LAGOS2015

THE GUBERNATORIAL RACE KICKS IN

Lagos 2015: I’m In This Race To Serve, Says Ambode

AKINWUMI AMBODEThe governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State, Mr. Akinwumi Ambode, has maintained that he is in the race to serve.

The APC candidate, at the weekend, reassured supporters and stakeholders that he was in the race to serve humanity and lead by example.


In a statement by his Director of Media and Communications, Steve Ayorinde, Ambode said Lagos had a record of “excellent service” in the past 15 years and the more than 17 million people living and working in Africa’s largest city-state, “deserved a tested hand, who would continue in that tradition of excellence”.

The APC candidate said: “The governor that Lagos State deserves at this period of our continued growth and development is a man with a track record of performance and excellence; a man who is tested, who understands governance and is an experienced administrator who will not experiment with the resources and growth template of this state. I, Akinwunmi, Ambode, is that man”.

UPDATES AS INEC COUNTS: RIVERS STATE FACT FINDING UPDATE.

UPDATES AS INEC COUNTS: NIGERIADECIDES2015
March 31st 2015
12:45 PM
INEC Chairman Professor Atahiru Jega stated at the declaration centre just before formally receiving the Rivers State Results that the Committee sent to Rivers State returned earlier today . He said waiting for the committe's return contributed partly to the late convening at the declaration centre today.
Prof. Jega said that the mandate given the committee was to determine whether elections did not hold in Rivers State as alleged by the APC and whether there was substantial reason to cancel the elections in Rivers State. Professor Jega reporting to the house stated that within the time frame given the committee their findings indicated that contrary to the allegation by APC, elections did indeed take place in Rivers State. On whether there was substantial grounds to cancel the elections in Rivers State, the committee returned that there was NOT substantial grounds to cancel the elections.
Immediately after reporting to the house Prof Jega asked that the Rivers State results be read. Incidentally, the results read did show that APC won the Rivers State Presidential elections.

UPDATES AS INEC COUNTS : NIGERIADECIDES2015-- FINAL DAY COLLATION

UPDATES AS NIGERIADECIDES 2015
March 31st 2015
11:33 AM
Events at the collation /declaration centre rapidly degenerated into a fiercely heated protest as the PDP representative right there at the collation centre declared that the PDP has lost confidence in the proceedings.
In an extremely heated atmosphere the PDP representatives alleged that they have written protests letters on the election results in Kano, Kaduna and INEC did not take action on those protests whereas INEC did take actions on the protest by APC on the results from Rivers State. In reference INEC did actually send a fact finding committee to Rivers State. The heated affair held up proceeding for about 30 minutes.
Exhibiting a high level of statesmanship the INEC chairman camly and professionally addressed the issues raised. The INEC Chairman, Prof. Jega said the petitions from PDP were presented to his PA at collation centre which breaches the protocol of his office. Petitions are to be submitted to his Secretary at the INEC office, and such petition would then be brought forward to him . PDP did not follow procedure.
This development really points to frayed nerves and as vote declaration takes longer it is possible a few more 'burst-ups' may occur.

UPDATES AS INEC COUNTS VOTES: NIGERIADECIDES2015

UPDATES AS INEC COUNTS VOTES:
March 30th 2015:
23:22 (11:23PM) Nigerian Time
Vote counting and declaration of results in Nigeria's 2015 elections is no 'slam-dunk' . Counting of votes is still going on in some states and INEC is forced to retire once again for lack of results to declare. INEC'S Professor Jega says sitting will continue at 10:00 AM (Nigerian Time ) on Tuesday 31st March 2015.
A total of 18 states plus the Federal Capital territory Abuja have been declared so far: APC has succeeded in flipping the script on PDP as at last count,  on both absolute numbers and number of States won.
APC and General Muhammadu Buhari are leading with 8,520,436 votes and 10 States against PDP and President Goodluck Ebele Johnathan's 6,488,210 votes in 8 States plus the Federal Capital Territory. However in relation to the 25% in 2/3 of the States, President Johnathan's PDP has got its nose out in front leading with 25% in 15 States to General Buhari's 25% in 13 States.
Nationwide many have been glued to their TV sets while the dynamic, tech-driven clan are hugging their IPADS and smart phones. Twitter seems to be the 'happening' social media of the moment.
Generally on the ground , over-optimistic speculators who were predicting landslides for their parties are beginning to realize this may be a tight race to the very end. At the moment its anybody's guess -- too close to call may be the chant that takes us to bed tonight. Some analysts are however pointing that with more States from the South South yet to go there may yet be some disquiet in the APC camp.