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Following a suit that was lodged by the African Action Congress, AAC, the Federal High Court in Abuja, on Tuesday, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to suspend the counting of results of the Rivers State Governorship and House of Assembly elections.

The court, in a ruling by Justice Iyang Ekwo, said the electoral body should maintain status quo ante till Friday when it would hear and determine the merit of the substantive suit that was filed before it.

AAC lodged the suit alongside its governorship candidate in Rivers State, Mr. Biokpomabo Awara.

The order was sequel to an ex-parte motion the plaintiffs filed for an order to stop INEC from going ahead with its decision to count and collate pending results from 17 local government areas of the state.

INEC which earlier stopped the entire election process in Rivers State, had declared its intention to resume the collation of the results of the March 9, 2019 elections.

The decision of the electoral body to resume the collation process on Wednesday followed the report of a fact-finding committee it had set up to investigate allegations that elections in Rivers state were fraught with manifest irregularities.

Meanwhile, the court has ordered the accelerated hearing of the suit by the AAC candidate who had since asked INEC to declare him the winner, insisting that he garnered the highest number of valid votes cast.

Awara, who enjoyed the support of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Minister of Transport, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, maintained that with results already on ground, he clearly defeated the incumbent Governor of the state and gubernatorial flag-bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Mr. Nyesom Wike.

Specifically, the plaintiffs, prayed the high court for an order of interim injunction restraining INEC from resuming, collating or announcing the results of the suspended elections in Rivers State.

Though the court made interim preservative order to safeguard the subject matter of the suit, it however ordered INEC to appear on Friday for hearing of the case.

YPP Senatorial Elect representing Anambra South District Dr Ifeanyi Ubah today received his Certificate of Return from INEC, which he accepted in good faith and pledged his commitment to a successful tenure

"Today being the 14th of March, 2019, at the International Conference Centre, Abuja with my lovely wife, Mrs. Uchenna Ubah, I received my Certificate of Return from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as the duly elected Senator of Federal Republic of Nigeria.

I will be representing the good people of Anambra South Senatorial District at the Ninth Senate Session from 2019 - 2023.

As I look forward to start my legislative duty, I will be making a difference and at the same time working towards the Recovery of Igbo Economy through the instrumentality of the legislature and my party ideology.

This is my bond with Ndi Anambra South!

God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
God bless Anambra State.
God bless Anambra South."

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Adamawa Coordinator of NYSC Malam Abubakar Mohammed has lauded corps members who served as ad-hoc staff during the General Election in the state for good conduct.

Mohammed, in a statement on Wednesday in Yola, said the 2,656 corps members that served as ad-hoc staff deserved commendation for exhibiting neutrality and coming out clean in the exercise.

Mohammed said the Director-General of NYSC, Maj.-Gen. Suleiman Kazaure, represented by the Deputy Director Human Resources, Mr Ahidjo Yahaya was in the state to monitor the election.

He said the visit was particularly to monitor the conduct of the corps members, adding that the conduct of the corps was highly impressed.

“The Director-General of NYSC, Maj.-Gen. Suleiman Zakari Kazaure and the entire staff of NYSC are impressed with the conduct of our patriotic corps members for doing a good job.

“I am very sure their parents and other loved ones are also happy with their general performance, characterised by neutrality and professionalism,“ he said.

The coordinator lauded the public for their support and cooperation to the corps members during the exercise.

“Our sincere gratitude goes to INEC, security agencies, politicians and the electorate for backing and cooperating with our corps members, before, during and after the elections.”

A group of protesters under the egies of Save Nigeria Democracy Group (SNDG) Wednesday took their protest to the national headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to express their opposition to the spate of inconclusive elections declared by the commission.

The protesters said the results from the just-concluded elections “did not reflect the true voting direction of Nigerians”.

As early as 9 am, the protesters arrived in their numbers at the Unity Fountain in Abuja, carrying different placards with inscriptions such as “The People’s mandate cannot be stolen”, “Atiku will not congratulate Buhari”, “Prof.Yakubu must resign”, “Inconclusive election is a shame”, and “Atiku will get justice,” among many others.

While addressing the INEC representative, who came to receive the protesters, the leader of the group, Tijani Abdulmumuni, said it has become necessary at this point for all well-meaning Nigerians to halt and take a critical review of the events that characterised the just concluded elections which he added portend danger to democracy in Nigeria.

Abdulmumini said INEC’s refusal to conclude the collation of results from select states gives credence to the allegation that certain elements are out to drag this country into chaos which must be rejected at all cost.

“This latest show of desperation has further strengthened earlier concerns of widespread voter suppression, targetted violence, militarization of the political space and systematic inflation of figures that punctuated the presidential and National Assembly elections.

“It also heightens the fear of the dire consequences of the federal government muscling INEC and the nation’s security into turning blind eyes to obvious infractions and violations of the federal constitutional provisions and Electoral Act and the regulations/guidelines regulating the 2019 general election and went ahead to uphold and announce a tailored result that only serve the ruling APC,” he said.

The leader of the group said both the international and local observers have reported the bias in the use of the smart card reader machines.

He said that while INEC dutifully enforced the use of the card reader in the South-south, South-east and the North-central zones of the country, which are essentially opposition strongholds, it failed to do so in the North-west, North-east and the South-west which were estimated as the APC stronghold.

“We wish to place on record that the monumental electoral fraud and manipulation which have very negative implications on the credibility, transparency and integrity of the entire elections constitute a latent threat to our democratic development.

“Against all known rules of decency and fairness, the deliberate violations which include the widespread non-usage or selective enforcement of the use of smart card reader (SCR) machines are also an indictment in the sight of the international community,” he said.

Other infractions on electoral process listed by the group included the deliberate non-deployment of result form EC 8 to polling centres, the barricade by armed military personnel to deny the agents of opposition political parties access to collation centres, the recording of falsified figures and violent attacks at opposition strongholds.

“In the North-west, the deplorable use of battalions of underage almajiri was the order of most frontline states in addition to armed thugs unleashed on voters.

“The figures said to have been recorded in those troubled regions are as ridiculous as they are questionable, suspicious and unacceptable.

“It is therefore worrying, embarrassing and a glaring insult for such inflated figures to have been presented, accepted and declared as results from such states despite the abiding fear of vicious banditry,” he said.

The protesters, who chanted solidarity songs, asked Nigerians to rise and reject the results and push for immediate redress.

“We declare that the results that eventually came out of the flawed exercise of 23 February did not reflect the true voting direction of Nigerians and are capable of setting a dangerous precedent and exposing democracy and our collective nationhood to danger if allowed to stand.

“We specifically call on the civil society, youth groups, the elders and leaders of various communities, and the international community to expose such monumental fraud, and to hold that President Buhari has woefully failed as a leader with genuine intentions and capacity to save our democracy and the future unity of the country.

“Finally, with this, we hereby reaffirm our total rejection of the entire exercise and the concocted results that emanated therefrom,” the protesters said.

While receiving the protesters on behalf of the commission, INEC’s Assistant Director of Security, Kelechi Madumere, commended the group for a peaceful exercise, assuring them the commission will do everything possible not to betray the trust Nigerians have in the commission.

The Independent National Electoral Commisslon (INEC) has fixed March 9 to conduct a supplementary presidential election in areas where the poll was cancelled last Saturday.

Festus Okoye, INEC’s national commissioner for information and voter education, said the supplementary polls will be conducted alongside the governorship and state houses of assembly elections.

Okoye said the decision was reached during the commission’s meeting with resident electoral commissioners (RECs) on Thursday in Abuja.

INEC had cancelled the presidential elections in some areas as a result of violence, which prevented the commission from deploying personnel and materials for the exercise.

Some of the places affected include two local government areas in River state as well as other parts of Lagos and Anambra states.

“Consequently, the meeting decided that supplementary elections will be conducted in all areas where elections did not take place and/or where returns could not be made on Satutday, 9th March 2019 alongside the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections,” Okoye said in a statement issued Friday.

The United `kingdom Government has confirmed that the results of the presidential election as released by the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) were authentic.

British Minister of State for Africa, Harriet Baldwin said the results were consistent with the results obtained through the civil society Parallel Vote Tabulation process.

“Along with our international partners, the UK believes the Nigerian people can have confidence in the result,” she said.

INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu early Wednesday morning declared President Muhammadu Buhari as the winner of the 23 February election, with 15,191,847 votes. His main challenger Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party scored 11, 262,978 votes.

But the PDP agent at the collation centre declined to sign the results and later Atiku also rejected the verdict and said he would challenge it in the court. In a press conference on Wednesday, Atiku ramped up the rejection by raising issues of ‘statistical impossibility’ about the results in some states of Nigeria.

The statement by the British minister was the first authentication of INEC result.

Baldwin congratulated President Muhammadu Buhari on securing a second term as president.

“I offer my congratulations to President Buhari on securing a second term as the Nigerian President”, she said in a statement released by the British High Commission in Abuja.

“The UK is a long-standing friend and partner of Nigeria and the Nigerian people and a stable and prosperous Nigeria benefits Africa and the world.”

Baldwin commended Nigerians for their resilience and commitment to democracy.

She, however, recognized the concerns expressed by Nigerians on the conduct of the electoral process, in particular logistics and results collation, and reports of intimidation of electoral officers.

The minister urged any party or individual who wished to challenge the process to do so peacefully and through the appropriate legal channel.

“We encourage Nigerian authorities to examine all allegations of wrongdoing carefully, and take the necessary action against individuals found responsible’’.

She also condoled with the families and friends of those who lost their lives in election-related violence.

“No one should die in the exercise of their democratic rights,” she stated.

She reiterated the continued support of the UK Government to Nigeria and its civil society

“in drawing lessons from these elections and strengthening its democracy”.

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has said that the Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has practically vindicated the APC claim that the opposition was working with some officials of Independence National Electoral Commission (INEC) to compromise the Presidential election.

Oshiomhole who addressed newsmen on Tuesday evening said it is clear that the only mission of the PDP candidate is creating confusion in the electoral system so that he will become President even it means presiding over graves.

He said only those who want to deploy thugs to undermine the elections will oppose or find fault with the statement of the President aimed at discouraging thuggery during the election.

Oshiomhole said the attention of the international community at the moment is that elections across the world should be violent free and assured that the forthcoming elections will be conducted in a free and fair atmosphere.

He says;

“It is only those who believe in thuggery that will find fault with the President’s directive. Is there anyone that would want to vote for thuggery? Is there any thug that is not armed. You cannot snatch ballot box without the aid of firearms. So, when the International community is talking about violence-free election, they are saying the election should be free of thuggery.

“You can see that the PDP is not at home with that because they imported thuggery, institutionalized it and have always fallen back on it as an instrument of rigging and to dominate the electorates. So, we debunk any attempt by Atiku to change the essence of the President’s statement.

”I believe the president spoke the kind of the average Nigerian who wants to go and vote and come home in peace without fear of being attacked. You know that thuggery is synonymous with violence and the world is unanimous that violence should be removed from the election. Atiku’s rejection exposes PDP for what they are. Their plans are to deploy thugs so that the election will be impossible or reduce voter turn out.

“To say that the APC Imported card readers are laughable and that the card readers have been deployed to the south south and southeast. The implication of this is, assuming it is true without conceding, it means that Atiku is working hand in hand with the ICT unit in INEC to know the kind of machines that are deployed to where.

“Recognizing that INEC is Independent, we are not able to know the kind of card readers INEC is deploying or where they were imported from. But if Atiku has all of these details, it can only mean that he is working hand in hand with people within INEC to know where machines are imported from and the fact that card readers can be programmed otherwise.

“We are not like stammers who look for a fight because they cannot win an argument. We believe that the electorates are ready to vote for us and we want those votes to take place in a free and fair atmosphere.

“I think that Nigerians should be United when it comes to the issue of a free and fair election. Our candidates also have the responsibility for peace and security of Nigerians. He has the duty to ensure that the life of the Nigerian electorate is protected as well as those of the observers. That is the responsibility of the commander in Chief.

“So, if Atiku finds fault in this, if anybody is pro thuggery, we are against thuggery and we are against violence. The International community should properly decode Atiku’s statement sling the president to withdraw his threat not against the electorates, but against would be thugs or merchants of violence.

“As far as I am concern, Atiku knows that he can’t win. In 2003 elections, he lost his base in Adamawa. He is on record to have procured a Senatorial seat for Prof. Jibrin Aminu. If he wants to go to court, I will meet him there and I will produce the first INEC documented report that announced the winners of those Senatorial seats.

“He also went on to rig the governorship election that was won by Hashidu in Gombe state. So, with Atiku as a leading player, Atiku has lost the election in Adamawa State and so, the fear of defeat is already down on him.

“We are ready for the elections and by the grace of God, Nigerians will vote for us and Atiku will remain a permanent presidential candidate which Nigerians never had.”

He said further that

“This afternoon, we monitored the statement by the PDP candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and the PDP national chairman, Uche Secondus in which they tried to distort the message which of the President who reassured Nigerians that he has given appropriate directive to security agents to ensure that Saturday election is free and fair.

“from the response of the PDP Candidate, it is clear that they have already conceded defeat. First, he claimed that he has two strongholds which he identified as south south and southeast. That is not true because I come from the south south and we are not voting Atiku. We have since dismantled the PDP machine in Edo state and Edo is the heartbeat of the Nation.

“Even If you take the statement in its face value, if Atiku concedes that out of six geopolitical zones, he has support, not in his own zone, but south south and southeast, the voting population in these two zones are jot enough to deliver the presidency to any candidate in Nigeria.

“Every peace loving Nigerian and those who wish Nigeria well are speaking one common language of free, fair and violent free election. What the President said and we are proud that he has the courage to say it that he has asked security agents to create an enabling environment for Nigerians to out and vote without fear that thugs will attack them and that security agents are going to put thugs in check. No peace loving Nigerian can find fault with that.

“I think it does expose PDP for what they are. Atiku as Vice President to Obasanjo was there in 2003 when people were killed by thugs. In my election in 2007, three young men were shut down by PDP thugs at Oba Primary school. So, no responsible candidate will find fault with any pronouncement that tends to discourage thuggery in the coming elections.

“So, for a man who is aspiring to preside over Nigeria to seek protection for thuggery is uncalled for. He has already said he will grant amnesty to looters. I don’t think Nigerians have any basis to doubt that Atiku’s mission is to set Nigeria on fire so that he can become President, even If he will preside over a graveyard.

“By the special grace of God, this election will come and pass, Nigerians will vote, no one will be harmed, no one will be intimidated. We believe that the President was right to say that anyone who resorts to violence will be dealt with.”

The President of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari has released an official statement in response to the Postponement of the 2019 Presidential Election from Feb 16 to Feb 23.

Read his statement;

I am deeply disappointed that despite the long notice given and our preparations both locally and internationally, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) postponed the Presidential and National Assembly elections within hours of its commencement.

Many Nigerians have traveled to various locations to exercise their right to vote, and international observers are gathered.

INEC themselves have given assurances, day after day and almost hour after hour that they are in complete readiness for the elections. We and all our citizens believed them.

This administration has ensured that we do not interfere in any way with the work of INEC except to ensure that all funds were released to the commission.

We now urge INEC to ensure not only that materials already distributed are safe and do not get into wrong hands, but that everything is done to avoid the lapses that resulted in this unfortunate postponement, and ensure a free and fair election on the rescheduled dates.

While I reaffirm my strong commitment to the independence, neutrality of the electoral umpire and the sanctity of the electoral process and ballot, I urge all political stakeholders and Nigerians to continue to rally round INEC at this trying national moment in our democratic journey.

I, therefore, appeal to all Nigerians to refrain from all civil disorder and remain peaceful, patriotic and united to ensure that no force or conspiracy derail our democratic development.