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#NigeriaDecides: Tinubu May Be Declared Next President-Elect

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#NigeriaDecides: Tinubu Defeats Atiku In Jigawa, Wins 19 Of 27 LGAs
All progressive presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu

Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of Nigeria’s ruling party, APC, has won the majority of votes in the nationwide presidential election held on Saturday.

While the official results have not yet been announced at the national collation center in Abuja, electoral officials in all 36 states and Abuja have released the state-by-state results.

According to INEC official results shows that Tinubu leads his closest challenger, Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, with over 1.8 million votes after the summation of results from the 36 states and Abuja

Tinubu, the former governor of Lagos State, has so far garnered 8,794,491 votes. He also won the elections in 12 states.

Atiku scored 6,984,290 votes and he also won in 12 states.

The Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi, is following closely with 12 states won and 6,093,962 votes garnered.

In fourth position is Rabiu Kwankwaso who has 1,496,671 votes and won a state – Kano State.

Tinubu won the elections in Rivers, Borno, Jigawa, Zamfara, Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Niger, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo, Oyo and Ogun states.

Atiku won in Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Kaduna, Gombe, Yobe, Bauchi, Adamawa and Taraba states. He also won in Osun, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa states.

Obi won in Edo, Cross River, Delta, Lagos, FCT, Plateau, Imo, Ebonyi, Nasarawa, Anambra, Abia and Enugu states.

Apart from scoring the constitutionally required majority votes, Tinubu also appears to have met the second requirement of 25 per cent of the votes in 25 states (two-thirds of Nigeria’s 36 states and Abuja).

Based on the INEC results, Tinubu has a minimum of 25 per cent in 30 states. Atiku has a minimum of 25 per cent in 21 states while Obi scored a minimum of 25 per cent in 17 states.

As of 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday, the final collation of results was still ongoing at the national collation centre in Abuja.

At that centre, apart from reviewing the total votes scored by each candidate and the 25 per cent spread, officials will also review the total number of cancelled votes across all the states.

The figures would be computed to check if the cancelled votes are more than the margin of victory; a situation that may lead to supplementary elections in the affected polling units.

Should that not be the case, Tinubu would be declared the winner of the election and the president-elect.

While the APC and its supporters may be in an upbeat mood based on the results, the PDP and the LP have called for the cancellation of the results.

The PDP and LP made their positions known at a Tuesday press conference attended by their vice-presidential candidates, Ifeanyi Okowa and Datti Baba-Ahmed, respectively.

“The election was a sham, and never free and fair,” said Mr Okowa of the PDP, a position corroborated by the LP’s vice-presidential candidate.

The main issue raised by the parties is that INEC did not follow the law by failing to upload the election results from the over 170,000 polling units onto a central server (IReV) before the collation and announcement of results.

The parties demanded at a press conference that INEC’s chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, step down due to what they consider to be electoral misconduct. INEC has responded by stating that its chairman will not resign and any party with complaints about the election should use the legal process to voice their concerns.

NEWS

N1.7trn Loan: Atiku Blames NASS For Worsening Nigeria’s Debt Burden

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Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has criticized the federal government’s plan to secure an additional N1.7 trillion loan through Eurobonds to cover a shortfall in the 2024 budget, describing the borrowing as unsustainable and harmful to Nigeria’s economy.

In a statement shared on Thursday via his X (formerly Twitter) handle, Atiku accused the Bola Tinubu-led administration of burdening Nigerians with debt while failing to provide clear answers about the country’s fiscal challenges.

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He also faulted the National Assembly for enabling what he called a “voracious appetite” for loans.

The former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate expressed alarm over a recent World Bank report ranking Nigeria as the third most indebted country to the International Development Association (IDA), calling the development troubling.

“The recent report released by the World Bank, showing Nigeria as the third most indebted country to the International Development Association (IDA), is very concerning,” Atiku stated.

He raised further concerns about the government’s decision to benchmark the proposed loan at an exchange rate of 1 USD to N800, despite the Central Bank of Nigeria’s official rate being over N1,600.

“What makes this particular loan proposal even more concerning is that it is benchmarked at the exchange rate of 1 USD to N800, whereas the current exchange rate from the Central Bank of Nigeria stands at over N1,600 to 1 USD,” he said.

Atiku questioned the need for additional borrowing, given the government’s earlier claims of record-high revenue collection.

“In July this year, Tinubu boasted that the FIRS and Customs under his watch had collected all-time high revenues to finance the budget. Why are they still borrowing?” he said

He accused the government of a lack of transparency, describing the borrowing spree as detrimental to Nigerians already struggling under economic hardship.

“There is something that they are not telling Nigerians, even as they are being crushed by a combination of their failed trial-and-error policies and loan rackets.”

Atiku also referenced a report by BudgIT, a budget monitoring group, which criticized the 2024 budget for its inefficiencies.

He alleged that corruption, rather than infrastructure or development needs, was driving the government’s borrowing decisions.

“These loans are powered by corruption and not for infrastructure and development needs. This voracious appetite for humongous loans is deeply concerning,” he said.

Reflecting on Nigeria’s financial history, Atiku lamented the return to significant foreign indebtedness just years after former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration cleared the country’s debt.

“It is agonizing to see that just a few years after the Obasanjo administration took us out of foreign indebtedness, we are today back at the top spot in the same conundrum,” he stated.

He called for a more cautious approach to borrowing, urging the government to prioritize fiscal responsibility and transparency to avoid worsening Nigeria’s economic challenges.

 

 

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ICC Issues Arrest Warrants For Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, Others

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The International Criminal Court (ICC) has taken a historic step, issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

The charges include crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed during Israel’s recent assault on Gaza.

In a detailed statement, the ICC accused the Israeli leaders of “intentionally and knowingly depriving the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity.”

READ MORE: Osun Govt Decries Attempted Murder Of Park Mgt  Chairman By Police

The ICC’s move marks a significant escalation in international scrutiny of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Netanyahu and Gallant are alleged to have orchestrated policies that caused severe harm to the civilian population in Gaza, leading to widespread condemnation from human rights organizations.

Alongside the charges against Israeli officials, the ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif. Deif has long been a central figure in Hamas’s military operations. Israel’s military claims to have killed him in a July airstrike, although this has not been independently verified.

The warrants highlight growing calls for accountability amid the ongoing conflict in the region. The ICC’s actions are likely to provoke heated debate and may complicate diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving the crisis.

With the warrants issued, global attention now turns to how the international community will respond and whether any practical steps will be taken to enforce them.

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Edo State Governor Sets Up Committee To Recover Missing Gov’t Vehicles

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Governor Monday Okpebholo of Edo State has inaugurated a 12-member committee tasked with recovering government vehicles reportedly in private hands.

The committee, led by Kelly Okungbowa, has been given a two-week mandate to retrieve the vehicles and ensure their return to the state government.

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Speaking during the inauguration ceremony in Benin City, Governor Okpebholo emphasized the importance of accountability in the management of public resources.

He urged the committee to carry out its assignment thoroughly and within the bounds of the law.

In his response, Okungbowa expressed gratitude to the governor for entrusting the team with the assignment, vowing to deliver results within the stipulated timeframe.

“A lot of vehicles used by the past administration are missing, as those in custody of the vehicles have refused to return them,” Okungbowa said.

“The governor deemed it fit to inaugurate us today with a mandate to recover all government vehicles in private hands.”

The committee, which includes representatives from Edo’s three senatorial districts, is set to investigate and recover the vehicles based on credible intelligence already at their disposal.

“We already have vital information regarding some persons still holding government vehicles,” Okungbowa stated. “We will do the job according to the law, and both the government and the people will be satisfied with the outcome.”

He also called on members of the public to assist the committee by providing information about any government vehicles that may still be in private possession.

“We want to appeal to members of the public who might be aware of anyone still keeping government vehicles in their houses to please inform us to enable the committee to recover such for the Edo State Government,” Okungbowa said.

The committee’s vice chairman, Rt. Hon. Victor Edoror, a former Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, will work alongside other members to ensure the success of the initiative. The public can reach the committee at 08110165121.

 

 

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