Today's Headlines: Obi Failed To Show He Scored Majority Votes-INEC; Military Kills 2 IPOB Fighters, Arrests Five In Delta

Obi Failed To Show He Scored Majority Votes, INEC Tells Court

Photo Credit: Premium Times

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has argued that Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, failed to show how he scored the majority of lawful votes during the 25 February presidential election.

Mr Obi, who came third in the election, had filed his petition at the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja to challenge the outcome of the polls on the grounds of allegations of electoral fraud, among other alleged irregularities.

He urged the court to nullify President Bola Tinubu’s victory in the poll.

He also called on the court to either declare him the winner of the election or order a fresh poll.

Mr Obi and his party, LP, alleged that Mr Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima were not qualified to vie for Nigeria’s presidency.

They alleged Mr Tinubu was convicted of drugs-related crimes and forfeited $46,000 in the US.

They also accused Mr Shettima of double nomination by their party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The petitioners contended at the trial of the case that Mr Tinubu was not duly elected by the majority of the lawful votes cast at the election.

Mr Obi called 13 witnesses to back his claims.

The five-member panel of the court led by Haruna Tsammani had ordered parties to the case to exchange their final addresses at the end of the trial.

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Military Kills 2 IPOB Fighters

Photo Credit: Punch paper

No fewer than two fighters of the Eastern Security Network, the military wing of the Indigenous People of Biafra, were on Monday killed by security operatives in Asaba, Delta State.

The Director, Army Public Relations, Brig. Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday.

He said the ESN members were killed during a confrontation with a combined team of Nigerian Army, Police, and Department of State Services personnel in the Fuji Junction area of Asaba, Delta State.

Anger, as petrol price hits N568 per litre in Lagos; N617 in Abuja, others

Photo Credit: Vanguard

Anger, frustration, and despondency were the situation yesterday, as Nigerians woke up to yet another steep increase in the price of Premium Motor Spirit, otherwise known as petrol.

From Lagos, Ogun, and Edo in the South West and South-South to Niger, Borno and Zamfara in the north, it was all tales of woe by motorists and commuters.

While the price in Lagos shot up from N488 per litre at petrol stations owned by Nigeria National Petroleum Company, Limited, NNPL, to N568, it rose as high as N617 per litre in Abuja and another northern state from N540.

The Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Mele Kyari, blamed market forces for the increase, while the Borno State chapter of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, expressed concern over the latest increment.

It noted that the living standards of the people would nosedive, especially with the government not providing the necessary palliatives to cushion the effects of subsidy removal.

While the Nigeria Employers Consultation Association, NECA, in its immediate reaction said local refining of crude oil remained the only way out for Nigeria, the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, contended that the latest increase in the price of petrol would further impoverish the people.

Checks by Vanguard yesterday indicated that each operator is allowed to change price, based on its cost elements, under the present deregulation.

It also showed that the dwindling value of the naira has put pressure on fuel importers, including NNPC Limited, as well as major and independent marketers.

President mourns two-year-old killed by NDLEA stray bullet

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President Bola Tinubu, on Tuesday, expressed sadness over the death of a two-year-old boy, Ivan Omhonrina, killed by a stray bullet during an operation by officers of the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency at Okpanam in Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State.

The President directed the NDLEA management to speedily and thoroughly investigate the incident with a view to punishing those found culpable.

“Ivan did not deserve to die that way. We must ensure the incident did not end like that and that what happened to Ivan does not happen to any other person again,” Tinubu said in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Special Duties, Communications and Strategy, Dele Alake.

The spokesperson for the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, had on Saturday confirmed that a stray bullet hit the minor when operatives of the agency raided the Okpanam area of Asaba, capital city of Delta.

Babafemi revealed that the victim died in the hospital while undergoing treatment.

But in the statement titled, ‘President Tinubu sympathises with parents of two-year-old killed by stray bullet in Delta,’ the President said, “I mourn the death of little Ivan Omhonrina and sympathise with his parents for the painful experience of losing an innocent child in a most tragic manner.”

Macrrio (
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