6,050 candidates slug it out in today's election

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), says 6,050 candidates will be contesting the governorship and State House of Assembly elections across the country on today Saturday April 11.

This is contained in the commission’s daily bulletin issued in Abuja on Friday.

According to the bulletin, of this number, 760 candidates are vying for governorship positions while 5,290 are contesting for positions in the state Houses of Assembly.

PDP state assembly candidate in Yobe defect to APC

Less than 24 hours to the governorship and state assembly elections, a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) House of Assembly candidate in Yobe, Alhaji Zanna Danani, on Friday dropped his election bid and defected to the APC.

Zanna, who defected along with several other chieftains of PDP to APC, told newsmen in Damaturu that the action was to enable them join the mainstream of the political development of the country.

Elections: Bauchi warns under-age to keep off polling units

The Bauchi State Government on Friday called on parents and guardians to caution their under-age children and wards to steer clear of polling units during elections on Saturday.

This call is conveyed in a statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr Ishola Adeyemi, in Bauchi.

The government, in the statement, also appealed to politicians to call their supporters to order so that the elections would be conducted peacefully and in accordance with the laid down rules and regulations.

It said the government would not hesitate to deal with anyone or group of people who would want to disrupt the peaceful conduct of the elections.

Clinton back in American Presidential race, set to launch bid on Sunday

Hillary Clinton

Former American First Lady, Hillary Clinton, is expected to launch her long-expected campaign for the 2016 presidential race at the weekend.

The former Secretary of State will launch her bid for the Democratic nomination on Sunday, Democratic sources say, possibly via social media.

Her campaign is expected to begin with a stop in Iowa, and will initially focus on intimate events rather than large rallies.

Mrs Clinton, 67, will become the first Democratic hopeful to formally enter the race, and is widely seen as a front-runner.

Amaechi , Speaker not involved in road accident --- Commissioner

The Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs Ibim Semenitari, has debunked rumours that Gov. Chibuike Amaechi and the Speaker of the state legislature were involved in a road accident.

Semenitari told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Port Harcourt that government had received the rumours that Amaechi and the speaker Mr Otelebe Amachree, were involved in a `ghastly road accident.’

RELATIONSHIP: How much sex should couple be having?

Do  you take a roll in the hay every night, once or twice a week, monthly or at no particular time? For the good of your own relationship, how much sex should you be having? Many couples do find infrequent sex to be an issue. While some are fine with the occasional 5-minutes romp under the sheets, others wish they were getting a whole lot more.

There are women who worry that their men demand too much sex and secretly wish they’d slow down. But a lot more men complain that it is their women that are not giving it up as often as they (men) desire.

More than next door

On the whole, the average couple is happy if it thinks it’s getting more sex than the couple next door regardless of how much it’s actually getting.

Having more sex than your neighbours can actually make you happy, and research shows that couples who have sex at least two to three times a month are more likely to report a higher level of happiness than those who who’ve had no sex during the previous 12 months.

The more sex people have, the happier they tend to be, even when factors like income, marital status, health and age are taken into account.

APC panicking over Agbaje’s chances of winning Lagos Guber poll – Fani-Kayode

Director of Media and Publicity of the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, has faulted the allegations by the All Progressives Congress that President Goodluck Jonathan has strategised to rig Saturday governorship election in Lagos State in favour of PDP candidate, Mr Jimi Agbaje.

He said the APC is in panic mode “because it knows that Agbaje is going to win the election.”

Fani-Kayode, in a statement on Friday in Abuja, said this was the first time in 16 years that the APC, together with the opposition tendencies it represents, was facing a formidable challenge from a governorship candidate of the PDP in the state.

He said, “It is not true that the President has any rigging plan for Lagos and neither do we need any such plan because our party is very strong there.

Jonathan’s meeting with Agbaje, Adams, Obanikoro in Lagos is on how to rig guber election to avenge his defeat- APC

The All Progressives Congress has raised the alarm over President Goodluck Jonathan’s unannounced visit to Lagos State a day to the governorship election.

National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in a statement, wondered why Jonathan arrived in Lagos late on Thursday.

He said Jonathan had a closed-door meeting with the Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate, Mr. Jimi Agbaje; the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs II, Musiliu Obanikoro; and the National Coordinator of the Oodua Peoples Congress, Gani Adams.

Mohammed alleged that the meeting was obviously to strategise on how to manipulate the polls.

He said Jonathan was using the general perception, that he is a ‘good sportsman’, to deceive Nigerians.

Oba Akiolu’s threat: Will APC’s apology save Ambode?

In order to calm frayed nerves, shortly after Oba Rilwan Akiolu’s alleged threat to the Igbo in Lagos, the All Progressives Congress, APC in the State apologised to Igbo in the state over the statement credited to the traditional ruler last Sunday. It is yet to be seen whether the Igbo will bury the hatchet and cast their votes according to their conscience before the alleged Oba’s threat or cast a protest vote against the ruling party in today’s election.

Akiolu allegedly threatened that Igbo would drown in Lagos Lagoon within seven days if they failed to vote for the All Progressives Congress (APC) Governorship Candidate, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode in today’s election. Since then, outrage, anger and wide condemnation have been trailing the Oba’s statement. The Oba, hitherto, had been visibly partisan in the run-off to the election.

In spite of the palace clarification in a statement signed by Opeluwa of Lagos, Lateef Aderibigbe Ajose, saying that the Lagos monarch was misquoted and had no grouse with non-indigenes in the state and that he remained father of all Lagos residents, the party observed that the development may have a catastrophic impact on the chances of the ruling party. The Oba’s remarks when some Igbo residing in Lagos paid him a courtesy call has gone viral in the social media. A few days ago, the party had to tender apology to the teeming Igbo residents in the state, pleading for forgiveness.

OGUN 2015: WHERE WE SHOULD STAND ON SATURDAY - GNI vs AMOSUN by Femi Shodunke

Ibikunle Amosun, Ogun State Governor

EXCEPT we want to deceive ourselves, the reality on ground on who becomes the next governor of Ogun State is between the incumbent, Governor Ibikunle Amosun (SIA) of the All Progressive Congress (APC) and his often rival, Gboyega Nasir Isiaka (GNI) of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Amosun is from Ogun Central Senatorial District while Isiaka hails from Ogun West, the senatorial district that has been agitating for the exalted seat in the last 39 years of the birth of the Gateway State.

DAILY, I am bombarded with text messages on my MTN line why I, and by extension the residents of the Gateway State, should not vote for SIA, but that GNI is the way to go.  There are other gangrenous disparaging text messages full of unsubstantiated allegations against Amosun, deliberately sent to dissuade voters from voting for the governor for second term.

THE texts were from known and bogus groups claiming to be working for the victory of GNI, who contested against the governor in the 2011 election on the platform of Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN).  PPN was a break-away branch of the PDP, funded by ex-Governor Gbenga Daniel who recently castigated the people of Ogun State on a Rockcity FM radio programme as “educated in terms of going to school but in terms of enlightenment, they’re not enlightened…(and they’re) naïve, were ignorant, and were gullible”.