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INEC has no candidate in Saturday’s Bayelsa, Kogi, Imo poll – Yakubu
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it has no candidate in Saturday’s Bayelsa, Kogi and Imo governorship election, because it is not a political party.
Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the INEC Chairman, said this at a news conference held at the Kogi Headquarters of the commission in Lokoja on Friday.
Yakubu, represented by Dr Gabriel Longpet, the INEC Kogi Resident Electoral Commissioner(REC) said that as an umpire, the commission would ensure that the election was free, fair and credible.
He said that to demonstrate the seriousness attached to the election, INEC had deployed two National Commissioners, nine Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) and Administrative Secretaries (ASs) for effective monitoring.
“Additional staff from different states have been deployed to each of the three states to support the process across the senatorial zones in the states.
“We have delivered all sensitive and non-sensitive materials for the elections, the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) has been configured for deployment to Polling Units as the only means of voter verification and finger prints/facial biometric authentication of voters.
“Polling Unit results will be uploaded to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal. All election duty officials have been trained. Arrangements have been made for land and maritime transportation to enable us commence voting on scheduled.
“In spite of the extremely difficult terrain and physical infrastructure in some locations, we are determined to ensure that our officials are there waiting for voters rather than the voters waiting for our arrival, ” he said.
He called on INEC officials both regular and ad hoc to demonstrate the highest level of patrotism and professionalism during the election.
“Election is a multi-stakeholder responsibility and with every election, lessons have been learnt from recent elections,” he said.
He said that INEC would continue to ensure free, fair and credible and inclusive election in Nigeria.
“We can’t do it alone,” he said.
The chairman said that INEC had received assurances from the security agencies that the environment would be secured for the election and all participants: voters, electoral officials, acredited observers, the media and polling/collation agents.
“Already, political parties and candidates have signed the peace accord under the auspices of the National Peace Committee (NPC), therefore let us maintain the peace and play our roles consciously, ” he said.
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Anambra State Sector Command, has confirmed the death of a woman in an accident at Okpoko Market on the Asaba-Onitsha Road.
The Sector Commander, Mr Adeoye Irelewuyi, who confirmed the accident to journalists in Awka on Thursday, said that the woman was hit while she was crossing the road.
He said that the accident, which occurred on Wednesday, involved a commercial tow truck with registration number XA550BMA.
“Eyewitness report reaching us indicates that the truck was towing a vehicle in an uncontrollable speed along the axis.
“The vehicle that was being towed got detached from the tow truck.
“It hit and killed a female adult, who was said to be crossing the road, while the tow truck continued its movement.
“FRSC rescue team came to the scene and took the woman to Toronto Hospital, Onitsha, where she was confirmed dead and her body deposited at the hospital’s mortuary,” he said.
While sympathising with the family of the dead, the sector commander urged motorists, especially tow truck drivers, to exercise a high level of professionalism.
He also urged the drivers to always use standard equipment and avoid speeding.
The Chairman, Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), Lagos State Chapter, Mr Mojeed Iyiola, said the state government’s maize palliative to members of the association made a positive impact on the sector.
Iyiola said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos.
“We received about 150,000 tons of maize in February from the Lagos State government as palliative to cushion the effect of high feed prices.
“The major benefit of the palliative is that it actually cushioned the cost of production for most poultry farmers in the state.
“The palliative was beneficial as it made the cost of some poultry produce, especially eggs to drop,” Iyiola said.
He noted that prior to the palliative, a crate of egg was sold between N3,500 and N3,700 at the farm gate, but after the palliative, it now sells between N3,200 and N3,400.
According to the PAN chair, retailers and middlemen who sell from N3,800 to N4,200 do that for their personal gain.
“We have urged our members to sell their eggs at reasonable prices following the receipt of the palliative from the government.
“We appreciate the Lagos State government for the palliative but we also urge the federal government to do likewise, to further reduce the cost of production in the sector.
“This will consequently lead to drop in the prices of all poultry produce across board,” he said.
He said the palliative was shared among financial members of the association at no extra cost.
“As an association we shared the grains equally across PAN’s eight zones in the state equally. We also mandated each zone not the sell even a grain of the maize.
“We, however, considered new poultry farmers who wanted to the join the association as beneficiaries of the palliative,” said Iyiola.
He noted that through the palliative, more poultry farmers were recruited into the association.
“The maize was shared only to poultry farmers and not feed millers, it is the major component of poultry feed formulation,” he said.
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