Kogi sworn-in governor without a deputy
On January 27, 2016, Kogi State made history as Governor Yahaya Bello was sworn in without a deputy because the man nominated by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to be Bello’s deputy, James Faleke, refused to attend the swearing-in ceremony, making good his threat not to present himself for the swearing-in.
Faleke’s was conspicuously absent at the ceremony, and no replacement was announced at the event.
The legal implication of that arrangement was tested up to the Supreme Court It was the first time in Nigeria’s political history that an elected governor would be inaugurated without a deputy.
The North-Central state governor had emerged after a leading governorship candidate, Abubakar Audu, died before the state governorship election was concluded in 2015.
Bello was picked by the APC to replace its late candidate, Abubakar Audu, but Faleke objected to the party’s decision and approached the election tribunal in the state asking it to declare him governorelect.
He contended that the election had been won and lost before Audu died and that he should have been pronounced as governor-elect.
The Senator representing Kogi East, Dino Melaye, said the inauguration was historic because “a minority is now the governor of Kogi state”.
He pledged that Bello would not disappoint the people of the state and called on all aggrieved people to unite and cooperate with the new governor for the sake of Kogi state.
Political upsets in Ondo, Gambia, Ghana and USA
Ondo State
There was a political upset in Ondo State as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on November 27 declared the candidate of the All Progressives Party (APC), Chief Rotimi Akeredolu, as the winner of the governorship election in Ondo State, defeating a ruling party in the state.
According to the Returning Officer for the election, Prof. Abdul-Ganiyu Ambali, Akeredolu polled 150, 380 votes to beat his closest rival, Eyitayo Jegede of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who garnered 244, 842 votes.
According to Ambali, Chief Olusola Oke, the candidate of Alliance for Democracy (AD), scored 126, 889 to place third. The Returning Officer put the total registered voters at 1, 647, 973, out of which only 584, 997 voters were accredited while valid votes were put at 551,272 votes and 29, 615 votes were rejected.
“Having polled the highest number of votes and having satisfied all requirements, I hereby declare Oluwarotmi Akeredolu the governor-elect of Ondo State,” he said.
Although 1,659,186 voters were registered for the election, 378,606 did not turn up to collect their PVCs.
Among other contestants were Dr. Olu Agunloye of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Oladare Amuda (Accord Party), Yinka Orokoto (Action Alliance) and Adetuwo Ogunjumelo of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria.
United States
The November 8 presidential election in the US defied predictions and proved many bookmakers wrong.
The major opinion polls all over the world as well as major news channels had given the US election to the Democrats’ candidate, Mrs. Hilary Clinton, but Republican’s Donald Trump won the election and even went on, on December 20, to secure 270 votes in the Electoral College to formally win the United States presidency.
Though Clinton had won the majority of popular votes cast but the Electoral College votes gave the winning calculations to Trump, who was seen as a political neophyte.
At the proper Electoral College on December 20, votes from Texas electors put Trump ahead, despite two Republican electors casting protest votes.
Efforts by anti-Trump forces to persuade Republican electors to abandon the president-elect came to practically nothing and the process unfolded largely according to its traditions.
That did not stop thousands of protesters converging on state capitols across the US. More than 200 demonstrators braved freezing temperatures at Pennsylvania’s capitol, chanting, “No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA!” and “No treason, no Trump!” In Madison, Wisconsin, protesters shouted, cried and sang “Silent Night”.
In Augusta, Maine, they banged on drums and held signs that said, “Don’t let Putin Pick Our President,” referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump prevailed in the Electoral College voting on to officially win election as the next president, easily dashing a long-shot push by a small movement of detractors to try to block him from gaining the White House.
Trump, who is set to take office on January 20, garnered more than the 270 electoral votes required to win, even as at least half a dozen U.S. electors broke with tradition to vote against their own state’s directives, the largest number of “faithless electors” seen in more than a century.
The Electoral College vote is normally a formality but took on extra prominence this year after a group of Democratic activists sought to persuade Republicans to cross lines and vote for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
She won the nationwide popular vote even as she failed to win enough state-by-state votes in the acrimonious November 8 election.
Gambia
The tension in Gambia is yet to subside as President Yahya Jammeh, who earlier accepted defeat in the country’s presidential election turned round to annul the results, while calling for “fresh and transparent elections, which would be officiated by a god-fearing and independent electoral commission.”
Reacting, the president-elect urged Jammeh to accept the verdict of the Gambian people. Jammeh, who had been described by critics as an autocratic ruler, accepted the result of the election, ceding power after 22 years, to a coalition led by the opposition leader, Adama Barrow, there was celebration in the West African country even as observers praised him for showing ‘unexpected’ maturity.
But the celebration was cut short as Jammeh recanted his earlier acceptance of the results of the polls in a television broadcast.
“After a thorough investigation, I have decided to reject the outcome of the recent election. I lament serious and unacceptable abnormalities which have reportedly transpired during the electoral process,” he said.
Following the resultant tension, there were reports that troops have been deployed to the streets of Banjul, the capital of the Gambia, to quell any likely protest or resistance.
It was reported that “soldiers were seen placing sandbags in strategic locations across the capital, Banjul, a development that triggered widespread unease among the already spooked population, who had been panic-buying food before the vote due to fear of unrest.” Already, observers and human rights activists have condemned Jammeh’s change of heart.
Ghana
Ghana was not left out of the wind of political upsets blowing across the world, as the incumbent president was defeated in a keenly contested election, making the Ghanaian President John Mahama to conced defeat to Nana Akufo-Addo in the recently concluded elections.
Akufo-Addo, of the New Patriotic Party, won 5,716,026 (53.85 per cent of the votes) to 4,713,277 a 44.40 per cent share reported representatives at the EC National Collation Center. Akufo-Addo, the son of a former president, had lost prior runs for the presidency in 2008 and 2012. He alleged voter fraud after the 2012 loss to Mahama.
The country’s Supreme Court spent more than a month deliberating before declaring Mahama the winner by a narrow margin.
A lawyer, Akufo-Addo has been elected to the national parliament and served as attorney general and foreign minister, his website said.
He tweeted his victory, saying: “A few minutes ago, I received a call from President @JDMahama congratulating me on winning the 2016 Presidential Election. #ChangeHasCome” “We won it,” he said. “We won both the parliamentary and presidential contests so we’re in a good shape.
The parliamentary contest has been won by a very, very big margin; we increased our presence in parliament by an extra fifty seats.”
Mahama, of the National Democratic Congress, has led the West African nation of 27 million people since July 2012. As the vice president, he first took office after the death of President John Evans Atta Mills.
SOURCE.. NEW TELEGRAPH
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