Sen. Aliyu Wamakko (APC -Sokoto North), has led the Sokoto State All Progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial campaign council to Sultan Sa’ad Abubukar III, for a fatherly advice ahead of the 2023 general elections.

This development is contained in a statement issued to newsmen in Sokoto on Tuesday by Bashar Abubukar, the Special Adviser to Wamakko on Media and Publicity.

According to Abubukar, the campaign council’s visit was in full recognition of the Sultan’s commitment toward peace and security, as well as peaceful coexistence across the state and the country.

He qouted the lawmaker at the APC Campaign rally in Gwadabawa Local Government Area, saying that the visit is in order for the party to get the blessing of the royal father.

“We were at the place to seek for the Sultan Fatherly and royal advice, which he has concurred with the good plan rolled out by our party,” Wamakko said.

The statement also quoted Alhaji Maigari Dingyadi, the Minister of Police Affairs, calling on people of Sokoto East Senatorial Zone, to come out en masse during the polls to vote for APC.

Dingyadi, who is the Director-General of state campaign council, said that voting for APC candidates will bring succour and the needed dividends of democracy to the people of the state.

Also speaking, the Senate Leader, Sen. Ibrahim Gobir (APC-Sokoto East), said APC is the party to beat in the 2023 elections.

“Therefore, people of the state should come out massively to depend their votes to ensure the party emerge victorious during the polls,” he said.

The governorship candidate, Alhaji Ahmad Aliyu, promised to ensure people’s friendly government that would enhanced the living standard of the general population. (NAN)

From Yagana Ali, Yola

The Adamawa state Commissioner of Police SK Akande,  has deployed operatives of the Command drawn from  the Special Rapid Response Team (SRRT) and other Tactical Squads to carry out a tactical and intelligence – driven 24/7 raid against political gangsters and their instigators that go around to disturb the  peace being enjoyed  in the state.

The CP made this known while speaking with DAILY ASSET yesterday in Yola, the state capital.

He said the Command is collating pictorial evidence of every event that will be used in prosecuting offenders and their sponsors, even as he warned that all should play peacefully by the rules.

“We direct all  Divisional Police Officers (DPOs), Operational Commanders and their Supervisory  Area Commanders  to personally lead the operations in their  Respective Areas Responsibility (AOR) to ensure total domination of the public space and arrest trouble makers,” he said.

The CP while re-emphasizing the firm determination of the Command in ensuring safety of lives and property sought full cooperation from members of the public particularly political leaders to talk to their supporters to shun all forms of violence and key into the Command’s effort in maintaining peace.

He further called on members of the public to report any suspicious character around them to the nearest police station, especially during the forthcoming general elections.

By Jude Opara, Abuja

The Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi has demanded that the over three million Nigerian students who are eligible to vote in the forthcoming 2023 Presidential election must be given the opportunity to perform their constitutional right of electing leaders of their choice.

Obi also expressed concern over the difficulty some Nigerians in a few states, particularly in Lagos state are facing trying to collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).

The presidential hopeful who was speaking late Monday evening while meeting with observers from the European Union, Election Observation Mission EU-EOM, said the fate of about 3.5 million students that may not exercise their voting right if at least one week holiday is not given to enable them return to their areas of registration is hanging in the balance; even as he expressed confidence that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will look into it.

“I am sure INEC will do the right thing. I am sure the universities will give them the break to go and vote. It is important because it is about their future this election is about these young people and I’m sure they will allow them to go and vote. We will continue to mention it to them as we go along,” he said.

On the challenges being witnessed on some areas by voters in collecting their PVCs, he said, “For me now, what is important is ensuring that people collect their PVCs. There are some areas where people are still complaining that they are being denied their PVCs for one reason or the other. INEC must give them attention. But I must give INEC credit for extending the date for the collection of PVC but again I urge them to ensure that people collect their PVC. This election is very important to Nigerians. It is an existential election. We want all those that have registered to participate.”

In his remarks, the National Chairman of the Labour Party, Barrister Julius Abure who also elucidated the challenges said, “It is the young ones that bear the brunt of maladministration, so this election is about them. When the voter registration was on going, most of the university students were at home and they did their registration at home. Right now they are in school and if they remain in school during the election, it means they will be denied the opportunity to vote. So we are asking that a one week break should be given as holiday to enable them to go and vote. You would have excluded them if they have their PVC and are not in the place where they can use it to vote.

“Generally, the country is insecure. We want the security to improve before and during the election because if security is not guaranteed we may have a situation were legitimate voters may be afraid to come out on the election days to vote. So there must be assurances that security will be beefed up. So we need the security agencies, the Commander in Chief to continuously give the assurances that security will be guaranteed on that day. And also, the security agencies themselves because we have had situations where the security agencies are being used to rig elections or create an enabling environment for elections to be manipulated or in some cases facilitate vote buying.”

Earlier, the EU-EOM Chief Observer, Barry Andrews had told the party leaders that their visit was a routine one embarked for the purpose of interacting with leading presidential candidates and other stakeholders in the February 25 presidential election.

“It is part of our work, we are having meetings with all the stakeholders in this very important election here in Nigeria. We have met with important participants including Labour Party today. We also met with APC and PDP candidates. We also met with the minister of foreign affairs earlier today, the Vice President, civil society and the media. What we are doing is trying to develop a picture of transparency, inclusivity and credibility of the election. And we will report that, two days Iafter the election in a preliminary report in a press conference on the 27th of February.

We are in the very early stages. We have being meeting and people have a collective sense of deepening the very root of democracy and we think we can play a part but we won’t be making any conclusion until after the election,” he said.