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INEC presiding officers Testify under Oath, Say Results were Transmitted Electronically

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No fewer than a dozen people who said they were deployed as electoral officers by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the 2019 presidential election have admitted under oath that they transmitted results electronically.

A question about whether or not results were forwarded to a central database of the commission has been amongst the top grounds for contesting the presidential election results by Atiku Abubakar and his opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Mr Abubakar was the main challenger to President Muhammadu Buhari at the February 23 elections.

On February 27, the electoral umpire declared Mr Buhari winner of the elections, and issued him a certificate of return for a second four-year term starting May 29.

Mr Abubakar and his PDP challenged the results at the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal last month, saying he won the election and was in possession of evidence that would upturn the declared outcome.

Mr Abubakar’s legal team submitted a different result to the tribunal, which showed the former vice-president as the winner of the election. The result showed Mr Abubakar had scored 18,356,732 votes to defeat Buhari, whom they said received 16,741,430 votes.

This contradicted the results declared by INEC, which said Mr Buhari received 15,191,847 votes against Mr Abubakar’s 11,262,978 votes.

Mr Abubakar’s lawyers said the results were released by an INEC whistleblower who had access to the commission’s internal server and other tools throughout the election.

They also provided unique identification information of computers that they said belonged to INEC, which they expected experts from Microsoft, IBM and Oracle to corroborate.

In its initial response to Mr Abubakar’s petition, INEC strongly denied operating a server during the election, saying such activities were not permitted by the electoral law. The commission accused Mr Abubakar of circulating fake results for the purpose of his petition.

Mr Buhari and his ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) also sided with the electoral umpire and alleged criminal interception of a public institution’s communication by Mr Abubakar and the PDP.

In a response to INEC’s denial of the server and its purported result, Mr Abubakar’s legal team attached affidavits from 12 persons they said worked for INEC.

The persons, according to the affidavits, said they worked as presiding officers and assistant presiding officers in Borno and Yobe. They were only identified in the documents by their initials, but a source close to Mr Abubakar told PREMIUM TIMES the witnesses will ultimately identify themselves in court.

The witnesses comprise seven presiding officers and five assistant presiding officers. They were six each from Borno and Yobe, and swore they were adequately recruited and trained by the commission ahead of the election.

“We were specifically instructed that the use of the smart card reader for accreditation, verification, authentication, collation
and transmission of results is mandatory and that any election conducted without the use of the smart card reader would be invalid.

“I took part in the conduct of the Presidential and National Assembly (Senate and House of Representatives) elections…where I served as the presiding officer (PO) and I ensured the use of the smart card reader for accreditation, verification, authentication, collation and transmission of votes in my polling unit.

“At the end of voting, the information on the smart card reader, the results inclusive were collated by me in the presence of the party agents and other ad-hoc staff of the 1st respondent after which my assistant presiding officer (AP0-1) transmitted the result electronically in my presence to INEC’s server using the smart card reader and the code provided by the commission,” a typical testimony from one of the witnesses read.

The wording of the affidavits was identical. Assistant presiding officers also swore they sent the results to a designated INEC server.

Meanwhile, the Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth and Advancement (YIAGA) said its observers saw polling officers ‘attempting’ to transmit results electronically in 65 per cent (961 of 1489) of polling units observed on the presidential election day.

The group’s director, Samson Itodo, said the data only captured polling officers who made attempts to transmit results using smart card readers. It could not confirm whether or not the transmissions were successful.

A spokesperson for INEC declined comments to PREMIUM TIMES about the comments of the presiding officers and their assistants.

The officers are usually deployed for elections on ad-hoc basis, and most of them were not the commission’s employees.

An election expert and director at one of the main election observer groups told PREMIUM TIMES some results were transmitted via the smart card readers, but were only designed to aggregate results from across the country.

“There were some polling units whose card readers were used to transmit results on election day for aggregation,” the expert said under anonymity because of his closeness to the commission and also to avoid publicly commenting on a matter already in court.

He suggested that INEC’s outright denial of electronic transmission of results could be because neither the electoral law nor its guidelines made provisions for electronic transmission of results.

“The law and the guidelines allowed only manual transmission in all the stages of the results collation,” the expert said. “That may be why the commission decided to deny using electronic means for its own internal compilation.”

He said only the court could hold INEC responsible for any discrepancy in its internal results and what the commission declared to the public.

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Tanzania’s Vice President Emmanuel Nchimbi Resigns

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Tanzania’s Vice President, Dr Emmanuel John Nchimbi, has announced his decision to resign from office and retire entirely from public service and active politics, effective September 4, 2026.
In an official public notice dated August 25, 2026, issued from the Office of the Vice President in Dodoma, Dr Nchimbi revealed that he had formally tendered his resignation letter to President Samia Suluhu Hassan.
Dr Nchimbi cited constitutional provisions under Article 50(2)(c) read together with Article 149(2) of the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania as the basis for stepping down to allow President Hassan to appoint a new Vice President.
Reflecting on his tenure, Dr Nchimbi referenced a commitment he made to the Head of State a year earlier, stating that he pledged to serve faithfully to the nation and step aside whenever a change was desired.
“On August 27, 2025, I promised Her Excellency President Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan that I would assist her and our country to the best of my ability and with utter faithfulness,” Dr Nchimbi stated.
“I also assured her that whenever she sees the need for another Vice President, I will vacate the position. I am fully satisfied, without any doubt, that Her Excellency the President desires change, and thus I have decided to fulfil my promise.”
Dr Nchimbi expressed gratitude to President Hassan and the ruling party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), for their confidence in his leadership.
He also thanked Tanzanians for their support during his time in public office, reassuring the nation that he would remain a patriotic citizen.
Nchimbi’s journey as a seasoned Tanzanian statesman

Born on December 24, 1971, in the Mbeya Region, Dr Emmanuel John Nchimbi grew up in a family rooted in public service. His father, Mzee John Nchimbi, hailing from Songea District, served as an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) and Regional Police Commander for Mtwara.

Beyond his law enforcement career, the elder Nchimbi was actively involved in politics, serving two terms as a National Executive Committee (NEC) member for Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) through the armed forces wing and later as a CCM regional secretary.

Dr Nchimbi began his primary education at Oysterbay Primary School in Dar es Salaam from 1980 to 1986. He pursued his O-Level studies at Uru Secondary School (Form I to III) from 1987 to 1989 before transferring to Sangu Secondary School, where he completed Form IV in 1990.

He then moved to Forest Hill Secondary School in Mbeya for his A-Level education between 1991 and 1993.

Advancing to higher education, Dr Nchimbi earned an Advanced Diploma in Administration from the Institute of Development Management (IDM) Mzumbe in Morogoro between 1994 and 1997.

Upon graduating, his political trajectory accelerated rapidly: he was elected as a member of CCM’s National Executive Committee (NEC), and by 1998, he was elected Chairman of the CCM Youth Wing (Umoja wa Vijana wa Chama cha Mapinduzi – UVCCM).

Alongside his rising political responsibilities, Dr Nchimbi built a professional background in public service and academia. He worked at the National Environment Management Council (NEMC) from 1998 to 2003.

During this period, he pursued further studies, obtaining a Master of Business Administration (MBA) specialising in Banking and Finance from Mzumbe University between 2001 and 2003. He was later appointed District Commissioner for Bunda (2003–2005) and went on to complete a Doctorate (PhD) at Mzumbe University between 2008 and 2011.

Dr Nchimbi launched his parliamentary ambitions in his home region of Songea Town.
In the 2005 General Election, backed by a strong CCM grassroots network, he secured the Songea Town parliamentary seat with 67.6 per cent of the vote against his main rival, Edson Mbogoro of CHADEMA, who garnered 30.5 percent.
Following his election to Parliament, President Jakaya Kikwete appointed him Deputy Minister for Information, Culture, and Sports in January 2006.

He served in that capacity until October 2006, when he was reshuffled to serve as Deputy Minister for Labour, Employment, and Youth Development until February 2008. He subsequently served as Deputy Minister for Defence and National Service until November 2010.

Source: The Star

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Tinubu Orders Arrest, Suspension of Three Perm Secs As ICPC Uncovers Another Fake Govt Agency

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President Bola Tinubu on Friday ordered the immediate arrest and suspension of three federal Permanent Secretaries over their alleged involvement in the operation of another fake agency uncovered by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).

ICPC Chairman, Dr Musa Adamu Aliyu, who disclosed this to newsmen after briefing President Tinubu on the latest findings from the commission’s ongoing investigation into fictitious agencies and weaknesses in public sector processes named the affected Permanent Secretaries to include M S Danjuma, Engr Nadungu Gagare, and Richard Pheelangwah.

The Commision’s latest discovery is coming barely few weeks after exposing the fictitious Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC).

According to Aliyu, the newly uncovered entity, operating as National Brands Development and Made-in-Nigeria Special Project Office, had allegedly secured office accommodation within the premises of the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) without authorisation from the President.

The discovery, he said, was made during the broader investigation into the PFIPC, which President Tinubu had directed the ICPC to undertake.

The fake agency, according to ICPC boss, was promoted by Prince George Buchi Nwabueze, who allegedly operated under several variations of his name, including George Nathan Nwabueze, Honourable George Buchi Nwabueze, Prince George Buchi Nwabueze and George Buchi Nwabueze.

Aliyu disclosed that the commission was engaging relevant officials in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to establish how the purported agency came to operate from government premises and to obtain other vital information required for the investigation.
“I have briefed Mr President comprehensively on these new developments. ICPC will continue with its investigation,” he said.

Following the fresh findings, Aliyu said President Tinubu had directed the immediate arrest of Prince George Buchi Nwabueze, as well as the immediate suspension of the three named permanent secretaries.

The commission is expected to establish the roles played by the suspended officials and other individuals in the emergence and operation of the purported agency.

Aliyu said the latest discovery underscored the need for tighter controls and greater scrutiny of government institutions and internal administrative processes.

He commended President Tinubu for ordering a wider policy audit of federal agencies and government processes, describing the initiative as a proactive measure to strengthen the governance system.

His said: “President Bola Tinubu must be commended for the proactive step of directing the policy audit of MDAs and internal government processes towards strengthening government governance system.”

The latest development has widened the scope of the ICPC’s investigation into the proliferation of fictitious government entities and alleged exploitation of official structures by individuals seeking to create the impression of government authority.
The commission’s investigation into the PFIPC was initiated after the purported agency came under scrutiny, with the President subsequently directing the ICPC to unravel those behind its operations and determine whether public officials facilitated its activities.

With the discovery of another purported agency operating from government premises, the ICPC probe is now expected to examine broader institutional weaknesses that may have enabled unauthorised entities to gain access to federal government facilities and present themselves as legitimate government bodies.

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2027: Atiku Promises to Restore Fuel Subsidy If Elected President

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The African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has promised to restore the petrol subsidy if he wins the 2027 presidential election.

Atiku made the pledge during an interview on Wednesday while questioning the use of funds he said were saved following the removal of the subsidy.

He said the policy could have been beneficial to Nigerians if the savings had been properly accounted for and invested in areas such as poverty reduction and education.

“I did not oppose the removal of the oil subsidy, but where is the money? Where did it go? It was intended to reduce poverty and help children attend school. Where is the money now? It seems they are just stealing it,” Atiku said in Hausa.

“If elected, I will bring back the oil subsidy, and whoever stole the money must refund it.”

The former vice president said he would also consider the removal of the subsidy if the funds generated from the policy were transparently used to address the country’s development challenges.

“The government successfully removed the subsidy, but we do not know where the money went. If they had used the money for development, to solve security problems, for education, and to create opportunities for the youth, it would be different. If elected, I can remove the subsidy and use the money to do all these properly.”

President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of the petrol subsidy during his inaugural address on May 29, 2023, before assuming office.

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