Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested four party agents in the Ibara axis of Ogun state with hundreds of credit cards intended for vote buying.

A statement released by NDLEA did not mention the name of the political party to which the arrested party agents belong.

The chairman of the agency, Buba Marwa, has directed that they should be handed over to the police after proper documentation.

“Operatives of NDLEA on election duty stop and search, just intercepted four party agents with hundreds of money credit cards, to buy votes at Ibara housing estate, Ogun state. Each card contains 10k and activated to cash with a code.”the statement in part reads

Political thugs have disrupted elections at Omege ward in Ezza North Local government area of Ebonyi state.

Omege ward is the polling unit of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) Gubernatorial candidate in the State, Professor Ifeanyi Bernard Odoh.

According to reports, the thugs who came to the polling unit shot sporadically into the air and injured three people who are currently at the hospital.

They also destroyed electoral materials including the BVAS machine.

Mr. Nwafor Benjamin, an APGA Ward Agent for the ward described the situation as unfortunate, stressing that the development has deprived the people of the area their right to Vote.

“What happened here is very unfortunate and it has never happened in Omege ward before, our youths and the civil defense men accompanied the materials from the local government to the polling unit.

On reaching here, people were waiting for INEC to bring out the materials, unknown to us, some Ebubeagu people came down from a bike with pump action and started shooting and injured three people. One of them rushed to where INEC officials kept the materials and brought out sensitive items like the BVAS and register and started shooting to scare people away before burning the BVAS”. he said.

Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Ebonyi State Police Command, SP Onome Onovwakpoyeya, said electoral materials were being resent to the affected Polling Unit as the election will still be conducted there.

President Buhari has reportedly advised Nigerians to collect any money given to them by politicians to influence their votes and then go ahead to vote for their preferred candidate.

Vanguard reports that the President stated this after he cast his vote at polling unit 003, Sarkin Yara A in Daura, Katsina State.

The president, who briefly spoke to newsmen both in English and Hausa languages after casting his vote, said his administration had been preaching against vote-buying and monetization of politics, calling on politicians to desist from such acts.

“If they (politicians) still give you money, collect, but vote for your preferred candidates,”President Buhari said

Thugs have hijacked and burnt election materials for three wards in Ogbia Constituency 2 in Bayelsa State. Officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) deployed to the constituency are already going back to Yenagoa as the hoodlums are on the rampage in the area.

At the time of filing this report, it appears there will be no election in Ogbia Constituency 2, as INEC officials are already heading back to Yenagoa.

Residents have taken to Facebook to complain about the election thuggery employed to disenfranchise voters.

The Rivers State Chapter of African Democratic Congress has adopted the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Tonye Cole, ahead of the Saturday governorship poll.

Nollywood actress and ADC deputy governorship candidate for Rivers State, Tonto Dikeh, made this known on her Instagram page late Thursday.

Sharing photos of her meeting with Cole, she wrote;

“Having carefully listened to the advice of elders and political leaders of Rivers State on the need for the opposition to look inwards and present a unified, competent and generally acceptable candidate with the capacity to win the March 18th gubernatorial elections, and the need for the opposition to prevent splitting its votes amongst several candidates, today we officially adopted Pastor Tonye Cole, Governorship Candidate of the All Progressive Congress Rivers State as the consensus and unifying candidate of the opposition.

“Upon his victory Tonye Cole will form a unity government comprising of the APC and other opposition parties in this alliance titled ‘Stronger Together for a United Rivers State’.

“I hereby call on all my supporters to vote for Tonye Cole of the APC this Saturday.”

Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, the Labour Party governorship candidate for Lagos State, has called on the Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to call his supporters to order.

Rhodes Vivour’s call comes after thugs attacked the Labour Party’s House of Assembly candidate, Olumide Oworu and his team.

The thugs reportedly stabbed some of them and snatched their belongings just as they were about to start their rally this afternoon, March 16, in Surulere.

Olumide Oworu is contesting for the state House of Assembly ticket in Surulere against the APC candidate Desmond Elliot.

Reacting to the attack, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour wrote:

“I strongly condemn the attacks on Olumide and his team. I have repeatedly called on Governor @jidesanwooluto call his supporters to order. I take his silence to mean he approves the violence.

“Make no mistake, we will win on Saturday, and the perpetrators of this violence will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

The Deputy Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State, Jarret Tenebe, was arrested by the police for undisclosed reasons.

Tenebe was arrested in his Ikabigbo home town, Etsako West local government area, allegedly on the orders of the deputy governor of Edo state, Hon Philip Shaibu.

According to the Nigerian Tribune, the Edo APC Vice Chairman, a popular mobilizer for the APC and strong loyalist of the former state governor Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, had allegedly in a recent video accused the deputy governor of sundry issues.

In a press conference in Benin City on Tuesday, the APC alleged that the state government planned to rig Saturday’s election, using thugs in various disguises.

The state chairman of the party, Col David Imuse (red), and the Assistant Publicity Secretary of the APC, Ofure Osehobo, both confirmed the arrest but the police are yet to respond to enquiries as the Police Public Relations Officer, Chidi Nwabuzor have not picked his calls.

The governorship candidate of Social Democratic Party in Oyo State, Michael Lana, has withdrawn from the race to back Governor Seyi Makinde of the Peoples Democratic Party ahead of Saturday’s polls.

Lana made his position known on Tuesday at a press conference, which was held at Iyaganku Quarters in Ibadan, the state capital.

The former Oyo State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice explained that he had consulted widely before stepping down to support the incumbent governor, adding that the decision was taken alongside the SDP House of Assembly candidates.

He said;

“During my radio interview recently, I duly informed members of the public that wherever I step down it would be a decision by all candidates, especially the House of Assembly candidates of the SDP, of which I am the governorship flag-bearer.

“As you are aware, in almost all radio interviews I featured, I was asked whether, as it had become the habit of this party, I too would step down at the end of the day. Believing I was in the midst of ideologically sound members, and knowing myself as a principled person, I always answered in the negative. I believed fervently that my gospel of issues and ideas would earn me the victory that the people of the state deserve.”

Lana pointed out that events in the past few weeks had proved him wrong as some party chieftains believed only in money politics and victory by vote-buying.

“We have consulted widely; we have talked with some national officers of the party and my supporters among the trade unions, traditional rulers, market associations and religious bodies.

He lamented that some of those at the helm of affairs of the party in the state had sold them out for a pittance and declared for the opposition without their knowledge or consent.

“We had to sit down and rethink and take a decision that will be in the best interest of the neglected and aggrieved party members, the candidates and the generality of the people of the state that we set out to serve. After several consultations, we resolved that the best thing for the state right now is to align ourselves with a really progressive candidate.

“We have therefore resolved to inform all our teeming supporters to vote massively for Makinde of PDP on Saturday, March 18, 2023 and get him elected as governor of the state,” Lana pointed out.