The Israeli military announced that it will shut down all crossings into Israel from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, for the national elections, as is standard

practice during festivals and holidays.
The Israel Defense Forces said the closure will begin Monday at midnight and last through midnight Tuesday.

Continue Reading "Breaking; IDF to shut down all Crossing to Israel From West Bank, Gaza Palestinian on election day"

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) on Friday congratulated President Muhammadu Buhari on his re-election.

Continue Reading "BREAKING: CAN finally Took Stand With Buhari’s victory over Atiku"

Senator representing Akwa Ibom north-west and former Akwa Ibom governor, Godswill Akpabio, has said he is being criticized by some clergymen in the state since he defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Continue Reading "breaking; PDP Is Bribing some clergy Men In Akwaibom State To Be Lying Against me - Akpabio."

The Amnesty International has urged Federal Government of Nigeria to investigate alleged cases of political thuggery and violence on journalists and electorate during the supplementary election conducted in Kano State.

Continue Reading "Breaking; Amnesty International Urges The Nigerian govt To Investigate kano state election."

Spokesman to Atiku Abubakar, Paul Ibe, has revealed that the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would partly rely on an anonymous website containing documents purportedly obtained from internal computers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to prove his case at the election tribunal.

Continue Reading "Breaking; I have Enough evidence from INEC’s computers To Win my Case At The Tribunal-Atiku"

Elder Statesman, Tanko Yakasai was his usual self, frank, blunt and unsparing, during this interview with VINCENT KALU. He  said Atiku Abubakar has done the right thing by challenging the result of the 2019 presidential election in court and gave reasons why he can never support President Muhammadu Buhari.

Continue Reading "Politics; Atiku is Right By Challenging The Electoral Results, i will never support Buhari - Says Tanko Yakasai"

 Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai, yesterday, visited the Presidential Villa, Abuja where he presented himself to President Muhammadu Buhari to confirm that he is alive and contrary to earlier reports, he was not involved in an accident. El-Rufai also said that he was seeking to arrest  the peddlers of the news that he was involved in a fatal accident, saying if located, the peddlers of the false story  would be made to face criminal charges.

Continue Reading "Breaking; PDP Candidate can Only Win Kaduna State In Dreams & Not When Am Still Alive El-Rufai Tells Buhari."

The Nigerian Army says soldiers would not be present at polling units during the governorship and house of assembly supplementary elections scheduled to take place on Saturday.

According to the military, they would only be seen at areas identified as flashpoints.

Major General Hakeem Oladapo Otiki, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 8 Division, Nigerian Army, Sokoto, said this while speaking with journalists in Sokoto State.

Continue Reading "Flash point; The Nigerian Army Says soldiers Would not be present at polling units during The Supplementary Elections."

National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Sen. Bola Tinubu, has said his moral authority plays a role in his ability to influence elections.


Tinubu said the other tools that helped him influence elections were his skills as a veteran politician and dedication to campaigning and mobilizing his own party members.

He spoke on Friday in Lagos while responding to an advertorial in the media, alleging that he met with the INEC Chairman to influence the Sokoto State governorship rerun election in favour of the APC, NAN reports.

Continue Reading "Breaking; Tinubu Finally Reveals The tricks He Employs To Influence Electoral Outcomes"

The Election Petitions Tribunal set up for the 2018 governorship election in Osun State has declared Ademola Adeleke winner of the election.

The three-member panel said during its ruling in Abuja Friday afternoon that the rerun election that held on September 27, 2018, was illegal.

The tribunal, therefore, deducted the votes scored by the APC candidate Gboyega Oyetola at the rerun after declaring the rerun illegal.

The tribunal said Mr Adeleke won the election at the first ballot on September 22 and the rerun that INEC devised to reach a final conclusion a week later was illegal.

“The declaration of Oyetola is null and void,” the tribunal ruled in a majority decision with one member dissenting.

“The petitioner (Mr Adeleke) having fulfilled the constitutional requirements and scored the majority lawful vote is declared winner and returned as governor.

“The rerun in the seven cancelled units are hereby declared null and void and of no electoral effect.”

The tribunal ordered the withdrawal of the certificate of return issued to Mr Oyetola and ordered that a new certificate of return be issued to Mr Adeleke.

History

It has been reported how in the first ballot in the Osun governorship election, the PDP candidate won majority votes of 254,698 votes while Mr Oyetola of the APC came a close second with 254,345 votes.

Mr Adeleke’s margin of lead, 354 votes, was lower than the cancelled votes which were 3,498. Hence the re-run in seven polling units.

At the end of the supplementary election, the PDP’s initial victory had been upturned and Mr Oyetola was declared the winner of the poll. At the end of the tally of votes, the APC candidate scored a total of 255,505 votes while the PDP candidate scored a total of 255,023 votes.

However, with the cancellation of the rerun election by the tribunal, the initial result was recognised thus leading the tribunal to declare Mr Adeleke the winner.

Going by precedence, however, Mr Oyetola and the APC are expected to appeal the ruling at the Court of Appeal. Mr Adeleke may also appeal parts of the judgement he is not comfortable with.

While the appeals go on, Mr Oyetola will continue in office as Osun governor.

He is expected to remain in office, irrespective of the ruling of the appeal court, until the Supreme Court decides on the matter.

Continue Reading "Breaking; Election Petition Tribunal Has declared Adeleke winner of Osun State Gubernatorial election"

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar

An opposition presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, claims he won in four of the states that the electoral commission, INEC, declared were won by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Mr Abubakar stated this in his “state to state computation” contained in his electoral petition filed earlier this week.

The states Mr Abubakar is laying claim to are Kogi, Kaduna, Gombe and Niger.

Backstory

On February 27, INEC declared that Mr Buhari won the election in 19 states with a total of 15,191,847 votes to defeat Mr Abubakar, who won the election in 18 states including the FCT. Mr Abubakar polled 11,262,978 votes.

The margin of victory was 3,928,869 votes

Mr Abubakar is challenging the result in court. PREMIUM TIMES On Monday reported how he gathered lawyers at the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal in Abuja to prove his case.

In his petition, Mr Abubakar claimed that from the INEC server “state to state computation”, he polled 18,356,732 votes to defeat Mr Buhari whom he said scored 16,741,430 votes with a margin of 1,615,302 votes.

His petition also claims he won 21 states, excluding the results from Rivers State, which he said was not available on INEC’s server as at February 25, when the computation was made.

He claims that Mr Buhari only won the election in 15 states.

Claim, counter-claim

According to the results announced by INEC, the states Mr Buhari won are Bauchi, Borno, Ekiti, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Osun, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara.

Mr Abubakar won in Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bayelsa, Benue, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Enugu, Imo, Ondo, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Taraba and the FCT.

Mr Abubakar now claims he won the electoral tussle in Gombe, Niger, Kogi and Kaduna states.

INEC official results

Kogi

Mr Buhari: 285,894

Mr Abubakar: 218,207

The State Collation Officer, Michael Adikwu

Gombe

Mr Buhari: 403,961

Mr Abubakar: 138,484

The State Collation Officer, Kyari Mohammed.

Kaduna

Mr Buhari: 993,445

Mr Abubakar: 649,612.

The State Collation Officer, Bello Shehu

Niger

Mr Abubakar: 218,052

Mr Buhari: 612,371

The State Collation Officer, Angela Mary

Mr Abubakar’s claims

Kogi

Mr Abubakar: 504,308

Mr Buhari: 431,479

Gombe

Mr Abubakar: 684,077

Mr Buhari: 115,225

Kaduna

Mr Abubakar: 961,143

Mr Buhari: 469,002

Niger

Mr Abubakar: 576,308

Mr Buhari: 504,218

In his petition, Mr Abubakar also states other reasons why he believes he should either be declared the winner of the election or the election be cancelled. He will now have to prove his case at the tribunal.

Continue Reading "Breaking; INEC Should Either Declare me a winner or The Elections Should Be Cancelled - Atiku Abubakar."

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced the scheduling of supplementary elections in Rivers State for April 13.

Continue Reading "Breaking; INEC Has Rescheduled April 13 For The supplementary elections in Rivers State."

Amidst rowdiness, the Senate on Wednesday passed resolutions to check the roles of the military in the 2019 elections and “inconsistent application of electoral laws” by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The deliberations leading to the adoption of four resolutions supporting the motion were marred by rowdiness as senators of the All Progressives Congress (APC) openly showed dissent to the debate.

The motion on the militarization of the electoral process and alleged double standard of INEC was presented by Dino Melaye (PDP, Kogi West).

Mr Melaye prayed his colleagues to look into the matter to forestall future occurrences.

“The Senate is conscious of the need to grow our nascent democracy through the institutionalization of procedures, application of civil laws and the restriction of excessive use of military force in the civil affairs of the state,” said Mr Melaye.

“The Senate is aware of the growing militarization of our nations electoral process, and the inconsistent application of electoral laws by the institutional umpire, the lNEC, especially as witnessed in the recent national election 2019, where the pretence of the use of extreme military force akin to a war campaign was applied in electoral polling stations, and the declaration of ’inconclusive elections’, as a term – being used inconsistently, and partially at the whims of electoral officers in occasions that appear solidly as similar cases;

“The Senate is concerned that this extreme militarization of a democratic electoral process and the inconsistent application of electoral laws by INEC matters of national elections pose serious threats to our democracy, and has security implications that must be nipped in the bud;

“The Senate is persuaded that the nation is on the edge of a precipice, and our democracy can be saved for future posterity if only we can build strong institutions that can operate within established laws, and with our military forces restricted to their traditional roles of defending the nation.”

Giving a further explanation on the motion, Mr Melaye bemoaned the number of deaths recorded during the conduct of the election and the high-handedness of the military.

“In the midst of all these, it is pathetic that there is no presidential broadcast or statement from the leader of this country. This is a national calamity,” he said.

The leader of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan (APC, Yobe North), said elections in Nigeria are still works-in-progress that require attention at all times. He urged the Senate to review the election and see where legislative action is required rather than taking the whole issue in whole.

He was swiftly counter by the Minority Leader, Biodun Olujimi (PDP, Ekiti South).

“Whoever is siding with what went wrong in the elections is unfair to Nigerians. That election is a sham. There was no way that election could have been an advancement of the 2015 election.

“Everything was inconsistent; INEC was inconsistent. The parameters they used were different in states and units. That is wrong,” she said.

Her comments, however, incurred the anger of opposition senators who shouted on top of their voices. The Senate was soon plunged into rowdiness.

The rowdiness continued even after another speaker, Mao Ohabunwa (PDP, Abia North), had been recognised to speak (on) the consideration of prayers.

Adopting the four prayers of the motion, the Senate condemned the ‘massive use of military forces in the national electoral process of the nation’ and urged INEC to ensure the unrestricted and consistent application of all electoral laws without bias to a candidate or a party in all elections.

The Senate also urged the president, Muhammadu Buhari, to give ‘assent to the recent Amendment to the Electoral Act to ensure a level playing field and adoption of equal standards in our national elections for a strong and peaceful democracy in Nigeria.’

The Senate Committee on lNEC was also mandated to investigate all perceived inconsistent application of electoral laws by INEC in the 2019 Elections

Continue Reading "Politics; INEC was inconsistent The parameters they used were different in states and units.-Senate plenary section."

President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have been warned on the need not to meddle with the governorship supplementary elections billed to hold in six states, in the interest of the nation.

The warning was issued by Lagos Central senatorial candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Adesunbo Onitiri, who said in a statement that the country is presently sitting atop a time bomb.

According to him, the ruling party should not use the Osun template to rig elections in the six states including; Bauchi, Adamawa, Kano, Plateau, Benue and Rivers.

“I wish to implore all patriotic Nigerians and lovers of democracy, including the international community to prevail on Buhari to let the votes of the people count for once. We cannot afford another civil war in this country.

Onitiri also added that Nigeria is presently sitting on a time bomb and any attempt to manipulate the outcome of the election result may set the country on fire.

“Nigeria is greater than any individual or office holder. We must always bear this in mind. INEC should maintain neutrality in this election and keep the little credibility that remains,” he said.

Continue Reading "Politics; Nigeria on top of an explosive We cannot afford another civil war in this country, PDP warns"

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has chastised the Nigerian Army for the role played by some of its soldiers in the disruption of the electoral processes in Rivers state.

Continue Reading "Politics; INEC rebukes the Nigerian Army for Disrupting Elections In Rivers State."

“The election was marred by killing, apparent rigging, ballot box snatching and destruction of ballot papers by hired thugs. It was highly militarized by soldiers loyal to Muhammadu Buhari. An election that culminates in the killing of 47 unarmed Nigerians is not an election... “As long as we continue with this ballot box and ballot paper nonsense, Nigerian elections will continue to be theatres of war. We must quickly develop an electronic voting system for the 2023 elections where data in our PVCs are transferred to our telephone sim cards that will enable Nigerians to vote from the convenience of their homes."

Continue Reading "Breaking; Nigerians in diaspora calls for Revolution without Ammunition against Buhari the tyrant..’"

Political thugs          

Despite the varied perfidy that sullied the recent elections, they are not irredeemably impaired after all. They have provided us with some vital lessons to navigate our labyrinthine political space. Clearly, they have once again jarred us into the consciousness of our seemingly indissoluble deficit in political enlightenment. It is such a societal malaise that propels the citizens to cast their votes without knowing the explicit reason they are doing this. In their minds, these remain unresolved posers: Is it really for the vote-buying lucre that is transacted far from the prying eyes of other citizens? Is it on account of the candidate’s past performance either in private or public offices that redounded to the well-being of the citizens?

Continue Reading "Election; Political Thuggery The Easiest Job To Get In Nigeria Without C.v or Credentials"

JUST the morning after the governorship and state assembly elections, it had become clear that Nigerian voters might have found their voice and are beginning to talk. All too often Nigerians are urged to vote as their vote is supposed to be the means through which they demonstrate their power of choice.

Continue Reading "Politics; The Voice of Electorate in Nigeria don't count & politicians Hardly pay attention."

The United States Government has said it is compiling reports on the 2019 general elections in order to give a proper response.

Continue Reading "Breaking; U.S Government to place a visa ban on persons involved in electoral violence."

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Akwa Ibom State has scorned the state’s former governor, Godswill Akpabio, All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Nsima Ekere, and other candidates of the party who lost their ambitions during the general elections in the state.

Despite contesting under the platform of the ruling party at the Federal Government level, APC, Akpabio, a former Minority Leader of the Senate failed to get a re-election while Ekere was defeated by incumbent governor Udom Emmanuel with a wide margin of votes.

Continue Reading "Breaking; PDP turned akpabio, ekere, into a laughing stock stating that APC federal might couldn't save them."