These are the stories that drove the conversation today:
Uncertainty currently surrounds the conduct of the governorship primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos, which took place on Wednesday in 245 wards across the state, due to conflicting reports from the electoral panel in charge of the election and the state chairman of the APC, Alhaji Tunde Balogun, who said the election that took place throughout the state was free, fair and devoid of violence and therefore credible.
Chairman of the panel, Clement Ebri, who spoke at a news conference in Alausa, Ikeja on Tuesday (evening) said there was no election in the state, as the panel members only completed the sorting out of the materials for the election around 4p.m on Tuesday because the information requested from the two parties to the election were not supplied until around 3.30p.m.
“Now that we are ready, we will contact the national headquarters on the situation and the right time would be announced,” he said.
Similarly, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy in the state, Kehinde Bamigbetan also renounced his support for the governor, while declaring support for his opponent Babajide Sanwo-Olu, in the race to pick the governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
According to Bamigbetan, his loyalty remained for the party National Leader, Bola Tinubu, and the party as a whole, saying he could not do anything contrary to the party’s directive at this point in time.
The National Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress has suspended its governorship primaries in Imo indefinitely, while it postponed the exercise in Zamfara to 3rd October 2018.
National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole who described the results being paraded as the result of the Imo governorship primaries as fake, also disbanded the panel sent to the state to conduct the primaries, adding that it will set up another one immediately so that the process would be completed before the end of the week.
Furthermore, the primary election initially slated to hold in Zamfara on Tuesday was postponed following disagreement between the eight aspirants known as G8 and the candidate anointed by incumbent governor, Abdulaziz Yari.
President Muhammadu Buhari has postponed the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting scheduled to hold on Wednesday, October 3.
According to his media adviser, Femi Adesina, the decision is as a result of “on-going political activities, particularly party primaries, in which some members of the Council are deeply involved in various states of the federation.”
Meanwhile, a statement signed by the APC spokesman, Yekini Nabena, in Abuja, on Tuesday, indicates that the party also rescheduled the it’s Senate Primaries in the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to Wednesday, October 3, 2018.
A former member of the House of Representatives, Isa Ashiru, has emerged as the governorship candidate of the PDP in Kaduna State, after he polled 1,330 out of 2,654 votes to defeat the Senator representing Kaduna North, Suleiman Othman Hunkuyi.
In Nassarawa, the member representing Akwanga/Nassarawa-Eggon/Wamba Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives, David Umbugadu, emerged as the governorship candidate of the PDP in Nasarawa with 745 votes, defeating his closest rival, Senator Solomon Ewuga who got 551 votes.
Temidayo Taiwo-Sidiq is a Journalist, Political Analyst and Satirist with major interest in Nigerian Politics, Governance and Sports.
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