PRESIDENT Muhammad Buhari has signed into law a constitution amendment allowing all states in the country to license, generate, transmit and distribute electricity.
This was disclosed in a tweet by presidential spokesperson Tolu Ogunlesi on Friday, March 17.
Ogunlesi tweeted: “President @MBuhari has signed 16 Constitution Amendment Bills into Law. By this signing, State Houses of Assembly & Judiciaries now have constitutionally-guaranteed financial independence, while Railways have moved from Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent List.
“Another landmark change: By virtue of the Presidential Assent, Nigerian States can NOW generate, transmit and distribute electricity in areas covered by the national grid. Wasn’t allowed pre-amendment. This is genuine, realistic Restructuring — through the Constitution.”
He added: “Now that the Bills have been assented to, and have become Acts of Parliament, the next step is for “gazetting” to happen – the process by which the assented Acts are published in the Official Gazette of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
INDONESIAN anti-narcotics operatives have arrested four foreigners who attempted to smuggle drugs into Jakarta, including a Nigerian man who had swallowed dozens of capsules filled with more than a kilogram of methamphetamine.
A police spokesperson said during a press conference that a Brazilian and three Nigerian men were arrested separately between January and March at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and several apartments in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital.
Indonesia is a major hub for drug trafficking in Southeast Asia and has strict drug laws, with convicted smugglers most often executed by firing squad.
Jakarta Police Director of Drug Investigation Mukti Juharsa believed the arrested suspects were from an international syndicate.
He added that the suspects would be punished according to law, which includes a maximum death sentence.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) says Indonesia is a major smuggling hub in part because international drug syndicates target its young population.
THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has deployed operatives to nab vote-buyers and sellers during the March 18 governorship and state assembly elections.
A statement released on Friday, March 17, by EFCC spokesperson Wilson Uwujaren said the move was aimed at checking vote trading and other financial malpractices that could compromise the integrity of the elections.
The statement stressed that the operatives led by senior officers began arriving at their assigned locations on Friday, March 17, with a number of them consulting with the other security agencies involved in election security and officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
The team for Ebonyi State also met with the Commissioner of Police and the Resident Electoral Commissioner of the State (REC) to register their presence.
The statement also stated that the officers posted to Niger and Nasarawa states had met with the necessary stakeholders to ensure a free and fair election.
The ICIR had reported that thugs and hoodlums attackedoperatives of the EFCC who were monitoring the Saturday, February 25 Presidential and National Assembly elections in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Imo State.
THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disclosed how results from polling units will be transmitted during the Saturday, March 18 governorship elections across the states of the federation.
Speaking on Arise TV on Friday, March 17, the Chairman of INEC’s Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, said the Commission had learnt worthy lessons from the Presidential and National Assembly polls.
Okoye stressed that the law has prescribed a dual mode of either transmission of results or transfer of results.
He explained that the Presiding Officer who superintended the polling unit would enter the scores of the various political parties in form EC8A which is the polling unit-level result after the conclusion of elections in various units.
He explained that presiding officers must sign that particular and copies must be given to relevant stakeholders.
“The PO will sign that particular result sheet and stamp it, the PU agent or party agent if available will also countersign and copies will be given to them and the police.”
Okoye added: “That original result will be what will be scanned and uploaded to our INEC Result Viewing Portal for public viewing. Not only that, the accreditation data that has arisen from that polling unit will also be uploaded, but the physical result and the BVAS itself will also be taken to the Registration Area Collation centre.”
He also stressed that the Collation Officer would be able to verify the original results, the BVAS, have the benefit of looking at the accreditation data as transmitted and the result sheet as transmitted from the polling unit.
“That is the dual mode which the law has prescribed for the Commission and that is the mode that we’re going to use for the purpose of this election,” he said.
Okoye further stated that results would be transmitted on IREV as soon as the polls closed from various polling units.
“The Commission is determined to improve on its previous performance. What we have done is to learn valuable lessons from previous elections that we conducted, and we’re going to put those lessons into our planning purposes and processes, and into our deployment purposes.”
Okoye added that INEC is prepared to conduct the 28 governorship and 993 state assembly constituency elections.
“It’s a huge election and INEC will be paying very close attention to what is going on in the various states.”
THE Center for Democracy and Development (CDD) said it had tracked 109 deaths linked to electoral violence in Nigeria between January and March 10.
CDD Director Idayat Hassan, who spoke at a press briefing organised by the organisation’s Election Analysis Centre (EAC) in Abuja on Friday, March 17, also highlighted ten states as potential violence hotspots in the March 18 governorhip elections.
The states are Rivers, Kano, Lagos, Kaduna, Oyo, Cross River, Enugu, Delta, Gombe and Zamfara.
She said the credibility of the March 18 governorship election is threatened by insecurity, logical obstacles, scarcity of cash and fuel scarcity.
“Credible votes are vital but will be challenged by threats of violence, Logistical obstacle and insecurity. Also, the cash and fuel scarcity are yet to dissipate completely.
“There are also critical issues that we highlighted. Political violence is one of them. For instance, our data showed that between January and March 10, 2023, there were 109 deaths linked to political violence. And this is likely to worsen with the involvement of groups like Yan sa Kai, Neighbourhood watch, Amotekun and Civilian JFT and others in the election violence, and this is likely to continue in the governorship election,” she said.
According to her, insecurity poses a “serious threat in this election and increases the likelihood of inconclusive elections in some states just as seen in past elections.”
Hassan also said the CDD EAC analysis showed that the preparedness of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is vital to the election credibility as the gubernatorial polls have been conducted amidst diminished trust for the commission following the February 25 polls.
She also noted that of the 28 gubernatorial elections on Saturday, 17 are without an incumbent contender.
This, she says, will provide room for more competition among the candidates
“INEC preparedness and diminished violence are critical for credible elections. While there will be governorships election, 17 of them are new, with no incumbent governor contesting as they are time-barred from competing in the election. This will provide room for intense competition in this election,” she added.
AHEAD of the Governorship and State House of Assembly elections that will be holding on Saturday, March 18, here are the options before Kano voters as they go to the polls to elect a new governor.
The current governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje’s second term ends on May 29.
Seventeen candidates will be vying for the office of governor; however, there are only three front runners among them.
Top 3 candidates
Deputy Governor of Kano State, Nasir Gawuna (APC)
Gawuna won the ticket after defeating his only challenger Sha’aban Sharada, during the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary.
Deputy Governor of Kano state and APC Governorship candidate, Nasiru Gawuna
He was a two-time chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) in Kano State and a former commissioner for local government.
He has promised to improve the state’s education sector if elected.
He has also promised to build on the successes recorded in the sector by two previous administrations in the state and the current Umar Ganduje administration if he wins.
Gawuna has hinged his campaign on providing infrastructure like new classrooms, furniture, and accessible and compulsory primary and secondary education.
Gawuna’s strengths
He is an experienced politician, having served at the grassroots as local government chairman.
In Nigeria’s politics, the power of incumbency is always an advantage.
NNPP candidate, Abba Kabir Yusuf
Abba Kabir Yusuf, known as Abba Gida-Gida, is the governorship candidate of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP).
NNPP governorship candidate for Kano state, Abba Yusuf
Following the gubernatorial primary election of the NNPP, Yusuf, a loyalist of Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, emerged as the party’s governorship candidate for the 2023 general elections.
Yusuf has previously worked with the Kano State Water Resources Engineering and Construction Agency (WRECA) and the Kano State Water Board.
He was later moved to the state Ministry of Water Resources.
Between 1999 to 2003, he served as Kwankwaso’s assistant and afterwards as a special assistant (administration).
He once served as the State’s Commissioner for Works, Housing and Transport under Kwankwanso.
He was the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 governorship election.
He contested against the incumbent Ganduje in an election declared inconclusive but later lost after a rerun.
He has promised to end the persistent scarcity of potable water in Kano State if elected in the forthcoming election.
His strengths
The NNPP is a very popular party in Kano, and winning the Presidential race in the State is an added advantage.
The towering influence of the Party’s presidential candidate in the just concluded Presidential election, Kwankwanso, is also an advantage.
Sadiq Aminu Wali of the PDP
Sadiq Aminu Wali won a parallel governorship primary of the PDP, held at Sani Abacha Youth Centre, Kano, to emergeas the party’s candidate.
Wali beat other contestants, such as Ibrahim El Amin Little.
He is a former commissioner for Water Resources.
PDP Kano governorship candidate, Sadiq Aminu Wali
Wali is the eldest son of a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Aminu Wali.
His candidacy has been plagued by litigations.
He has been in and out of court since the primary in 2022 after a Federal High Court in Kano declared Mohammad Sani Abacha, the son of former military dictator late Sani Abacha as the duly-elected governorship candidate of the PDP in Kano State.
He was only officially affirmed as the party’s authentic candidate by the Supreme Court on March 1, 2023.
His strengths
His strength lies in the popularity of the PDP in Kano. The goodwill and experience of his father and his youthful look are added advantages.
The trend of Kano politics in recent years
The political tendency concerning governorship elections has never been steady in Kano State.
Since the restoration of democracy in 1999, no party has held complete power over the top position in Kano State.
Since 1999, the State has been led by the ANPP, PDP and APC.
In 1999, Kwankwaso was elected on the PDP platform.
In 2003, he was defeated by All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) candidate Ibrahim Shekarau.
Kwankwaso won again in 2011 under the PDP.
In 2015, Ganduje of the APC took over.
How Kano voted in recent elections
In the Presidential and National Assembly elections held on February 25, the presidential candidate of the NNPP, Kwankwaso, polled a total of 997,279 votes, according to the results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) in the State.
The candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar, scored 131,716 votes while the candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, got 28,513 votes.
In the national assembly elections in the State, the NNPP won two of the three senatorial tickets and 17 of 24 House of Representatives seats.
According to INEC, around 5.9 million voters were registered in the state, and 1,769,525 were accredited.
There were 1,702,005 legitimate votes cast, while 44,405 ballots were rejected,
Kano residents react
According to a resident of Kano, Hassan Kurewa, the governorship election would differ from the presidential and national assembly elections.
He affirmed that elections in Kano always followed different patterns.
“The election will be distinct compared to the presidential election. There is the power of the incumbency (Ganduje) and the strong effect of winning the last election. It is a fight to finish between Gawuna (APC) and Gida Gida (NNPP); let us see how it goes.
“We are all looking forward to it, Insha Allah, we pray for peace,” he said
Another resident, Onileowo Dauda, on his part, said the election might throw up a surprise.
He said the APC and NNPP are the two parties to slug it out on Saturday, but according to him, PDP might pull a surprise.
“The battle for me is between the NNPP because they won the presidential election and the APC due to the power of the incumbent, but please don’t rule out the PDP. The party is very popular here, too,” Dauda said.
An image showing Olumide Oworu, the Labour Party’s candidate for Lagos State House of Assembly in Surulere Constituency 1, with blood on his face and shirt, has surfaced online with a claim that it shows the moment after he was reportedly attacked by hoodlums in a part of the state.
Olumide and his supporters were reportedly attacked by thugs on Thursday, March 16, 2023, Channels TV reported.
Following the attack, a photo of Oworu covered by blood began to circulate on social media with a claim that thugs hired by the All Progressives Congress (APC) bruised him during the attack.
A Twitter user, @omolerinjare, tweeted the photo with a caption that read:
“Hope the whole world have seen what Desmond Elliot did to Olumide. This won’t stop his retirement. It’s inevitable.”
Another Twitter user, @ayemojuba tweeted the photo with another caption thus: “Olumide Oworu was attacked by APC thugs.”
CLAIM
Photo shows Olumide Oworu after he was attacked by thugs in Lagos.
Screenshot of one of the viral posts
THE FINDINGS
A quick check by TheFactCheckHub shows that the image has been online more than five months ago.
Olumide is a Nigerian actor who has featured on several Nollywood movies and won a number of awards for his roles in various movies.
Findings show that the picture in circulation had earlier been uploaded on his Instagram handle with a caption indicating that photo was taken during a movie production.
He shared the photo on October 3, 2022 with a caption that reads: Alagbado John Wick. #OntheEdge on his Instagram page.
Similarly, the claim that he was attacked by APC thugs could not be independently verified by The FactCheckHub as of the time of filing this report.
THE VERDICT
The claim that the image shows Olumide Oworu after he was attacked by thugs in Lagos is MISLEADING; findings show that the photo is not connected with Thursday’s incident in Lagos.
THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has warned its adhoc staff in Benue State against compromising the credibility of the gubernatorial and state assembly polls.
The Commission said it was “deeply troubled” by the perception that some adhoc staff in the state “work at the behest of politicians” to influence the outcome of the elections.
In a statement issued on Thursday, March 16, the state’s Resident Electoral Commission (REC), Samuel Agwu warned that INEC will prosecute officers at polling units and collation centres who “deliberately” undermine the polls rescheduled for Saturday, 18th February.
“For the avoidance of doubt, section 120 of 2022 Electoral Act provides provides that officers on election duty who, without lawful excuse, commit acts or omits to act in breach of official duty for which they have sworn an oath of neutrality will be prosecuted, and, if convicted shall be imprisoned.
“This applies to all the ad hoc mentioned above. The term of imprisonment is three (3) years for collation officers and twelve months for presiding officers and other polling level staff”, parts of the statement read.
Agwu, a professor also warned political parties and agents “who conspire” to make or publish false declaration of election results other than the one announced by INEC.
Meanwhile, the Benue state’s REC commended the Nigeria Police for “promptly” completing investigations into alleged offences committed during the February 25th presidential and National Assembly elections in the state.
THE random blaring of sirens along the streets of Port Harcourt and dozens of security vans spotted on the highways suggest a heightened sense of insecurity within the city ahead of the March 18 Governorship and House of Assembly elections in Rivers State.
Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Elections, in the state Kayode Egbetokun, on Thursday, March 16, told journalists that the Command had deployed operatives massively and was better prepared to handle security issues which may arise during the exercise.
However, this has not eased the concerns of residents, many of whom are unwilling to participate in the election for fear of violence.
Some residents of Port Harcourt, including Victor Bassey, told The ICIR that they would not be involved in the March 18 election.
“I gave a man a ride last week, and he was in a long conversation with somebody on the phone. I realised from the discussion that he was probably one of these key grassroots politicians.
“His statements suggested that the elections will be rough. I also know that some of the candidates have has thugs, including APC or PDP candidates. They have boys who work for them. So no, I will not even come out on that day,” Bassey said.
Further suggesting that Saturday’s election may be marred by violence, Publicity Secretary for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers state Darlington Nwauju accused the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of recruiting thugs to destabilise the exercise.
“We want to put it on record to the Federal Government and the security agencies that lives are not safe in Rivers State on March 18,” Nwauju said while addressing journalists in Port Harcourt on Thursday, March 16.
He further alleged that the state governor Nyesom Wike was encouraging anti-democratic activities ahead of the exercise.
In the build up to the election, several cases of abduction have been recorded in the state.
Nwauju noted that gunmen dressed in police uniforms abducted the APC secretary in Ikwerre Local Government Area (LGA), Amadi Osaronu, on Wednesday, March 15.
Earlier in the week, the police had also confirmed another abduction involving the Accord Party’s candidate for the State House of Assembly, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni constituency, Chukwudi Ogbonna. He was kidnapped by gunmen while driving in his car at Rumuigbo, near Port Harcourt, on Monday, March 13.
The Presidential and National Assembly elections February 25 was also characterised by incidents of violence across several areas of the state, suggesting a possible repeat during the gubernatorial polls.
At least two persons were reported to have died from the violence that erupted during the elections, including a pregnant woman. Two houses were also burnt down in the Emohua LGA.
Our votes will not count
Other residents of the state have given more reasons why they may not participate in the governorship election.
A cab driver in Port Harcourt Kenneth Barry told The ICIR that he was disappointed with the outcome of the presidential election conducted in the state. He alleged that election results had been manipulated, noting that the development affected his confidence in the electoral process.
“As it stands, people are not interested. I predict there will be so much voter apathy. People are not happy. This was not what we envisaged from the previous exercise. People expected something better from INEC, and they got something totally different.
“We can go and do our voting, but at the end of the day, we do not know what the result will turn out to be. And from what INEC has shown us with the first one, the confidence is not there,” Barry said.
For Ben Karigia, who lives along Aba Road, Port Harcourt, the voting process is a waste of time.
“I am discouraged. During the presidential elections, I left my house very early and stayed at the polling unit till almost 12:00 am, counting votes. Still no results. It is a total waste of time,” he said.
These fears are also shared by hundreds of women in the state, who staged a protest at the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Rivers on Wednesday.
The women warned against a repeat of the February 25 election process, during which results were not uploaded from polling units and, in some cases, original results sheets were missing.
Leading the protest, reality TV star, Natacha Akide urged INEC to conduct the elections according to the Electoral Act.
“We are urging INEC to please do the right thing come March 18. It is a lot of sacrifice for us to come out to vote. We are voting because we are deciding our future and those of our unborn children. It is important to us. We are begging, INEC please, stick to the Electoral Act and deliver free, fair and credible elections to us,” she said.
As Nigerians nurse their disappointment from INEC’s unfulfilled promises during the presidential election, states like Rivers may experience low turnout of voters in the March 18 governorship election.
