Tag: ELECTIONS

INEC proposes 142 recommendations to improve electoral process

Aminu Imam
INEC proposes

Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, says the Commission has come up with 142 recommendations to improve the future electoral process. Yakubu disclosed this at the opening of a 2-day Induction Retreat for Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) yesterday, in Lagos. He said the Commission had published the report of the review of the 2023 elections, adding it was already available on its website, adding that in addition, there is also the outcome of the retreats and engagements with stakeholders, which is right now being published.…

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YIAGA Africa engages political stakeholders, advocates electoral reform

Abdul-Azeez Ahmed Kadir

Civil Society Organisation Yiaga Africa, has called on Kaduna state Government, political parties, agencies and various stakeholders on legislative reforms for improved local government election in Nigeria, to inspire public confidence in the electoral processes. Director of programs, Yiaga Africa, Cynthia Mbamalu, said this in Kaduna during an advocacy roundtable discussion ahead of local government elections in the state. She said it was pertinent that the government build citizens’ confidence by articulating electoral reform to allow local government autonomy since it was already in the Constitution. Mbamalu added that all issues…

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‘How we lost election for not bribing INEC, Police’ – Obasanjo

Aminu Imam

Former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo, while speaking in Abeokuta at a high-level consultation he organised on ‘Rethinking Western Liberal Democracy in Africa’, recalled how his former political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), lost a local government election in Ogun State in 1998 because he rejected plans to bribe officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC). Obasanjo, while making the claim, said party leaders had told him that there should be money allocated for the police and INEC, but he rejected the proposal on the belief that INEC officials…

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Univ. Don challenges FG to strengthen democracy though improved credibility, transparency, of polls

Abdul-Azeez Ahmed Kadir

Professor Alewo Johnson-Akubo, the Vice Chancellor (VC), Salem University Lokoja, has urged the Federal Government to strengthen the nation’s democratic process by improving the credibility and transparency of elections in the country. Johnson-Akubo, made the call on Wednesday in Lokoja during the 2023 Law Week of Lokoja Chapter of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). Johnson-Akubo, in a lecture paper titled: “Nigerian democracy: The journey so far from 1999 till date,” noted that the nation’s democracy had come a long way with many challenges desiring urgent and acceptable solutions. The VC…

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Brussel says it is worried by disinformation ahead of EU election

Abdul-Azeez Ahmed Kadir

The European Commission on Tuesday expressed concerns about online disinformation campaigns potentially targeting next year’s European elections. Vice-President V?ra Jourová called on social media platforms to take action and singled out the Kremlin as one of the main drivers behind misleading online content, targeted at users in the European Union. EU citizens are to vote in a new European Parliament next June. “The Russian state has engaged in the war of ideas to pollute our information space with half-truths and lies to create a false image that democracy is no…

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Turkey’s Erdo?an triumphs in historic run-off election

Aminu Imam

Recep Erdo?an has won Turkey’s run-off presidential election to seal another five-year term, according to official preliminary results that marked an end to a determined opposition effort to unseat the longtime leader. Erdo?an received 53.41 percent of the votes, electoral chief, Ahmet Yener said on Sunday evening, after 99.43 percent of the ballots had been counted. His rival, Kemal K?l?çdaro?lu received 46.59 percent, according to the preliminary figures, Yener said. Erdo?an – who claimed victory hours before the official announcement – can now remain in his seat for another five…

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2023 elections; Buhari, Tinubu solicits Sultan’s support to win

Abdul-Azeez Ahmed Kadir

President Muhammadu Buhari and the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, on Thursday in Sokoto, called for support and blessings of the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar III. Malam Garba Shehu, the President’s spokesman, in a statement quoted Buhari and Tinubuas as saying: “We have come here to ask for your support and blessings; we want to win the coming elections.” Tinubu, the first to speak and the first to bait the Sultan, said plainly to leader of the Sokoto Caliphate: “I have come to…

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Makinde tasks the Army to ensure peaceful elections

Abdul-Azeez Ahmed Kadir
Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State

Gov. Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has urged the Nigerian Army to play its part in ensuring that peace reign during the forthcoming general elections. Makinde made the plea on Thursday while hosting Maj-Gen.Takuti Usman, the new General Officer Commanding, 2 Div. Odogbo Barracks, Ibadan, at the Governor’s Office, Secretariat, Agodi in Ibadan. He commended the Army for important roles it has been playing in ensuring peaceful polls in the country. Makinde, however, pledged his administration’s continuous support to the Nigerian Army, promising to maintain a cordial relationship with the…

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Election: Clerics, NUJ caution Journalists against sensationalism, devisive reportage

Abdul-Azeez Ahmed Kadir
Stakeholders at NUJ conference in Makurdi

Rev. Fr Patrick Alumuku, Director of Communication, Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, has urged media practitioners to shun sensational reportage that would compromise security before, during and after the general elections. Alumuku made the appeal at a zonal conference organised by Zone ‘D’ of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), on Thursday in Makurdi. The conference was on ‘The Role of the Media in enhancing peaceful election and democratic participation’. Alumuku who is also the Director Catholic Television of Nigeria, said the call was imperative in view of the nexus between…

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Elections; NGO tells political parties to Focus on issue-based campaign

Abdul-Azeez Ahmed Kadir

The Kimpact Development Initiative (KDI), a non-governmental organisation, has called on political parties and their candidates to focus on issue-based campaigns and not attack the personality of their fellow contestants. Bukola Idowu, Team Lead, KDI, made the call at first High-Level National Dialogue on Mitigating Electoral Violence ahead of the 2023 General Elections, in Abuja. The event had in attendance representatives from the NOA, Civil Defence, DSS, among others. He said that political candidates and their parties should desist from making inciteful messages, as their actions and inactions speaks a…

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