The President of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Nnia Nwodo, said at the weekend Nigeria would witness a remarkable turnaround in fortune if an Igbo man emerged the country’s president in 2023.

In a congratulatory message to the Nigerian-born newly appointed Minister of Justice and Solicitor-General in Alberta, Canada, Kelechi Madu, the Ohanaeze chief said Nigeria would be transformed with an Igbo man at the helm of the country’s affairs.

He also appealed to the Federal Government to stop marginalizing the people of South East extraction to enable the country fully harness their creative potentials.

Nwodo said: “Ohanaeze Ndigbo is highly honoured by the exploits of Kaycee Madu in faraway Canada as an Igbo son. Mr. Madu had contested and won a seat into the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, representing the electoral district of Edmonton-South West from where he was appointed and sworn in as Minister of Justice and Solicitor General by the Premier of Alberta, Jason Kenney, on April 30, 2020.

On behalf of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, I commend the sterling qualities of Mr. Kaycee Madu, as well as other Igbo sons and daughters who have excelled so much outside the country, such as the recently appointed first black Vice-Chancellor of Leeds Trinity University in the UK, Prof Charles Egbu, and many others.

“The exploits of Igbo sons and daughters both within and outside the country are indices of the cerebral capability and ingenuity of the people which Nigeria could exploit to advance its development.

“The Federal Government should stop marginalising and victimising the Igbo in the country so that the latent creative potentials could be harnessed for the good of all.

“Nigeria would witness a turnaround in her fortunes if a president of Igbo extraction was allowed to emerge in 2023.”

Source:NewsNow

The electoral body in a statement yesterday by its National Commissioner and Chairman Voter Education and Publicity, Mr. Festus Okoye, said the official notice for both elections would be issued on August 1, 2019, while political parties that intend to sponsor candidates are to hold their primaries for the nomination of such candidates from 2nd to 29th August 2019.

He said: “The commission at its meeting held today (yesterday) approved the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the Governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa States, which will hold in both states on Saturday 2nd November 2019. “Campaigns by Political Parties in public shall commence on 2nd August 2019 and end on 1st October 2019. “The parties sponsoring candidates are required to submit the list of their agents not later than 2nd October 2019.”

Okoye explained that the stated timelines are in line with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), stressing that all stakeholders are urged to take cognizance of and adhere strictly to them. He revealed that details of the timetable and schedule of activities for the election are on the commission’s website.

Meanwhile, the commission after its meeting yesterday approved a proposal to conduct an extensive review and debriefing on the 2019 general election in line with its existing practice.
The national commissioner said that this was intended to evaluate the commission’s performance of the key activities of the general election, with a view to addressing identified challenges and strengthening operational and institutional capacities to conduct free, fair, credible and peaceful elections.

He explained that the review would focus on the planning, organisation, conduct and coordination of the general elections, particularly on Logistics, Procurement and Deployment of personnel and materials; Continuous Voter Registration and Collection of permanent voter’s cards; Legal environment of the elections, particularly the legal challenges experienced over nomination of candidates and conduct of elections.

Okoye said the review would also focus on processes of party registration, party primaries and nomination of candidates; quality of ad-hoc staff; relationship between the commission and diverse stakeholders, including political parties, security agencies, civil society organizations, the media and development partners; and quality of inclusivity of the elections, particularly regarding persons with disability, IDPs and gender balance.

He noted that the two sets of activities are envisaged in the reviews as follows: Internal reviews involving National Commissioners, Resident Electoral Commissioners, Electoral Officers, Collation and Returning Officers, as well as other key staff of the commission; Review meetings with key stakeholders such as political parties, civil society organizations, security agencies, the media and development partners.

Okoye revealed that these reviews and debriefing would take place between May and June 2019.
He added that the commission has commenced work on a comprehensive report of the 2019 general election and has mandated its Electoral Institute to undertake detailed researches into various aspects of the elections. The national commissioner said it is the commission hopes that the outcomes of these reviews and studies would feed into further electoral reforms and its preparations for handling future elections.

Source:News Now.