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INCE the Saturday July 14, 2018 Ekiti State governorship election and its Osun State counterpart, which took place the previous Saturday - September 22, to be precise - the Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) has come under scurrilous attacks from Nigerians. Not a few would appear to have lost faith in its value as a potent weapon for making valid electoral choice, following the obviously flawed elections in Ekiti and Osun
The fault is not in the PVC… The Oracle Today Comment
States. PEOPLE who hold such view argue that if the elections in Ekiti and Osun States could be won and
The
VOX POPULI SACRUM
lost the way they were, in spite of the PVC, of what use, then, is the plastic card so loudly touted by the authorities as the only pass-
racle
WEDNESDAY October 10, 2018
Clouds over independence anniversary
•Fighter Jet’s pilot’s death dampens mood •Herdsmen kill as fresh Jos crisis feared •Boko Haram attacks not abating •Ekiti, Osun elections trigger 2019 misgivings •President asked to rekindle hope From BONIFACE OKORO, Umuahia; NATH OMAME Jr, Port Harcourt and COLLINS UGHALAA, Owerri
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igeria appears to be under the pressing weight of ominous dark clouds gathering overhead as the nation celebrates its 58th Independence Anniversary amidst a horde of political and even existential problems that are seemingly gnawing
at its very foundation. This trend of sad occurrences has become so persistent that the country would appear to be passing through an accursed phase, making many wonder if there is ever going to be any redemption for the traumatised polity. The latest of such sad occurrences came a few days ago with the crash, in Jikoko village in the Katampe area of Abuja, the FCT, of
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port to valid electoral choice-making? Such words as ‘useless’, ‘fraudulent’ and other unprintable terms have been used by many a
Nigerian to describe the PVC and or the intense campaign by the authorities to get voting-age citizens to register and collect and securely keep their PVCs. Indeed, one notable social affairs commentator, in a fit of righteous
• Flooding in Ogbaru, Anambra State
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ISSN: 2545-5869
Today
VOL.3 No.40 N200
•Squardron Leader Babaari pilot who •Armed herdsmen died in the NAF aircraft crash in Abuja
•Boko Haram
• Osun election fallout
Ayade, Umahi, Ikpeazu, Ugwuanyi, Wike, others win From BONIFACE OKORO, Umuahia; NATH OMAME Jr, Port Harcourt, Chinedu Nwafor, Abakaliki, Aniekan Aniekan, Calabar, Chuks Eze, Enugu
•APC shifts primary in Abia •Holds parallel primaries in Rivers • Voting smooth in Enugu after initial hiccup
xpectedly, the PDP governorship primaries, which held on Sunday, September 30, in many state capitals across the country ended with practically no upsets, especially in PDP States. Abia State governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, Sunday evening
emerged the governorship flag bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state for the 2019 general elections, with a promise to create 50 000 jobs in five years. However, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the State failed
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to hold its governorship primary election scheduled for Sunday but shifted it to Monday. In Enugu, the exercise in the APC camp also witnessed initial hiccup following a tussle over party leadership but the situation was later brought under control
and voting began on a smooth note. The exercise was still going on as the time of this report at past 10pm, with Senator Ayogu Eze expected to emerge as the party’s governorship flag-bearer. In Rivers, factions loyal to for-
mer Governor Chibuike Amaechi and Senator Magnus Abe held parallel primaries. Abe emerged winner in his own group while the result of the voting in Amaechi’s camp was still be-
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20 killed in fresh Plateau attack