TOP 10 NEWS MAKING THE ROUNDS IN NIGERIA TODAY,  THURSDAY 

TOP 10 NEWS MAKING THE ROUNDS IN NIGERIA TODAY,  THURSDAY 

1. Buhari Returns To Nigeria, Heads To Daura For Gubernatorial Election

President Muhammadu Buhari returned to Nigeria on Wednesday after a four-day trip to Doha, Qatar, where he participated in the 5th United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries, LCDs.

This was made known in a statement by the President’s Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu.

At the UN conference in Doha, President Buhari joined the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres and other world leaders to mobilize political will, solidarity and actions to transform LCDs by finding sustainable solutions to the challenges of poverty, food insecurity, hunger, weak infrastructure, poor health facilities and climate change among other problems.

The President, as usual, used the opportunity of the trip to foster closer relations with foreign leaders and promote the nation’s engagements at regional and global level. He also met with Nigerian professionals residing in Qatar.

On arrival in Katsina, at 4.50pm, President Buhari was received at the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua International Airport by Governor Aminu Bello Masari and his cabinet members, and he proceeded to his hometown, Daura, by chopper.

2. INEC Officially Confirms Postponement Of Saturday’s Gubernatorial Election

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has officially confirmed the rescheduling of the upcoming governorship elections across the country.

The National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, announced in a statement on Wednesday night that the election will not hold on March 11th as earlier scheduled.

According to the electoral umpire, the gubernatorial election will now take place on the 18th of March, 2023.

INEC disclosed that guber campaigns would continue until midnight Thursday, 16th March 2023.

The Commission noted that it is not against litigants inspecting election materials, adding that it will continue to grant all litigants access to election materials that they require to pure their cases in court.

3. Court Gives INEC Nod To Reconfigure BVAS

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been given the directive by the Presidential Election Petiton Court, PEPC, sitting at the Court of Appeal in Abuja to reconfigure the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), it used for the presidential election.

A three-member panel of Justices in a unanimous decision on Wednesday held that stopping the electoral body from reconfiguring the BVAS would adversely affect the forthcoming Governorship and State Assembly elections.

The court dismissed objections raised against INEC’s move to reconfigure all the BVAS by the Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi.

According to the court, allowing the objections by Obi and his party, would amount to “tying the hands of the Respondent, INEC”.

Besides, it noted that INEC had in an affidavit it filed before the court, assured that the accreditation data contained in the BVAS could not be tampered with or lost, as they would be stored and easily retrieved from its accredited back-end server.

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It further observed that neither Obi nor LP controverted the depositions in INEC’s affidavit, stressing that since such averments were not challenged, it amounted to admission by the Applicants.

Nevertheless, the court ordered INEC to allow the Applicants to inspect and carry out digital forensic examination of all the electoral materials used in the conduct of the elections, as well as to avail them the Certified True Copy, of result of the physical inspection of the BVAS.

4. INEC Cancels Doguwa’s Constituency Election Results

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has canceled the election results of the embattled majority leader of the House of Representatives, Alhassan Ado Doguwa.

The Returning Officer for the election, Professor Ibrahim Adamu Yakasai, announced the new development On Wednesday.

The electoral umpire declared that there was no winner in the February 25 National Assembly Election in Doguwa and Tudunwada Federal Constituencies.

This publication had earlier reported that Doguwa, who contested on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was initially declared the winner of the election.

However, the electoral umpire delisted his name from the reps-elect and failed to issue him a certificate of return.

The commission had said the lawmaker was declared the winner of the election under duress.

This followed the arrest of Doguwa in connection with the violence which broke out in the constituency during the collation of the election.

At least two people were killed when a secretariat of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) was set ablaze while in the area.

The police had arraigned the ranking lawmaker at a magistrate’s court which remanded him in prison.

5. Court Grants Tinubu Access To Inspect Election Materials

The Appeal Court sitting in Abuja, on Wednesday, granted the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, access to inspect electoral materials used by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) during the just concluded election.

The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) through his lawyer, Akintola Makinde, said he would need to inspect, scan and make photocopies of some of the electoral materials to enable him to prepare his defence against petitions that would seek to nullify his election.

Makinde stated, “The materials will be relevant in helping us to prepare our defence and also make comparison with the information contained in INEC’s back-end server.”

While Tinubu’s first ex-parte application, which was filed on March 6, has the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi as respondents, in the second application, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and its own candidate, Atiku Abubakar, were cited as respondents, alongside INEC.

The presidential candidates of the PDP and LP had both claimed victory in the presidential election held on the 25th of February, 2023.

The court, in a unanimous decision today by a three-member panel led by Justice Joseph Ikyegh, said it was satisfied there was merit in Tinubu’s request to have access to the electoral materials to enable him to defend his election victory.

6. INEC Presents Certificates Of Return To Reps Members-Elect

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday issued Certificates of Return to candidates elected into the House of Representatives in the February 25, 2023 election.

The certificates were presented to the members elected by the INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu at the National Collation Centre in Abuja.

Yakubu last Saturday stated that winners were declared for 423 legislative seats, indicating that supplementary elections would be conducted in 46 other constituencies.

He said in the House of Representatives, 325 out of 360 seats have been won by eight political parties.

Speaking on the representation in the House, the INEC boss said ADP won two; APC, 162; APGA, four; LP, 34; NNPP, 18; PDP, 102; SDP, two and YPP, one.

7. ‘I’ve Learnt My Lesson’ – Sanwo Olu Speaks On #EndSars Incident Days To Governorship Election

The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has admitted that his administration failed in its role played during the EndSars protest and the Lekki shooting.

Sanwo-Olu during an interview on ARISE TV on Wednesday said he has learned his lessons.

According to him, considering the level of the incident, there is no leader that would not want to involve in forensic analysis to know what had happened.

The governor said he was concerned about getting verified information on what happened on October 20, 2022, when the Nigerian army opened fire on unarmed civilians instead of the social media posts.

Sanwo-Olu pleaded that everyone should drop the question of ‘who gave the order’ and engage in a role-play or put themselves in his situation.

He added that it is not in his position and space to order the military to go to the Lekki tollgate just like in the case of what happened during the presidential election.

8. Why I Won’t Accept NNPP Senatorial Seat – Shekarau

Former governor and current Senator representing Kano Central, Ibrahim Shekarau, has shunned the International Conference Centre (ICC) where the Senators-elect collected their certificate of return.

Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Shekarau, the winner of the February 25, 2023, senatorial election for Kano Central under the platform of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).

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But the former governor refused to attend the presentation of the certificate of return to senators-elect on Tuesday.

Speaking to Leadership, Shekarau’s spokesman, Sule Y. Sule, said his principal had already clarified that he would not collect the certificate of return.

9. 2023: Apologize For Sabotaging Peter Obi’s Ambition – Umeh Knocks Soludo

The Senator-elect for Anambra Central, Victor Umeh has accused the Anambra State Governor, Chares Soludo of sabotaging the presidential ambition of the Labour Party (LP) candidate, Peter Obi.

To this end, Umeh asked Soludo to apologize to the people of Anambra, Ndigbo, Nigerians and Peter Obi himself in a state broadcast.

The Senator-elect who dumped the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) for LP told Soludo that he should not be seeking votes for APGA candidates in the forthcoming state house of assembly election.

Umeh alleged further that Soludo wants APGA candidates to win so he can be able to control the legislative arm but added that if the Governor is actually performing well, he shouldn’t be agitated about those in the legislative arm.

Speaking in a radio program in Anambra State, Umeh expressed the readiness of the Labour Party to vote en masse for the candidates of the party in Saturday’s election.

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10. BVAS: Appeal Court Rules Against INEC, Refuses To Vary Orders Granted Peter Obi, Atiku

The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT), sitting at the Court of Appeal in Abuja on Wednesday refused to grant a request by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) seeking to vary the order of the court granting access to the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate Peter Obi and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart, Atiku Abubakar to inspect the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and other election materials.

According to the panel, the application was unnecessary because the court never granted permission to Atiku, Obi, and their parties to scientifically access and inspect INEC’s database.

The tribunal said the apprehension being expressed by INEC, which includes the possible revelation of the identities of voters and their voting choices, was unnecessary because no applicant was granted leave to access INEC’s database.

Ruling on INEC’s motion, the 3-man panel held that the electoral umpire’s application “is without merit and is refused”, adding that all the orders allowing Obi to inspect election materials stand.

However, the court emphasized that the first orders granted Obi did not say he should access INEC’s database or backend server.