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Danger! Stop 2023 polls, journalist tells court *Enugu official demanding N1,000 for PVCs arrested  

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The much-awaited 2023 general election may not hold after all if the demand by one Adewole Kehinde, a journalist to the court, to halt the the exercise over the disappearance of his Permanent Voters Card, is acceded to.

This is coming as the woman, seen on viral social media video, demanding N1,000 to dispense with Permanent Voters Cards to their owners, is currently telling operatives of the Enugu State Police Command, the reason for her action, including what and who the illicit collection is meant.

Daniel Ndukwe, spokesman of the command, in a statement on Thursday, said bulky-looking lady, who did not listen to her victims that what she was doing was against the law and dared them to do their worst, had since been arrested, giving her name as 41-year-old Chinwendu Nnamani.

“Police detectives serving in the state Criminal Investigation Department of Enugu State Command on January 31, 2023, arrested a female suspect, one Chinwendu Nnamani, 41. Nnamani was involved in the viral social media video clip in which she is seen and alleged to be selling INEC Permanent Voter Cards at the sum of one thousand naira, at a primary school in Emene, Enugu.

“Also arrested is one Nkiruka Patience Obinna, 38, identified as an INEC staff and alleged to have given the said PVCs to the first suspect for distribution to the actual owners. Investigation has been concluded, the case charged to court in line with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022, and the suspects arraigned accordingly,” he said.

The police spokesman further said that the suspects in the extorting money for PVCs case were granted bail and the case adjourned to February 15 for further hearing.

The PUNCH, quotes Kehinde, a reporter with an online news platform, Swift Reporters, to have approached the court with a suit against the INEC over the denial of access to his voter card.

Printouts and text messages exchanged with the commission’s official sighted by our correspondent show that Kehinde, a publisher with the news agency, transferred his voter registration from Area 11 to Nyanga, Abuja following his relocation to his new residence.

After many visits to the INEC office, he was, however, told that his card could not be found as seen on one of the printouts.

“Since INEC wants to deny me my fundamental right to vote, I don’t have a choice but to sue them for N500 million even though my single vote is far above the N500 million. There are thousands of Nigerians that have come to me to indicate interest in joining in the suit against INEC, and hopefully by Monday, 7th February, my Lawyer will serve INEC.

“It is either INEC will print my PVC before February 25th, 2023 or the court will stop the election until my PVC is printed and handed over to me. INEC cannot just deny my vote and I can’t vote with the old PVC since it has been transferred to Nyanya.”

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Obi to Nigerians: Don’t be despaired, your mandate won’t be lost

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The Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi says he is aware of some evil designs against himself and his supporters in the coming months.

The former Anambra State governor disclosed this in a statement released on his verified Twitter handle on Monday, May 29, 2023.

The release of the statement coincided with the inauguration of Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as Nigeria’s President at the Eagle Square in Abuja.

 

I am aware of some evil designs being hatched against me and my supporters in the coming months. Efforts will be made to taint my image. Campaigns of calumny are being perfected to defame my character and diminish my hard-earned integrity.

— Peter Obi (@PeterObi) May 28, 2023

See full statement:

For all Nigerians, this is a time for deep reflection. It is also a time to re-examine our assumptions, even as we reaffirm our hopes. Let us calmly review our aspirations, in order to recalibrate our expectations and pin down the causes of our missed opportunities and disappointments.

We stand at that critical moment in time when, as a people, we must collectively come to grips with the reality of our injured destiny as well as the reasons for that injury. It is for us to reassess our plight as a young democracy and identify clear pathways to a better and greater future for us all. As we await the verdict of the election tribunal, I urge all Nigerians to use this opportunity to renew their commitment to the Nigerian ideal. That ideal remains noble and worth every sacrifice we can make.

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Nigeria remains our only patrimony and it is a patrimony we must protect, rather than violate. We have no other nation but this, so let us remain committed to rescuing and rebuilding it.

The judiciary is part of the democratic enterprise and a critical governance tool for determining the propriety of the decisions and actions of every citizen and every institution of state. To that extent, and for that reason, I urge everyone to treat it with the respect and dignity it deserves.

We expect that the Nigerian judiciary will use the election cases now before it to reaffirm its independence and integrity. It has to do so, for all our sakes and for itself.

Nigerians must, therefore, remain peaceful and law abiding. No matter the depth of anyone’s reservations about what is going on in the polity today, no matter the real and imagined provocations, and no matter the disagreement out there, we should remember that this will not last forever.

I remain committed, and untiring, in my determination to work with like-minded fellow Nigerians to end the curse of missed opportunities and squandered hope that has become our lot here.

I will never shrink from that original commitment, because I firmly believe that we must change from the present politics of criminality, and corruption, in order to make a new Nigeria possible.

I call on fellow Nigerians, especially the youths to remain steadfast, calm, patient, and peaceful. Our journey may be long and difficult but it is worth it in every way. Victory is assured.

We have to work together to move our beautiful country from corruption and criminality to a center of productivity rather than aimless consumption.

I am aware of some evil designs being hatched against me and my supporters in the coming months. Efforts will be made to taint my image. Campaigns of calumny are being perfected to defame my character and diminish my hard-earned integrity.

These schemes will aim at degrading our support base and confusing the public. But, no evil campaign will alter the substance of my character; nor diminish my patriotic commitment to a better Nigeria. It is about the future of our youths. it is about ending the Years of Locust.

In all of this, I thank Nigerians, our great party (LP) and the media. The latter, as the Fourth Estate of the realm, has remained a trusted ally.

This Estate must continue to guide our people on the immense promise of a future in a new Nigeria.

God bless Nigeria and protect the troops keeping us safe in this season of vaulting insecurity.

Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria. –PO

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Tinubu will unveil Ministers in two months *He’ll be different – Faleke

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James Faleke, lawmaker and Secretary of the now defunct All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council (APC-PCC), has revealed that President Bola Tinubu would unveil members of his cabinet within 60 days.

Channels Television, which quoted him as saying on Monday, at the inauguration of of Tinubu and Kashim Shettima as president and vice-president of Nigeria was underway at the Eagle Square in Abuja, said the President, would , unveil his cabinet as soon as possible.

Faleke, who promised that the new President would bring a different approach to power, was quoted as saying: “Of course, within 60 days, that’s what the law says. He can announce anytime but I just know he must do it within 60 days.”

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Tinubu: My stand on corruption, insecurity *How I’ll banish poverty in Nigeria

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Eradication of terrorism, waging war against corruption and battling the crippling poverty in Nigeria, would form the fulcrum of a new Nigeria President Bola Tinubu, says he would strive to put in place as his new government began hours ago after assuming the reins of power as the 16th President, after Muhammadu Buhari handed over to him at an elaborate ceremony at the Eagle Square, Abuja, on Monday.

Vowing to  defend Nigeria from all forms of terror, as well as end extreme poverty in the country, Tinubu, told Nigerians: “I will do that through job creation and food security and end to extreme poverty. I will ensure that corruption is tacked by strenghtening anti-corruption agencies.”

He also promised that his administration would discourage corruption through the introduction of a credit culture, stating: “Our government will continue to take proactive steps such as championing a credit culture to discourage corruption while strengthening the effectiveness and efficiency of the various anti-corruption agencies.”

It was also on a day the President, who had during his presidential campaigns, promised Nigerians that he would remove subsidy on petroleum products, made good his words by announcing suspension on them, adding that the era of payments on fuel was gone, as the 2023 Budget made no provision for fuel subsidy “and more so, subsidy payment is no longer justifiable.”

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