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Actress Funke Akindele who was the running mate of PDP governorship candidate in Lagos state, Abdulazeez Adediran, has deleted all posts relating to politics and the PDP on her Instagram page.
All photos from her campaign rallies as well as other political engagements during the electioneering process are not present.
The PDP lost to the incumbent governor and APC candidate, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, in the Saturday, March 18 election.
26-year-old Rukayat Motunrayo Shittu, of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, has been declared the winner of Owode Onire state constituency of Asa Local Government Area in Kwara State House of Assembly election.
Ms Shittu polled 7,521 to defeat her rival in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 6,957 during Saturday’s election.
This makes her one of the youngest candidates in Nigeria to contest and win a political seat.
Shittu is a journalist and a former Senate President of the Congress of NOUN Students (CONS) at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) She attended Baptist Primary School LGEA in Ilorin, and Government Girls Day Secondary School, Oko Erin, where she obtained her Senior Secondary School Certificate in 2011.
She proceeded to Kwara State College of Arabic and Islamic Legal Studies affiliated with Bayero University Kano where she obtained a diploma certificate in Mass Communication and Islamic Studies in 2015. After her diploma, she enrolled in a fashion school.
In 2017, she was admitted to the National Open University of Nigeria and graduated in 2022.
In an interview with the Premium Times, after she won the nomination as APC candidate, Shittu said her parents are fully in support of her political career.
“I have the best parents anyone could pray for on earth. They are the backbone of my political aspirations and it has been like that since I was an undergraduate. My dad usually advised me to contest positions in school and I mostly got finances for the contests from him. Their disposition regarding my political aspiration is so firm,” she said.
“My dad studied me and knows what is best for me so he doesn’t hesitate when I aspire for things. I had been class reps since primary school days and that continued until I graduated from National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) as the first female senate president of the Congress of NOUN Students (CONS), heading the legislative arm of the students’ association in over 85 study centres across the federation.
Governor Seyi Makinde of PDP has been declared the winner of the Oyo state governorship election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC declared him the winner this afternoon, March 19.
According to the results released, Makinde polled a total of 563,756 votes to beat his closest rival, Teslim Folarin of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who polled 256,685 votes, while Adebayo Adelabu of the Accord Party secured 38,357 votes.
Hoodlums armed with guns and machetes on Sunday morning attacked the Ogoja Local Government INEC collation centre in Cross River.
The hoodlums stormed the centre when the result of the House of Assembly election in the Ogoja constituency was being announced.
The spokesperson of the police command in Cross River, SP Irene Ugbo, who confirmed the incident, said the situation was quickly controlled.
Ms Ugbo said most of the hoodlums had been arrested and were being profiled to ascertain the level of their involvement in the attack.
The Local Government Collation Officer, Paul Bassey, who was injured during the attack and rushed to hospital, described the incident as “barbaric”.Mr Bassey said his laptop and duplicate result sheets were destroyed during the attack.
“One of my colleagues is still being treated in the theatre and I pray he comes out alive as heavy stones and planks were used on him,” he said.
The Electoral Officer for Ogoja Local Government, Peter Kolo, said the hoodlums broke security barriers at the collation centre to destroy the election results.
“As I speak with you, we have recovered all the results from both the BVAS and uploaded results in the portal, and we will soon resume announcing the results from the three remaining wards,” Mr Kolo said.
The State Constituency Collation Officer, Timothy Ellah of the University of Calabar, said he was beaten by the thugs and sustained injury.
“We have, however, recovered all the results, and we are ready to resume announcing the results,” Mr Ellah said.
INEC had already announced the election results of seven out of the 10 wards for the Ogoja Assembly seat when the hoodlums attacked the collation centre.
Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun has expressed appreciation to the electorate in the state for the “landslide victory” for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidates in Saturday’s assembly elections.
This is contained in a statement by Olawale Rasheed, the spokesperson to the governor, on Sunday in Osogbo.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared PDP candidates the winners of 25 out of the 26 House of Assembly seats in the state.
Mr Adeleke said the victories the PDP had secured in the state from July 16, 2022, governorship election till date was a complete embrace of the party by the Osun people for good governance and responsive leadership.”
My good people of Osun state, you have honoured me and my party with another remarkable victory at the assembly elections.
“You have passed an excellent vote of confidence in my administration and my party by a series of electoral mandates in the last three elections.
“I went around the state with my scorecard under 100 days, and you responded by endorsing my party’s candidates for legislative offices.”
You have approved of our people-focused governance and our demonstrated will to resolve all outstanding challenges inherited from the previous administration,” he said.
Mr Adeleke, however, called on members of the opposition party to join him in building a new Osun state.”
To my brothers and sisters in opposition, I extend hands of fellowship and brotherhood. Join me in building a new Osun state.
“Support the will of the people as repeatedly demonstrated in the last three elections. As genuine democrats have no power except what the people will. I urge all lovers of democracy to enter the Imole train,” he said.
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.
The Labour Party governorship candidate in Lagos state, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, has lost his polling unit to the incumbent governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu of the All Progressives Congress.
Results collated by INEC staff, Rhodes-Vivour polled 18 votes while Sanwo-Olu won with 29 votes.
PDP’s Olajide Adeniran popularly known as Jandor, polled two votes.
In the House of Assembly election at the polling unit, the APC polled 34, LP 15, while PDP polled one vote.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has postponed the governorship and States Assembly elections at the Victoria Garden City ,VGC, Eti Osa Lagos state till Sunday, March 19.
The INEC Lagos Resident Electoral Commissioner, Olusegun Agbaje, disclosed this while speaking to newsmen this afternoon.
We had an issue during the presidential/national assembly elections, where our polling official claimed they were held hostage by resident of VGC. So most of them were hesitant to work in the estate again. We wrote to the estate leadership about it. Fortunately our official came before 8am arranged the voting cubicle at the estate gate, but some people at the estate too didn’t feel safe to vote at the estate gate. I discussed with the estate leadership and I also called the EO to discuss the way forward on over 6,000 voters and further directive from the national head quarter that we should remobilize here tomorrow morning at 8:30 to conduct the election. They have already assured of security of our staffs.”
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.
A video of hoodlums warning voters in Fadeyi, Lagos, not to leave their homes if they won’t vote for the ruling APC party in the governorship elections, has been shared online.
In a video, the hoodlums are seen walking together in an otherwise empty street while making their threats.
This is the latest threat to voters coming from thugs supporting APC, after series of attacks on candidates of other parties and a particularly disturbing threat from MC Oluomo who warned Igbos to stay at home if they will not vote for APC.
The Nigerian Police Force Spokesperson, Adejobi Olumuyiwa, later said Oluomo’s threat should be taken as a joke.
The accreditation of voters and voting have commenced at ward 2 polling unit 32, Alausa Ikeja, Lagos State amid heavy security presence.
Officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission have arrived at the polling unit of the Labour Party candidate in the Lagos State governorship election, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour.
The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a 53-year-old woman, who was allegedly found with laminated electoral materials.
The spokesperson of the command, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed this to the News Agency of Nigeria on Friday, March 17, 2023.
The PPRO said that the suspect was arrested on Thursday at about 4.00 p.m. at Candos Road, Baruwa in Iyana-Ipaja area of Lagos.
According to him, the suspect was arrested inside a business centre where she was making the photocopies.
“She was arrested with 550 different INEC materials. The laptop she used in printing the materials has been recovered and she couldn’t give a good account of how she came in possession of the materials. The case has been transferred to State CID Yaba for further investigation.” he said.
Gunmen suspected to be kidnappers have abducted an Assistant Superintendent of Nigeria Immigration Service, Imojara Godwin, in Cross River State.
Imojara was kidnapped alongside YPP Deputy Governorship candidate, Prince Agbor and one Egbung Sandra, on Thursday afternoon, March 16, 2023, while he was travelling on the Ikom-Calabar highway to Ogoja where he was posted for Saturday’s governorship election.
The Immigration officer was amongst other travellers in a Toyota Corolla vehicle when the kidnappers struck and whisked him and two others away.
It was gathered that the abductors have demanded N50 million naira as ransom before the officer would be released.
“An Assistant Superintendent of Immigration (ASI) Imojara Godwin Imojara was kidnapped in Biase while on his way to Ogoja from Calabar yesterday. He left Calabar at about 3:14pm and was kidnapped at about 3:30pm. He was going for special election duty,” a source said.
Spokesperson of the Cross River State Police Command, Irene Ugbo confirmed the development, adding that they are working to ensure the release of the victims.
“The CP Election has directed that drastic action be taken. It is being worked on. Let us hope and pray that before tomorrow (Saturday), everything will be fine.” the PPRO said.
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.”
The Independent National Electoral Commission has denied awarding a contract for the printing of sensitive election materials to the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in Adamawa State, Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed.
The commission made this known in a statement signed by the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, INEC, Festus Okoye.
The statement read in part;
“Our attention has been drawn to a news report that the commission awarded a contract for the printing of sensitive election materials to Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed. It was alleged in the report that she owns Binani Printing Press Limited.
“Procurements in the commission go through open competitive bidding and Binani Printing Press Limited was one of the security printing companies that applied to print security documents for the commission.
“After inspecting the company’s facility and carrying out due diligence at the Corporate Affairs Commission, the commission was satisfied that they are qualified printers with the requisite technical capacity, security consciousness and expertise in printing security documents.
“However, Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed was not listed as one of the Directors of Binani Printing Press Limited.”
Okoye said the commission decided to print all the security documents for the 2023 General Election in the country to help Nigerian printers and assist in growing the national economy.
The commission said it will continue to carry out due diligence in its procurement activities.
The police have issued a stern warning to individuals and groups intending to disrupt Saturday’s governorship and state assembly elections slated for 28 states across Nigeria.
“Anybody that wants to disrupt the system should be ready to die, and anybody that wants to die should come out and disrupt the system. If you love your life, keep away, cast your vote, go home and wait for the result,” the deputy inspector general of police in charge of the South-East, John Amadi, issued the warning on Thursday in Umuahia, while addressing officers of the state command at the Police Officers’ Mess, Umuahia.
Mr Amadi urged the Abia electorate to disregard any threat to stop the elections, reassuring them that the polls would be held as scheduled.
“On behalf of the inspector general of police and the management team, I assure you that there would not be any infractions. I can assure you that we are ready,” the top police officer said.
“We belong to Nigerians, and this is the time to make everybody know that our primary responsibility is to protect lives and property. We have assured Nigerians and the South-East that nobody should entertain any fears.”
Mr Amadi stressed that the police “are there to protect the system” and anybody who wants to “put himself into problem or involve in thuggery would have himself to blame.”
He added;
“Anybody that wants to snatch ballot boxes or disrupt the elections will be promptly dealt with. We have deployed our men to dominate all the areas that we think that trouble would erupt from. So we are sounding a note of warning to criminals and non-state agents that we would not tolerate anything that would not allow the people to cast their vote and choose who they want to represent them.”
He assured visitors to the state, including election monitors and observers, of their safety, saying, “We also assure you that INEC officials and materials must be adequately protected.”
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Cross River says it will resist any All Progressives Congress (APC) attempt in cahoots with the police to militarise the March 18 governorship and state assembly elections.
Effiok Cobham, the director-general of the PDP governorship campaign council, stated this at a news conference in Calabar late Thursday.
Mr Cobham said the party was aware of plans by the police to use special squads to militarise its stronghold, especially the northern senatorial district.
He said a signal to that effect had already been sent by the police commissioner Aliyu Garba in charge of elections in Cross River.
The director-general said the signal directed the commandant of the Rapid Response Squad to send all its operatives to the northern part of the state to engage in “domination patrols, stop-and-search and carryout aggressive arrests where necessary.”
“We frown upon such development and ask in very strong terms that Governor Ben Ayade and the APC desist from such action because the election is not war,” said the PDP.
Mr Cobham, a former deputy governor of Cross River, added that things have become so bad that the March 18 elections would be compromised if unchecked.
Emana Amawhe, the PDP deputy governorship candidate, implored the security agencies in Cross River to be neutral and independent in their duties.
“If the APC feels it is popular enough in Cross River to get votes, then it should understand that it is only normal for people to be allowed to exercise their franchise during the election,” said Ms Amawhe.
“We have cases in Calabar where traditional rulers are compelled to go round communities with town criers threatening individuals to vote for a particular candidate, or they will be dealt with if they failed to do so.”
She called on the international community and residents of Cross River to lend their voices to kick against what she termed “electoral robbery.”
Meanwhile, the police have assured the electorate and political parties that security agents will be neutral during the polls.
The police spokeswoman, SP Irene Ugbo, denied the allegation that the police commissioner met with the governor to compromise the governorship election.