Evritinnaija

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Nigeria’s electoral umpire, says some of its staff were abducted and raped during the February 23 Presidential and National Assembly elections. Naija News reports that INEC commissioner for information and voter education, Festus Okoye, made this known in a statement on Friday, March 1. Okoye said while the elections were generally peaceful, there was “high level of violence” in a few places in addition to “the subjugation of some of our electoral officials to threats, harassment, intimidation, assault, abduction and even rape.” His words: “The Commission condoles with the families of its ad-hoc staff who lost their lives while on this national assignment, as well as other Nigerians who died in the course of the elections,” he said. “It also expresses its deep regrets and sympathy for all victims of this mindless violence. We stand with them in these difficult times.” Okoye also said the conduct of some security agencies in t...

Lagos – The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, has faulted the distribution of bags of rice to civil servants by the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu. Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu. Agbaje expressed the position in a statement by Mr Felix Oboagwina, his Director of Media and Publicity on Friday in Lagos. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Sanwo-Olu had distributed bags of rice to workers after a meeting with them at the state secretariat,Ikeja on Thursday. Agbaje alleged that the bags of rice had on them the logo of the APC on them and their distribution violated civil service decorum and neutrality. “We find the invitation and the rice gift appalling, opportunistic and illegal. “In a political contest of the nature in which Sanwo-Olu and the rest of us are involved, he has been offered an undue advantage. An uneven playing field has been created. And this is condem...

 The United Kingdom has urged the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP ) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar to challenge his defeat in a peaceful manner. The Independent National Electoral Commission had declared the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate President Muhammadu Buhari as the winner of the February-23rd poll in the early hours of Wednesday. The Nigerian leader polled 15,191,847 votes to defeat Atiku who got 11,262,978 votes. However, the former vice president rejected the outcome of the election, which he called a scam, vowing to challenge it. However, Harriett Baldwin, UK’s minister of state for Africa, said the result declared was consistent with the civil society parallel vote tabulation process. Baldwin said: “We urge any party or individual who wishes to challenge the process to do so peacefully and through the appropriate legal channel and we encourage Nigerian authorities to examine all allegations of wrongdoing carefully, and take the necessary ac...

Abubakar And peace Committee Still On Atiku-Buhari’s Case Abdulsalami Abubakar , chairman of the National Peace Committee and his team have presented the grievances of Atiku Abubakar , presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) , to President Muhammadu Buhari . Abubakar, who met with Atiku and some opposition leaders on Thursday disclosed this to state house correspondents after he and some members of the committee met with Buhari at the presidential villa in Abuja. Recall that Atiku, who had lost to Buhari in the Presidential elections held last weekend, disagreed with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ‘s announcement that Buhari won the election and subsequently vowed to take the case to court. He was said to have demanded: unfreezing of bank accounts belonging to opposition politicians; demilitarisation of subsequent elections; accreditation of voters before voting in subsequent elections; access to the backend server of INEC by all part...

Boko Haram Kill Soldiers During Borno Attack Many have been reported dead while several others were also injured as Boko Haram launched another daring attack on Jere Local Government Area of Borno State on Thursday.  to local and security sources, at least four persons, including soldiers, were killed while dozens sustained various degrees of injury. The terrorists were said to have arrived the area in utility vehicles, and stormed Kardamari, headquarters of Jere Local Government, about 10km from Maiduguri, killing three soldiers and a civilian, Naija News understands. A security source told SaharaReporters that the attackers came at exactly 5:30pm and engaged the soldiers for about an hour and 30 minutes before the arrival of Special Forces from Maiduguri to repel the attack. “They came precisely 5:30pm and started shooting sporadically. Troops responded to them gallantly but, unfortunately, we lost soldiers and an unverified number of people were injured. “The reinforce...

INEC Announces Supplementary Presidential Elections The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced March 9 for the conduct of a supplementary presidential election in areas where the poll was cancelled last Saturday. INEC’s national commissioner for information and voter education, Festus Okoye revealed on Friday that the supplementary elections will be conducted alongside the governorship and state houses of assembly elections in affected areas. Okoye further disclosed that the decision was reached during the commission’s meeting with resident electoral commissioners (RECs) on Thursday in Abuja. Recall a breakout of violence in some areas prevented INEC from deploying personnel and materials to certain areas in the February 23rd elections, leading to cancellation in such areas. Some of the places affected include two local government areas in River state as well as some parts of Lagos and Anambra states . “Consequently, the meeting decided that supplement...

The All Progressives Congress (APC), Nigeria’s ruling party, says it suspended Ibikunle Amosun, governor of Ogun, and Rochas Okorocha, his Imo counterpart over anti-party activities. Evritinnaija reports that Lanre Issa-Onilu, APC spokesman, made this known in a statement on Friday, March 1. This online news platform had reported that the governors suspended by the national working committee (NWC) of the ruling party. Speaking further, the APC spokesman said the Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu, and Usani Usani, minister of Niger Delta affairs, were also suspended. Issa-Onilu added that Rotimi Akeredolu, governor of Ondo state, was queried also for “anti-party activities”. His words: “ The national working committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has suspended the Governor of Ogun state, Ibikunle Amosun and the Imo state governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha for anti-party activities,” he said in a statement. “The NWC has also taken a ...