Headlines
PDP Raises the Alarm, Says INEC Wants to Prevent BVAS Evidence
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has raised the alarm that the Independent National Electoral Commission is making moves to prevent the party from obtaining evidence from the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System through obtaining a court order.
The court order, the PDP said, would reconfigure the BVAS so that the PDP and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, would not have what is required for prosecuting its case at the presidential election tribunal.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday night at the party headquarters in Abuja, the National Publucity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, stated that, “late on Monday at 10:10 PM, INEC in a move to prevent our party and candidate from obtaining necessary evidence as ordered by the Court, filed a motion requesting that it be allowed to reconfigure the BVAS machines and wipe off relevant information that our party and candidate require to prosecute our case at the presidential election tribunal.”
Ologunagba added that the action of INEC was reprehensible and meant to frustrate the desire of Nigerians to get redress through the court.
He pointed out that “it is a clear recipe for crisis and a deliberate design by the commission to derail our democracy and trigger anarchy in the country.”
INEC had announced the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, returned president-elect from the Saturday, February 25, 2023 presidential and National Assembly elections which the PDP earlier rejected the results.
The spokesperson for the PDP further maintained that the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, superintended over the alleged manipulation of the results of the presidential election and hurriedly announced a winner in spite of widespread outcry and complaints over numerous evidence of malpractices and violation of several provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022 by INEC and its officials.
He also said the INEC chairman bypassed all the steps and procedures provided by the Electoral Act, 2022 for the declaration of results, including to announce and declare only results that were transmitted directly from the Polling Units to the INEC server/website and to review the results in the event of disputes and objections as to the correctness and consistency of the collated result.
The PDP spokesman also pointed out that, “Instead of being guided by the law, the INEC chairman brazenly announced and declared results that were not transmitted directly from the Polling Units to INEC’s server/website while ignoring the objections and complaints raised during the collation in complete disregard to the provisions of the Electoral Act.
“Despite the provocative act of the INEC chairman, the PDP, as a law-abiding party, approached the court and obtained an order directing INEC to, among other things, grant our party and candidate unrestrained access to carry out a forensic examination of the ballot papers, data forms, BVAS/and or card readers and all other necessary information, material and evidence to get redress for Nigerians at the Election Tribunal.
“Apparently panicked by the order, INEC rushed to court to file a motion requesting the court to allow it reconfigure the BVAS devices with the view to erasing the information contained therein.
He further observed that in the motion, INEC admitted that the BVAS application stores the accreditation data for all voters accredited on the device for the presidential, senatorial and House of Representatives elections conducted on February 25, 2023 and that the reconfiguration of the BVAS devices entailed purging the accreditation data on the BVAS devices.
He maintained that the action by INEC was vexatious, provocative and only pointed to the impunity and culpability of the Commission with regard to the reported manipulations and alteration of results to deny its party and its candidate their victory at the presidential election.
According to him, INEC’s action further validates the fact that their party and presidential candidate won the February 25, 2023 presidential election, based on the actual votes cast at the polling units.
He further questioned: “If INEC has nothing to hide, why was it in a hurry to declare manipulated results without recourse to the provisions of the Electoral Act and without consideration of the disputes, objections and complaints raised by Parties during the collation process?”
He reiterated the party’s commitment to continue to pursue the matter in accordance with the law.
The Punch
The first hostages freed from Gaza under a long-awaited ceasefire agreement are back in Israel. The news sparked jubilant scenes in Tel Aviv where large crowds gathered ahead of their release.
The three freed Israeli hostages – the first of 33 to be released over the next six weeks – are Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari. They are said to be in good health and are receiving treatment at a medical center in Tel Aviv.
In exchange, 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees are set to be released by Israel from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military withdrew from several locations in southern and northern Gaza after the truce began earlier on Sunday, an Israeli military official told CNN.
Displaced Gazans have started returning to their homes, while the aid trucks laden with much-needed supplies have crossed into Gaza. Here’s what we know about how the ceasefire deal will work.
Hamas, despite suffering devastating losses, is framing the Gaza ceasefire agreement as a victory for itself, and a failure for Israel.
One of Hamas’ main goals for taking some 250 people during its brazen October 7, 2023, attack on Israel was to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. As Israel pounded Gaza in response, Hamas vowed not to return the hostages until Israel withdrew its forces from the enclave, permanently ended the war, and allowed for rebuilding.
Source: CNN
The leader of UK’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has said she doesn’t want Britain to be like Nigeria that is plagued by “terrible governments.”
Speaking on Thursday at an event organised by Onward, a British think tank producing research on economic and social issues, Badenoch expressed fears that Britain may become like Nigeria if the system is not reformed.
“And why does this matter so much to me? It’s because I know what it is like to have something and then to lose it,” Badenoch told the audience.
“I don’t want Britain to lose what it has.
“I grew up in a poor country and watched my relatively wealthy family become poorer and poorer, despite working harder and harder as their money disappeared with inflation.
“I came back to the UK aged 16 with my father’s last £100 in the hope of a better life.
“So I have lived with the consequences of terrible governments that destroy lives, and I never, ever want it to happen here.”
Badenoch has been in the news of late after she dissociated herself from Nigeria, saying she has nothing to do with the Islamic northern region.
She also accused the Nigeria Police of robbing citizens instead of protecting them.
She said: “My experience with the Nigeria Police was very negative. Coming to the UK, my experience with the British Police was very positive.
“The police in Nigeria will rob us (laughter). When people say I have this bad experience with the police because I’m black, I say well…I remember the police stole my brother’s shoe and his watch.”
