget local government election for now. The Benue State Independent Electoral Commission (BSIEC), had earlier presented a bill of N1.5 billion for the conduct of the September 3 election to the governor.

Ortom later reduced it to N800 million. But speaking in Makurdi yesterday, Ortom said “We don’t have money to conduct local government election.”

The governor explained that the 23 local government councils in the state were supposed to provide 60 percent of the money required, while the state would provide 40 percent.

While Ortom’s reason was based on the economic situation in the state, many citizens argue that he was scared of of protest votes against the All Progressives Congress (APC) government over non-payment of salaries for months.

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