Is Nigeria On The Brink Of A Civil War?

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Sowore 'disappointed' Tinubu did not participate in Abuja Marathon

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The African Action Congress (AAC) Presidential Candidate, Omoyele Sowore has expressed his 'disappointment' that the President-elect, Bola Tinubu did not participate in the 2023 Abuja Marathon.

Sowore stated this while addressing journalists in Abuja on Saturday.

He also expressed disappointment over the absence of the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Mohammed Bello, at the race.

The rights activist was one of the participants in the maiden edition of the Abuja International Marathon.

He said: “This is the first Abuja marathon, I participated and I ran longer than I expected. I expected that the Minister of FCT would be here.

“I was even expecting Tinubu to be here, but apparently, I am the only presidential candidate standing after the election.

“I ran with kids, great kids. I am of the opinion that we are wasting a lot of talent in this country.”

According to Sowore, sports was an important tool towards uniting Nigerians and generating employment for the youths.  

Peter Obi reacts to Buhari’s postponement of National Population Census

Buhari betrayed Jonathan’s Legacy

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By Gboyega Sowemimo

Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, Peter Gregory Obi, has reacted to President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to postpone the 2023 Population and Housing Census, earlier scheduled for May 3-7 2023.

Buhari in a press statement signed by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, on Saturday, officially approved the census postponement.

Mohammed revealed that Buhari gave the approval after meeting with some members of the Federal Executive Council and the Chairman of the National Population Commission, Nasir Isa-Kwarra, and his team at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Friday.

According to the minister, President Buhari approved that a new date would be determined by the incoming administration.

Reacting via Twitter on Saturday, Peter Obi described Buhari’s decision as a welcome development, stressing that National Census is a critical development and nation-building tool.

Obi tweeted: “FGN’s decision to postpone the 2023 Population and Housing Census, scheduled for 3-7 May 2023, to a date to be determined by the incoming Administration is a propitious and welcome development. National Census is a critical development and nation-building tool”

It is imperative that the next National Population Census is done right, with a view to addressing past concerns of the exercise being manipulated to favor a certain region of the country. 

BREAKING: Results on INEC portal show Peter Obi, not Tinubu, won in Rivers State

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By Chinagorom Ugwu and Saviour Imukudo

The candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, won the 25 February presidential election in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, South-south Nigeria, according to results uploaded on the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV).

Mr Obi’s haul of votes in the area implies he, and not Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), won the presidential election in Rivers, contrary to the declaration made by INEC.

The result for Obio/Akpor council area, as declared by INEC, portrayed Mr Tinubu as scoring 80, 239 votes, with Mr Obi garnering 3,829 votes.

Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scored 368 votes while Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party got 161 votes, this newspaper had reported.

Mr Tinubu was later declared winner of the election. Atiku came second while Mr Obi came third.

But PREMIUM TIMES’ review of the results from various polling units of the 17 wards in Obio/Akpor LGA as uploaded on IReV revealed a sharp contrast with the result declared by INEC.

Given that Mr Tinubu was declared winner in Obio/Akpor, this newspaper’s review focused on the results of the votes scored by the APC and LP in the area

By our tally, the APC got 17, 158 votes while the LP amassed 73,311 votes.

Obio/Akpor Local Government Area has 1,211 polling units across its 17 wards.

PREMIUM TIMES could only review results from 1,116 polling units uploaded on the IReV as of 16 March, representing about 94.13 percent of the results from the council area.

However, results from some polling units were either blurred or improperly snapped and therefore illegible.

Results from about 95 polling units, representing about 5.87 per cent, were yet to be uploaded within the period under review.

There were no results in some polling units either because the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System malfunctioned or people did not come out to cast their votes, as observed at Ake Hostel UNIPORT Polling Unit in Choba Ward. 

This newspaper computed the available and readable results from the 1,116 polling units uploaded so far on the IReV within the period of the review.

In some polling units in Obio/Akpor, PREMIUM TIMES found that some results were altered in favour of the APC, with the original scores mutilated.

The result from Rumuorluoji Open Space II polling unit in Oro-Igwe Ward, for instance, showed that the APC originally scored 17 but the number, ‘2’ was added to the figure to read ‘217.’

For the LP, 227 was recorded, but the number ‘2’ was erased and altered to read ‘027.’

At the column meant for recording the scores in words, there were evidence of adjustments to suit the changed figures.

In Rumuokoro Ward, it was noticed that in 34 polling units, results earlier written for the LP were erased and the figures swapped with that of the APC.

PREMIUM TIMES, nevertheless, tallied the figures as published by INEC, despite the obvious evidence of adjustments and mutilations. In other words, the figures were tallied as they appeared on result sheets, even when there was evidence that such figures were tampered with.

In some cases, the results for the National Assembly elections were uploaded in some polling units instead of the presidential election results.

A result from the Civic Centre Hall Polling Unit in Rumuigbo Ward, for instance, showed that a result from the House of Representatives election was uploaded in place of that of the presidential election.

PREMIUM TIMES also tallied results from Degema Local Government Area uploaded on the IReV, and the findings confirmed Mr Tinubu won in the council area, although the score was slightly lower than the one announced by INEC.

However, this newspaper could not tally the results from some polling units in the council area because they were illegible or not yet uploaded within the period under review.

Mr Obi was leading Mr Tinubu with over 23,000 votes by the time INEC announced the presidential election results in 21 of the 23 local government areas in the state.

The LP candidate polled 169,414 votes at the time, while Mr Tinubu scored 148,979 votes.

Mr Obi’s largest votes at the time came from Port Harcourt City Local Government Area where he scored 62,451 votes, while Atiku scored 7,203 votes, followed by Mr Tinubu, who scored 5,562 votes. Kwankwaso scored 301.

Results were still being expected then from two remaining local government areas – Obio/Akpor, where the State Governor, Nyesom Wike, hails from, and Degema.

With the results from Obio/Akpor coming in, and with INEC announcing that Mr Tinubu scored 80, 239 votes against Mr Obi’s 3,829 votes, the APC candidate was now in the lead and was eventually declared the winner of the presidential election in Rivers State.

Atiku scored 368 votes in Obio/Akpor, while Mr Kwankwaso scored 161 votes.

In Degema Local Government Area, Mr Tinubu scored 2,375 votes, while Mr Obi scored 2,212 votes. Atiku scored 3,108 votes, while Mr Kwankwaso scored 44 votes.

Mr Tinubu polled 231,591 votes in Rivers State as against Mr Obi’s 175,071 votes, according to INEC.

Atiku scored 88,468, while Mr Kwankwaso clinched 1,322 votes.

The collation officer for the presidential election in Rivers had adjourned the collation of results at some point over alleged threat to his life by some supporters of a political party.

There were reports of attacks and suppression of voters in the state.

Governor Wike, who is a member of the PDP, led other PDP governors to rebel against the national leadership of the party and its presidential candidate, Atiku, following disagreement over which of the north or the south should produce President Muhammadu Buhari’s successor.

The Rivers governor had contested and lost in the PDP presidential primary.

He then supported the APC candidate, Mr Tinubu in the presidential election, saying since Mr Buhari is from the north, the next president of Nigeria, for the sake of fairness, should come from the south.

Mr Obi, like Mr Tinubu, is from the south of Nigeria.

PREMIUM TIMES

Lagos State Governor coasting to victory while Seyi Makinde is re-elected in a landslide…..

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Chief Editor’s Desk

Incumbent Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu appears to be coasting home to victory against his Labor Party opponent, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour.

Also, incumbent Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde seems to have reaped the fruits of excellent leadership, as he has been re-elected with almost 70% of the votes. It appears a landslide victory was always a possibility for the PDP standard bearer, in light of how popular he has been over the last four years.

See more real time results here

STEARS ELECTIONS

UPDATE: Sanwo-Olu’s ‘victory’ has been officially ratified by INEC, Nigeria’s electoral body. His victory is however extremely tainted unlike that of Seyi Makinde, the incumbent Oyo State governor. There are widespread (and documented) reports of killings, voter suppression through intimidation, as well as various well documented irregularities related to the snatching of ballot boxes and manipulation of results before being uploaded onto the INEC portal. 

The Labor Party candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour has refused to congratulate Sanwo-Olu, and has indicated he will mount an aggressive legal challenge to  ‘reclaim the people’s mandate’.

Decision 2023: Nigeria at a crossroads as a known drug baron and his running mate, a chief sponsor of Islamic terrorists, seem poised to occupy Aso Rock

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By Boyejo A. Coker - Chief Editor

It was exactly eight years ago (to date) that a certain Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, former Senator as well as former Executive Governor of Lagos State, stepped onto the scene at a campaign rally in Southwest Nigeria. The candidate at that time was the current President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Rtd. General Muhammadu Buhari, a failed presidential candidate who had lost his bid for the presidency on three prior attempts to win the plum job of running the affairs of Africa's largest economy and democracy. 

Buhari's campaign was at best fledgling at the time, and needed some infusion of pizzazz, energy and inspiration. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu stepped to the plate and the rest, as they say, is history. 

It was the same Asiwaju Bola Tinubu that sold Buhari to us as a reformed dictator (more or less a tyrant in actuality). Yes, the same Buhari that eight years later has essentially taken Nigeria back to the Stone Age. 

Under Buhari and the current APC government, Nigeria overtook India in having the largest number of people in poverty, in the world. The certified disaster that has been the Buhari administration should in most political climates spell disaster for the ruling party, but in Nigerian politics, the ruling party always has the upper hand - as they use practically every instrument and organ of government at their disposal to hold on to power. 

That last line is actually quite instructive, as it speaks to the arrogance exhibited by the APC hierarchy in presenting a Muslim-Muslim ticket as its choice for President and Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. To understand the importance of this dynamic, Nigeria is a multi-religious nation with the two main religions, Christianity and Islam, roughly evenly split. 

That is why it has always been the unwritten rule to balance the leadership ticket evenly between those two prominent religions, for the sake of national unity and peaceful co-existence. 

Furthermore, the running mate to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the APC flag bearer, is a known sponsor of Boko Haram and other adjacent Islamic terrorist groups. Kashim Shettima, is a former governor of Borno State in the northern part of Nigeria, and it is a documented fact that a notorious terrorist, Kabiru Sokoto, years ago, was found and arrested in the home of the former Borno State governor turned vice presidential candidate.

The highly questionable background of Shettima fits right in with the equally questionable background of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the APC presidential candidate. Apart from Tinubu’s unverifiable education and birth records, he is also a well documented drug baron and money launderer. 

The APC had the glorious opportunity to present Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo as its flag bearer for the presidency of the nation, and then balance it out with a credible running mate of Islamic persuasion from the north. That they chose these two men of highly questionable backgrounds and character for the top two offices in the nation, speaks to an acerbic dysfunction within the ruling party, and typifies either a lack of requisite foresight, or downright arrogance that has come to embody the brazen insensitivity of the ruling party, to the yearnings and desires of well meaning Nigerians. 

A truly Democratic dispensation was bequeathed to President Muhammadu Buhari. Former President Goodluck Jonathan conceded defeat in 2015 to Buhari rather than shed a single drop of Nigerian blood. Under this APC government, the will of the people has been overturned repeatedly by kangaroo courts and tribunals, whose judges and officials have been compromised by the incendiary and inordinate ambitions of defeated APC candidates, with the acquiescence of the Buhari administration.

Things have undoubtedly fallen apart and it is clear that the center cannot hold. The die is indeed cast regarding the future of Nigeria’s corporate existence.

Don’t vote politicians who’ll drag Nigeria back to dark ages, Buhari tells Nigerians

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“Ironic, considering that is exactly what he (Buhari) basically did…..”

As activities geared towards the 2023 general elections gathers momentum, President Muhammadu Buhari has advised Nigerians against voting politicians who would drag the country back to ‘dark ages.’

He stated this during an event organised by the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, PACAC, with the theme: “Fighting corruption in Nigeria: The past, the present and the future.”

Buhari said he made sure to leave behind a legacy of ‘zero tolerance,’ for corruption, adding that he expects the next administration to follow the same light.

He said, “I strongly believe that our anti-corruption agencies need to concentrate more on asset forfeiture regimes in addition to prosecution to deny looters the gains from the proceeds of their crime. All looted assets within and outside Nigeria must be recovered and used for the wellbeing of our citizens while the looters will be prosecuted and convicted if found culpable.

“In a matter of weeks, Nigerians will need to go to the polls again to elect their leaders in the general elections. I beseech Nigerians to reject politicians who would drag our country back to the dark ages in which corruption was made the order of the day.

“As I leave office in a matter of months, I have left behind a legacy of zero-tolerance for corruption for our teaming youths and to every citizen. For me, corruption is Evil and must be vehemently rejected in all ramifications by all Nigerians anywhere, anytime. 

“It is by integrity, respect for rule of law, due process and genuine patriotism that we will make Nigeria the nation of our dream.”

In the same vein, Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, PACAC, Professor Itse Sagay, SAN, lamented that the judiciary has not shown true commitment to the war against corruption.