Results Won't Be Uploaded At The Polling Unit - INEC Official Tells Voters

 INEC officials at Victor olaiya/idahosa aguda polling unit in Surulere, Lagos, insist that results won’t be uploaded at the polling unit.

She said results will only be uploaded at the “center” where they claimed there’s network.

No Oro Festival In Lagos On Saturday, Electoral Process Not Threatened – Police

 The police have assured voters in Lagos State say there won’t be Oro festivities in the state on Saturday, maintaining that there is no threat to the governorship and state assembly elections billed for that day. 

Reports on social media claimed that the Oro festival in some parts of the state will take place on Saturday – on the same day as the elections. The development triggered reactions from Nigerians most of whom lamented the situation.

But speaking on Channels Television’s election show The 2023 Verdict on Friday, the Force Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, said it is only one part of the state that conducted Oro which he confirmed ended on Friday.

“When the news went viral that there will be Oro between Wednesday and Thursday, the major city that is concerned is Ikate land where we have Kabiyesi Oba Elegushi and I personally put a call to Kayesi to find out what is the situation.

“I am a Yoruba man, and I know what it is when they say they will have Oro cult or Oro festival. I know definitely many people will not be allowed to move particularly women and he clarified and said the Oro festival will end today (Friday). So, this means it’s not a threat to the electoral process in any way because the election is tomorrow (Saturday).

“I think if the Oro is over today, that settles it. So, according to the information I have from Lagos State, the Oro ends today Friday and the election is tomorrow. So, I don’t think it is a threat to the electoral process in any way,” Adejobi said.

He said he is not aware that there are other communities in the state planning on doing the Oro festival on election day and as such, there is nothing to worry about. He, however, said that if some people insist on going on with such activity on election day, the police will also deal with the situation.

Orò Festival is an event celebrated by towns and settlements of Yoruba origin. It is an annual traditional ceremony that is patriarchal in nature, as it is only celebrated by male descendants who are paternal natives of the specific locations where the event is taking place.

During the festival, females and non-natives stay indoors as oral history has it that Orò must not be seen by women and non-participating people.

Youths Playing Football In The Street Of Okota, Lagos On Election Day

 

Olumide Oworu's Name Missing On INEC List

The name of the Labour Party candidate for Surelere 1 Constituency, Olumide Oworu, is missing on the final list of governorship and House of Assembly candidates.

Reports on social media especially Twitter had insinuated that Oworu’s name was missing.

A Twitter user @StFrankingKezy in a tweet said “This guy is not even a candidate of LP in the forthcoming Gov & HoA elections oooooo because his name is not even on INEC list. Wonders shall never end. Who started the narrative?”

Daily Trust obtained the final list of gubernatorial and state House of Assembly candidates and found that Oworu’s name is indeed missing from the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) list.

In his place, INEC listed 47-year-old Adebayo Bode.

Last Thursday, Olumide Oworu and his supporters were attacked by suspected political thugs around Bode Thomas Street Junction in Surulere when they were about to kick off a campaign rally.

Oworu is contesting against the All Progressives Congress’s (APC) Desmond Elliot, a fellow Nollywood actor.

 

If This Election Is Not Credible, I Will Fight To The End – GRV

 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.”

Tinubu Asks Security Agencies To Caution Obi Over Inciting Comments

 President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has asked security agencies in the country to caution the presidential candidate of the Labour Party LP, Mr Peter Obi against making incendiary comments capable of throwing the nation into a tailspin.

This came as he asked the national Broadcasting Commission NBC to caution television stations against granting access to Obi to delegitimize the presidential election.

‘We also advise the NBC to caution TV houses giving Obi the platform to de-legitimise a free and fair election, when he has taken his case to court”, he stated.

Tinubu made the demands in a statement issued Friday night in Abuja and signed by the Director, Media and Publicity at his campaign council, Mr Bayo Onanuga.

He said; “The defeated Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi still goes around inflaming passions, spreading lies as if he is still campaigning for the highest office in the land, weeks after the exercise was concluded and a winner announced.

“We are worried about his recent media rounds on Arise TV and Channels TV, in which he made profoundly misleading, criminally false and inciting statements about the election that he lost woefully.

“We call on the security agencies to caution him from further making incendiary remarks, especially after he claimed he is challenging the results of the election in the tribunal.

“Asked on Arise TV about his loss, he derided the election, considered by many to be the best in our recent history. He described it recklessly as ‘probably the worst’, ‘wrong election’, ‘not God’s will’. In one moment, he likened the election to ‘robbery’.

“He also fleetingly wore the toga of a political scientist redefining democracy, which the world knows as government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

“According to Obi, “to win in democracy is to win the people. The declared winner, Bola Tinubu did not win- that is what we are challenging…’ Later, he clarified in his moments of sobriety, after leaving the studio, that what he wanted to challenge was the process of declaring the winner.

“On Channels TV few days later, Obi made the ridiculous claim about ‘his stolen mandate’, echoing the position of his unthinking mob of supporters, who believe that he won the election, because some sponsored polls made the claim before the election.

“We consider the claim by the former governor of Anambra as very fraudulent as he fell short of winning any mandate. He came third, not even second, losing by 2.6 million votes to President-elect Bola Tinubu, despite getting outrageously padded votes from his ethnic South East states.

“From the false narrative Obi has been pushing, he is the one trying to steal Bola Tinubu’s mandate, by appealing unashamedly to tribal and religious sentiments and by resorting to his sickening penchant for lying boldfacedly to snatch what does not belong to him.

“We consider Obi’s TV statements as prejudicial to the case he has filed and contemptuous of the court. Only a desperate politician like Obi will embark on his course of action: seeking justice in court and simultaneously embarking on a mission of blackmailing and intimidating the judiciary.

“He is trying to present himself before his case takes off in court as a helpless, cheated victim of the ‘system’, robbed of a mandate by INEC. He is trying to position himself as the candidate ‘who won the people’, who is loved by the people, going by his self-serving definition of democracy.

“His antics, if he is able to sway the judges is to make them cancel the entire election, even without sufficient, substantial proof of malpractice. This will pave way for his dream alliance with the PDP, the second losing party, in a fresh election.

“The PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar spoke about his readiness to enter into such alliance in his post-poll press conference, as he accused Obi of taking his votes in the South South and South East.

“We hope the men and women of the judiciary will not fall for Obi’s cheap tactics and really examine the cases before them on merit and on the basis of substantial evidence presented.

“Let us remind Obi once again, he is welcome in the court,, where he is bound to lose woefully.

“Finally we advise Mr. Obi to stop attacking the integrity of the election just because he did not win the majority votes and the constitutional spread in 24 states. He should stop deceiving his gullible followers and raising unrealistic hopes about reclaiming the presidency from Asiwaju Tinubu.

“We also advise the NBC to caution TV houses giving Obi the platform to de-legitimise a free and fair election, when he has taken his case to court”.

22 BVAS Machines Missing In Rivers

 About 22 of the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System, BVAS, in Rivers State for the Governorship and House of Assembly polls are feared missing.

This was as over 6865 of the machines deployed to the state have been successfully reconfigured for Saturday’s polls.

It was gathered that three of the accreditation machines were damaged beyond repairs, hence cannot be used for the polls.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Johnson Alalibo[/b]q, [b]told newsmen and representatives of election observers for the polls that the development would not affect the process.

Alalibo said the commission has enough back-up systems, adding that the missing ones would not disturb the process in anyway.

He said that the electoral umpire would ensure that those missing gadgets would not be used by criminals.

The INEC’s REC further promised that election results would be uploaded in real time after the voting process, assuring of a free and fair process.

However, the State representative of the YIAGA Africa, Obinna Ebogidi, has urged INEC to ensure that their promise of enough machines should to be guaranteed.

Ebogidi said: “The REC told us that 22 of the BVAS machines are missing while “6865 BVAS machines have been reconfigured ahead of Saturday’s poll.

“Our concern is that results should be uploaded from the polling units early to avoid a repeat of what transferred in the last election.”