News & Announcements

The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council has refuted rumors that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the incoming president, has been flown overseas for emergency medical care.

The claimed ailment of the former governor of Lagos and his late Tuesday night flight to London, United Kingdom, have been widely reported in the media.

This development comes hours after Peter Obi, a candidate for the Labour Party, submitted an appeal to the election tribunal challenging the results of the election that resulted in the president-elect on Saturday.

The rumor that the president-elect was flown abroad for medical attention is not new.

In response to the news of Tinubu’s illness on Wednesday, Bayo Onanuga, the director of media and publicity for the APC PCC, refuted the claim and stated that his leader had just traveled abroad for rest.

Onanuga further stated that after following the yearly Muslim fast, he will use the chance of his vacation to perform the minor Hajj pilgrimage known as Umrah.

He said, “Which Asiwaju is ill. Was he not seen when he went to cast his vote? Does he look like a sick man? The man just travelled on vacation. He went to take a rest. I think he wants to use the opportunity to observe Ramadan outside the country and move to Umrah from there before returning to Nigeria.

“This man has been on the move since last year and, sincerely, deserves all the rest he can get. His office will soon issue a statement.”

Festus Keyamo, the chief spokesman for the APC PCC, agreed with Onanuga’s stance.

Keyamo pointed out that individuals who were circulating the rumor were still smarting over their electoral loss.

“Please help us tell those flying the news around that the election has ended. What they are doing now is campaigning after the election. They should leave Asiwaju alone. He deserves some rest after the election,” he said.

“Please help us tell those flying the news around that the election has ended. What they are doing now is campaigning after the election. They should leave Asiwaju alone. He deserves some rest after the election,” he said.

When questioned about the location of Tinubu’s vacation, Keyamo said he was unable to quickly respond at the time of reporting.

I cannot confirm, he said. But, all I can say is that Asiwaju is healthy.

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has dismissed an application filed before it by a suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, seeking to strike out drug charges leveled against him by the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

In its ruling, the court declared that it has exclusive right and Jurisdiction to hear drug-related cases as enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and NDLEA.

Justice Emeka Nwite, in his ruling on Wednesday, stated that Section 251 of the constitution confers the court the powers to hear and determine the charges brought against him.

Before the ruling, Kyari had told the court that the charges against him were premature, insisting that the NDLEA ought to have allowed police to exhaust its internal machinery before it instituted the action.

He told the court that the Police had already commenced an investigation into allegations against him and issued an interim report.

Kyari, maintained that he could only be charged in court upon the conclusion of the internal investigation by the police.

He argued that the PSC has similar powers to investigate and discipline erring police officers in line with the Police Act & Regulations, the same way the National Judicial Council (NJC) disciplines judicial officers.

But the judge stated that the powers of the Police Service Commission do not supersede the powers of the Federal High Court

Kyari, who is a former head of the Intelligence Response Team of the Nigeria Police Force is facing prosecution by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.

He and four members of the IRT – ACP Sunday J. Ubua, ASP Bawa James, Inspector Simon Agirgba and Inspector John Nuhu were charged before a Federal High Court in Abuja with conspiracy to deal in 17.55kg of cocaine.

They were also charged with dealing in cocaine without lawful authority; conspiracy to tamper with cocaine and unlawfully tampering with the 21.35kg of cocaine seized from two convicted drug dealers.

Seven academic programs at Salem University in Lokoja, Kogi State, have received full accreditation from the National Universities Commission.

This was revealed on Wednesday while Professor Alewo Johnson-Akubo, the institution’s vice chancellor, was interacting with reporters in Lokoja.

The NUC’s approval was noted in a manuscript dated March 9 and signed for the NUC Executive Secretary, Professor Abubakar Rasheed, by the Deputy Director of Programme Accreditation, Arc. S.S. Ikani.

Computer science, information technology, geology, microbiology, biochemistry, and MSc/MBA business administration are the seven recognized BSc programmes.

The VC said, “With the new development, all our courses are now fully accredited.”

The institution needed the accreditation to continue operating as a full-fledged university, and the ecstatic vice chancellor revealed that the permission letter came as good news to the management, staff, and students of the institution.

“The accredited courses were sequel to the NUC’s organised accreditation visit to our academic programmes last November/December.

“We give God the glory now that all our programmes in the seven Colleges have been fully accredited by the NUC.

“In fact, with this accreditation, Salem University Lokoja can admit more students in the 2022/2023 academic year, whose admission is still open,” he said.

Johnson-Akubo said that the school now has the necessary infrastructure to enroll more pupils as a result of the expansion of that infrastructure.

The institution’s chancellor, Archbishop Sam Amaga, received high acclaim from the vice chancellor for his “outstanding and encouraging leadership characteristics, propelling the university to new heights.”

Festus Keyamo, the minister of state for labor and employment, has responded to the petition that Peter Obi, the candidate for president of the Labour Party, filed calling for the annulment of the February 25 presidential election won by Bola Tinubu, the candidate for president of the All Progressives Congress.

Obi had already contested the election’s results and had also petitioned the court for access to all of the sensitive materials used for the poll by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

The LP candidate filed a new lawsuit before the electoral tribunal on Tuesday, this time contesting Tinubu’s election since Tinubu “was not legitimately elected by the majority of the lawful votes cast at the time of the election,” according to the candidate.

In 11 states, including Rivers, Lagos, Taraba, Benue, Adamawa, Imo, Bauchi, Borno, Kaduna, and Plateau, according to the former governor of Anambra State, there was vote-rigging. He further stated that he would prove this in the declaration of results based on the uploaded results.

Keyamo responded to his petition on Wednesday by writing on his verified account that all deception, lies, and misinformation regarding easy-to-understand matters would be exposed in court.

He tweeted, “I am excited about the issues raised in those Election Petitions. All the deceit & lies & disinformation & misinformation about otherwise very simple and clear issues are about to be busted by our Law Lords. Whoever continues to argue after that should relocate to another planet.

“Nigerians will finally see a huge difference between calm, dispassionate adjudication of issues and all the hoopla caused by garrulous spokespersons shaking and falling on stage, ignorant TV hosts turned debaters, misinformed documentaries, illiterate tweeps and some dancing Hijabi mamas.”

Following the declaration of the results of the state’s gubernatorial election, the Bauchi State Police Command reported that its agents had detained 11 criminals for possessing dangerous weapons.

The suspects were detained at various sites throughout the Bauchi city, according to a statement provided to journalists by the command’s Public Relations Officer, Ahmed Wakil.

Six teenagers and five adults, according to him, were among those detained.

In order to implement the command’s earlier warning to supporters of political parties who won or lost the elections not to engage in raucous celebrations or hold rallies that could ultimately result in the breakdown of law and order in the state, Wakil claimed that the arrests were made.

“Sequel to the earlier warning issued by the command on all forms of celebrations and rallies by political party supporters for or against winners/losers of the just concluded Gubernatorial and state assembly election, the tactical teams attached to the command sustained an aggressive stance against miscreants across the state in a bid to curtail breakdown of law and order following the just concluded gubernatorial and state assembly elections.

“Consequently, the crime prevention operations conducted across the state led to the arrest of eleven (11) suspects on the alleged criminal conspiracy, thug and thuggery and being in possession of a dangerous weapon. During the raid, the operatives retrieved thirty (30) assorted dangerous weapons.

“The following suspects arrested are Uzaifa Abubakar aka Damo (18), Abdulmalik Hussaini aka Biri (18), Abdulmalik Suleiman aka Bluetooth (21), Usman Isyaku aka Kanzo (20), Naziru Mohammed aka Binju (18) all males of Bayan Nitel area.

“Others are Mubarak Yahaya (18) of Doya area, Alyusha’u Sanusi (25) of Bayan Zannuwa, Ahmad Usman (28) of Illela, Mubaraq Nasiru (16) of Railway, Idriss Dauda (22) of Tsohon Kamfani and Khalifa Adamu (20) of Danjuma Goje area,” he stated.

The police spokesman added that “the aforementioned suspects were arrested wielding dangerous weapons, disturbing public peace and order” along Kobi Street, Fada roundabout, and Danjuma Goje area of Bauchi metropolitan.”

Dr. Nentawe Yilwatda, the APC candidate for governor of Plateau State, who lost the election to Caleb Mutfwang of the PDP, threatened to contest the results.

While addressing his supporters in Jos on Tuesday, Yilwatda said, ‘’We were sincere in our hearts. We were sincere in our votes. We didn’t rig anywhere. The two local government areas gave us a difference of 200,000 and we knew it was rigged. There were reported cases of low voter turnout and yet, the votes increased by over 100 per cent. How can low voter turnout turn into high voter turnout? We will challenge the outcome in court.

But, John Akans, the state’s PDP publicity secretary, claimed in an interview that the APC candidate was in a desperate position.

On Tuesday, talks at the Kaduna State PDP branch were dominated by the rejection of the election results.

The APC candidate Senator Uba Sani’s statement that he had won the election for governor of Kaduna State was rejected by the party.

According to reports, the state’s INEC returning officer, Prof. Lawal Suleiman Bilbis of Usman Danfodio University in Sokoto, declared that Sani had received 730,002 votes, while Isah Ashiru of the PDP had received 719,196.

But, Felix Hyet, the state PDP chairman, referred to the APC victory as “daylight theft” when speaking to a press conference in Kaduna on Tuesday.

He said that INEC was inconsistent in announcing the results and involved in denying the state’s citizens what they had voted for.

He noted, “You will please recall my press conference yesterday, 20th March 2023 during which I demanded the use of authentic results from the INEC Server (IReV) as the only accepted results for declaration of the governorship election in our state.

“This was because the lack of transparency from INEC officials was glaring and justice will not be done. Our fears were confirmed last night when the state Returning Officer, Prof. Lawal Bilbis, used the questionable results to declare Sen. Uba Sani of the APC was elected with 730,002 votes against 719,196 votes allocated to our candidate, Rt. Hon Mohamed Isah Ashiru of the PDP.

“The PDP rejects this result and the declaration of Sen. Uba Sani as the winner of the governorship elections of 18/03/2023 in our dear Kaduna State.’’

The party would pursue legal action on the matter, the chairman continued.

Former aviation minister Hyet, when asked if the party will protest the recently held elections, said no, adding, “We have rejected the result and we would take all actions that are lawful to reclaim the mandate of the people of Kaduna State.”

Speaking further, he stated, “The system of collection of results was very untidy and unreliable. Figures kept on being changed. At that time we said people had gone to Lere again and to Kudan. To ascertain what? Another result or what? Therefore, whatever we have seen and whatever that has been declared, we feel it is allocated.’’

“This is because since INEC has a server, that result has gone into that server and this server is under INEC control and custody. There is no reason why INEC will not make use of the authentic result in its server to avoid this broad day robbery that has been meted out to the people of Kaduna State,” he added.

No fewer than 500 women from 13 local government areas of Nasarawa State stormed Lafia, the state capital, dressed in all-black, demanding that the state’s governorship election on Saturday be canceled after Abdullahi Sule of the APC defeated David Ombugadu and other PDP candidates.

Stella Oboshi, the PDP’s state women’s leader, led women from the party and other political parties in a nonviolent demonstration calling for the annulment of the election.

She clarified that the protest was initiated because INEC had declared a winner of the governorship race despite there being disagreement over the results from the state capital’s Gayam and Ciroma electoral districts.

Oboshi’s words were, “What we are doing today is a peaceful protest and it is allowed in a democracy. The reason for our protest is that in Nasarawa State, two electoral wards cannot hold the whole state to ransom.

“The governorship election and that of the House of Assembly were done the same day, the same time and with the same election materials. But the governorship election was announced, and that of the House of Assembly has not been announced up till this moment because it was declared inconclusive.

“If Gayam and Ciroma electoral wards results from Lafia LGA were included in the results that INEC announced for the governorship election but the Assembly elections were inconclusive in the same wards, then INEC should also declare the governorship election inconclusive so that we can start from afresh.”

She urged PDP and other opposition party supporters in the state to maintain their composure while expressing hope that INEC will act appropriately by deeming the already declared governorship election inconclusive.

Tuesday saw protests against the results of the governorship election from the unsuccessful candidates and their supporters, who also pledged to file a legal complaint.

Just as the All Progressives Congress in Kano State granted the Independent National Electoral Commission seven days to declare the governorship election in the state inconclusive, supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party protested in Ogun and Nasarawa states.

As of now, according to INEC’s results of the governorship election, the APC has won 15 states, the PDP has won eight, and the New Nigeria Peoples Party has won Kano State.

As PDP supporters stormed the INEC office in Abeokuta, the state capital, during a protest, a member of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps opened fire into the air to disperse the crowd.

Many PDP members marched to the INEC office under the leadership of the party’s candidate, Oladipupo Adebutu, to protest the results of the election, which Adebutu lost to APC candidate and state governor Dapo Abiodun.

But, chaos broke out when security personnel stopped the party guests from entering the building. An NSCDC official shot a gun during the chaos in an effort to scatter the demonstrators.

He fled from the enraged protesters as they charged at him, throwing stones at him as they did so.

During the brawl, some security personnel, including Department of State Services employees, were hurt.

The protesters, who were singing anti-INEC songs, carried placards that read things like “INEC should save our democracy,” “INEC betrayed the people of Ogun,” “Electoral fraud will not stand,” “INEC should respect people’s wishes,” “INEC should stop being biased,” and “Ogun election was inconclusive, INEC correct yourself,” among other things.

However, heavily armed security personnel prevented the demonstrators from entering the INEC office.

Adebutu announced that he had come to the commission to submit a petition as he entered the building.

He stressed that unless the election commission officials attended to the demonstrators, they would not leave the area.

Adebutu claimed the party had sent the commission three protest letters requesting a review of the results of the election on Saturday and a re-run in any polling places where voting was either canceled or interfered with.

He expressed concern at the use of security forces against the will of the populace and cautioned that this could lead to yet another #Endsars protest.

Adebutu stated, “We are here to protest, but unfortunately we have been confronted by security men, shooting sporadically into the air, in the hope that they would disperse us, but we are resolute, we are going to stay here until we are addressed by officials of INEC.

“We contend that the measures by which other states have been treated and they are allowed to have rerun should apply to Ogun State.’’

He stated that Ogun State should follow Adamawa and Kebbi states in declaring the governorship elections inconclusive.

Thereafter, Adebutu met behind closed doors with certain INEC representatives. Adebutu asked his supporters to uphold the law as he left the assembly.

Nasir Gawuna, an APC candidate for governor in Kano on Saturday, claimed that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should have ruled the election inconclusive.

This was initiated by Gawuna on Tuesday when speaking to journalists in Kano.

Gawuna, who was accompanying party leaders, said it was astonishing that 16 House of Assembly elections held on the same day and under the same circumstances as the first poll were deemed inconclusive by INEC.

The New Nigeria Peoples Party’s (NNPP) Abba Kabir Yusif was declared the winner of the recently-concluded governorship election in Kano, but the APC in Kano rejected the news and demanded an immediate review of the election results by the electoral umpire within seven days.

The party’s chairman, Abdullahi Abbas, made this announcement to reporters during a last-minute press conference on Tuesday in the afternoon at the APC’s Kano campaign headquarters.

The APC chairman, who was represented by the party’s legal counsel, Abdul Adamu Fagge, insists that the election should be declared to be unresolved because the number of votes that were cancelled exceeded the margin between the first and second-place parties, the NNPP and APC, as specified by the Electoral Act.

The party also brought up the cancellation of 16 House of Assembly elections in the state due to violence, even though the same votes were used to determine the winner of the governorship. It expressed shock that the two elections happened on the same day, at the same time, in the same locations, and under the same conditions.

The Chief Economist at the Economic Commission for Africa, Hanan Morsy, has said Africa currently accounts for more than half of the World’s poor 54. 8 percent.

Morsy said this at the 55th session of the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Monday, according to a News Agency of Nigeria report.

She said, “The continent faced a tsunami of global shocks that have exacerbated existing socio-economic operation and equity. As a result of these shocks, Africa currently accounts for more than half of the world’s poor at 54.8 percent. And we have estimated 548 million Africans living in poverty in 2022 and 149 million at risk of falling into poverty in the same year.

“There is a skewed distribution across the continent in terms of concentration of these issues, with particularly East and West Africa having a higher share of poverty across regions,’ ’she said.

Morsy said the situation was further exacerbated by existing inequalities, noting that even in times of high economic growth in Africa, the rate of inequality still rose.

She explained that several recommendations, both domestic and international, had been put in place to help tackle this.

“We need to pursue inclusive macroeconomic policies such as targeted and efficient spending and build resilience to future shocks at the household and community level.

“African governments need to enhance resource mobilization. To do that. I think several measures would help, including closing tax loopholes.”