Former Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has
promised to challenge his loss in the February 23 National Assembly
elections.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, on Tuesday, had
declared Dr. Chris Ekpenyong of the Peoples Democratic Party as
winner of the senatorial election in the Ikot-Ekpene Senatorial
District of Akwa Ibom State.
According to the result declared by the INEC Returning Officer,
Prof. Peter Ogbang, Ekpenyong, who is a former deputy governor,
scored 118,215 votes to defeat the incumbent senator, Akpabio of
the All Progressives Congress, who secured 83,158 votes.
The result was announced at the INEC headquarters in Uyo instead
of Ikot-Ekpene because of alleged security threats in the area.
But Akpabio, who spoke on The Verdict, a live programme of
Channels Television, on Wednesday, vowed to challenge the collation
of the results, adding that he could not lose the election.
The senator said, “I won. It’s a temporary setback. That is why
there are processes. For instance, if you feel that you were
cheated or there was wrong collation, you have recourse to the
courts. I did not fail; I can’t fail.
“I believe strongly that there must have been some wrong
collation somewhere. Those things will be corrected. We have
processes in the election. It’s from one stage; we have to do
registration, vote and collate.
“As far as there is a mistake anywhere, you go to the court and
get your mandate. My mandate is somewhere waiting for me. My people
know that I can’t fail elections.”
Read more i-didnt-lose-the-results-will-be-corrected-akpabio/
Niger Gov Abubakar Sani-Bello
Niger to Provide Fire Station in 25 LGCs
In a proactive bid to stem down the devastating effect of fire
outbreak, Niger State Government is to provide functional fire
fighting station in each of the 25 local govern.ent areas of the
state.
The State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani-Bello disclosed this on
Tuesday when he made on the spot assessment of the burnt section of
the Monday Market in New Bussa in Borgu Local Government Area of
the state.
Fifty four permanent locked-up shops, 15 attached shops and
merchanrdise worth over N100 million were raised down to the
rubbles by the inferno that gutted market on Sunday night.
The Governor who noted that fire outbreak in markets across the
state has become a reoccurring incident said there is need to build
fire stations in markets and Local Goverment headquarters.
“This is not the first time we are experiencing fire outbreak in
markets across the state. Now it has happened in New Bussa but the
most important thing is that no life was lost.
“What we can do is to ensure that we have fire service stations
in all the Local Government headquarters and we have built seven
stations already. So we also have to ensure we set up one here as
soon as possible so that when there is fire outbreak we can contain
it before it cause more damages.”
Expressing concern about the attendant effect of fire incidence
on victims, Governor Sani Bello said “government will ensure it
provide support to the victims to reduce their hardship”.
The Governor who assured the victims of financial support said
the State Emergency Management Agency would do a proper assessment
to identify victims and look into how they would be compensated
.
He however called on the market committee to redesign the market
system and ensure that highly inflamable products are are kept in a
specific area in the market, ensure they monitor market activities
and ensure that each shop had a fire extinguisher so as to enable
them address such occurances.
Governor Sani-Bello further stated that the state government
would liaise with the local government council to see to how they
can support and rebuild the market.
The Director General, Niger State Emergency Management Agency,
(NSEMA) Alh. Ahmed Ibrahim Inga disclosed that 54 permanent shops
and 15 attached shops were affected. Adding that property worth
over N100 million were lost
Jibrin Baba Ndace
Chief Press Secretary
27 February 2019