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2023 general election

May 29: Group says nothing will stop Tinubu’s inauguration in grand style

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A pro-democracy and anti-sabotage organisation on the platform of The Natives, has indicated that no amount of opposition against the innauguration of the President Elect will prevail b3cause Nigeria is not a jungle.
The group spoke against the backdrop of the Joe Ajaero-led Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) who threatened to scuttle inauguration of the President-elect Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as the 16th Nigerian President on May 29.

A Northern group under the umbrella of Arewa Youth Assembly (AYA) had uncovered plans by the leadership of the NLC in connection with some groups were planning to actualise the ulterior motive against Tinubu’s inauguration.

Ajaero had in his May Day speech hit hard on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) accusing it of flawed general elections that produced Bola Tinubu as President-elect.

But in a statement released Sunday in Abuja, the Supreme Leader of the Natives, Hon. Smart Edwards, said Nigeria is anot a jungle where there is no law and order, declaring Tinubu will be inaugurated in grand style contrary to all the threats.

The Natives is made up of different ethnic groups, cultures, Languages and tribes across Nigeria with over twenty million members nationwide.

Edward said NLC has lost credibility to speak for
all Nigerians since it chose to be partisan in the last general election.

According to Edwards, Tinubu is not a novice and also not an accidental politician, he is an accomplished political icon, a strategist and an asset to Nation’s democracy, economy and global development.

“Bola Ahmed Tinubu will be inaugurated in grand style as the 16th President of Nigeria.

“The Natives are already rolling out the drums as Nigeria prepares to witness the first opposition leader turned National Leader and elected as the 16th President of Nigeria. A Comrade, a June 12 advocate, a Senator, a Governor, a negotiator of political power with all past and incumbent Presidents in Nigeria, a builder of men, mentor and supporter of the Labour movement.”

The group, however, cautioned those nursing plans to forment trouble before the inauguration, including the NLC to perish such thought.

“We are the Natives of all tribes and languages. We are the real voters and we can’t wait for Tinubuto be inaugurated as the next President of this country.

“So, we advise all and sundry to perish the thought of protests or scuttling the inauguration but galvanize their members and supporters to join in the progress ahead of us all.

“Asiwaju will be different and all he needs is our collaboration and Labour has a major role to play in this,” Edwards said.

While commending the government of United States of America on the recent phone conversation with the President-elect, The Natives said such is a genuine leap in the right direction.

He said: “Nigerians have moved on from the deceptive and self centered negotiations of NLC. We all believed in the Labour union in the past, their tactics and even their combative actions but today it has led itself into a quagmire albeit politically expedient.

“2023 election chronicles their decline from speaking for all, the helpless, poor and disenfranchised citizens, to becoming representatives of politicians and saboteurs themselves.

“In the last general election, NLC’s foray into politics and its mode of choice of candidates threw the gates open to all manner of unknown and unpredictable people, it left the shores of tested comrades to uncharted depths.

“NLC’s inability to mitigate influx of mixed multitudes into their midst means it is likely to imbibe the culture of politicians with the same outcome from political actors by their choices, which they easily condemned in the past. This is even evident in the current squabbles it is awashed with, given the accusations and counter accusations that lead to the despicable act of its political actors at the Presidential Tribunal.”

Edward added that for NLC to reclaim its disappearing image and confidence, “it must take some courage to reset, rethink and restore the hopes of the common man which was historically vested in the Labuor movement to which we all participated as students, youth activists and civil society etc.

“The NLC must know the difference and relationship between its party, the workers and non workers. You cannot threaten the inauguration of a tested democrat, a symbol and face of doggedness, resistance and consistency in the liberation struggle for this democracy we now enjoy. As a known promoter of the labor movement, stampeding TINUBU inauguration is impossible, because there are far many Nigerians that are excited and attracted to the Renewed Hope mandate than are in Labuor movement or its party.”

The group commended the President-elect on his efforts to unite the country even before he takes over the mantle of leadership.

“In the last few months after the election, we have seen the tendency and temerity of a tested negotiator, a thinker and a doer, not distracted but determined and driven by collective goal for a better Nigeria.

“We have seen Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in opposition state of Rivers, uniting different political players (Wike and Abe), that is in the greater interest of Rivers state. Also, Asiwaju is seen engaging another opposition figure, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, a royal father like Sanusi Lamido. These are commendable efforts to unite the country.”

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2023 general election

2023 polls: Abdulsalami Peace Committee opens up on pressure to ask for cancellation

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Abdulsalami Abubakar

The National Peace Committee (NPC) has opened up on pressure it faced to intervene in the 2023 Presidential Election results. During a report presentation in Abuja, led by General Abdulsalami Abubakar, the committee disclosed that it received numerous requests to push the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to halt results collation or cancel the election due to alleged violations of the electoral act.

Key issues included concerns about the 25% vote threshold requirement for the Federal Capital Territory, with some advocates calling for a runoff.

The NPC emphasized its role as a moral authority rather than a regulatory body, highlighting its mandate to promote peace and compliance with the law, without the power to arrest or punish violators.
The committee acknowledged a gap in public understanding of its functions and the importance of moral persuasion in fostering electoral integrity and peace.

Before presenting the report to the public, the committee had earlier met with the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu and other management staff of the commission where it was briefed on the electoral umpire’s preparation for the forthcoming Governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states.

Other members of the committee are Okoh Ebitu Ukiwe (Vice Chairman); Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah (Convener); Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III; John Cardinal Onaiyekan; business icons, Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola; Vanguard Newspapers Publisher, Sam Amuka Pemu; Ameze Guobadia; Idayat Hassan; Dame Priscilla Kuye; Gen. Martin Luther Agwai; Mahmud Yayale Ahmed; Channels TV owner, John Momoh; Roseline Ukeje; and, Fr. Atta Barkindo, its Head of Secretariat.

Part of the report reads; “As the election day progressed, criticisms and counter criticisms became abundant. The NPC was already being faced with a flurry of phone calls and the need to call INEC to order.

“The Peace Committee was flooded with requests for intervention. Both the Chairman of the Committee, General Abdulsalami A. Abubakar, the Convener, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah and the Head of NPC Secretariat, Fr. Atta Barkindo, were inundated with calls, requests, and petitions demanding the intervention of the NPC.

“Some of the requests wanted the NPC to prevail on INEC to stop collating election results because there were gross violations and lack of compliance with the electoral act. Others demanded that the tenets of the Peace Accord signed were not adhered to and therefore the Committee should call for cancellation of the election entirely.

“The most significant call was related to the 25% threshold for Abuja as the Federal Capital Territory. Some of the analysts who reached out to the committee asked that the final election result should not be announced because the resumptive president-elect did not score the required 25% as stated in the electoral act. If anything, there should be a runoff.

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2023 general election

EU reports: LP says FG is feebly adopting face saving measures

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***EU only hit the nail on the head

The leadership of the Labour Party has countered the Federal Government of Nigeria for discrediting the European Union’s conclusion on the 2023 General Election wherein it faulted the modalities by which the conclusion was reached.
It reiterated what it believed as the accurate testament of the European Union’s conclusion on the 2023 general elections which merely hit the nail on the head.
A statement by the National Publicity Secretary Obiora Ifoh said,
“Eropean Union’s Conclusion on the 2023 general elections are nit Jaundiced but accurate Testament of the outcome of the FG and INEC alliance to change the will of the electorate.”
“We see this face-saving measure by the Federal Government which is coming days after the submission of the report as feeble and medicine after death.

“It will interest the government to note that the European Union’s report is only one out of numerous submissions by other international Observers who have described the outcome of the election as a sham and an exercise that did not reflect the will of the majority of Nigerians.

“Labour Party stands by the position of the EU observation mission. We have always said that this election was massively rigged in favour of the APC and their candidate.
“What the FG is saying is just an afterthought and a shameless effort to mask the obvious. Even the blind can see, the deaf can hear and they know this election was manipulated.
“Huge pieces of evidence abound for even the deaf and the blind to hear and feel. We are only hoping that the judiciary will dispense justice without fear or favour in the interest of the nation and posterity.
“Nigerians already know the true winner of the 2023 presidential election and no amount of slandering, denial, or rebuttal can change the fact that the party in power has no mandate of the electorate.

“We must also note that whatever position the INEC has taken is with active connivance with the Federal Government to deny the electorate and it clearly shows that INEC is not in any way independent.
“The Commission’s action is at the whims and caprices of the government and we know it. But Nigerians looking to the Judiciary for justice. That’s where we stand.”

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2023 general election

FG tackles EU over report on 2023 general elections

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The Federal Government has countered the European Union’s report on the 2023 general elections, describing the conclusions therein as “jaundiced”.
The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Special Duties, Communications and Strategy gave the indication in a statement on Sunday.

“We urge the EU and other foreign interests to be objective in all their assessments of the internal affairs of our country and allow Nigeria to breathe,”
According to him, the February 25, 2023 presidential election was “clearly and fairly” won by Tinubu, the then candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC).

He also advised that the EU allow Nigeria to breathe and not meddle in the affairs of the country.

“We find it preposterous and unconscionable that in this day and age, any foreign organisation of whatever hue can continue to insist on its own yardstick and assessment as the only way to determine the credibility and transparency of our elections,” he said.

He said the presidency was not unaware of the “machinations of the European Union to sustain its, largely, unfounded bias and claims on the election outcomes”.

Alake further stated that there is no substantial evidence provided by the EU or any foreign and local organisation that is viable enough to impeach the integrity of the 2023 election outcomes.

“We would like to know and even ask EU, how it reached the conclusions in the submitted final report with the very limited coverage of the elections by their observers who, without doubt, relied more on rumours, hearsay, cocktails of prejudiced and uninformed social media commentaries and opposition talking heads,” he stated.

“We have many reasons to believe the jaundiced report, based on the views of fewer than 50 observers, was to merely sustain the same premature denunciatory stance contained in EU’s preliminary report released in March.

“We strongly reject, in its entirety, any notion and idea from any organisation, group and individual remotely suggesting that the 2023 election was fraudulent.”

The media aide said Nigeria has put the elections behind, and Tinubu is facing the task of nation-building.

“As a country, we have put the elections behind us. President Tinubu is facing the arduous task of nation-building, while those who have reasons to challenge the process continue to do so through the courts.”

On June 27, 2023, the EU presented its report on the 2023 elections in Nigeria to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The EU said the election exposed enduring systemic weaknesses and therefore signaled a need for further legal and operational reforms to enhance transparency, inclusiveness and accountability.

The EU also identified six areas for improvement in Nigeria’s electoral process moving forward.

Some of the key areas listed by the Mission are ambiguities in the law, the establishment of a publicly accountable process for the selection of the INEC members, ensuring real-time publication of results as well as access to election results.

It also highlighted the need for protection for media practitioners while decrying the discrimination against women in elective and appointed positions as well as impunity regarding electoral offences.

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