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Obi-Datti group says they have solid evidence from polling units indicating that LP won the presidency
Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign organization has declared that they’ve iron-cast evidence from polling units across the country to prove that Labour Party (LP) won the last Saturday presidential election overwhelmingly.
A statement issued by the organizationon Friday in Abuja assured that they will prove their case beyond any possible doubt.
The statement also indicated that they will not need the assistance of any party, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to prove their case, as Mr. Onanuga and the APC are distractively suggesting.
In reaction to a statement by the All Progressives Congress (APC) signed by Mr. Bayo Onanuga, Director of Media and Publicity of its campaign organisation the Obi-Datti group accused the APC of seeking vainly to pull wool over the eyes of Nigerians, by using the dubious components of a clearly rigged election, to attempt to tarnish the unimpeachable image of Mr. Peter Obi, our presidential candidate.
The statement totally reject the narrative that the Obi/Datti ticket did not win the required spread of 25% in enough states, or that we did not win enough votes in the Northern States.
“The evidence is consistent that the same brazen alteration of votes, and non transmission of polling booth results, occurred all across the country, including the Northern States.
“There is abundant evidence that the votes were systematically altered and reduced in these states, with the particular aim of denying our ticket it’s duly earned 25% and higher, in those states.
“Ordinarily, it is not in our nature to respond to every diatribe, especially of misguided deceit.
“However, where the line between truth and falsehood, as well as between fact and fiction, have become so thin, it is incumbent on us, to set the records straight, lest the APC known for their penchance for half-truth, deflect attention from their misadventure of February 25, which has cast a pall over the entire nation.
“It has been 72 hours since the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, in what will surely go down in history as a most bizarre act of electoral fraud and chicanery, foisted APC’s presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu on Nigerians, as their elected president, despite his obvious and well independently, documented rejection, by the people on 25th February.
“Since this unsettling declaration as winner of a charade, as supervised by Prof. Mahmood Yakubu and his men, and which has rightly been condemned by millions of Nigerians and also by international observers, the APC and its candidate, Bola Tinubu, have remained restless, because they have murdered peace.
“So, not surprisingly, Yesterday, March 2, 2023, soon after our presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi reaffirmed that he indeed won the election, and declared his intention to proceed to court to retrieve his mandate, the APC camp panicked again, with Onanuga’s incongruous press statement .
“What may be gleaned by Mr Onanuga’s empty and futile attempt to throw truth on its head, is that Mr Obi was declared 3rd, so he has no standing to contest the results, that many prominent parties and personalities lost their states and contested seats, so therefore the elections were free and fair,and that Mr Peter Obi and the Labour Party swept the elections in the southeast, so it was an indication of fairness.
“It is important to underline, for the benefit of Mr Onanuga and anyone else, who may be caught in similar shallow and deceitful analysis, that our objection to the criminal operation on 25th February is fundamental and total,based not on diversionary sentiment, but on thousands of well documented evidence, which do not need much searching or advanced intelligence, to obtain or comprehend.
“What we seek, simply, is that the true results, as recorded by Nigerian voters, in the polling booths, be processed, as required by law, by instantly transmitting them to the INEC server and thereafter being reflected on the IREV before declaration, as they form the primary record of the election, for all tabulation, collation and declaration.
“The idea of criminally withholding passwords, inflation , alteration , substitution, manipulation and fabrication of voting figures and Form EC8A, outside this simple process, remains an illegality, even where they have been criminally crafted for the Labour Party to maintain its deserved lead, at any sub unit of the election.
“It is clear that we have little grounds in common with Onanuga or the APC, to begin to discuss or compare notes on this election; as far as he is concerned, the fact that Labour Party won in some declared results, should forestall a challenge to an election that was overwhelmed by irregularities, from top to bottom. This has no basis, in reason.
“For a party, which has spent the last eight years in power, destroying every fabric of national unity, pauperizing Nigerians and pillaging the national treasury through greedy and unconscionable officials, to try to paint our Presidential Candidate with the same paint of ethnic and religious divisionism, which is their trademark, is not only despicable, but unconscionable.
“The truth that stares every Nigerian starkly is that Mr. Obi is a Nigerian with reach across, religious and ethnic divides, and this reflected clearly in his performance in the February 25 election despite the manipulations of the APC and the incompetent handling and delivery of INEC.
“Whereas Mr. Tinubu, who many of his followers and APC members had described, as the “Builder” and “Landlord” of Lagos, was roundly defeated by Mr. Obi, in the very state he served two terms, and neither could he secure the required 25 percent of the votes in Abuja, the Nigerian capital.
“We advise the APC and its members to get ready to give cogent reasons to the Election Tribunal, how, despite being roundly rejected in many key states at the polls, by Nigerians, it magically emerged winner in the election, through declaration, by Professor Mahmood Yakubu .
“No doubt these elections have brought great shame on our country,but we cannot afford, but to seek to redeem in entirety, the will of the people, as freely expressed last Saturday, and as criminally repressed by the riggers and their conspirators.
“For us at the Labour Party and the ObiDatti Presidential Campaign Organisation ,
we are irrevocably focused on reclaiming that mandate freely given to us by Nigerians, but stolen in a most unintelligent, shameless and brazen manner by the APC .
“And this we will achieve, for the sanctity of the Electoral process, for the hopes of the millions of Youth and the people, who came forward to vote with all determination and for the future of our children, threatened by the machinations of evil men.
By Ahmed Rufa’i, Dutse
Jigawa and Kano states have been ranked topmost among the 36 States of the Federation with higher number of Tobacco smokers.
The senior programmes officer of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre ( CISLAC), Mr Solomon Adoga disclosed this in his speech presented at a high level stakeholders engagement that focused more on how state governments can adopt some National Framework for Tobacco control held on Wednesday at th 3 star hotel, Dutse.
Adoga pointed out that CISLAC in patnership with support of Tax Justice Network organized a sponsored multi-stakeholders engagement on Tobacco taxation in Jigawa with the aim of reducing Tobacco usage because it is inimical to health.
According to him “it’s unfortunate that research has shown that Kano/Jigawa are on top of the list of states that use Tobacco in Nigeria, while majority of users are the youths and some with minor age”.
He explained that, “to control use of Tobacco it is of Paramount that Jigawa state government adopt and domesticate National Tobacco control Act (2015) and Tobacco Tax Policy to save lives of the youth who are future leaders in our states.l
Adoga added that “Some of the laws that need to be adopted include ban on sale of cigarettes single stick, prohibition of smoking in public places and sale of Tobacco to minors (under eighteen years old) in the state”
The senior programmes officer indicated that the purpose of engaging and interacting with relevant stakeholders like traditional/ religious leaders, youth groups, civil society organisations and media is to help in creating awareness on the dangers of Tobacco as well as to advocate for both legislature and the executive to domesticate and adopt the laws.
Solomon urged the participants to support the moves by amplifying the campaign with their voices to achieve the desired goal for better future and development of the state to save thousands of lives of the teeming youths.
***Says Media Trial Tantamount To Disregard For Rule Of Law
By Friday Idachaba, Lokoja
A Legal Practitioner and former Spokesman to Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar
Daniel Bwala has faulted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over what he termed Disregard for Rule of Law and Media Trial of former governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi.
Bwala who made the remarks while fielding questions from newsmen in an interview on Wednesday bared his mind on the judicial relevance of the utterances of Ola Olukoyede, EFCC Chairman, at his Tuesday press conference.
The EFCC is seeking to arrest, detain and prosecute former governor Yahaya Bello over sundry allegations bordering financial fraud amounting to over N80.2 billion.
The Lawyer and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria said, “What he did and everything he said during the news conference has no consequential effect in the court of law, even if the media go out and conclude that Yahaya Bello has committed those crimes.
“The EFCC chairman knows that in criminal trial, the prosecution has the burden of proof to prove the element of the offenses in the charge.
“The standard of proof is beyond reasonable doubt. And what you need to establish that are cogent and compelling evidence should be done in the courtroom.
“That is the very reason why people can conclude by his media briefing that he actually does not want to prosecute the Yahaya Bello.
“Again,by what he did yesterday, he has given materials to Bello to use against him in the court of law.
“We don’t even want to bring the politics of it. Bello can come out and say, since he has called me personally, then | want to tell the world that he has actually asked me for money.”
According to Bwala, Bello is still at large and yet to present himself on grounds that he has a Kogi High Court Injunction restraining the EFCC from persecuting or charging or arresting him.
He said that the Federal High Court on Tuesday had fixed May 20, to rule on the argument of the bench warrant of arrest issued to EFCC on Bello .
“The import of what transpired in court based on this fact now is that it is superfluous for EFCC to be looking for Yahaya Bello. EFCC is just to wait and come that day to hear the ruling .
“If it does not, then Bello, on that day, in any case, will appear before the court and now be arraigned before the court.
“Now, what it means is that any day after that yesterday, any effort by EFCC to attempt to arrest the Bello will amount to violating the due process of law.
“This is because where parties have submitted to the jurisdiction of the court, they have to allow the court to run proceedings, and therefore they cannot run the proceedings for the court.
“These are matters of law. These are matters that at least new entrants in the legal department of EFCC ought to know. So the question now is, what is EFCC trying to achieve?
“I gave a good example. Yahaya Bello has an order that has not been set aside. The order says that he should not be arrested, he should not be prosecuted. The EFCC does not believe that that order should be sustained.
“The EFCC challenged that order. That challenge has not been determined by court. Now, attempting to arrest him when that has not been determined is violation of the rule of law.
“They also have another order to arrest him. And that order to arrest him has now been brought before a court in which counter-argument was made and court adjourned for ruling. What is the import of that? So you have coalition of judicial voices.
“And these courts that have given the various orders are courts of coordinated jurisdiction, which each other’s decision does not bind the other. So we are not even going into the administration of the federal high court as to how do you deal with this kind of conflicting order.
“All these orders are valid and subsisting until they are set aside. But you see, all of them have been overtaken by event because before this court, it has been adjourned for ruling, ” Bwala said. (Ends)
Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of Ondo State has clinched the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket as the candidate of the party for the forthcoming November 16 governorship election in the state by sefeating fifteen other aspirants in a landslide victory
The Chairman of the Governorship Primary Election Committee and Governor of Kogi State, Ahmed Ododo, made the declaration on Monday morning in Akure, the state capital.
Ododo said Aiyedatiwa clinched the APC ticket with a total of 48,569 votes followed by his closest rival, Mayowa Akinfolarin, who trailed behind with 15,343 votes, while Chief Olusola Oke secured the third position with 14,865 votes.
Below is a breakdown of the final results of the election.
Total number of voters – 117922
Total number of accredited voters – 95,178
Total votes cast – 95178
Invalid – Nil
Jimi Odimayo – 490
Omogoroye Judith – 115
Lucky Aiyedatiwa – 48,569
Isaacs Kekemeke – 1045
Soji Ehinlanwo – 492
Olugbenga Edema – 395
Jimoh lbrahim – 9456
Adekojo Funmilayo – 529
Akinfolarin Samuel – – 15343
Wale Akinterinwa – 1952
Olusola Oke – 14,915
Olamide Ohunyeye – 424
Morayo Lebi – 290
Diran lyantan – 348
Prof Dayo Faduyile – 353
Ife Oyedele – 462
1: Ilaje LG
Lucky Aiyedatiwa 2,485
Wale Akinterinwa. 26
Olusola Oke. 2,511
Jimoh Ibrahim 589
2: Ile Oluji/Okeigbo
Jimoh Ibrahim: 282
AIYEDATIWA: 1225
WA: 474
3: Ondo West LG
Jimoh Ibrahim: 2668
Aiyedatiwa: 10610
4: Ese Odo LG
Aiyedatiwa – 298
Akinterinwa – 0
Oke – 147
Jimoh Ibrahim – 174
5: Owo LG
Aiyedatiwa – 2,123
Akinterinwa – 345
Oke – 225
Jimoh Ibrahim – 192
6: Idanre LG
Aiyedatiwa – 1, 579
Akinterinwa – 119
Oke – 225
Jimoh Ibrahim – 120
7: AKOKO NORTH EAST LG
Aiyedatiwa 1, 664
Akinterinwa 135
Oke 138
Jimoh Ibrahim 505
8: AKOKO NORTH WEST LG
Aiyedatiwa 5, 430
Akinterinwa 198
Oke 2, 721
Jimoh Ibrahim 728
9: AKOKO SOUTH EAST LG
Aiyedatiwa 2, 533
Akinterinwa 43
Oke 391
Jimoh Ibrahim 67
10: AKOKO SOUTH WEST LG
Aiyedatiwa – 2, 747
Akinterinwa – 272
Oke – 415
Jimoh Ibrahim – 466
11: No results for IFEDORE LGA due to alleged violence
12: OSE LGA
Aiyedatiwa 1, 091
Akinterinwa 39
Oke 800
Jimoh Ibrahim 267
13: IRELE LG
Aiyedatiwa 1, 203
Akinterinwa 15
Oke 93
Jimoh Ibrahim 139
14: ODIGBO LG
Aiyedatiwa 2, 631
Akinterinwa 114
Oke 138
Jimoh Ibrahim 845
15: AKURE NORTH LG
Aiyedatiwa 2, 860
Akinterinwa 177
Oke 1, 239
Jimoh Ibrahim 1, 606
16: AKURE SOUTH LG
Aiyedatiwa 3, 265
Akinterinwa 86
Oke 328
Jimoh Ibrahim 294
17 OKITIPUPA LG
Aiyedatiwa 1, 622
Akinterinwa 27
Oke 1, 571
Jimoh Ibrahim 109
18: ONDO EAST LG
Aiyedatiwa 4, 803
Akinterinwa 141
Oke 1, 171
Jimoh Ibrahim 406
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