Lagos State Labour Party Secures Court Order Compelling INEC To Transmit Results

 BREAKING:

Ahead of The Forthcoming Elections, LP Lagos’ Legal Team has gotten at An Order of Mandamus compelling INEC to follow strictly to its guideline:

- Transmit ALL Votes immediately counting is completed at PU.

- Ensure Delivery of Voting Materials to ALL PUs in Lagos!

Wike: I Am Happy Makinde was One Of Those Who Actualised Southern Presidency

 Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has given kudos to Nigerians for supporting the power shift to the Southern region.

Wike who spoke on Friday in Ibadan, Oyo State capital said with the emergence of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the APC as the President-elect, the issue of the rotational presidency has been settled for good.

The Governor also lauded the Governor of the state, Seyi Makinde for being part of those that make the historic movement achievable.

Wike had joined his fellow G5 colleague to commission the Oyo State 5,000,000-litre Aviation Fuel Dispensing Depot at the Ibadan Airport in the Alakia area of the state.

According to him, “I am happy he (Makinde) is one of those that made history by making sure that power shift to the south.

“I have told people that those who fight for change, who fight for revolution may not be directed beneficiaries of that fight but today, history has it that all of us now are aware that when power finishes from the south, it will go to the north; when it finishes from the north, it will come to the south.

“So, it does not need to be written in the constitution at all before it is implemented. And I thank Nigerians for standing firm to see that this issue materializes.”

Wike, who is a Governor under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is the leader of the five aggrieved Governors of the party popularly known as the G5 or Integrity Group.

The group had refused to work for the party’s flagbearer, Atiku Abubakar because it insisted that the PDP national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu resigns for a candidate of southern extraction.

However, Ayu’s refusal to resign pushed the group to work against the party’s presidential candidate.

Meanwhile, speculations are that Wike and Makinde were instrumental to the victory of Tinubu both in Rivers and Oyo States.

Lagos NURTW ‘Asks Members To Submit PVCs’ Ahead Of Governorship Election

 The National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) is compelling its members in Lagos State to turn in their permanent voter cards (PVC) for an unspecified cause.

As of this morning, a number of union members in a few areas of Lagos had turned in their PVCs to NURTW officials in Agege, according to a source.

The source, a member of the union who asked not to be named, said that all the NURTW branches in Lagos attended a state meeting on Thursday but the outcome of the meeting was not communicated until this morning.

“They concluded this morning that all NURTW members should submit their PVCs to the branch secretary or the unit secretary,” he told FIJ.

“I’ve turned in mine. They arrived at 10 am this morning to collect it. But why are they robbing us of our PVCs?

“I have no idea when they will return it to us. They are denying us the opportunity to be with our PVCs on Election Day because they want to use it for something else.”

When FIJ contacted the Lagos State council of the NURTW via its phone number on Google, a representative said he was not aware of the development.

“I don’t know anything about it. I don’t understand what you are saying,” said the unidentified official who answered the call.

Peter Obi Will Go Down As Nigeria's Most Dangerous & Divisive Politician - APC

 The All Progressives Congress campaign council has said the manner in which the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, rode on the waves of religion and ethnicity in Saturday’s election shows that he will go down in history as the country’s “most dangerous and divisive politician.”

The claim was made by the Special Adviser on Media and Communication for the PCC, Dele Alake, at a press conference in Abuja to address the allegation of rigging and collusion with the electoral umpire.

The President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, was announced the winner of the keenly contested Saturday’s presidential election on Wednesday.

Tinubu had polled 8,794,726 votes to defeat the LP flag bearer and his closest rival, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, by 6,984,520 and 6,101,533 votes respectively.

But both Atiku and Obi have kicked against the results with each claiming that the election was fraught with violence and massive rigging.

Consequently, they have resorted to take their case to court for redress.

While mocking LP’s attempt to convince the court, Alake stated that he couldn’t imagine how a divisive politician like Obi could take advantage of Nigerian youths, who were earnestly in search of a hero.

He said, “For Obi, he would go down as Nigeria’s most dangerous and divisive politician. He elevated his well-known clannish mentality to a most unfortunate height by openly anchoring his campaign on religion and ethnicity. He presented himself as a poster boy for and a champion of our country’s fault lines.

“He took advantage of our youths whose expectations are fast paced, who are uninterested in excuses, and who were in search of a hero. He pumped up their sentiments and rode on their emotions while grandstanding as a saviour. It was a false pretence. Obi’s credentials are eternally stained as a former governor with no remarkable legacy.

“Not a few of our youths thought Peter Obi looked like the leader they wanted and many of them could not tolerate any form of scrutiny of their newfound hero. They chose wilfully to canonise him while insisting no one should ask questions. The combination of the disgruntled youths, the ethnic champions, and commercial clerics was the reason Obi thought he could win a presidential election in Nigeria. Such illogic is not strange to the Labour Party.

“If Labour Party could not fill up its quota for polling booth agents with a shortfall of over 40, 000, how did it intend to compete with political parties like APC and PDP? It would be interesting to see what evidence of rigging Labour Party will present before the court when the party could not appoint agents to monitor nearly a quarter of the venues of election,” he said.

While applauding Obi and Atiku’s decision to shift their battle to the judicial turf, Alake stated that it would be a miracle to see how they hoped to overturn the election results in court.

The former Lagos commissioner reiterated that by the time they were through with their journey, the APC train would have left the station in its bid to make the country better for all Nigerians.

“As we look forward to an encounter with both the PDP and LP at the court, we want to enjoin the two of them to pursue their grievances with decorum. They should encourage their members, supporters, and ethnic and religious consultants to follow the path of the rule of law.

“The claim that INEC did not use the BVAS is false. Those who voted across Nigeria, including Atiku and Obi, were accredited by BVAS. Save for bad losers that these two people have proved to be, we should rather be celebrating the tremendous improvement the use of BVAS has brought to our electoral process. The complaint over the electronic transmission of the result is not supported by law.

“Section 38 of the Electoral Act 2022 referred to by the PDP and LP has nothing to do with transmission of election results. Section 60, subsection 2 of the Act deals with transmission of results and it is at the discretion of INEC. The Act does not contain any mandatory provision regarding the transmission of results,” he stated.

LP reacts

Reacting, the Chief Spokesman for Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Council, Yunusa Tanko, said the continuous attack on Obi by the ruling party was a desperate attempt to shield their fear.

Tanko stated that virtually all the supporters of the President-elect know that he didn’t win the election and would soon be found out in the court hence the deliberate to resort to intimidation.

He said, “When the APC said our principal is dangerous, he meant somebody they are already scared of. They have never got like him who gave them a serious run for their money. They have employed very criminally-minded individuals who helped them in allocating results to states. That has been exposed. And so they are scared of the fact that we are going to prove that position in court.

“The majority of them who have subverted the will of the people and at the same time, criminally denied the people from voting, end up going to jail. That has been their fear.

“All these antics and statements they are issuing is an attempt of a drowning man who has been found out based on the lies and propaganda they have been spreading. But we as democrats have proved that we are going to rescue Nigeria and put her on the right part while her oppressors would be put to shame.”

Countries With The Biggest Debts In The World

 

Just as individuals or companies may make purchases on credit or take out a loan to boost their finances, national governments often borrow money to further their country's growth or well-being. When this happens, the money borrowed becomes part of that country's national debt. Stated simply, national debt is the combined debt a country's government owes one or more lenders, such as other governments, various corporations, or even private individuals (such as with treasury bonds). But which countries have the world's highest national debt? The answer to that question merits a bit of explanation.

In terms of raw dollars, the country with the highest debt in the world is unquestionably the United States, whose national debt is more than twice that of any other country.[/color]

1. 🇺🇸 United States = $31 trillion
2. 🇬🇧 United Kingdom = $8.73 trillion 
3. 🇫🇷 France = $7.04 trillion 
4. 🇩🇪 Germany = $6.46 trillion
5. 🇯🇵 Japan = $4.36 trillion 
6. 🇨🇳 China = $2.64 trillion 
7. 🇮🇹 Italy = $2.51 trillion
8. 🇪🇸 Spain = $2.26 trillion
9. 🍁 Canada = $3.2 trillion
10. 🇦🇺 Australia = $1.83 trillion
11. 🇨🇭 Switzerland = $1.82 trillion
12. 🇸🇬 Singapore = $1.67 trillion
13. 🇧🇪 Belgium = $1.28 trillion
14. 🇦🇹 Austria = $757 billion
15. 🇳🇴 Norway = $721 billion
16. 🇫🇮 Finland = $613.9 billion
17. 🇮🇳 India = $610.5 billion
18. 🇧🇷 Brazil = $556 billion
19. 🇳🇱 Netherlands = $555 billion
20. 🇩🇰 Denmark = $492 billion
21. 🇷🇺 Russia = $489 billion
22. 🇹🇷 Türkiye = $444 billion
23. 🇬🇷 Greece = $442 billion
24. 🇲🇽 Mexico = $437 billion
25. 🇵🇹 Portugal = $408 billion
26. 🇰🇷 South Korea = $407 billion
27. 🇵🇱 Poland = $364 billion
28. 🇦🇷 Argentina = $273 billion
29. 🇲🇾 Malaysia = $229 billion
30. 🇮🇪 Ireland = $228 billion
31. 🇺🇦 Ukraine = $225 billion
32. 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates = $220 billion
33. 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia = $201 billion
34. 🇲🇷 Mauritius = $200 billion
35. 🇹🇼 Taiwan = $199 billion
36. 🇦🇺 New Zealand = $192 billion
37. 🇨🇱 Chile = $187 billion
38. 🇵🇷 Puerto Rico (United States) = $167 billion
39. 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan = $167 billion
40. 🇶🇦 Qatar = $159 billion
41. 🇪🇬 Egypt = $158 billion
42. 🇹🇭 Thailand = $149 billion
43. 🇭🇺 Hungary = $148 billion
44. 🇿🇦 South Africa = $143 billion
45. 🇨🇿 Czech Republic = $138 billion
46. 🇵🇰 Pakistan = $122 billion

60. 🇲🇦 Morocco = $63.7 billion
84. 🇰🇪 Kenya = $22.2 billion
87. 🇬🇭 Ghana = $22.1 billion

101. 🇳🇬 Nigeria = $15 billion

164. 🇹🇬 Togo = $1.17 billion
167. 🇱🇷 Liberia = $1.1 billion

Seven States Discontinue Suit Against Tinubu's Electoral Victory

 Seven State Governments controlled by the Peoples Democratic Party – namely Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Taraba and Sokoto, which filed a suit against the Federal Government at the Supreme Court, challenging the declaration of All Progressives Congress Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as President-elect, have discontinued the suit. 

The Notice of Discontinuance signed by their lawyer, Mr. Mike Ozekhome SAN on Friday, said “Take notice that the plaintiffs doth hereby wholly discontinue this suit against the defendant herein”

Election Rigging: Intersociety Drags 40 INEC Officials, 4 Governors To US, EU

 Election Rigging: Intersociety Drags Over 40 INEC Officials, Four Governors To US, EU, Demands Visa Ban

The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), has called on the United States of America, United Kingdom and European countries to impose visa ban on the Chairman of Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, and other 43 top INEC staff for allegedly rigging last Saturday's presidential and National Assembly elections in the country.

The group also called for visa ban on four state governors; Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, Hope Uzodinma of Imo State and David Umahi of Ebonyi State.

The group made the call in petition to 31 key foreign missions in Nigeria, representing the world’s best and most powerful democracies. The missions the petition was addressed to include: Head of the EU Delegation to Nigeria/ECOWAS and Ambassadors or High Commissioners of US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, State of Israel, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Denmark, Scotland, Ireland, Spain, Czech, Portugal, Norway, Finland, Austria, Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, Greece, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Australia, the Vatican, South Korea, Brazil and Mexico.

In the letter which SaharaReporters obtained on Thursday, dated Wednesday, 1st March 2023, Intersociety alleged that 44 top INEC officials named in the petition were vicariously or directly involved in the INEC in-house rigging of the 2023 Presidential which the group described as antithetic to democracy.

According to the petition, the INEC official accused of the rigging are - "Prof Mahmood Yakubu, INEC’s National Chairman,14 past and serving National Commissioners which include: Air Vice Marshal Ahmed Mua’zu (retd) (Gombe), Mrs May Agbamuche-Mbu (Delta), Dr Adekunle Ladipo Ogunmola (Oyo), Mallam Mohammed Kudu Haruna (Kano), Ukegbu Nnamdi (Abia), Major Gen Abubakar Alkali (retd) (Adamawa), Rhoda Gumus (Bayelsa), Sam Olumekun (Ondo), Barr Festus Okoye (Anambra), Kunle Ajayi (Ekiti), Muhammad Kallah (Borno), Dr Baba Bila (North-East), Prof Sani Adam (North-Central) and Prof Abdullahi Abdu (North-West)."

Also accused and demanded to be slammed visa ban are 37 past and serving 37 State Resident Electoral Commissioners. They are "Ibrahim Abdullahi (Adamawa State), Obo Effanga (Cross Rivers), Agboke Olaleke (Ogun), Prof Sam Egwu (Kogi), Onyeka Ugochi (Imo), Muhammad Bashir (Sokoto), Prof Ayobami Salami (Oyo), Olaniyi Ijalaye (Ondo), Muhammed Nura (Yobe), Zango Abdu (Katsina), Dr. Elizabeth Agwu (Ebonyi), Agundu Tarsoo (Benue), Yomere Onitsemlebi (Delta), Prof Yahaya Ibrahim (Kaduna), Nura Ali (Kano), Agu Uchenna (Enugu), Ahmed Garki (FCT), Hudu Yunusa (Bauchi), Prof Uzochukwu Chijoke (Anambra).

Others are "Abdulganiyu Raji (Oyo), Risikuwa Shehu (Sokoto), Bello Mahmud (Zamfara), Nentawe Yilwada (Plateau),Umar Ibrahim (Taraba), Mustapha Zubairu (Niger), Asmau Maikudi (Katsina), James Apam (Benue), Godswill Obioma (Abia), Olusegun Agbaje (Lagos), Dr. Cyril Omorogbe (Edo State), Baba Yusuf (Borno), Dr. Uthman Ajidagba (Kwara), Yahaya Bello (Nasarawa), Dr Emmanuel Hart (Rivers), Mohammed Ibrahim (Gombe), Mahmuda Isah (Kebbi) and Dr. Adediran Rahmon Tella (Osun). Two key Directors of INEC: Engineer Paul Omokere (Director of ICT) and Dr. Lawrence Bayode (Deputy Director of ICT) are among those blacklisted and petitioned against."

Intersociety stated, "We humbly requested to slam visa ban and other inter-country entry restrictions and block international engagements and recognitions in their names particularly those involving the National Chairman of INEC (Prof Mahmood Yakubu), the National Commissioner for Voter Education who doubles as National Commissioner for Anambra, Imo and Enugu, Mr Festus Okoye."

The civil rights organisation noted that the four governors of Rivers, Imo, Kaduna and Ebonyi States were directly involved in the widespread voter suppression and brutal subversion of the sacred electoral wishes of Nigerians during the INEC in-house brutally rigged Feb 25, 2023 Presidential Election.

In the petition signed by principal officers - Emeka Umeagbalasi, Chinwe Umeche, Obianuju Joy and Chidinma Udegbunam, Intersociety made seven demands:

"Slam visa sanctions and other international travel, engagement and recognition restrictions on the serving Gov of Imo State and office immunity losing (outgoing) Govs of Rivers, Kaduna and Ebonyi States. Included in the list is Gov Yahaya Bello of Kogi State who will also be losing office immunity on 29th May 2023

"Repatriate all their stashed away material and human deposits and monetary valuable services (if any) traced and linked to the 44 top INEC officials and strongly suspected office atrocity perpetrator Govs named.

"Ensure that all members of their nuclear families living or holidaying or studying anywhere in the named respected countries and their assets and liabilities are speedily repatriated back to Nigeria and permanently embargoed from finding their way back to the respected countries.

"Particularly, Prof Mahmood Yakubu and Festus Okoye Esquire should be stripped of international forums and opportunities to speak emptily and noisily and stop from receiving undue international attentions and recognitions and permanently barred from traveling to any of the 31 respected Democratic countries named including their nuclear family members.

"Holistically review future funding and international democracy support funds to INEC and its rubberstamping CSOs including scholarships and sponsorship of their international visitations and exchange programs and speech deliveries.

"Downward review of funding of Election Day monitoring and upward review of supporting independent CSOs’ critical oversight on INEC especially during Continuous Voters’ Registration and Distribution of Permanent Voters’ Cards to discourage disenfranchisement and enhance enfranchisement

"Mount sufficient pressure and tying future democracy support funding to INEC on full digitalization of voting process or dualization of voting in the country or any part thereof to include electronic PVC and manual PVC voting; whereby registered voters can vote from their homes or choose to vote physically at polling units with their votes count."