Prominent lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), on Sunday, criticised the Independent National Electoral Commission’s barring of campaign activities of political parties till the new date of elections.

INEC had postponed the presidential and national assembly election earlier fixed for yesterday owing to what the commission called logistic problems.
Falana, in a statement, said political parties were by section 99 of the Electoral Act, allowed to campaign up till 24 hours to the election.

He said with the shifting of the election by one week, campaign period by political parties had shifted and would only end 24 hours to the election.

According to him, INEC in taking the decision prohibiting parties from re-opening campaigns following the postponement of the elections originally scheduled for last Saturday to February 23, failed to pay attention to the provision of the said section of the Electoral Act.

He stated, “Meanwhile, INEC which has shifted the general election by seven days is alleged to have turned round to ban political parties and their candidates from further campaigning for votes.

“With respect, INEC has not paid attention to Section 99 of the Electoral Act which provides that the period of campaigning in public by political parties shall end 24 hours before polling day.

“Since elections have been shifted the period of campaign has also shifted and will end 24 hours to the new polling day.

“Therefore, the limitation of campaign imposed by INEC should be reversed without any delay.

“Furthermore, INEC should comply with all valid and subsisting court orders with respect to the candidates sponsored by political parties for the general elections.

“Otherwise, the courts may annul some of the elections conducted by INEC on grounds of exclusion of qualified candidates.”
Source: Oyo Insight

Makerere University vice chancellor, Prof Barnabas Nawangwe on Tuesday asked the university to close School of Law indefinitely for allegedly being defiant and continuing with the sit-down strike.
Prof Nawangwe accuses the School of Law dons of deliberately refusing to return to class to teach and inciting their fellow colleagues to continue with the strike despite some lecturers in other colleges resuming work.

Continue reading Vice Chancellor wants Makerere University school of law closed →

Five people have been confirmed dead after a gunman went “ballistic” in an industrial building in the US.
Five police officers have also been shot whole multiple people have been injured.
The “active shooter” has been “neutralised” but officers are still urging nearby residents in Aurora, Illinois, to stay indoors.
Police chief Kristen Ziman said that Gary Martin shot at officers as soon as they entered the Henry Pratt company building in Aurora.
Ms Ziman said that Martin, 45, was also killed.
Clayton Muhammad, the director of communications for the city of Aurora, said the officers were in a stable condition.
The mother of Martin said he was laid off two weeks ago and became “stressed out”.
“He was way too stressed out,” the woman, who declined to give her name, told the Chicago Sun Times.

Continue reading Five dead after disgruntled ex-worker goes on gun rampage →

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said the decision to postpone the 2019 general elections was entirely that of the commission and not due to any external influence.
The commission also ruled out the activities of internal saboteurs in the incidences that led to the postponement of the elections. INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this, yesterday, in Abuja at a meeting with stakeholders in the electoral process held at the International Conference Centre (ICC) which serves as the National Collation Centre for the polls. “I want to appeal to Nigerians and all other stakeholders for their understanding in what has been a very difficult decision for the Commission. But we believe that ultimately this is for the good of our democracy and country. I wish to assure you of our commitment to free, fair and credible elections”, Yakubu said. “As Chairman of INEC, and on behalf of the Commission, we take full responsibility for what happened and we regret any inconvenience our decision might have caused”. He recalled how the plan for the 2019 general elections was ready in November 2017 and the subsequently issued the timetable and schedule of activities for the elections over a year ago, that is, January 2018. “We carefully followed the timetable and implemented 13 of the 14 activities as scheduled. We kept to the time frame and have not missed the date fixed for any single activity”.
Speaking on how the postponement of the polls became inevitable, the INEC boss said, “In preparing for the 2019 general elections, we have come face-to-face with the realities of conducting such an extensive national deployment of men and materials in a developing country like ours. It is said that elections constitute the most extensive mobilization of men and materials that any country could undertake in peacetime. The challenges of doing so, even under the best of circumstances, are enormous. Within a period of 16 months, we registered over 14 million Nigerians as new voters, collecting their names, addresses, photographs and their entire ten fingerprints. Beyond that, we prepared, printed and delivered their permanent voter’s cards for collection. 1 should note that of the 14.28 million Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) made available for collection, about 10.87 million or 76.12% have been collected.

Continue reading INEC rules out sabotage, says nobody forced it to postpone elections →

The NBA released a statement signed by the president of the NBA on the shocking postponement of the Elections in the wee hours of the Election day.

The statement read:

16 February 2019
POSTPONEMENT OF ELECTIONS

1. The Nigerian Bar Association is confounded by and disappointed with the postponement by the Independent National Electoral Commission (“INEC”), in the wee hours of this morning, of the elections that were scheduled to hold today, 16 February 2019 and on 02 March 2019. We are confounded by the postponement, considering the serial assurances that INEC had, prior to this morning, given of its preparedness for the conduct of the elections; INEC had also expressly assured that postponement of the elections was not howsoever in contemplation. Our disappointment is compounded by the fact that none of the reasons that INEC has proffered justifies the postponement; all the reasons, with some diligence, could have been remediated.
2. It was particularly unkind for INEC to announce the postponement only hours
   to the opening of the polls for the national elections today, knowing as we all do that
   most Nigerians register for elections in their States of origin and had traveled there
   from their various stations to exercise their civic rights. The cost in manhours,
   resources and inconveniences cannot be readily quantified not to mention the risk
   to personal safety. Worse, we run the risk that some who may have to return to their
   work stations early next week may not be able to travel again for the rescheduled
   polls next weekend. We read the INEC announcement and listened to its broadcast
   to hear how INEC intends to mitigate that possibility and nothing was said in that
   regard.
3. INEC needs to be reminded that a free, fair and credible election starts with
   the preparations therefor by the Electoral Commission. If the Commission is unable
   to exercise its functions without avoidable glitches, it is difficult to see how it could
   justifiably impose sanctions on infracting political parties who give excuses for their
   infractions similar to the ones that INEC has given today for the postponement of the
   elections. Regulatory authorities such as INEC require discipline and
   foresightedness to carry out their functions. It is only by imbibing those twin virtues, amongst others and showing same by conduct that they can justifiably sanction
   infracting parties over whom they exercise regulatory control.
4. NBA hopes that the new dates of 23 February 2019 and 09 March 2019 for
   the rescheduled elections are sacrosanct and the preparations therefor will be
   foolproof and glitch-free. Our democracy can only prosper and be strengthened if
   our electoral umpire does not give room for disputation of election results through
   sloppy arrangements and inadequate preparations. Our elections can only be
   adjudged free, fair and credible if INEC does not give room for speculations or
   concerns about its readiness and preparations for the elections. Nigerians can only
   have faith in the electoral process if, amongst others, there is no room for
   suppositions as to the motives – hidden, ulterior or unknown – of INEC for taking
   certain actions, including but not limited to the postponement of elections.
5. In concluding, we urge Nigerians not to give up or tire out. We must give INEC
   the benefit of the doubt and turn out in our numbers to vote for the parties of our
   choice on the rescheduled dates for the elections i.e. 23 February 2019 and 09 March
6. As the NBA pointed out in its 2019 New Year Message:
   “This is the year that we would decide both at the national and States levels
   how we wish to be governed and into whose hands we will entrust our affairs
   and lives . . . The decisions of our rulers directly impact and determine the
   course of our lives. It determines the quality of our lives, not only from an
   economic standpoint but also from our health, longevity and developmental
   standpoints. Our decisions at the polls will determine the quality of life for
   our youths and children from an educational prism as well as from the
   perspectives of employment and self-development opportunities. The quality
   of rulers that we will vote into power this year will determine whether we move
   from a perennially consumptive economy into a productive and hopefully an
   industrialized economy; it would determine whether we would, in our lifetimes
   ever be assured of such basic necessities like pervasive energy supply and
   provision of potable water and primary health care for our citizens. The
   Elections of 2019 should and must therefore serve as a defining moment for
   our country.”
   Paul Usoro, SAN
   President.

The Independent National Electoral Commission has after a meeting on friday rescheduled the general elections exoected to hold today the 16 February 2019.

The presidential and National Assembly elections will now hold on the Saturday 23 February 2019 while thos of the Governorship, State Houses of Assembly and FCT Area council will now hold on the Saturday 9 March 2019.

•