ADAMAWA POLLS: INEC REC IN POLICE CUSTODY AS INVESTIGATIONS CONTINUE
Other Fingered Officials Under Interrogation
The Nigeria Police Force hereby confirms the arrest of Barr. Hudu Yunusa-Ari, the Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), who was alleged to have announced the candidate of the All Progressives Congress winner of the gubernatorial elections during the recently concluded supplementary elections following calls for his arrest and investigation by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the basis of alleged impropriety in the course of supplementary gubernatorial polls in the State.
Barrister Ari, who was arrested by the Police Election Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation Team in Abuja on Tuesday 2nd May, 2023, is currently in Police custody and is being grilled to ascertain the motives and motivations behind his alleged improper actions during the supplementary elections in Adamawa State. In addition, other officials and individuals culpable in the saga are being interrogated by the team.
The Inspector-General of Police has given clear assurance that every individual involved/indicted in the matter will be apprehended and investigated in line with the provisions of the law for possible prosecution. The Inspector-General of Police has assured of the commitment of the Force to ensuring that justice is served in this case and that all guilty parties are brought to justice.
CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, mnipr, mipra, Force Public Relations Officer Force Headquarters, Abuja
NEW: Oxford graduate, philanthropist and global music producer, @cuppymusic (Florence I. 'Cuppy' Otedola), announces £100,000 gift to the @Africa_Oxford initiative to support African Graduate students to 'empower future generations to come'. 👏
Florence I. 'Cuppy' Otedola, an internationally successful DJ and music producer, who has recently completed her graduate studies at Oxford, has announced a gift of £100,000 to the Africa Oxford Initiative (AfOx) to support African graduate students at Oxford.
Cuppy studied at Oxford between 2021 and 2022, successfully undertaking an MSc in African Studies and graduating earlier this year. She is one of the foremost DJs in Africa and has performed internationally, including at the MTV Africa Music Awards. DJ Cuppy’s philanthropic endeavours include supporting a range of organisations tackling critical issues such as child protection and education for girls and persons with disabilities.
The Cuppy Africa Oxford Scholars Fund aims to support future leaders from the continent by enabling them to access the necessary skills, resources and networks to maximise their impact across Africa and beyond. It will support African graduate students at the University to meet unexpected and urgent financial needs and undertake activities that will ensure the pursuit of excellence in their graduate studies.
Cuppy said, ‘I am so proud of this partnership that not only extends my relationship with Oxford University but empowers future generations to come. Having just graduated with a MSc degree in African Studies myself, I saw first-hand the variances in university life experiences for students originating from my continent, Africa. The fundamental role that the Cuppy Fund will play is to narrow resource gaps for those who need it the most so they can fully commit to pursuing the education they deserve. The opportunity to study at Oxford is an accomplishment but one fully realised when you are able to complete your course.’
AfOx is a cross-university platform with the vision to make engagement with Africa a strategic priority for Oxford. A core focus of the Initiative is to increase the number of African students pursuing postgraduate degrees at Oxford and ensure that they can thrive and excel before, during and after their time here.
The new Cuppy Africa Oxford Scholars Fund will offer additional support to the African Graduate Support Fund and enable AfOx to meet the needs of the most vulnerable students, including those with any form of disability and students with caring responsibilities.
Dr Anne Makena, Co-Director of AfOx, University of Oxford, said, ‘We are absolutely delighted that Cuppy is so generously supporting African graduate students here at Oxford. We both share the experience of being African graduate students at Oxford and it is a great honour for AfOx to partner with Cuppy to address some of the unique challenges that African students might encounter during their time in Oxford. The Cuppy Africa Oxford Scholars Fund will help to ensure that they have access to the best possible support to navigate and succeed at Oxford, and continue on to remarkable careers as champions of development in African countries and globally.’
Nigerian Afrobeats superstar, Davido has achieved another record-breaking feat in his stellar career as his latest album ‘Timeless’ has broken the record for the all-time biggest first day streams for any album on music streaming platforms– Spotify Nigeria and Boomplay.
This has added to the plethora of milestones the album attained since Davido announced the release of the much anticipated 4th studio album on his social media pages in the early hours of Friday.
On Spotify Nigeria, the 17-track album tallied 4.91 million streams on its first day of release— surpassing the previous record of 1.36M by Burna Boy’s ‘Love, Damini’ (July 8, 2022).
The album debuted with 3.61million streams more than the number of the previous record held on Spotify for first day streams (4.91 Million streams).
Davido’s ‘Timeless’ leads the biggest first day streams by albums on Spotify Nigeria since 2022. Timeless tallied 4.91M to lead Burna Boy’s Love, Damini–1.36M, Wizkid’s More Love, Less Ego–1.21M, Asake’s Mr Money With The Vibe –992k, Fireboy’s Playboy– 524k, Rema’s Rave & –Roses 396k, and Omah Lay’s –Boy Alone 335k.
Davido also leads the biggest second day streams by albums on Spotify Nigeria since 2022.
Davido’s Timeless tallied 2.19M to lead Burna Boy’s Love, Damini–794k, Wizkid’s More Love, Less Ego–734k, Asake’s Mr Money With The Vibe –556k, Fireboy’s Playboy– 271k, Rema’s Rave & –Roses 219k, and Omah Lay’s –Boy Alone 200k.
Similarly, Davido’s “Timeless” album also breaks the record for the biggest first day streams on Boomplay— its 7.25M streams on opening day surpasses the previously set record by Burna Boy’s “Love, Damini”(3.38M).
Furthermore, all 16 new tracks on ‘Timeless’ occupy the first sixteen spots on the all-time list of biggest opening day streams for any single in Spotify Nigeria history.
The album intro, “OVER DEM” records the highest with 460,000 streams on the platform on March 31. Davido’s “OVER DEM” breaks the all-time record for most single day streams for any song in Spotify Nigeria history, over 2x the previous record (460K).
The 17-track album features Nigerian artists such as The Cavemen, Fave, Asake, DMW’s latest additions, Morravey and Logos Olori as well as multiple Grammy-award winning Beninese-French singer-songwriter Angelique Kidjo, British-Nigerian rapper Skepta, South African music producer/DJ Musa Keys, and Jamaican dancehall/reggae singer Dexta Daps.
Also on the album is the Focalistic-assisted track “Champion Sound,” which was released in 2021.
Leicester City Football Club has reached a mutual agreement with Brendan Rodgers that will see him leave the Club after four years as our Men’s First Team Manager.
Brendan departs King Power Stadium as one of the most successful managers in the Club’s history, having guided us to our long-awaited first FA Cup triumph in 2021, the FA Community Shield in the same year, two of the Club’s three highest Premier League finishes and consecutive European campaigns, including our first European semi-final in 2022.
Assistant Manager Chris Davies and First Team Fitness Coach Glen Driscoll will also be leaving with the Club’s thanks and best wishes for their future careers.
Immediate responsibility for Men’s First Team training and match preparation will be led by the Club’s long-serving First Team Coaches Adam Sadler and Mike Stowell.
Leicester City Chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha said: “The achievements of the team under Brendan’s management speak for themselves – we’ve experienced some of our finest footballing moments under his guidance and will always be grateful to him and his staff for the heights they helped us to reach on the pitch.
“Off the pitch, Brendan embraced the culture of the Club and helped cultivate an outstanding developmental environment, particularly during the transition to Seagrave, and provided strong leadership during the unprecedented challenge of the coronavirus pandemic. His place in Leicester City history is assured.
“However, performances and results during the current season have been below our shared expectations. It had been our belief that continuity and stability would be key to correcting our course, particularly given our previous achievements under Brendan’s management. Regrettably, the desired improvement has not been forthcoming and, with 10 games of the season remaining, the Board is compelled to take alternative action to protect our Premier League status.
“The task ahead of us in our final 10 games is clear. We now need to come together – fans, players and staff – and show the poise, quality and fight to secure our position as a Premier League club.”
Massiveglory: So the NPF can still prosecute offenders, but musiliu akinsanya aka oluomo mc threat which resulted to injury, death and destruction was termed a joke.
The Nigeria Police Force has reacted to a viral video of singer Habeeb Okikiola popularly known as Portable confronting some officers deployed to the recreational centre he owns in Ogun State.
In the video shared widely on Tuesday, Portable can be seen demanding an explanation for the officers’ presence, with the operatives notifying him that a petition was filed against him.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, in a statement on Wednesday, said the artist exhibited irrational behaviour and hurled insults at police officers carrying out their legal duty.
According to him, the action is criminal and punishable by the criminal laws of Nigeria.
“The action of the singer in the video was unruly and conduct likely to cause a breach of peace and incitement of violence against the officers who were detailed to execute a warrant of arrest on him for series of allegations of criminal acts leveled against Mr Portable,” Adejobi said.
“The NPF will take all necessary steps to investigate his actions and ensure that he is prosecuted for any criminal activity he may have committed depending on the severity of the offense.”
See the full statement below:
PORTABLE’S CONDUCT UNRULY, PUNISHABLE UNDER THE LAW – FPRO
Singer may Face Prosecution
The Nigeria Police Force has condemned the actions of one Habeeb Okikiola popularly known by his stage name Portable, in a viral video, where he was seen exhibiting irrational behavior and hurling insults at Police Officers carrying out their legal duty, an action which is criminal and punishable by the criminal laws of Nigeria.
The action of the singer in the video was unruly and conduct likely to cause a breach of peace and incitement of violence against the officers who were detailed to execute a warrant of arrest on him for series of allegations of criminal acts leveled against Mr Portable. The NPF will take all necessary steps to investigate his actions and ensure that he is prosecuted for any criminal activity he may have committed depending on the severity of the offense.
The Police will not condone any unruly act, assault or attack on its officers who are on lawful duty. We need to respect our law enforcement agents who perpetually take the risk of maintaining law and order and fight crimes and criminality in our society.
CSP OLUMUYIWA ADEJOBI, FORCE PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER
I thank the National Chairman of the Labour Party, Barr. Julius Abure, and the NWC for heeding to my appeal, and reviewing the nomination fee for the governorship form downwards to N15m.
I applaud them for also agreeing to refund the cost of the form to the family of a deceased aspirant Chief Humphrey Anumudu from Imo State; and also agreeing to refund part of the payment to those who already bought the forms.
These gestures, reflect Labour Party's responsiveness to the yearnings of Nigerians. -PO
The Lagos State Government has said that the Will of the People prevailed in the last gubernatorial polls in the State, adding that the opposition parties are bad losers.
The Deputy Governor, @drobafemihamzat stated this while fielding questions from journalists on Channels Television programme: “Sunrise Daily”.
Hamzat said that out of the 13,345 polling units in the State, only about 349 had one form of issue or the other and that number is less than 10% of the polling units in the entire State.
The Deputy Governor observed that due to infrastructural and logistics problems, INEC could not be everywhere at the same time but did its best in conducting an election that was better than any other in the history of Nigeria.
His words, “This is a fantastic election and the will of the people prevailed. Governors lost senatorial seats unlike in the days of President Obasanjo when the number of votes counted was more than the number of registered voters”.
Hamzat added that the reason Labour and People’s Democratic Party are crying foul over the results of the election is that they lost, noting that the loss resulted from the gap created by decamped members of their party very close to the elections.
He stated further that the violence witnessed during the elections should not be isolated in context as the elections reflected the kind of people we are.
While condemning the ethnic profiling witnessed in some parts of the State in the wake of the elections, he called for the arrest and prosecution of perpetrators.
“Some of the people disenfranchised in the elections would have voted for us. Like in Ago Palace, I have a lot of friends there who would have voted for the APC.
“It is unfortunate to profile people based on ethnicity and culprits should be arrested and prosecuted. Let us stop diminishing our country. This is a credible election”, Hamzat said.
Smartguyboy: Just thinking out loud Can our faith work without being prayerful?
If you don’t pray what will happen to you and it will stop you from progressing in life ? What of richmen who don’t go to church or atheist but doing well in life .
Faith needs work not prayer. Faith without work is dead.
The Riches of the atheists and the unbelieving rich men will be their undoing
Former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose has described his purported suspension from the PDP, by the Senator Iyorchia Ayu-led National Working Committee of the party as “the last kick of a dead horse.”
Fayose, who reacted to the suspension through his Spokesperson, Lere Olayinka, said “Ayu and his cohorts are only entertaining themselves with the purported suspension as their latest comedy skit.”
He said in a matter of days, the inglorious tenure of Ayu as national chairman of PDP will become history and the party will enjoy a new lease of life.
The former Governor said that he and others who stood by the party when Ayu and his cohorts left it to die will rescue it and give life back in due course. The purported suspension will have no leg to stand.
Mai Mala Buni, has been re-elected Governor of Yobe State winning in all the 17 local government areas of the state with a total of 317,113 votes. The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Sharif Abdulahi, came a distant second with a total score of 104,259
Announcing the results, at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Damaturu, the Returning Officer for the Gubernatorial election in the state, Prof. Umar Pate, the VC of the Federal University of Kashere, Gombe state, said accredited voters are 459,492, valid votes 444,567 and total votes cast are 457,781.
The National Human Rights Commission on Sunday, said it would invite Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State and the Chairman of Lagos State Parks Management Committee, Musiliu Akinsanya a.k.a. MC Oluomo for questioning, following their behaviours and alleged inciting comments during the 2023 general election.
The PUNCH reports that a day before the Presidential and National Assembly elections held, on February 25, Bello allegedly ordered bulldozers to demarcate a road, linking Kogi Central Senatorial District.
The move was seen as an alleged ploy to prevent officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission from taking election materials to the stronghold of his political rival, and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
On his part, MC Oluomo was alleged to have warned the Igbo in Lagos to stay indoors, if they would not vote for Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the All Progressives Congress. MC Oluomo has however debunked this.
Answering questions from journalists after reading its preliminary statement of the 2023 Governorship and State Assembly elections, the Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Tony Ojukwu, said both Bello and MC Oluomo would be invited for interrogation.
He said, “We are monitoring the cyber space to track hate speeches and cyber bullying. Part of the sources of our information is the cyber space. We’ll invite MC Oluomo for questioning because his statement is worrisome. I listened to the Commissioner of Police in Lagos State yesterday, (Saturday), and he said they were investigating the matter. But that will not stop the Commission from carrying out its mandate. We will also invite Kogi State governor for questioning over what happened in Kogi State.”
According to him, the Commission, as part of its mandate to promote and protect human rights, deployed 600 staff human right monitors across the 36 states for the governorship and House of Assembly elections.
He said the preliminary report highlighted key findings from monitoring over 1300 polling units by the commission’s staff and reports, and complaints received from Nigerians in its Human Rights Situation Room.
The Commission, during the election, according to him, also monitored, among other issues relating to the conduct of law enforcement and security personnel, hate speech, election related Sexual and Gender Based Violence and vote buying.
The Commission, during the election, according to him, also monitored, among other issues relating to the conduct of law enforcement and security personnel, hate speech, election related Sexual and Gender Based Violence and vote buying.
Ojukwu stressed, “The environment before the election was fraught with tension, arising from reports and allegations of threats from different political parties and their supporters concerning the elections. Ethnic division and hate speeches were rife in many states, including Lagos, Enugu, Kano, Kaduna and Rivers. This led to the publication by the NHRC of an ‘Advisory on Hate Speech Based on Ethnic and Religious Sentiments and 2023 General Elections in Nigeria,’ on March 16, 2023.
"In Lagos, Enugu, Ebonyi and a few other states, there were threats of violence on opposition supporters, including the use of traditional institutions, schools and the public service. The advisory highlighted areas of concern for the Commission and recommended steps to be taken by the various agencies to address the issues before, during and after the elections,” Ojukwu added.
He continued, “Compared to the Presidential and National Assembly election of February, the Governorship and House of ASsembly elections witnessed a low voter turnout. In states like Niger, Kwara, Benue and Kogi, the turn out was abysmally low, and in almost all the southeastern states, low turn out was also recorded.
"It is important to note that the NHRC in its monthly Review Forum on Human Rights and the 2023 elections warned that the consequences of the hitches and irregularities recorded in the presidential election were capable of increasing voter apathy. It is also important to note that threats of violence prior to the elections may also have played a major factor.
“Our monitors reported incidents of violence, including cases of assault, vandalism, destruction of election materials and polling units in 16 per cent of the polling units monitored. There were reports from Rivers State of hoodlums attacking INEC officials and stealing the BVAS device and election materials,” the NHRC boss further informed.
He stressed, “There were also reported cases of abduction of INEC Officials in Isu LGA of Imo State and attacks on INEC officials in Odoakpu Ward 7, Onitsha in Anambra State. There were also various reports of attacks on polling units from Lagos, Rivers, Nasarawa and Enugu states. In Kano State, there was a report of violence in Rogo Ward of Sabo Gari Local Government Area that led to the death of one person.
“The Commission also received reports of disruption of elections in Ogbia Constituency 2 in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. This resulted in no elections in four wards and 94 polling units. There was also a report of ballot box snatching in Enugu East LGA.
“The Commission received with great concern, the attack on the ARISE News crew at Elegushi Palace. We call on law enforcement to investigate these and other incidents of violence and bring perpetrators to book. The Commission received reports of the killing of thugs in Lagos, Katsina and Benue states, Labour Party agents in Lagos,” it said and cautioned, “Elections are not war and no life should be lost in the process of elections.
“Our monitors reported that there were incidents of voter suppression in 11 per cent of areas monitored. Thirty-two polling units did not have results corresponding with the number of accredited voters. This also suggests that there may have been cases of voter suppression or other irregularities in these units. We will investigate these incidents further to ensure that voters’ rights are protected. In Lagos, there were reports of disenfranchisement of voters, based on ethnic grounds and perceived opposite political persuasion. This has become a worrisome trend which should be checked.
“Vote-buying was reported in 14 per cent of polling units monitored by the NHRC monitors. Our monitors also reported 192 incidents of vote-buying, which is a disturbing trend in our electoral process. The Commission received reports of vote-buying from Imo, Zamfara, Cross River and Kano states. The Managing Director of Kano line was allegedly arrested for vote-buying at Masaka polling unit, Kofar-Mazugal ward, Dala- LGA, Kano State. It has also been reported that operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency arrested vote buyers in Ogun and Kaduna states respectively,” the NHRC reported.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has postponed Saturday’s governorship and state assembly elections in 10 polling units in the Victoria Garden City (VGC) around the Lekki area of the state.
INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Segun Agbaje made the announcement when he addressed reporters at the VGC.
According to him, corps members deployed as ad hoc staff on Saturday were hesitant to enter the VGC estate as they alleged that they were held hostage in the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly elections.
Agbaje said the commission’s ad hoc staff set up voting materials in front of the estate on Saturday but the estate residents claimed that hoodlums might disrupt the process, so they did not feel secure and could not cast their votes.
He said the situation was difficult for security agents to contain hence he and his team had to come to the area
"We have eight polling units here with 6,024 registered voters and out of which 5,624 people have their PVCs,” he stated, adding that two other polling units at the estate’s main gate were also affected. “Eight here (in the estate) and two outside,” he noted.
"After due consultation and further directive from the national headquarters that we should remobilise here tomorrow (Sunday) morning by 08:30am to conduct the elections.
“By 08:30am tomorrow (Sunday), we will reconvene here.”
Agbaje said the chairman of the security committee of the estate had assured the commission of the safety of corps members and INEC staff as well as the safety of voters.
Some of the polling units affected include PU 032,033, 119 -124.
Governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in Lagos State, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour says he will fight to the very end, if the polls are not free, fair and credible.
Speaking to newsmen at his polling unit, Ward A 045 Oshifila/Abule Igbira, Anifowoshe in the Ikeja area of Lagos, Rhodes-Vivour said he will “fight to the end” if the election does not turn out the way it should.
“We need a credible election, we do, its about time; how long are we going to hold people as slaves in Lagos State?” he asked rhetorically.
The LP governorship candidate further stated that Lagosians deserve a good life, adding that “Lagos has the money for a good life”.
“Lagos has the money to provide enough infrastructure for people not to sit in three hours traffic everyday, Lagos has the money for our young men to get employment; so much unemployment and then they use this weakness to perpetrate evil against their own people,” Rhodes-Vivour lamented.
He noted that a full scale monitoring process is already in place to ensure that the elections are not not hijacked by politicians who do not have the people’s best interest at heart.
Meanwhile, Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Saturday cast his vote in the governorship and state assembly elections, saying that the electoral process is not supposed to be violent.
Sanwo-Olu voted at Eiyekole, 006 polling unit, St. Stephens Nursery and Primary School, Adeniji Adele, Lagos Island around 10:30am.
The governor also praised the staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for arriving early to the polling unit as well as the turnout of voters.
He said, “My wife and I are happy with the turnout. We are happy with the turnout at this polling unit. I am told that they came right on time and voting is on. I think it is time for us to see and understand that this process is not meant to be a process of violence.
“Election that leads to a democratic process is the best form of validation of what true democracy should be about. And so I want to reiterate again that this contest is about peace, it’s about progress, it’s about prosperity for our state and country at large.”
highchief1: I had everything before leaving Nigeria.I could boast of have conquered poverty.one of my guys said I heard u travelled out how could u when u were living fine I laughed.
Politics / Re: Police Confirm Arrest Of Hudu Yunusa-Ari, Adamawa INEC REC by TheDemola: 3:53pm On May 02, 2023