General
2023 Elections: Atiku, PDP Stalwarts Storm INEC HQ Over Results
By Adedapo Adesanya
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Atiku Abubakar, has led a protest at the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Abuja.
He led PDP leaders to the headquarters of the election umpire wearing black clothes in protest against the just concluded presidential election that saw the All Progressives Congress )APC) candidate, Mr Bola Tinubu, declared winner.
Mr Tinubu scored 35 per cent of 24.97 million votes cast, 8,794,726 votes, beating Mr Abubakar and Mr Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP).
Mr Atiku polled a total of 6,984,520 votes in the election, while Mr Obi came third in the election with a total of 6,101,533 votes, as Mr Rabiu Kwankwaso of the NNPP came fourth with 1,496,687 votes.
He said he had no intention of stopping the action, which is being interpreted as his rejection of the result announced earlier this month.
“In fact, this protest will continue for a very long time, either every day or any other day,” Mr Atiku said during the Monday protest.
Apart from the protest, the PDP frontrunner has explored legal steps to counter the decision by INEC.
Both Mr Atiku and his former ally and now competitor, Mr Obi, commenced their legal challenge of the outcome of the election on Friday.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Friday granted the two opposition candidates access to inspect electoral records of the election.
However, seven PDP states– Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Taraba and Sokoto – which had initially sued the federal government at the Supreme Court over the 2023 presidential and National Assembly election, have discontinued their suit seeking a review of the results of February 25 election.
The attorneys-general of the states had filed the suit asking the Supreme Court to intervene in the just concluded general elections. They based their claims on a potential breakdown of public order and civil disobedience.
The reason was due to the fact that the flawed results had already been announced and a President-elect declared, albeit illegally and unconstitutionally.
Business Post understands that since the case had been overtaken by events, it will now be an election tribunal matter.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The office of the president-elect has confirmed that Mr Bola Tinubu has jetted out of Nigeria for a rest in the United Kingdom and France ahead of his swearing-in ceremony slated for May 29, 2023.
An online platform on Wednesday reported that the winner of the February 25 presidential election travelled to Europe for urgent medical attention.
But in a statement issued by one of his aides, Mr Tunde Rahman, it was emphasized that the former Governor of Lagos State only left the country to have a rest in London and Paris before going to Saudi Arabia for lesser hajj.
It was disclosed that Mr Tinubu travelled out of Nigeria on Tuesday night via the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) Ikeja Lagos.
“After a very exhaustive campaign and election season, President-elect, Asíwájú Bola Tinubu, has travelled abroad to rest and plan his transition programme ahead of May 29, 2023 inauguration.
“The President-elect left the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, for Europe on Tuesday night.
“The President-elect decided to take a break after the hectic campaign and election season to rest in Paris and London, preparatory to going to Saudi Arabia for Umrah (Lesser Hajj) and the Ramadan Fasting that begins Thursday.
“While away, the President-elect will also use the opportunity to plan his transition programme.
“He is expected back in the country soon.
“We enjoin the media to stop publishing rumours and unsubstantiated claims and to always seek clarifications from our office,” the statement said.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The candidate of the Labour Party in the governorship election in Abia State, Mr Alex Otti, has been declared as the winner of the exercise by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The former banker polled a total of 175,467 votes to defeat his closest rival in the poll, Mr Okey Ahiwe of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who garnered 88,529 votes.
The Abia State governorship election was earlier declared inconclusive by the electoral umpire due to issues arising from over-voting. The collation centre had to be moved to Abuja from Umuahia, the state capital.
The governor-elect, in a short post via his verified Twitter handle, reacted to the development by saying, “See what the Lord has done.”
Mr Otti left the banking industry a few years ago after serving as the managing director of the defunct Diamond Bank, which merged with Access Bank. He left his office in the bank to pursue his political ambition in 2015, but he failed until he succeeded in 2023.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has directed public sector workers in the country to embark on strike beginning from Wednesday, March 29, 2023.
President of the union, Mr Joe Ajaero, gave this directive at a media briefing at Labour House in Abuja on Wednesday, March 22.
He also directed affiliate unions of the NLC to be on standby for a picketing exercise across all branches of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) nationwide.
The union leader said the directive became imperative following the expiration of a one-week ultimatum given to the apex bank to make cash available for Nigerians.
The scarcity has heightened with plans by the central bank to mop up the old Naira in circulation. The apex bank recently said it had removed N2.3 trillion from circulation between October 2022 and February 2023 while printing fewer new notes.
Business Post reported that between October last year and February 2023, the cash in circulation dropped to N982.09 billion from N3.29 trillion.
This is one of the factors that has extended the scarcity of the Naira and have also prolonged it into March.
Despite the Supreme Court judgement on March 3, 2023, that the old Naira remain legal until December 31, 2023, new notes have not reached many households with the old notes and new notes difficult to acquire.
With the cash in circulation dropping and the currency in commercial banks’ vaults or that of the CBN rising, Nigerians still find it difficult to access the money deposited in their accounts despite the ruling that the new and old notes should co-exist for 10 months.
Pingback: 2023 Elections: Atiku, PDP Stalwarts Storm INEC HQ Over Results – African Budget Bureau