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Atiku, PDP Insist Results were Transmitted Electronically, Dismiss INEC’s Denials, Demand Access to Server, Results

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The Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate in the February 23 presidential election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, have filed a fresh application for access to information contained in the smart card readers and “central server”, which it said the Independent National Electoral Commission used for the conduct of the disputed election.

They filed the application before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, where their petition challenging President Muhammadu Buhari and his All Progressives Congress’ victory at the poll is pending.

The petitioners, through their lead counsel, Dr. Livy Uzoukwu (SAN), made the request in their application filed before the tribunal, despite INEC’s insistence that the results of the election were manually collated and never transmitted electronically.

Uzochukwu, in a chat with SUNDAY PUNCH on Saturday, confirmed that the application was filed on May 9, adding that the respondents – INEC, Buhari and APC – had yet to file their replies to it.

INEC had declared that Buhari and APC the won the February 23 election with 15,191,847 votes to defeat his closest rival, Atiku who polled 11,262,978 votes.

But Atiku and the PDP, in their petition filed on March 18 to challenge the outcome of the poll, stated that “from the data” they obtained from INEC’s server, “the true, actual and correct results” showed that they polled a total of 18,356,732 votes to defeat Buhari whom they said scored 16,741,430 votes.

By calculation, Atiku and PDP claimed to have defeated Buhari by 1,615,302 votes. However, in its reply filed on April 10 to counter the petition, INEC urged the tribunal to dismiss the petition, insisting that the petitioners’ claims were false.

It said, through its lead counsel, Yunus Usman (SAN), that it collated the results of the election manually and never transmitted them electronically.

However, the petitioners, in their fresh application, maintained that INEC kept “central servers” in which “information was recorded and stored in database packets relating to accreditation of voters and transmission of results from the presidential election”.

They sought to be permitted to inspect the said servers and the card readers used for the conduct of the poll, examine and analyse the information obtained from them.

They also prayed for the tribunal’s permission to be allowed to file a report of their inspection, examination and analysis of the content of the facilities.

Their written address filed in support of the application read in part, “This motion is brought pursuant to Section 151 (1) and (2) of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended), Section 71 of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended), Paragraphs 18 (7) (e), 41 (5) and (6), 47 (2) & 54 of the First Schedule to Electoral Act, 2010, (as amended), Section 6 (6) (b) Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) and under the Inherent Jurisdiction of this Honourable Court.

“The motion prays for the following orders as expressed on the face of the motion paper, namely:

“An order allowing access or a court-supervised access and inspection by the Petitioners, in the presence of the 2nd and 3rd respondents (Buhari and APC) if they so desire, of the 1st respondent’s (INEC’s) central servers wherein information was recorded and stored in database packets relating to accreditation of voters and transmission of results from the Presidential election, the subject-matter of this petition.

“An order directing the 1st respondent’s Chief National Electoral Commissioner and/or other officers to grant the petitioners access to the said database packets in the 1st respondent’s central servers.

“An order granting leave to the petitioners to inspect and obtain certified true copies of Smart Card Reader accreditation data from the Smart Card Readers used in the said election and stored in the 1st respondent’s servers.

“An order granting leave to the petitioners to file a report of the inspection, examination and analysis thereof at the trial.”

The applicants filed 13 grounds to back their application and their claims in it.

Part of the grounds of the application acknowledged that INEC as well as the two other respondents to the petition — Buhari and APC — had contradicted their claim about the electronic transmission of results to the server.

But they insisted INEC was constitutionally and statutorily vested with the responsibility to conduct and manage the presidential election and set up electronic data central servers.

They stated, “The 1st respondent, as the body constitutionally and statutorily vested with the responsibility to conduct and manage the presidential election, set up electronic data central servers for the purposes of storage of transmitted accreditation data and results from smart card readers deployed for the election in an apparent bid to ensure relative transparency of the process.

“The respondents have, in their replies, joined issues with the petitioners in respect of the said data transmitted to the INEC’s central servers.”

But they said, “The Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended) itself acknowledges network data by recognition given to the website of the Independent National Electoral Commission in section 71 of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended). We also submit that section 84 of the Evidence Act, 2011 recognises computer data, and evidence generated therefrom.

“Thus, the general framework of the law accommodates such data retrievable from computers, of which a server is a storage component.”

Maintaining that INEC deployed the servers for the conduct of the February 23 poll, they said as part of the grounds of their application, “the results of the election were electronically transmitted to the 1st respondent’s Central Server”.

They added that notice had given INEC “notice that reliance will be placed on the extract of the electronic data from the said Central Server as at February 25, 2019”.

They added, “The data from the said central server is very material and relevant for the just determination of this petition.

“The petitioners require the data from the said central servers to maintain this petition.

“The petitioners also require the extract of the data from the smart card readers for the maintenance of the petition.

“The smart card readers were used at the said election for verification, accreditation, and authentication of voters and for the transmission of results to the 1st respondent’s servers.”

They added, “It will work tremendous hardship and grave injustice to refuse access to the contents of the central server that will assist the honourable court in the just consideration and determination of the issues involved in this matter or to allow a Party suppress or withhold access thereto.”

The Punch – Olusola Fabiyi  and Ade Adesomoju

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We Care About You, Adron Homes Fetes Partners, Clients on Valentine’s Day

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Premier real estate firm, Adron Homes has celebrated its teeming clients, partners and well wishers on Valentine’s Day, stressing how much they care.

A statement released by management team, and made available to this medium, reveals that the company does not take for granted all the supports received from clients and partners alike, adding that on a day like this, spreading love and compassion should be the paramount duty of everyone.

The message in full:

“As Valentine’s Day dawns upon us, we are reminded of the profound impact that love and empathy can have on our lives and the communities we serve. At Adron Homes, we believe in the transformative power of these values, and we are committed to fostering a culture of compassion and care in everything we do.

“To our cherished clients: Your trust and support are the driving force behind our success, and we are grateful for the opportunity to serve you. As we continue to work together, let us build relationships rooted in mutual respect, understanding, and empathy. Your satisfaction and well-being are our top priorities, and we are committed to going above and beyond to exceed your expectations.

“To our esteemed partners: Your collaboration is instrumental to our growth and success, and we appreciate the trust you have placed in us. Let us continue to work hand in hand, guided by a shared commitment to excellence and a genuine concern for each other’s success. Together, we can achieve great things and make a lasting impact in our industry and beyond.

“On this special day, let us all strive to be agents of love and empathy, spreading kindness and compassion wherever we go. Together, we can create a world that is more caring, more connected, and more compassionate.

“Happy Valentine’s Day to each and every one of you. May your hearts be filled with love, and may you continue to inspire others with your acts of kindness and empathy.”

With warm regards,

Adron Homes
Building Cities ,Communities And Homes

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LovableVibes: Instant Messaging App Launched in Nigeria

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A new secured social media messaging app known as LovableVibes has been launched in Nigeria, to facilitate the sharing of news, photos, and videos as well as market goods and services to the teeming clickers around the globe.

Developed by Austin Daniels, a.k.a Lovable, a Nigerian, boasted that LovableVibes is a Secure Messenger whose main focus is to be the number one privacy and secure communication system for users that value their privacy.

“Nigerians heavily relied on the foreign messaging app that serves no local content hence the zeal to create LovableVibes; something that Africans would be proud to declare as theirs. Since countries like China, Japan, Korea, and India managed to put their apps together, Africa must be developed by Africans, to measure at par with the international community positioned to bridge that gap.

“We would be introducing more features to make sure user data is protected. We can hide and lock a single chat. The files are not stored in the user’s phone but in bucket cloud storage. The files are 100% safe, and even if your phone is stolen, you don’t need to panic. All you need to do is log in to a new phone and your files are back automatically from where you stopped.

“You may want to ask, are Google Cloud buckets encrypted? Yes, cloud storage always encrypts your data on the server side, before it is written to disk. We don’t see users’ chats or files. That’s why our energy is to provide the user’s privacy at all costs.”

According to Theresa Moses, the app developer’s spokesperson, “the social media app was created out of a need for a Nigerian owned and indigenous social media platform; where Nigerians can have guaranteed communications, with the utmost security and launched on April 18th, 2023 to protect users’ information and privacy.”

On the unique features of the app, she said it is end-to-end encrypted, enables people to connect in communities, allows users to share pictures, video, and audio calls, 500 member group chat, which will be upgraded to 1,000, stickers and files exchange up to 60MB and grow the business to take over WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, and others.

“We have the admin panel for the team to use. They can’t see any posts and other things even the user’s chat conversations. We cannot delete videos, and pictures if there is a report on them. Accounts can also be deleted while users’ pages can be modified. Misinformation and fake news can be handled and taken down when users report issues and we confirm it as fake. The same goes for gory contents”.

LovableVibes is currently trending in Nigeria and other countries such as the United Kingdom, India, Germany, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Australia, Italy, Congo, Bahamas etc. The application could be downloaded on Google Play and App Store for both Android and Apple phones.

Android Users: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lovablevibes.vibes

iPhone Users: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/lovablevibes/id6447699262

LovableVibes Features includes: Unique chat design, Clean UI/UX, See Device Contacts, One-to-One Chat, Chat without Saving number, User status (Online, Last seen, is typing), Video Calling, Audio Calling, Call Logs (with Call duration), See Unseen Message Count, Forward Text Messages, Share any kind of Documents, Video and Images, Share Audio Recording, Share Contacts, Share Current Location, Share GIF (from GIPHY Gallery), Download Media, Change wallpaper, Play Video, Hide and single chat, Block Chat, End-to-End Encryption (Only Sender and Recipient can read the text messages in One-to-One Chat. Even Admin cannot read them), Profile Page (Change Avatar, Status, Display name), Push Notifications (on new message, calls).

All Notifications via chat, Status Stories, Group Chat, User Profile View, Video type Calling Screen, Progress Indicator for Media Sending, Delete for Me/Everyone, See All Joined Users, Reply chat, Forward chat, Share Through App, Broadcast feature integrated too and Notification can also be seen on smart watches. More updates and features are coming soon as we are going to change the concept of status view and more interface patterns.

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IPOB: Nnamdi Kanu’s Family Fights over Money, Control of Bank Accounts

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The crisis rocking the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has taken a more dramatic dimension as close relations of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, are at loggerheads over foreign bank accounts operated by the group, according to Politics Nigeria.

This newspaper, in the previous weeks, reported the multiple divisive crises that struck the group following the arrest and continued detention of Kanu. One of the problems facing the group is the issuing of unauthorised statements by members of Kanu’s family, which caused a sharp divide among IPOB members globally.

But more recently, the group is mired in deep problems over access to funds and change of signatories to its foreign bank accounts operated in different countries.

Central in this furore are members of Kanu’s family who are beginning to fight each other over the control of the accounts. This, if not resolved, may plunge the already divided group into complete chaos, sources, including a top-ranking IPOB chief, familiar with the inner workings of the group revealed to our correspondent.

Since the group runs on donations from its supporters in diaspora, it is believed that this crisis can put it in a financial situation that may halt operations of all IPOB branches.

Worries from detention

Kanu, since his arrest and repatriation back to Nigeria in 2021, has only had access to the group’s funds through his proxies and Directorate of States (DOS). The DOS is saddled with responsibility of catering for IPOB interests in various countries spread across Europe, Africa, Asia and other continents.

However, in recent times most of the foreign accounts have been frozen due to one issue or the other. Since Kanu is facing treasonable felony charges and still in detention, all of these concerns could not be properly treated.

Instead, the IPOB leader gives instructions from detention through his lawyers and other senior members of the group.

German Account Saga

During a recent meeting with Kanu, one of the group’s members complained that they are having issues with the new IPOB bank account in Germany. According to our source, a German Court restricted access to the account due to disagreement in replacing the signatory to the account.

The member explained that when they wanted to replace Collins Chinedu, a former national coordinator of IPOB in Germany, with Abraham Ogbonnaya, trouble ensued.

The move was fiercely resisted as the IPOB directorate of States(DOS) led by Chika Edoziem, quickly issued a public disclaimer describing Ogbonnaya as a criminal.

In fact, in the heat of the crisis in Germany, Kanu’s younger brother, Kingsley Kanu, was accused of imposing Ogbonnaya as the new National Coordinator for Germany with the sole intent to cause division within the existing structure. Edoziem, in a letter to the bank insisted that Chinedu, being the one whose name is in their constitution, should be the one to operate the bank account.

Meanwhile, as a way of resolving the conflict, Kanu’s lawyer, Ejimakor then sought his (Kanu’s) approval for funds to be paid into their national account instead.

He disclosed that Washington could raise $5000, Baltimore $10,000, New Jersey $20,000 and New York $20,000.

Our source stated: “Kanu expressed displeasure over the inability to access bank accounts in Germany and Italy.”

“Ejimakor explained that the issues were caused by ongoing battle over change of Signatories to the accounts.”

“He told Kanu that the account in Germany was blocked based on a memo from Kingsley seeking to change the signatories to the account and that Kingsley claimed that he (Nnamdi) authorised the memo, Kanu denied giving such authorisation.”

Nnenna Kanu and Emmanuel Kanu

While the control of funds in the Italian and German branches of the IPOB is still subject of controversy, two members of Kanu’s family are fighting over the money in the United States.

Nnenna Kanu and Emmanuel Kanu, two siblings of the IPOB leader, want the control of IPOB’s bank account in the US. Recently, Nnenna did a live broadcast where she publicly insulted Emmanuel and accused him of interfering with her duties.

In a rebuttal, Emmanuel claimed that he is acting on the orders of their elder brother(Nnamdi).

Sources told POLITICS NIGERIA that Nnamdi Kanu, on getting whiff of the development, was miffed that his younger sister, Nnenna, has been flouting his directives regarding IPOB bank accounts in the US.

He also admitted detailing Emmanuel to ensure Nnenna complies with his directives which may have led to the disagreement.

IPOB DOS bars payments to German Account

In a brash response to the power tussle over account control, the IPOB directorate of State (DOS) in a recent press statement, called on all its members to desist from paying donations/funds into the group’s German account.

The statement signed by Edoziem in February read in part;

“All IPOB family members worldwide are therefore directed to stop making payments into the IPOB account in Germany because any payment made will be returned to the payee and this will direct unnecessary attention to the family.”

“Furthermore, please note that until the Directorate ascertain what actually happened to that account and why it was closed, all IPOB family units around the world are hereby directed to desist from sending their monthly dues or any funds”.

Source: Politics Nigeria

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