INEC Is A Monumental Disgrace – Chidoka

A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Osita Chidoka has berated the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over its conduct of the 2023 presidential election.

The PDP and Peter Obi’s Labour Party (LP) had challenged the declaration of Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the February poll, praying the court to nullify his win on the basis – among others – that INEC did not do a real-time transmission of results to the election portal.

But the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal (PEPT) ruled that INEC is at liberty to transmit results in whichever way it deemed fit. Though the court had struck out the petition and affirmed Tinubu’s win, Chidoka blamed the electoral body for reneging on its pre-election assurance that it would transmit the election results in real time.

“INEC is a monumental disgrace. INEC is an organisation I am ashamed to be associated with as a Nigerian,” he said on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, faulting the electoral umpire’s inability to electronically transmit election results in real-time.

He said this is because of “the promises INEC made with the Anambra, Ekiti, and Osun [governorship] elections”.

“I came on this programme and called for third-party verification of the INEC system so that we are sure that on election day what is going to happen that day would not lead to a glitch. On election day, INEC said there was a glitch,” the former Ation minister said.

LP vows to ‘take back’ Imo State

The State Working Committee, SWC, of the Labour Party, LP, and the Senator Athan Achonu Campaign Organisation have assured supporters that they are very prepared to “Take Back Imo State” and hand it over to the people.

The SWC and Labour Party Governorship Campaign Council for the November 11 Imo State gubernatorial election stated this in a statement made available to journalists in Owerri, Imo State capital.

The statement reads,” Our campaign is in full gear and we are very prepared to ‘Take Back Imo’ State and hand it over to our people, hence we are inaugurating our campaign council made up of eminent Imolites and great party men.

“The State Working Committee of the Labour Party and the Senator Athan Achonu Campaign Organisation have constituted the Labour Party Governorship Campaign Council for the November 11 Imo State gubernatorial election.

Biden commends Tinubu for ECOWAS intervention in Niger Republic

US President Joe Biden has commended President Bola Tinubu for his effort towards preserving the rule of law and democracy in Niger Republic.

On July 26, the Nigerien military, led by Amadou Abdramane, toppled the democratically-elected President Mohamed Bazoum.

The military leadership also announced the dissolution of the nation’s constitution, suspension of all institutions, and closure of the country’s borders.

Tinubu in his capacity as chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) – a sub-regional group to which the Niger Republic belongs – had swiftly condemned the coup and imposed sanctions on the new regime.

ECOWAS had also dispatched a series of delegations, including the one led by Abdulsalami Abubakar, former military head of state, to negotiate with the country’s military junta.

In a statement released by the White House during the second day of the G20 summit in India, the US president appreciated Tinubu for preserving the rule of law in Niger and also acknowledged his national economic policies in Nigeria.

The US president added that America is committed to reinforcing its longstanding relationship with Nigeria.

N250,000 empowerment to Imo youths fraudulent – PDP, LP tackle Uzodimma

The main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the Labour Party, LP, on Sunday, described Governor Hope Uzodimma’s N250,000 empowerment funds each to 15,000 Imo youths as fraudulent.

They stated this to newsmen in Owerri while reacting to the report that the alleged beneficiaries of the Uzodimma’s N250,000 cried out over unexpected debit from their bank accounts.

The PDP and LP said Uzodimma deceived the youths that he was giving them grants instead of explaining that the empowerment fund was a loan that would be repaid. The empowerment event took place in June 2021 at Dan Anyiam Stadium.

For the Labour Party, LP, Director of Media and Publicity, Chibuikem Diala, said: “Shock, anger, and disillusionment have swept through the Imo landscape in the wake of the unraveling of yet another of the alleged seeming endless schemes that the Gov Hope Uzodinma administration has unleashed on the hapless and helpless masses of the state, since it was infamously imposed on them, by the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

“Barely one year after he was imposed on the state, precisely on June 26, 2021, the APC administration had consciously and deliberately deceived innocent and unsuspecting Imo youths, with burning and legitimate desire for entrepreneurial exploits, into participating in an allegedly fraudulent 15000 Imo Youths Economic Empowerment Startup Grant of 250k.

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