Category: Politics and Governance

Ondo Election 2024: APC, PDP disagree on conduct

 

By Segun Giwa/Ayodeji Alabi/Adewale Owoade

 

The Governorship Election in Ondo State has been peaceful so far.

 

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials arrived early in some of the polling units visited while in some units, voters were still expecting them.

The candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), the incumbent governor,  Lucky Aiyedatiwa, voted at Ward IV, Unit 5 in Obenla, Ilaje Local Government at 8:52 am.

Aiyedatiwa, after casting his vote, commended INEC for making the process seamless, the voters for organising themselves in a peaceful manner, and security agencies for maintaining law and order.

 

“I passed through all the processes and it is okay. The turnout is encouraging, and I want to believe that the same situation will be for other locations in the state.

 

“It has been peaceful here; I want to believe it will be peaceful in other locations.

 

“I want to commend the security agencies. They are heavily deployed to prevent any situation and I believe people will comport themselves, we are peaceful people.

 

“Ondo State has been adjudged as one of the most peaceful states in Nigeria and we have been having our elections in a peaceful environment and this very one will not be different.”

 

He urged INEC to ensure that the process is free, fair and credible.

 

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Agboola Ajayi, who voted at Idumado Ward 2, Unit 4, Kiribo in Ese-Odo LGA, said the process was not perfect.

“You can see it yourself. The system is not perfect. Things are not working. It took more than 10 minutes to capture me; there are a lot of complaints here and there.”  (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Makinde presents N678bn 2025 Budget proposal to lawmakers

By Adewale Owoade

Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has presented the 2025 Appropriation Bill to the House of Assembly tagged: “Budget of Stabilisation”, with infrastructure development and education getting the lion’s share.

The governor, while presenting the budget estimate of N678,086,767,332.18 to lawmakers at the Oyo House of Assembly in Ibadan, said education would gulp N145,354,783,399.80, representing 21.44 per cent.

“We are proposing a budget of six hundred and seventy-eight billion, eighty-six million, seven hundred and sixty-seven thousand, three hundred and thirty-two-naira, eighteen kobo (N678,086,767,332.18).

“Of this, N343,028,948,216.20, which is 50.59 per cent is for capital expenditure while N335,057,819,115.98, which is 49.41 per cent is for recurrent expenditure.

“Having looked at the data, including current inflation trends and projections for the year 2025, our Budget of Economic Stabilisation is just about 35 per cent higher than our 2024 Budget of Economic Recovery.

“We strongly believe that this budget will live up to its name as the economic stabilisation that will support our Oyo State Roadmap for Sustainable Development 2023-2027.

“My prayer, Mr Speaker Sir and the Honourable Members of the House, is that you extend the same hand of fellowship and union that we have enjoyed over the years as you deliberate on the 2025 Appropriation Bill and grant its passage to the benefit of residents of our dear state.”

In his address, Speaker of the House of Assembly, Adebo Ogundoyin, commended Makinde for promoting collaborative efforts of stakeholders for the benefit of residents.

“The 2024 budget proposal achieved an impressive 64 per cent success rate, thanks to the collaborative efforts of government branches and stakeholders.

“Building on this momentum, we are hopeful that the 2025 budget proposal will surpass this performance.

“Let me assure that we will set the ball rolling immediately to ensure swift passage of the 2025 Appropriation Bill.” (www.nannews.ng)

 

The allegation of violation of the Nigerian Constitution made by a former All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential aspirant, Charles Udeogaranya, against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for attending the Arab-Islamic Summit in Saudi Arabia has been described as hate speech, infantile and islamophobic. (more…)

The Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) has thumbed up top-notch engineering construction company, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, for consistently delivering top quality jobs nationwide. (more…)

The Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke on Wednesday presented a budget of N390 billion for the 2025 fiscal year to the state House of Assembly for approval. (more…)

Dr. Rhoda Makinde, wife of lawmaker representing Ondo East/Ondo West Federal Constituency at the National Assembly, Abiola Makinde, has expressed optimism that the present administration of President Bola Tinubu would turn the country around for better. (more…)

Flowerbud News

All Progressives Congress (APC) says no amount of shenanigans from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will make it lose its focus of ensuring the success of its candidate, Lucky Ayedatiwa, in Saturday’s governorship election in Ondo State.

The APC Campaign Council Spokesman, Mr Banji Okunomo, stated this while addressing newsmen on Wednesday in Okitipupa.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Okunomo was reacting to PDP’s allegations of planned rigging of the governorship poll by APC.

He said that PDP, through the allegation, had again shown its deep frustration and unpreparedness for the governorship election.

Okunomo noted that while the ‘serious-minded’ APC had been busy campaigning at every nook and cranny of the state, the opposition PDP was busy making baseless accusations.

“Rather than campaigning, they are going about making baseless accusations about some plans to rig the election.

“If there were such plans, why then will APC embark on rigorous and aggressive campaigns that we have done in the past few weeks?

“APC wants to categorically state that there are no plans to compromise any Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) official because we have vowed to comply with the electoral process.

“We will not undercut the process because we have already engaged in massive mobilisation during our campaigns, knowing full well that Ayedatiwa will coast home to victory,” he said.

The spokesman said Aiyedatiwa had reiterated his commitment to a credible poll as he was convinced that he had been able to win the hearts of the electorate based on his humanist approach to governance in the last 10 months.

“APC does not need to compromise the process or the electoral umpire to win Saturday´s election because the party is popular and the candidate is widely accepted by all and sundry.

“To be modest, APC has launched out the best political campaigns in the history of the state as the campaign train visited all the 18 local government areas, including all the remote parts of the state.

“In each of the places we visited, people expressed their happiness with Ayedatiwa and we have assurances that they will vote for him on Saturday as an affirmation of their love for him and APC,” he said.

He attributed PDP’s attitude to what he called the unpopularity of its governorship candidate.

Okunomo appealed to PDP to toe the path of honour by focusing on rebuilding its house because of some political gladiators who had left the party as fallouts from its governorship primaries.

“I want to appeal to PDP that rather than making complaints that lack merit, the party should simply accept defeat by declining to participate in the election,” he stated.

Okunomo urged the people of the state to disregard PDP’s allegation and troop out en masse on Saturday to vote for APC and its candidate, Aiyedatiwa and Adelami, to enhance delivery of more democracy dividends.

NAN

Flowerbud News

Action Alliance (AA) party, has scheduled its 2025 National Convention for Feb. 22 and approved the commencement of sales of intent forms for all elective positions.

Flowerbud News