Ahead Ondo gov election...

INEC vows to prosecute staff member over voter cards
THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on Monday, assured that a member of staff of the commission in Ondo State, who was arrested for being in possession of voter cards, would be prosecuted.


The state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Akin Orebiyi, said the man would be charged to court for dragging the name of the commission into disrepute.

A security man attached to the local office of the INEC in Ondo West Local Government Area was, on Saturday, arrested by the police for making available about 1,000 unclaimed voter cards to some politicians, ahead of the gubernatorial election slated for next week.

The man was said to have been arrested by the police, following a tip-off by residents of the area where the office was located in Ondo town.

Also arrested with him was a couple, whose party loyalty, according to the state Commissioner of Police, Danladi Mshebwala, had not been ascertained, but who would be prosecuted for being in possession of sensitive materials.

Orebiyi, however, said the allegation that ballot papers were part of the documents seized from the suspects was untrue.

“There is no way anybody could get hold of the ballot papers which are very sensitive materials before the election. I don’t even know how it will look like, not to talk of someone having them already thumb printed.

“Save for the voter cards and some campaign materials of two of the political parties, no other electoral materials were found in the possession of the suspects. For purposes of emphasis, no ballot papers were found.

“Preliminary investigations by the commission indicate that some people did not collect their voter cards after the registration exercise of 2011. The unclaimed cards are in the custody of the electoral officers who are the only authorised persons to release same to the claimants of such cards, who must collect them in person,” he said.

Orebiyi assured that the commission was ready to ensure that anybody culpable was brought to book.


Why I will win - Mimiko
ONDO State governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, has said he will win the gubernatorial election he is contesting on the ticket of the Labour Party (LP) convincingly, because in his three and a half years tenure as governor of the state, he had been able to take governance from the theoretical to practical realm.

Speaking with newsmen in Akure, on Sunday, the incumbent governor said his government had been able to demonstrate that it was possible for a viable synergy to be created between the governed and the government, by putting in place projects that would make the people to feel a sense of belonging.

Mimiko said his administration had been able to take governance to the people, as pro-jects that affected them directly had been executed in the areas of education, health, urban renewal and agriculture, adding that projects demanded by residents had been delivered in over 500 communities in the state.

The governor said the people in the state now lobby to get their children from private schools to the mega schools, adding that the safe motherhood project of the administration, Abiye, had entered the global health lexicon.

“People now lobby to get their wards from private schools to our mega schools, and our Abiye project has entered the global health lexicon. Government is life. Here, you can have affordable health care without compromising quality,” he said.

Hinting on the ingenuity of his government with the provision of an auto mart, Mimiko said “people will tell you we have surpassed their imagination. Our opponents have deeper purse and deeper contact in the press, but we have deeper impact on the people.”

Dr Mimiko said democracy in Nigeria had matured to the extent that performance had become the yardstick for voting.

“It is to the glory of God that we have been able to earn the confidence of the people. They gave us the mandate to lead them and we made promises which we have fulfilled,” he said.

He insisted that his ability to deliver on his promises would make the people of the state to renew his mandate next week, adding that governance had gone beyond cajoling the people.


Call your aide to order, Mimiko’s team tells Jonathan
THE Federal Government has been enjoined to call the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, Mr Kingsley Kuku, to order over his activities in the riverine area of Ondo State ahead of the gubernatorial election holding in the state next week.

Kuku is an Arogbo-Ijaw man, from Ese-Odo Local Government Area, in the Southern senatorial district of Ondo State.

The Mimiko Campaign Organisation had, on Monday, alleged that Kuku was using his position as overseer of the amnesty programme of the Federal Government to subvert the election in favour of his political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The organisation accused him of arming ex-militants, some of whom it alleged had been brought from other adjoining Niger Delta states and were now being used to intimidate those perceived to be opposed to the candidature of the PDP.

A statement by the director of publicity and media relations of the organisation, Mr Kolawole Olabisi, regretted that Kuku had reversed the gains of the amnesty programmes in Ondo State by re-arming loyal ex-militants, while, at the same time, surreptitiously removing the names of those opposed to his biddings from the payroll of the program-me.

It called on the president to call his aide to order, adding that “Ondo State deserves a level paying field.”

Reacting, Kuku denied the allegation, saying that it was the LP that was trying to bring politics into the operations of the amnesty programme.

Kuku said as a grass-roots politician, he did not need to use the programme to force the people to support the PDP.

“I was involved in the local politics of my people before going to the Ondo State House of Assembly. There, they can testify that I represented them well.

“I’m in tune with my environment and people and, therefore, do not need to use the instrumentality of the amnesty programme to intimidate anybody. My track record of service and integrity is there for all to see,” he said.


I’ll prevent wastages if elected —Oke
CANDIDATE of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Ondo State gubernatorial election, Chief Olusola Oke, has said he would prevent wastages if elected as governor.

Oke said this at iju/Itaogbolu, Akure North Local Government Area of the state on Monday, during the rally of the PDP.

He said resources of the state government would be judiciously allocated to generate value in every government expenditure.

According to Oke, extravagance, overblown administration and unnecessary allocation of position, just to find jobs for those that could not add value to the state, would be prevented.

He promised the people of the local government a robust agricultural policy that would make fund available to the farmers.

“We will cut all these unwanted allocation of resources to 500 special advisers and retinue of aides paraded by the present administration. We will run an efficient and value-driven administration that will create wealth for the state and increase productivity.

“Many of the problems that pushed this government into unnecessary borrowing is its inability to match fund with responsibilities, so as to attain efficiency and create value,

“One of the reasons development has eluded us is the inability of the Mimiko-led administration to keep overhead cost far above capital expenditure. Rather, he has unnecessarily created a mega cabinet with less productivity. It is a problem that must be addressed,” he said.

While addressing party supporters at the rally, he said the entire local government needed roads to enable farmers to transport their goods to the market.

Oke cautioned politicians against violence in the election, charging them to engage the youth and speak against any act of thuggery and violence before, during and after the election.