₦airaland Forum

Viz007:
We want free and fair elections and all hands must be on deck to ensure a successful outcome.

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared that results uploaded from polling units during elections cannot be manipulated.

The commission also lamented the ongoing political campaigns on social media but regretted that it was handicapped to take action because it’s beyond its jurisdiction.

This came as Yiaga Africa urged the commission to subject the Bi-modal Voters Accreditation System (BIVAS) to a stress test ahead of the 2023 general election.

INEC stated this during a workshop for political parties, civil society organisations, the media and other stakeholders titled: “The role and impact of digital technologies in facilitating peaceful elections in Nigeria.”

The two-day programme in Abuja was organised by the National Peace Committee (NPC) in collaboration with the Kofi Annan Foundation and the Kukah Centre.

Speaking as a panellist during one of the sessions, the special adviser to the INEC chairman, Prof Mohammad Kuna, who reacted to fears over the electronic transmission of results, said “editing of uploaded results by electoral officials is not possible,” adding “once the results are uploaded they cannot be edited.”


He said results uploaded on the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IREV) cannot be breached, stressing that there has been less rancour as far as results is concerned because of the commission’s use of technology.

He added that the inability of politicians to manipulate the process has seen them resort to buying votes, adding that the electronic transmission of results has afforded political parties and candidates to compute election results real time.

While he admitted failed attempts to attack INEC’s websites and electronic portals, he assured that the commission has adequate security to resist such attacks.

Corroborating, Prof Abdullahi Abdu Zuru, said party agents are required to sign the results from polling units, adding that they must ensure that what they signed is what is uploaded.

On breach of campaigns ahead of the elections, Kuna said those campaigning on social media are taking advantage of the loophole in the electoral laws which does not extend to social media.

While campaigns are expected to start from September 28, he said “I am not sure the new Electoral Act in terms of regulations extended the reach to social media and so the people exploited it.”

He however admitted that the loophole needs to be plugged, adding that the commission is constrained to hold people responsible for campaigning on social media before the September 28 deadline for the process.

On his part, Itodo urged the electoral commission to test-run the BVAS ahead of the 2023 general election, adding that the commission should be bold enough to check how hack-proof the machines are as a precaution to the elections.

“I urge INEC to conduct a stress test on the BVAS to gauge its vulnerability ahead of the 2023 polls.”

He further urged Nigerians to charge INEC to henceforth upload accredited voters list alongside results from the polling units.”

He said “The BVAS has capacity to upload results from the polling units and the wards as well as the registered voters in various polling units.”

Head of the secretariat of NPC, Revd Father Atta Barkindo, said they decided to embark on this workshop because they discovered the need to hold candidates and political parties to account on the issue of social media and fake news as part of the peace accord process.

Other panelists at the event decried the deliberate use of social media to spread fake news ahead of the 2023 general elections.

Head, Anglophone West Africa/Public Policy, Facebook, Adaora Ikenze, noted that the aim of the gathering is to fashion out a system of having a civil way of engagement during the election, adding that political actors should desist from sponsoring contents targeted at exploiting the weak and vulnerable through false news.

Director of CDD, West Africa, Idayat Hassan, warned against the digital interference in our electoral system by foreign countries. She however noted the need for increased sensitisation on the impact of fake news ahead of the 2023 elections.

Jennifer663:
Annoying reason.

Malory:
But FG can pay billions of ransom to bandits abi?

President Muhammadu Buhari has stated that the reason the FG cannot review salaries for civil servants is due to revenue constraints caused by crude oil theft which is affecting Nigeria’s revenue potential.

President Buhari disclosed this on Friday after he received the Central Working Committee of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) at the State House, Abuja, on Friday, according to NAN.

He added that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has also led to price increases in costs of goods and services globally.

What the President is saying

Responding to requests for a salary review by civil servants, Buhari said he acknowledged the urgent need for a general salary review in the Federal Public Service due to worldwide problems of high inflation amidst general economic disruption.

He said, “I wish to urge you to appreciate the revenue constraints being presently faced by government which is caused mainly by the activities of unscrupulous citizens through the theft of our crude oil, a major contributor to our revenue base.

“This is compounded by global economic downturn as a result of the on-going Russian-Ukrainian war, which has led to price increases not just in the costs of goods and services globally, but also in the transportation of these goods and services across the globe.

“You are also aware of the enormous burden placed on our finances by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Furthermore, let me note the significant investment we have had to make in security over the last seven years, which means other sectors of the economy have not been able to receive as much funding as we would have liked.

“Only when our country is secured, that we are able to proceed and take on other aspects of our economic challenges.”

He also urged that Nigeria will not allow a few criminals to have unfettered access to the nation’s crude oil supply, citing that he has directed security agencies to speedily bring to a halt the activities of these vandals in the Niger Delta.

Buhari told the Central Working Committee of ASCSN that request for restoration of the payment of gratuity to public service employees was one of the landmark provisions addressed in the 2004 Pension Reform Act, adding that implementing the request for the payment of a bulk sum of gratuity to retired civil servants would negate the intent and provisions of the Act.

On the harmonisation of salary in the Public Service, the president said a committee was set up for that purpose, under the Minister of Finance who was still working, saying that a report is expected to be submitted at the conclusion of its assignment, which would be studied for appropriate action.

He also added that the Head of Service of the Federation had been directed to liaise with other relevant government agencies to see how the 2023 budget estimates could accommodate an increase in the budget of the Federal Government Staff Housing Loans Board.

What you should know

In the first four months of the year, a sum of N285.38 billion was earned as oil revenue by the federal government, representing a 60.9% shortfall compared to N730.12 billion prorated figure.Despite the rally in crude oil prices in the first half of the year, Nigeria was unable to increase its oil revenue as a result of a continuous decline in production capacity, contained in the 2023 – 2025 MTFF/FSP report, presented by the Minister of Finance, Dr. Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed.Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Timipre Sylva, revealed this month that  Federal Government is losing 400,000 barrels per day to crude theft.

The federal government has blamed its inability to negotiate with university lecturers on insistence by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) that they must be paid salaries for the six months they had been on strike.

Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, disclosed this to State House correspondents yesterday during the weekly ministerial briefing organised by the presidential communications team at the presidential villa.

According to him, President Muhammadu Buhari rejected the demand outrightly when he presented the report to him.
“All contentious issues between the government and ASUU had been settled except the quest for members’ salaries for the period of strike, a demand that Buhari has flatly rejected,” he said.

The minister said the president’s position had been communicated to the lecturers who are expected to call off the strike.
He stated that the rejection was to curb the excesses of trade unions that want to be paid for work not done.

Adamu said the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) payment system proposed by ASUU has outscored the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) already in use by the government, which the lecturers are kicking against.

He also said IPPIS has been updated to now accommodate payment of those on sabbatical.
“Just one thing that I was reminded of is that even the current IPPIS has been made to accommodate sabbatical. I didn’t know this. Somebody just told me,” Adamu noted.

The lecturers had accused the federal government of not taking into consideration the peculiarities of tertiary institutions in the IPPIS.

But Adamu also debunked the report that UTAS had not been approved by government as the payment platform for university lecturers.

He said the government has proposed a new salary to the unions which he said the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian University (SSANU), the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities and Allied Institutions (NASU) and the National Association of Academic Technologists, (NAAT), have accepted in principle and are now consulting with their members with a view to calling off the strike in the next one month.

He, however, commended the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) for calling off its own strike.

He said the federal government has invested over N2.5 trillion in tertiary education in the last ten years, exceeding the sum of N1.2 trillion ASUU is demanding.

The minister also said it is the responsibility of ASUU to compensate students for the time wasted by the six-month strike, not the federal government.

Adamu suggested that the affected students should “take ASUU to court” to claim for damages incurred over strike period.
He said the federal government bears no liability to compensate millions of students grounded for six months over lost time, saying if the students are determined to get compensated, they should take ASUU to court.
The minister said it is important for the public to be aware that “the federal government is paying the salaries of every staff in its tertiary institutions, academic and non-academic staff, while these institutions are also in full control of their internally generated revenue (IGR).

“We are doing everything humanly possible to conclude the negotiations. It is our hope that the outcome of the renegotiations will bring lasting industrial peace to our campuses. In the meantime, I am sure that the current efforts would yield the desired results and return our children back to school.”

Adamu also called for crackdown on perpetrators of examination malpractice, which he said had been uncovered as a cartel.
He called on the examiners to work closely with law enforcement agencies to “crackdown on examination malpractice”.

According to him, despite efforts to raise the integrity of the examination system in schools nationwide, the ministry still grapples with malpractice perpetrated both at the exams councils and school levels.

The minister also said the Buhari administration has spent a total of N6,003,947,848,237 in capital and recurrent expenditure in the education sector in the last seven years.

He said this was in addition to interventions from TETFund and UBEC, amounting to N2.5 trillion and N553,134,967,498 respectively in capital investment.

He noted: “We must also note and appreciate the huge investments from States and the private sector at all levels of our educational system. We will continue to improve on the implementation of the Ministerial Strategic Plan (MSP) all through to 2023 for the overall development of the education sector and the Nigerian nation.

“We will continue to create the necessary enabling environment to attract more and more private sector investment. We shall hand over a better education sector than we met.”
Adamu said the number of out of school children has dropped from an estimated 13 million to 6.9 million, with an impressive enrollment from online states of Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Sokoto, Gombe, Bauchi, Adamawa, Taraba, Rivers and Ebonyi.
He linked the increased enrollment to activities of the Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA).

There is suspense in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as loyalists of the party’s flagbearer, Atiku Abubakar and Rivers State governor Nyesom Wike meet today to reconcile the two parties.

 This is as the Board of Trustees (BoT) has urged party leaders to guard their utterances over the crisis within the party.

 It also urged the camps loyal to PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and the Rivers State governor Nyesom Wike, to focus on how to resolve the lingering tussle in the party.

Chairman of the BoT, Sen Walid Jibrin lamented that the party ought to be concentrating on how to win all positions to be contested and adhere to the provision of the party constitution.

Meanwhile, there is suspense ahead of the today’s reconciliation meeting between the warring camps to mend cracks arising from the emergence of Delta State governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa as Atiku’s running mate.

Atiku’s choice of Okowa over Wike who came second during the PDP presidential primaries and enjoyed the backing of some governors and party chieftain to be vice presidential candidate of PDP, had set off weeks of face off between the presidential candidate and the Rivers State governor.

Following the intervention of the Board of Trustees (BoT) and some party leaders, Atiku and Wike met for the first time two weeks ago at the Abuja residence of former information minister of PDP founding member, Prof Jerry Gana where they agreed to set up committees of equal membership to iron out contending issues.

Both camps setup seven-member committees to deliberate on the matter. While Adamawa State governor, Ahmad Fintiri is heading the Atiku team, some members in the Wike committee include, former minister of justice Adoke.

As part of their demands, Wike’s camp insist on the resignation of the PDP national chairman, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, a power sharing formular and commitment that Atiku would serve for one term.

Although the Atiku team is yet to make any demands, the call for Ayu’s resignation has been rejected by Atiku’s loyalists. Ayu has also declared that he has no plans to vacate office until his four-year tenure expires.

However, the BoT chairman in his statement yesterday said, “I wish to call on all members of PDP and all Nigerians to remain calm never create bad blood and confusion on the state of our party noting that all efforts are on ground to reconciliate (sic) between Wike, the party and the presidential candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. What is happening now should never be categorised as a problem but misunderstanding within the party.

“At this period leading to the 2023 elections we should concentrate on how to win all positions to be contested and seriously adhere to the provision of the party constitution.
“My strong advise is for us to give strong support to the present Reconciliation committee set up to resolve all issues.
“There after BoT the highest advisory organ of the party will give more encouragement leading to greater success of PDP.”
However, ahead of the much anticipated meeting of the two committees today in Abuja, LEADERSHIP Friday learnt that the demand for Ayu’s resignation would determine the entire outcome of the reconciliation process following the broadening call for his stepping side.

Besides Wike’s camp’s insistence on Ayu’s exit as party chairman, some party leaders like former national vice chairman of PDP, Chief Bode George and a former presidential aspirant, Sam Ohuabunwa have also urged Ayu to resign.


LEADERSHIP Friday gathered that the crisis has since crept into the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party as members have since aligned along line of their political benefactors.

However, BoT member of PDP, who spoke with LEADERSHIP Friday on condition of anonymity noted that it was unfortunate that the party had spent so much time on this issue.

The BoT member from the South East hinted that this round of reconciliation offers a critical opportunity for all party leaders to get their act together, stressing that “the outcome would be crucial to how Nigerians perceive us going into the election.”

He however expressed optimism that “the party will come out better for it.”

Another party source however said regardless of the outcome the meeting, the party would kick start the process of setting up its campaign council by next week, adding that the friction has “taken so much time and cost us some mileage, if we must be frank to ourselves.”

Recall that the party postponed its National Executive Committee (NEC) scheduled for last week over the raging impasse. The meeting would have deliberated on the constitution of the presidential campaign council, it was learnt.

However, a former member of the House of Representatives, Chief Ogbonna Nwuke, has said the choice of venue for the reconciliation meeting between the camps of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, should not be an issue.

This is as he said members of the PDP and Nigerians were expecting a positive outcome of the meeting where all issues that have been stumbling blocks within the party will be resolved.

Nwuke, who spoke yesterday in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, during a telephone interview with LEADERSHIP, said the reconciliation meeting will be a major test for the leading opposition political party.
He said: “I think the venue should not be an issue. What really matters is if the convenes of the meeting are serious and sincere because Nigerians are watching and PDP members are also watching.

“You can see already that the reactions coming from the media suggests that are blaming the flag-bearer and his team for stalling. So, clearly, whether the meeting holds tomorrow or not, it will be a major test for the PDP.
“You know there are are quiet a lot of PDP members who want unity in the party. There are also a lot of Nigerians who want the PDP to be better placed now to take over from the APC; they are watching from the sidelines to see what tomorrow’s meeting will be like. Nobody can cross the bridge until you have seen the bridge.
“There are expectations that the meeting will hold; there are also expectations that all the issues that have been stumbling blocks within the PDP at this time will be addressed fairly and openly.”

The Academic Staff Union Of Universities (ASUU) has explained why it rejected the federal government’s offer of academic salary structure.

Recall that at the resumed meeting of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) and ASUU 2009 Agreement Re-negotiation Committee on Tuesday, August 16, 2022, the government team presented an “Award” of a Recommended Consolidated University Academic Salary Structure (CONUASS) prepared by the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) to ASUU.

But, in a press statement signed by ASUU president, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, which was made available to LEADERSHIP, the Union firmly rejected the “Award”.

He said the 1981 FGN-ASUU Agreement, under the Shehu Shagari-led administration, established the principle of collective bargaining, based on the Wages Boards and Industrial Council’s Decree No 1 of 1973, the Trade Dispute Act (1976), ILO Conventions 49 (1948), 91(1950), 154 (1988) and recommendation 153 (1981), Udoji Commission Report of 1974, and Cookey Commission Report of 1981.

 
The statement reads in parts, “It also provided a platform for resolving such important issues as special Salaries and Conditions of Service of University Staff, University Funding, roles of Pro Chancellors, Vice-Chancellors, and National Universities Commission (NUC). A key outcome was a special salary scale for university staff known as University Salary Structure (USS).

 
“At the commencement of the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement on 16th March 2017, both the Federal Government and ASUU Teams agreed to be guided by the following principles as their terms of reference which includes, reversal of the decay in the Nigerian University System, in order reposition it for its responsibilities in national development.

“Reversal of the brain drain, not only by enhancing the remuneration of academic staff, but also by disengaging them from the encumbrances of a unified civil service wage structure; (iii) Restoration of Nigerian Universities, through immediate, massive and sustained financial intervention; and nsuring genuine university autonomy and academic freedom.

 
“Government’s surreptitious move to set aside the principle of collective bargaining, which is globally in practice, has the potential of damaging lecturers’ psyche and destroying commitment to the university system. This is, no doubt, injurious to Nigeria’s aspiration to become an active player in the global knowledge industry

“Rejecting a salary package arrived at through collective bargaining is a repudiation of government’s pronouncements on reversing “brain drain”. It is common knowledge that, more now than in the 1980s and 1990s, Nigerian scholars, especially in scarce areas like science and medicine, are migrating in droves to Europe, America and many parts of Africa such as South Africa, Rwanda, and Ghana with supportive environment to ply their trades as well as competitive reward systems for intellectual efforts. Does the Nigerian government care about what becomes of public universities in another five or ten years if this trend continues?”

Osodeke said federal government’s repudiation of collective bargaining was in bad faith, adding that it’s a retrogressive step for a democratic government to abrogate the collective bargaining principle after more than 40 years of its introduction into the Nigerian University System.

He added, “Government imposed the ongoing strike action on ASUU and it has encouraged it to linger because of its provocative indifference. The Munzali Jibril-led renegotiation committee submitted the first Draft Agreement in May 2021 but government’s official response did not come until about one year later! Again, the “Award” presented by the Nimi Briggs-led Team came across in a manner of take-it-or-leave-it on a sheet of paper. No serious country in the world treats their scholars this way.”

He lamented that it was a wasteful spending, misappropriation of fund and outright stealing of collective patrimony.

“ASUU believes that if the leakages in the management of the country’s resources are stopped, there will be more than enough to meet the nation’s revenue and expenditure targets without borrowing and plunging the country into a debt crisis as is the case now.

“The New Draft Agreement has other major recommendations for the funding of major components of the renegotiated 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement.

“One of such recommendations is the tax on cellphone and communication lines. Ironically, the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning recently announced its readiness to implement ASUU’s recommendation, as a revenue source, but not for education, without acknowledging the Union,” he added.

The ASUU president further urged the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Education, to return to the New Draft Agreement of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Renegotiation Committee whose work spanned a total of five and half years as a demonstration of good faith.

Power generation and distribution companies owe Nigerian banks N836.09bn amid the lingering problems plaguing the sector since it was privatised over eight years ago.

This is according to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s June 2022 data obtained by The Punch.

While power generation firms and independent power producers owed banks N562.19bn, power transmission and distribution firms were indebted to the tune of N273.89bn.

The PUNCH had reported in July 2020 that the core investors in the distribution companies were looking to restructure the loans advanced to them by banks for the acquisition of the power assets.

In November 2013, the nation’s distribution and generation companies were privatised through the Bureau of Public Enterprises, fetching about $3.2bn for the Federal Government. The Discos and Gencos were sold for $1.7bn and $1.5bn respectively.

The Federal Government officially privatised the six successor power generation companies and 11 distribution firms that were unbundled from the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria.

The acquisitions by the core investors were financed mostly by debts, a significant portion of which was provided by local banks.

The PUNCH had reported on Tuesday that the crisis rocking Nigeria’s power sector seems to be expanding annually despite efforts by the Federal Government and the private sector in managing it.

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From power generation to transmission down to distribution, there have been diverse concerns, as well as in other arms of the business such as in the regulation of the industry.

These concerns have made stakeholders express doubts over the viability of the privatisation of the distribution and generation arms of the industry.

They stated that the recent takeover or re-acquisition of some power distribution companies by a Deposit Money Bank, the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria and another investor, for instance, showed that all was not well with the Discos.

Chris Akamnonu, who served as managing director in three Discos in the South-East and South-West for about 13 years, told The PUNCH, “The situation is more complex than the ordinary person sees. The entire experiment may not be yielding the desired results; that is the frank truth.”

In July this year, it was reported that the Federal Government alongside Fidelity Bank and AMCON had taken over the affairs of five electricity distribution companies, also known as DISCOs, over debts owed to Fidelity Bank.

The affected companies were Kano Electricity Distribution Company, Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company, Benin Electricity Distribution Company, Kaduna Electric, and Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company.

The companies had failed to repay loans obtained to pay for assets acquired in the 2013 privatisation exercise.

Also, the government, through its BPE, announced that with the takeover of Ibadan Disco by the AMCON, the BPE had obtained approval from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission to appoint an interim managing director for the distressed power firm.

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, on Wednesday promised that the results of the 2023 general elections would be transmitted electronically.

There have been calls by stakeholders that the deployment of technology in the country’s electoral processes be enhanced to address hitches witnessed in previous elections.

It was against this backdrop that the Electoral Act was amended by the National Assembly. President Muhammadu Buhari had, on February 25, assented to the Election Act 2022 after its passage by the National Assembly.

One of the key provisions of the law is the deployment of technology in the electoral process.

Section 52(2) of the Act says: “Subject to Section 63 of this bill, voting at an election and transmission of results under this bill shall be in accordance with the procedure determined by the commission (INEC), which may include electronic voting.”

Speaking on Wednesday in Abuja when he hosted a delegation of Media Trust Group (owners of Daily Trust newspapers and Trust TV) on election debate, the INEC boss said going forward, the electoral body would transmit election results electronically.

Media Trust Group is organising a series of debates for presidential and governorship candidates ahead of the next year’s general elections, dubbed ‘Media Trust Nigeria Election Debate 2023’. 

Yakubu, told the delegation that the transmission of elections results from the polling units (PUs) would be a permanent feature in the nation’s electoral processes.

“Yes, it is going to be permanent in all elections conducted by the commission going forward. But I wish to draw your attention to the fact that we did not start the electronic transmission, at least, from the polling units to the IReV Portal, in Anambra or FCT elections.

“It was actually on August 2020 that we deployed that for the Nasarawa Central State Constituency by-election, the first election conducted under COVID-19. So, if you look at the IReV Portal, you could see all the results from the 2020 to the Ekiti and Osun governorship elections and all the other by-elections we conducted,” Yakubu said.

 

What INEC learnt from Kenyan presidential poll 

On lessons learnt from the just-concluded Kenyan presidential election, Yakubu said that the INEC had received a letter from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) of Kenya that it wanted to deploy the Kenya Integration Election Management System (KIEMS) and that it was going to transmit polling unit level results to the collation centre. KIEMS is the equivalent of the Nigeria’s Bi-Modal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS). 

He said like Nigeria, the transmitted results were collated manually. 

He also noted that Nigeria’s BIVAS is a significant improvement on the Kenya’s system because in Nigeria, the collations have to pass through several stages from the polling units to the ward level, to the local governments and the states before reaching the national portal for the presidential election.

This, Yakubu said, allows agents of all political parties and candidates to observe the collation process at all stages, unlike in Kenya where results go straight to the national portal. 

The INEC chairman also said that while Nigeria learnt from the 2017 Kenyan elections, the Kenyans had also learnt a lot from the conduct of the 2019 and 2023 general elections in Nigeria. 

He said the collation of results was faster in Kenya possibly due to the fewer numbers of polling units and registered voters compared to the larger number of same in Nigeria.

On pending by-elections, the INEC boss said that there were 27 pending by-elections across the country.

He said the commission would conduct the elections pending when court cases and insecurity in some of the affected constituencies were resolved. 

Speaking further, Yakubu said the INEC would support the Media Trust Group’s debates in order to deepen issue-based politicking ahead of the 2023 elections. 

According to him, there are other debates and more expected to be conducted ahead of the 2023 elections. 

He, however, said that the commission would be watching all the debates like other Nigerians. 

Daily Trust reports that for four months, three Senate seats: Borno North, Nasarawa West and Zamfara Central Senatorial Districts have been vacant following the resignation of the occupants, including the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Abdullahi Adamu; Senator Abubakar Kyari and Senator Muhammad Hassan Nasiha. 

The Media Trust Group delegation, including the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), Mallam Mounir Haliru Gwarzo, was led by the MTG’s Election Debate Committee Chairman, Prof. Jibrin Ibrahim.

Ibrahim had earlier said that the visit was to seek the support and participation of the INEC in the coming debates and other activities to promote and sustain issue-based politics and campaigns in Nigeria.