Shekarau set to dump ANPP for PDP

There are strong indications that former governor of Kano State and presidential candidate of All Nigeria Peoples’ Party, ANPP, in the last April election, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, will soon decamp from the party and join the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP.

Shekarau confirmed the speculations about his secret romance with PDP when he was delivered the keynote address at a reception in honour of Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, over the national award bestowed on him by the Federal Government.

The plot to decamp ANPP came to light when Gov. Lamido revealed the newfound love between Shekarau and PDP members even as he commended the former governor for his bold and practical contributions along with some notable Northern elite towards the development of the region.

The former ANPP governor, who delivered a paper on the relationship between the late former governor of Kano State, Alhaji Abubakar Rimi and Gov. Lamido, described the duo as his political mentors due to their contributions towards the growth of the North.

Shekarau, who kept the audience spell-bound with Lamido’s political escapades, however, said he never visited Jigawa State throughout his (Shekarau’s) tenure in office although Jigawa and Kano were neighbours.

Lamido observed that Shekarau was not wearing his turban, to indicate his traditional title, and thanked the organisers of the gathering for the honour done to him and the people of the state.

Lamido, however, declared that the other political parties in the country started on faulty foundations,pointing out that, that was why PDP would continue to rule the country, even as he formally invited his visitor (Shekarau) to join ”the winning party.

He said: “PDP has been vindicated and time has shown that it is the only party that can rule this country; it is only wise for politicians who want to serve their fatherland to join the PDP instead wasting away in small parties that cannot make the desired impact in the present political dispensation in the county.’’

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INEC to de-register political parties – Prof. Jega

CHAIRMAN of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega, said, yesterday, the commission would commence de-registration of political parties that failed to secure a seat during the just conducted 2011 general elections. The process, according to him, will commence immediately the pending cases at the tribunal are concluded.

Jega said: “The Electoral Act has provided for INEC to de-register any political party that did not win any seat. We will do it at the right time, there is a lot of litigations in the tribunal. But by the time we say a party has been deregistered, it will be a solid ground that cannot be faulted.”

Jega said these at a lecture with the theme: ‘Nigeria’s 2011 General Elections: The international dimensions and challenges’, organised by the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, NIIA, in Lagos.

He said the commission had stopped funding political parties owing to the removal of the legal framework that existed before now.

Said he: “INEC is also having challenges from the 63 political parties. They wanted funding from INEC, there was a legal frame work for it in the past; they have been receiving funding in the past and now the legal frame work has been removed. We have refused to fund them and this is creating problems for us.”

He also said the commission was in the process of getting new techniques from the international community, which will aid in the success of subsequent elections in Nigeria.

He said: “We have got a system which will help us in future elections. I want you to know that the software used by INEC was developed by some brilliant Nigerians and this software was done for free.”

The INEC chairman, however, berated those calling for the scrapping of the National Youth Service Corps scheme, saying: “What can be done is to reform and remodify the scheme because it promotes national integration.”

Speaking further, he attributed electoral reforms to the success of the conduct of the 2011 general elections in Nigeria.

He also identified three dominant perspectives of modernization, globalization and class struggles which affects the country’s electoral process, noting that “the complex interaction between domestic politics and foreign policy is one that has been long recognized. There is no doubt that elections loom large in our domestic politics and there have implications for Nigeria’s foreign policy,”

While identifying factors that almost marred the conduct of the recent poll, he said the commission remodified new innovations especially the Open Secret ballot system to achieve its aim.

He, however, stated that the commission is committed to adapting “global principles” to improve on previously conducted elections in the country.

“The formidable challenge remaining to be addressed is how to continue to bring further improvements to the electoral process and prevent to the old order of chaotic, undemocratic and violent elections, with the attendant negative consequences of authoritarian bad governance, instead of desirable good, democratic governance,” he stated.

Contiuning, he said “these three dominant perspectives have helped us to understand and explain the international dimensions and challenges of elections, there is in my view a new burgeoning perspective, which provides an even clearer focus and explanation what catalyzes positive democratic transitions and elections, in contemporary world.”

Speaking earlier, chairman of the event, Prince Adelusi stressed the need for voter education to prevent a reoccurrence of post election violence.

He said, “it is important to have voters’ education, we need to have a peoples’ army that can cause things to happen.”

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