And Rotimi I am also throwing in another ‘I’, because with the number of states where their result has been declared inconclusive, and the pattern of voting in those states, there’s also a question about the Independence of the Independent National Electoral Commission as well.

And we, on the IDEAS segment, be looking at the State Assembly and the Governorship elections, importantly what you need to know about the State Assembly. A lot of people have no idea that the 29 states that we’re having elections for State Assembly and Governorship, have roles to play in their day-to-day lives.

All right, welcome to Countdown 2019. And, we’re half way done, and we’re half way going to the next one which is a week, just a week away on Countdown 2019. Countdown 2019 is your, is your political show where we discuss all the news and all the big and significant issues ahead of the general … ahead of now the governorship election.

Welcome to Nigeria Info where we’re discussing all the big and significant issues on the road to … tomorrow’s election. Next month’s election. Finally, we’re here. And the last hour, we’ve been listening to a briefing by INEC, Chairman of INEC Professor Mahmud Yakubu, and as well as Inspector General of Police. Right now questions are being asked by journalists and we’ll monitor that.

“Towards more Credible, Free, Inclusive Elections in Nigeria.” And at, the keynote address was given by Professor Chidi Odinkalu, and he noted that, he sort of traced the trajectory of our presidential elections, of which we’ve had six, because he counted the 1979 presidential election, the 1983 one, and then the botched June 12th presidential election, and then ones we’ve had in this our Fourth Republic, so we’re really, we’ve been on a trajectory. And I also looked at it and reflected how in this Fourth Republic we kind of marked time on, for the first three elections up to 2007,

On the IDEAS segment with Ayo Obe, she’s discussing with comments made by the Governor of Kaduna State Nasir el Rufai, alleging interference by foreign observers and they face the consequences. A lot of reactions to comments made by Nasir el Rufai.
Well as you know Rotimi, election observers have been in the news recently. But I think it’s … for us to be able to understand the context, against which election observers come, I think it’s important as you say, for us to know: Why do we have observers?

On the IDEAS segment it is the Transparency International Corruption Perception for 2018, the Index, we’re going to be looking at in the segment. We can do much more, is what, well basically, the spirit of that report is. So welcome to Countdown 2019 and welcome Ayo Obe.

Well, what we focus on here in this section of the programme is the, are the issues of Integrity, Ethics and Accountability and the role that they play in our Democracy. And I just wonder, in the context of Nigerian politics, and as one of those who is seen as … I don’t want to use the term ‘new breed’, but people who have a new approach to doing politics, how do you think you’ve been able to, to not so much to talk about those issues, but to actually reflect them in the way that you’ve been campaigning, the way that you’ve declared your campaign, the way you emerged as the candidate, and how you’ve been going, how you intend to go forward with those ideals.

o, it’s great to have you on the show. I should say that Richard is one of the real veterans when it comes to reporting on the judiciary in Nigeria. And at the moment he’s publishing a news magazine on the corruption cases, called “The Corruption Cases Digest”, and in that he looks not only at the actual cases that are being brought on the issue of corruption, but also on corruption issues in our judiciary. And that Richard is what we’re about to talk about today.

Thank you Aghogho and welcome Rob and Nnamdi to the IDEAS segment of Countdown 2019. Please also remember that you can check out the editions of this programme on our website which is www.ideasradio.ng and you can also tweet at us @ideasradiong. And of course, you can get me at @naijama, which is me going on and on about things which may or may not be to do with Integrity, Democracy, Ethics and Accountability.