Category: Politics

A 13-year-old suicide bomber blew himself up at a wedding early Friday in eastern Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, killing five people and injuring 11 others, police officials said. The Taliban, who have pledged to try to reduce civilian casualties, denied responsibility for the blast in Nangarhar province. The area close to the Pakistan border is teeming with other insurgent organisations including the ISIS group, who have carried out previous attacks. “This morning at 8:00 am (0330 GMT), a suicide bomber detonated himself at a wedding ceremony”, Attaullah Khogyani, the Nangarhar governor’s…

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Three officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, yesterday, maintained that results of the February 23 presidential election were electronically transmitted to a central server. This is even as a witness, Mr. Mohammed Tata, alleged that he was compelled under duress to sign the presidential election result in his polling unit. The three INEC officials, who took turns to testify before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja, separately, explained that information captured with the Smart Card Reader machines, were transmitted to the server, using a code they…

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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has been accused by two Supreme Court justices, Kumai Akaas and Paul Galinje, of rigging the Osun State governorship election in favour of Gboyega Oyetola, the state governor. The Supreme Court on Friday affirmed the election of Gboyega Oyetola as governor of Osun State. The majority of justices on the seven-man panel of the court dismissed the appeal of Senator Ademola Adeleke challenging the declaration of  Oyetola as the winner of the election. However, justices Akaas and Galinje, in a minority decision, argued that the courts should have given attention…

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The application filed by Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for access to inspect the server and data of smart card readers used by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the presidential election of February 23, 2019 has been denied by the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) yesterday. Atiku was the presidential candidate of the PDP in the election. The five-man panel headed by Justice Mohammed Garba yesterday ruled that granting the application would imply that the court had delved into and resolved the contentious issue of…

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Allegation has been made against the immediate past governor of Bauchi State, Mohammad Abubakar, by the new state government that N2.3 billion was spent on funeral materials and burials between January and May. Spokesperson to Governor Bala Mohammed, Ladan Salihu, yesterday, said that the figure was contained in the handover note passed down to the transition committee in May. According to him, “how could you imagine that a state governor, between January and the time of elections, spent N2.3 billion on funeral materials (clothes, robes, and woods). “The immediate past…

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The Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, has been faulted by the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) on Friday, for allegedly sacrificing competence by withdrawing the appointment of Dr Festus Adedayo as his Special Adviser on Media based on pressure from the chieftains of the present administration and ruling All Progressives Congress. It said Lawan, by his action, has confirmed the fear of many Nigerians that the Senate under his leadership will be an annex of the executive arm of government. The CUPP’s position was contained in a statement made available…

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An Israeli court Sunday convicted the wife of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of fraudulently using state funds for meals, under a plea bargain which dropped more severe charges. While the ruling cut short a high-profile trial, the Netanyahu family’s legal woes are far from over: the veteran premier himself faces possible indictment for bribery, fraud and breach of trust in the coming months. In a deal approved by judge Avital Chen at Jerusalem magistrates’ court, Sara Netanyahu was found guilty of using the errors of government accounting staff to bypass…

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The European Union observer mission has said that Nigeria’s 2019 general elections were not transparent and were marred by violence and harassment of voters. “Overall, the EU EOM concluded the 2019 elections were marked by severe operational and transparency shortcomings, electoral security problems and low turnout,” said EU Chief Observer, Maria Arena, at a press conference in Abuja on Saturday. The EU, which submitted its final report on the poll on Friday, said the elections were “marred by violence and intimidation, with the role of the security agencies becoming more…

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Olusegun Obasanjo, former Nigeria President, has said the country is moving towards disaster under President Muhammadu Buhari. Obasanjo, who spoke in an interview, said the economy was unstable, adding that the current administration had destroyed the war against corruption, which he said  started during his administration The former Head of State  backed the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, ahead of the  February 23 presidential election. He based his decision on the situation in the country, saying Buhari, who he accused of nepotism, was also too old to run…

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