Sahara Reporters Latest News Tuesday 26th March 2019
Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 26/03/19
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target=_blank>BREAKING: Boko Haram Attempts To Invade Village Bordering Adamawa And Borno
Suspected Boko Haram insurgents on Monday evening made an attempt to capture Kopa Village in Madagali Local Government Area of Adamawa State, SaharaReporters can report.
However, they were repelled by troops of the Nigerian Army.
Luka Kwada, a resident of Kopa, had placed a distress call to SaharaReporters, saying the village had been taken over by the insurgents
“It’s all about gunshots right now in Kopa; we really don’t know what will happen to us in the next few hours, because the insurgents are here with us in Kopa,” he said.
But Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Othman Abubakar, said: “Yes, we have received information that terrorists have attempted to invade Kopa, a borderline village between Adamawa and Borno in Madagali Local Government Area.
“However, we’re aware that the miscreants have been repelled by troops of the Nigerian Armed Forces.”
Boko Haram terrorists have attempted to infiltrate the area in recent times. The latest hit was when the Union bank in Michika was bombed and plundered by the terrorists.
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target=_blank>BREAKING: No 2nd Term For Mohammed Abubakar… PDP’s Bala Mohammed Declared Bauchi Gov-Elect
Senator Bala Mohammed, governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bauchi State, has won the governorship election in the state.
Mohammed defeated Mohammed Abubakar, incumbent Governor of the state, and candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC).
After the collation of results by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday, including that of the much-debated Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area (LGA), Mohammed was announced winner of the election.
Dr. Musa Dahiru, the new collation officer, said PDP polled 39,225 votes against 30,055 votes polled by APC.
Total figure of registered voters at Tafawa Balewa LGA was 139,240; accredited voters were 74,181; total votes cast was 73,779; total valid votes, 73,041, and rejected votes were 738.
Before the final announcement of the results of Tafawa Balewa LGA on Monday, PDP had polled 475,888 votes against 470,570 votes secured by the APC.
However, with the addition of Tafawa Balewa LGA, PDP won with 515,113 votes against 500,625 votes secured by APC.
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target=_blank>UNCOVERED: How Akeredolu’s Aide Victor Olabimtan Led Thugs, Policemen To Kill, Snatch Ballot Boxes During Ondo Election
Facts have emerged on how the house of assembly election conducted on March 9, 2019, at Oba Akoko in Akoko South West Local Government Area of Ondo State resulted in violence that led to the death of seven persons.
The Ondo State House of Assembly election conducted in Oba Akoko witnessed violence, as some youth and security agencies in the town clashed during a protest over the snatching of ballox boxes by armed soldiers.
The violence, which lasted many hours, led to the destruction of properties running into millions of naira.
The youth were killed by stray bullets while trying to prevent the ballot boxes from being snatched.
The Divisional Police Headquarters in Oba Akoko was also nearly razed during the violence, while security vehicles parked in the premises of the station were destroyed with stones and burnt.
SaharaReporters’ investigation into the incident, however, revealed that Victor Olabimtan, Special Adviser to Rotimi Akeredolu, Governor of Ondo State, was behind the violence.
According to residents, Olabimtan, who was formerly a Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly, contracted the thugs and armed security men from outside the town.
Our correspondent, who visited Oba Akoko, learnt from the locals that the thugs were sighted a few days before the election while they were trying to locate the polling units.
The names of victims were given as Adams Ayodele, Ojo Kayode, Audu Ayodele, Nofisat Oriti, Lawal Alidu, Dejumo Adegoroye and Amuda Ahmed. Others are hospitalised at the facilities of Federal Medical Hospital, Owo.
On the night of the incident, Akeredolu had ordered that a curfew be placed on Oba Akoko, thereby hindering human and vehicular movement within and around the town.
A statement issued by Gbenga Ale, the Governor’s Chief of Staff, had instructed all citizens and commuters transiting Oba Akoko to remain indoors, and instructed the security agencies to take charge.
The curfew was enforced despite the appeal of the traditional rulers of the communities to address the youth of the town to cease fire.
On March 10, Akeredolu visited the town in the company of the Commissioner of Police, and condemned the mayhem. He also promised to set up a committee of inquiry to examine what led to the crisis.
In swift reaction, the Police Commissioner ordered that the event be investigated, a directive that led to the arrest of youth in the town, including a physically-impaired man later identified as Jimoh Ogunyemi, a.k.a. ‘Akala’, who suffers from hearing disability.
On March 13, Akeredolu set up a five-man committee chaired by Dr. Femi Awani, while Mr. J.T. Olayeye serves as the Secretary.
However, sources narrated what happened at the weekend to SaharaReporters.
Ige Ijabiyi, an eyewitness, said: “I am not scared to talk, and tell you my name, because it is what we all experienced and saw with our eyes. On that fateful Saturday (March 9), the election was going on peacefuly and we were in an orderly manner, casting our votes without rancour.
“Unfortunately, in the afternoon, precisely 2pm, the atmosphere change as the counting and sorting began, and we began to see strange faces in the polling units. These faces were not known in the communities, so we quickly had to inform the few security agencies in the polling units to be on alert.
“In fact, one of the police sergeants who was on ground assured us that nothing would happen, but we were not comfortable with his assurances.
“We had not finished complaining to the security agencies, when some mobile policemen stormed the PUs with guns and horsewhips and we were all scared.
“Before we they knew it, they started chasing our people away from the polling units and snatched all ballot boxes, including the INEC materials. It was just like a Nollywood scene as many of us got wounded.
“They snatched the ballot boxes and ran into a waiting Toyota Hilux van with no number plate, as they sped off while a black utility jeep followed them. In the process, one of us whose uncle is a driver in the Governor’s office quickly told us that the black jeep following the Hilux van belonged to a politician and we discovered it was Hon. Victor Olabimtan who was inside.
“We had to quickly run after the jeep as policemen in the vehicle began shooting to scare us away. We played safe by leaving them to go, and we called those in other polling units to tell them what had happened.”
Another source, who preferred not to be named, narrated how Olabimtan drove in the black utility jeep with the registration numbers OD10ZED with armed soldiers who were snatching ballot boxes in all the polling units visited.
He explained how the Governor’s aide was joined by Dapo Fasesin, a former Local Council Vice Chairman.
He said: “Yes it was same day of the election that we began to hear the news that they had started snatching the ballot boxes everywhere in the town. It was not up to three minutes that we saw this Hilux van and a black jeep filled with soldiers and armed policemen with double barrel guns.
“I saw the Governor’s aide, Mr. Victor Olabimtan, who came down from a black Jeep and started giving some instructions to the policemen while soldiers putting on dark glasses were guarding him.
“Olabimtan was joined by Dapo Fasesin. I saw the two politicians in Oba; they were moving up and down with two Hilux vans and a black jeep in full support of armed soldiers as they stopped to snatch ballot boxes in all the polling units close by. About six polling units were visited where they snatched ballot box that day.
“In fact, the main trouble started at ward 14 in Oba Akoko where these youth restisted the untoward action of the mobile policemen after they had succeeded in snatching the ballot boxes. They started shooting at the youth to scare them away. Angered by Olabimtan’s action, the youth of Oba Akoko blocked all the roads within Oba axis to prevent the Governor’s aide and his squad from taking the ballot boxes out of town.
“It was the armed mobile policemen in the vehicle of Hon. Olabimtan that came down to remove the blockade and opened fire on the youth, killing at least two persons on the spot as the remaning of us fled the scene.
“We called the Police in Oba Akoko for help, but they refused to show up and that was how Olabimtan and his security squad terrorised the town for close to four hours, shooting sporadically.”
A cleric in Oba Akoko town also told Saharareporters: “It was a sad day here for us because those who were bestowed with positions of authority used the power they have against the people they are suppose to protect.
“I saw them myself as they brought in the soldiers and policemen who were snatching ballot boxes mostly at the polling unit in St. Peter’s Church, while shooting at some youth who tried to resist them. Some powerful politicians came to the town with armed policemen and thugs, snatching ballot boxes and asking the people to move away.
“They are doing that in this civilized society and you expect the people, mostly youth whose votes are being stolen, to watch on and not react.
“Honestly, for close to four hours, it was gunshots everywhere, including teargas as those ones deployed to provide security too started making indiscriminate arrest of the people who ran for safety in the church and mosques around them.”
A youth of Oba Akoko, who simply identified himself as Orile, also told SaharaReporters during a visit how the police protected the ballot box snatchers.
“It is so unfortunate that truth has no place in our politics again. This very day we are talking about, we saw Hon. Olabimtan moving around with soldiers and policemen with thugs snatching ballot boxes.
“One thing we all know is that the electoral violence unleashed on the youth and people of Oba Akoko was well-planned and executed by Hon. Olabimtan and Hon Fasesin. So, the two politicians must be made to face the full wrath of the law, because these two figures are still moving about freely and even threatening us the youth of Oba-Akoko with death because we know them and have all promised to exposed them.
“Worse still is that useless DPO of Oba Akoko Division, who was ordering all his officers to shoot at us for preventing the ballot boxes from being snatched by those brought in by Olabimtan.
“We protested peacefully to the Police Station in Oba to register our grievances about how they (Police) failed to show up when we needed them most. Surprisingly, the DPO ordered his men to immediately open fire on us.
“First, they threw teargas canisters and when they discovered we were not afraid, they started shooting at us, wounding so many people.”
SaharaReporters exclusively learnt that the damage done on the police station led to the arrest of the some people in the town.
Confirming the arrest, Femi Joseph, spokesperson of the Ondo State Police Command, said 20 youth were arrested.
He said: “We arrested about 20 of them after they attacked our men in Oba Akoko and also destroyed the Police Station, including the vehicles parked in the premises.
“Some of our men who were attacked were even on their way to collation centres when they ambushed them and in an attempt to defend themselves, one or two of the youth were shot dead.”
Meawhile, feelers from the Ondo State Police headquarters indicate that some of the arrested youth were set free last week. Those released, it was learnt, were freed due to the intervention of community leaders and elders in the town who repeatedly appealed to the Governor to intervene.
However, youth in the town have written a letter to Akeredolu insisting that Olambitan must face justice.
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target=_blank>EXCLUSIVE: Aisha Buhari Wants Boss Mustapha Replaced In New Cabinet Over Adamawa Politics
Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), may have incurred the wrath of the wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, for his role in the political logjam currently threatening the peace of Adamawa state.
Consequently, she is currently plotting his replacement in the new cabinet, for daring to oppose her political preferences in their home state of Adamawa.
The SGF and Mrs. Buhari, SaharaReporters learnt, have differed sharply on the choice of the next Governor of the state. While Aisha Buhari is allegedly not disposed to having Jibrilla Bindow reelected for a second term, Mustapha would simply damn the consequences to have Bindow return.
As gathered, Mustapha and Bindow have sealed a succession pact, meaning all things being equal, the former will succeed the latter in 2023. Mustapha, it would be recalled, lost the APC ticket to Bindow in 2015.
This perhaps in a sense defines the clash of interests between Aisha and her husband’s appointee, which of course, manifested way back during the governorship nomination process of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Mustapha, as gathered, interfaced with the Adams Oshiomhole-led party hierarchy for Bindow to emerge, to the chagrin of the First Lady and her preferred candidate, Mahmood Halilu Ahmed, who is better known as Modi.
But it was not only Aisha who suffered the humiliating defeat, because, like her, former SGF Babachir Lawal and Mohammed Buba Marwa both felt that Bindow had shown deficiencies in many ways, as such, he should be upstaged.
The trio had backed Modi to take over from Bindow on grounds of alleged incompetence. But SGF Mustapha defied them all and managed to secure the party’s ticket for Bindow.
Against this background, the wife of the president had openly campaign against Bindow after President Muhammadu Buhari’s reelection.
Aisha Buhari, who hails from Adamawa State, is known for her outspokenness, so she had no qualms openly criticising the leadership style of Bindow and urging the electorate to vote him out.
Speaking in Hausa parlance, an audio of which went viral on social media platforms just a week to the March 9 governorship election, Aisha had said: “As an indigene of Adamawa myself, I want to use this medium to call on our people to vote credible leaders this time.
“Recall even my husband had counselled voters to vote wisely this time round. I’m here to stress just the same issue; don’t return to power people who are wont to deception and lies.”
She further counselled the electorate thus: “Do not repeat the mistake of voting people with questionable academic credentials; we need leaders who have enough education to govern our state”.
However, the SGF thinks differently, as he has always defied Mrs. Buhari on Adamawa politics, especially on how she would want leaders to emerge.
On the inconclusive Governorship election, sources said the First Lady has been worried since news of Adamawa’s inconclusive governorship election broke out.”She is particularly concerned about how the situation may threaten the fragile peace of the state,” a source said.
Madam Buhari, the source further said, was dismayed to have heard that SGF Mustapha was allegedly bankrolling the lawsuit of the Movement of Restoration for Defence of Democracy (MRDD), and its governorship candidate, Rev. Eric Theman.
It is widely speculated that Mustapha is footing the legal cost in the ongoing MRDD suit aimed at canceling the inconclusive governorship election, to clear the coast for fresh polls, hoping to achieve Bindow’s reelection at all cost.
But the wife of the President feels the move is capable of setting the state on fire, just as Babachir, who belongs to her camp, has already called on Bindow to concede defeat to Ahmed Umar Fintiri, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate.
Saharareporters had reported that Babachir Lawal and other prominent politicians from Adamawa want Bindow to concede defeat and give peace a chance in the state.
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target=_blank>Catholic Priest Kidnapped In Kaduna
Reverend Father John Bako Shekwolo, the Parish Priest of St. Theresa Catholic Church, Ankwa Kachia Local Government Area of Kaduna State, has been abducted.
News of his abduction was disclosed by Revd Fr. Daniel Kyon, the Chancellor of Kaduna Archdiocese, via a statement issued in Kaduna on Monday.
The priest was abducted in the early hours of Monday.
Catholic faithful in the diocese have been urged to pray for his safety.
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E2%80%99s-wife%E2%80%99s-aide-diverts-part-over-n1bn-being target=_blank>EXCLUSIVE: Rumpus In Oyo Govt House As Ajimobi’s Wife’s Aide Diverts Part Of Over N1bn Being Illegally Moved Out Overnight
Ajimobi at the commissioning of the excavators
There is rumpus in the Oyo State Government House following the diversion of part of over N1billion moved out of the State House by Abiola Ajimobi, Governor of the state, between Friday night and Saturday morning.
SaharaReporters confirmed from two separate sources that Jumoke Ologbenla, one of the aides of Florence Ajimobi, the Oyo State First Lady, was the one detailed to oversee the relocation of the money from the State House in Agodi to the private residence of the Ajimobis in Oluyole.
The money, it was gathered, was moved in a bus with detachable seats, with Ologbenla seated at the back to monitor the relocation.
It was subsequently discovered, on arrival at the destination, that the money was incomplete.
“There are several young women like Ologbenla in the Oyo Government House,” a source told SaharaReporters. “And lately they’ve been very desperate to make quick money. You know, they don’t know the plans of the Ajimobis for them as their tenure expires in May, so they feel the remaining eight weeks in government is their opportunity, and they have to use it.”
SaharaReporters was made to understand that many young women like Ologbenla were appointed as aides to the Oyo State Government from Grandex, a company widely known to be owned by the Ajimobis.
“The strategy is to appoint them as special assistants or special advisers, but their real job is to launder money for the Governor and his wife,” the second source said. “In fact, you see that Grandex, their buses are fueled at the Government House every day. If you come to the State House very early, like 6am, you will see those buses coming out. After being filled with petrol.”
It was said that Ologbenla probably thought the money was not counted; however, when the amount was verified, it was found out to be incomplete.
Although she was said to have repeatedly deny having anything to do with the money, she has been threatened to go look for it.
When SaharaReporters called Ologbenla, whose husband, Soji Olgbenla is a former SSA on Special Duties to the Governor and a native of Ile-Ife who contested for the Ooni of Ife’s throne with Adeyeye, she sounded jittery.
She abruptly ended the call when the money was mentioned, only to call back a few minutes later to say: “You were speaking, I couldn’t hear you. Who is this? How can I help you?”
When the money was mentioned, she replied: “Then your sources must be stupid and I don’t know… Your sources must be wrong. I think you should go back to your sources. I don’t know anything about that. I don’t know anything about that and I think you guys should stop peddling rumours and what is not, so I think you should confirm from your sources again.”
SaharaReporters understands that the money in question is part of the largesse from the national secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Oyo State Governor to deliver the state for the party in the last general election, but it was not spent.
Part of it was also said to be from the state’s Internally Generated revenue (IGR) for the month of February, which was not remitted to the state purse, and also money made by Ajimobi from the “overrated” 33 excavators disbursed to local governments by the Governor on Friday.
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target=_blank>BREAKING: INEC Resumes Collation Of Bauchi Gov Election Results, To Name Winner Today
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has resumed collation of results of the supplementary governorship election in Bauchi State.
The resumption comes hours after a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja dismissed the suit of Mohammed Abubakar, incumbent Governor of the state and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), challenging INEC’s decision to conclude, collate and announce the governorship election result from Tafawa Balewa Local Government in Bauch State.
Festus Okoye, National Commissioner of INEC who disclosed the resumption on Monday evening, said “the collation has commenced, and the suspended process will be cncluded today”.
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target=_blank>To Prevent The Saraki Scenario of 2015, APC Begins Moves To Secure Key House Of Reps Positions
Adams Oshiomhole, National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has said that the party is working on a sensible zoning arrangement on how the leadership of National Assembly will emerge.
He disclosed this on Monday in Abuja at a joint meeting of the National Working Committee (NWC) with party members-elect of the House of Representatives.
He assured them that the party would consultat with President Muhammadu Buhari and all the leaders of the party and reflect their decisions in making legislative appointees, as stipulated in the constitution of the party.
“We will carry out consultation with President Muhammadu Buhari and all the leaders of the party and reflect the reality of appointees as reflected in our constitution, which recognised the geo-political regions of our country so that we will work out a sensible zoning formula that seems to carry everybody along and give people chances to demonstrate their capacity and capability ”
Oshiomhole said that the party, with its overwhelming majority in the House of Representatives, will use its numbers to elect the leadership of the house.
“We have the numbers to produce the Speaker and we will produce the Speaker who must be a member of APC,” he added.
“We have the numbers and we will use the numbers to produce the Deputy Speaker, who must be a member of APC. So I will expect you bear in mind that we are one family bonded together as shown in our broom with a sheer commitment to take Nigeria out of the condition we found it in 2015.
“You have the numbers and we would use those numbers to ensure that we have a leadership that command trust and respect of all the members of House of Representatives. There will be contestation; that is why we are in democracy. But after the contestation and debate, we have to agree and once we have agreed we move forward.”
He stressed that all the chairmen of the committee except that of Public Account Committee, which is statutorily reserved for the opposition, must be occupied by APC members.
He explained that the party would not be a victim of what happened in the eighth Assembly, where members of the ruling party became spectators in the management of the affairs of the committees while the opposition had majority of strategic committees.
“I think the only position that we are not interested in is Minority Leader,” he said.
“We will not share power in House of Representatives and the leadership must ensure that critical committees are chaired only by APC members. If Nigerian people wanted opposition to be the chairmen of committees, they would have voted for them.”
He stated that the party was aware of moves by the opposition to employ ‘divide and rule’ strategy in sponsoring members within APC to contest for the positions, thereby breaking their ranks.
“Honourable members I assure you that we are not going to do any business with them,” Oshiomhole said.
“We will see them as partners in progress but in democracy there is rule and it is a universal rule. The majority must have their way and minority must be allowed to have their say. So PDP as minority can have their say and will have their say. But working together, APC must have its way in the legislative agenda and in the leadership of National Assembly and the leadership of the committees ”
“We will ensure that we have a leadership of the National Assembly that shares the vision of the Executive. Although we stick to separation of powers, but unless the various arms pursue the same agenda, it is difficult for the Executive to fulfil its promises and legislative backing is often required for most of the executive actions.”
APC held Monday’s meeting with reps-elect to forestall the scenario in 2015 when it favoured Ahmed Lawan for Senate President and Femi Gbajabiamila for House of Reps Speaker, only for some desperate politicking to see Bukola Saraki, then of the APC, enter an alliance with PDP senators to emerge Senate President, same way Yakubu Dogara rather than Gbajabiamila emerged House of Reps Speaker. As part of the trade-off, Ike Ekweremadu, a minority lawmaker, emerged Deputy Senate President; while Yusuf Lasun, another minority lawmaker, emerged Deputy Speaker.
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target=_blank>VIDEO: AAC’s Ex-Dep Gov Candidate Exposes How Amaechi Planned To Rig The Election With Army, Police, DSS, F-SARS
Akpo Bomba Yeeh, former deputy governorship candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in Rivers State, has revealed how Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of Transport and Director General of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, planned to rig the state’s governorship election using officials of the Nigeria Army, Police, Department of State Service (DSS) and the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (F-SARS).
Yeeh made the revelation on Monday at a press conference in Port Harcourt, capital of the state, where he announced his defection from the AAC to the Peoples Demovcratic Party (PDP).
He said after he and Biokpomabo Awara emerged the deputy governorship and governorship candidates of the party, there were no campaign actvities to signify their readiness for the election.
“However, 72 hours to the elections, we received the good news that the AAC had been adopted by the Honourable Rotimi Amaechi-led faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the governorship election, having been barred by the court from fielding any candidate for the general election in the state, save for the presidential election,” he said..
“In adopting the AAC, Rotimi Amaechi emphatically assured us that he was going to fund and do every other thing under the sun to give us victory at the polls.
“He further disclosed to us that he had already assembled security personnel drawn from the Nigerian Army, the Police, DSS and FSARS to provide adequate security cover and embattlement for members of the AAC and APC to effectively rig the governorship election and have us declared as winners come March 9, 2019.”
But he explained that these promises came with stringent conditions “that confer de facto governance on the Minister of Transport”.
“First, he must be the one to appoint 90% of all political office holders, including commissioners, special advisers, chairmen and members of government boards, agencies and parastatals.
Video of AAC's Ex-Dep Gov Candidate Exposes How Amaechi Planned To Rig The Election
AAC’s Ex-Dep Gov Candidate Exposes How Amaechi Planned To Rig The Election
“Second, he must be the one to nominate and produce all the 23 local government counciI chairmen and other principal officers of the councils. We, that is Engineer Biokpomabo and my humble self, must consult and take insructions from him on all financial policy and fiscal matters, as well as the award and payment of contracts and other financial transactions upon our inauguration as governor and Deputy Governor of the state.”
Yeeh added that in addition, he was forced to “sign an un-dated letter of resignation as the Deputy Governor of Rivers State to pave way for Rotimi Amaechi to nominate another person of his choice as Deputy Governor”.
“These were slavish conditions for any rational politician worth his name to accept, but I pretended to play along because doing otherwise at that time would have been too dangerous for the safety of my life, given Rotimi Amaechi’s unconcealed desperation to remove Governor Nyesom Wike from office and install his stooge in the person of Engr Awara against all odds,” he said.
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APC Asks DSS To Investigate PDP Over ‘Illegal Access’ To INEC Server
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has petitioned the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and the Department of State Service (DSS), accusing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of illegally accessing the server of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
In the petition dated March 25, 2019, and addressed to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the DSS Director General, Festus Keyamo, spokesman of the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation, urged the security agencies to question the leadership of the PDP on their claims relating to the INEC server.
Noting that Atiku Abubakar, the PDP presidential candidate, who rejected the outcome of the just-concluded presidential election, not only made “outlandish claims” in his case filed before the Elections Petition Tribunal, he also made reference to the INEC server.
Keyamo accused the PDP of hacking into the INEC server and inputing false figures.
He, therefore, called on the security agencies to respond to the petition with “alacrity”.
The letter read: “It would be recalled that an Electoral (Amendment) Bill containing the provision for electronic transmission of results to INEC’s central computer system (otherwise called “server”) was sent to President Muhammadu Buhari by the National Assembly for assent late in the year 2018. Despite the shortness of time before the Presidential/National Assembly Elections, and the lack of time to first simulate the process to ensure its effectiveness in a country like ours with problems of effective networks in many rural areas and constant failure of technological devices, together with its violation of the time frame of such laws as provided for in regional and continental Protocols in terms of the length of time required for the passage of such laws before any major election, the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party was hell-bent that the President should sign the Bill into law.
“That was the first indication that the main opposition was up to something sinister regarding the electronic transmission of the results. Upon the last-minute postponement of the February 16, 2019 Presidential/National Assembly Elections, the nation was shocked to see already prepared presidential elections results floating around in the cyber space just less than 24 hours after the postponed election was originally billed to hold! The fake results had details of the scores of the candidates of the major parties. Of course, the fake results gave victory to the candidate of the PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, even when elections did not hold. The only conclusion one can draw from the above is that the PDP had prepared those results which were to be smuggled into the INEC Server. However, the sudden postponement of the election scuttled that evil plan, but it was too late to restrain the release of the fake results.
“The proper elections were held on February 23, 2019 and President Muhammadu Buhari declared the winner. Despite the approval of the elections as credible by nearly all local and international observers (except some few known PDP acolytes masquerading as local observers), the PDP cried foul and made a shocking claim: it claimed that from purported results it obtained from INEC’s server, it has so-called proof that its candidate won the election by about 1.6million votes! Shockingly and coincidentally, this margin was about the same margin by which it also purportedly “won” by the fake results released just hours after the postponement of the February 16, 2019 Presidential/National Assembly Elections. As if this expensive joke was not enough, the PDP and its Presidential Candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, have gone ahead to file an Election Petition against the clear victory of President Muhammadu Buhari and have repeated the same outlandish claim of having access to INEC’s server which shows that they have some purported results at their disposal giving “victory” to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
“Sirs, we wish you to note that INEC’s server is the back end of electronic records of INEC. This is not INEC’s website but its server! Although, the purported results have been conclusively shown by public engagements to be false and even ridiculous, especially as the total number of accredited voters is exactly equivalent to the purported votes of the APC and PDP candidates, this criminal claim of the PDP has revealed a few things: It is now clear that some criminally-minded PDP operatives have access to the INEC server to be able to smuggle in fake results into that server. The only means by which they could have access to the INEC server is by the criminal hacking of the server or through the criminal conspiracy of some INEC officials.
“The APC Presidential Campaign Council hereby prays that the Inspector-General of Police and the Director-General of the Department of State Services use your good offices to investigate the hacking of and/or illegal tampering with the INEC server by the PDP. The leadership of the PDP must be invited, interrogated and investigated and those identified as perpetrators must be arrested and prosecuted. Opposition is healthy in a democracy but it is not a license for criminality and illegality. A country governed by laws cannot be blackmailed or cowed into indolence by the perceived underdog status of the opposition so as to condone such a blatant criminal claim by the PDP of having illegal access to INEC’s server. We trust you will act with alacrity.”
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SaharaReporters, New York
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