On Thursday, there were comments on social media claiming that thugs had attacked traders from the Alaba market during a voter registration exercise in Ojo area of the state. The traders were said to have shut their stalls to enable those who had not registered for their PVCs to do so. The move was said to have increased the number of registrants on Thursday at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office, Igbede, Ojo. Addressing the claims, Benjamin Hundeyin, Lagos police spokesperson, in a tweet on his official handle, said the situation had nothing to do with ethnicity, saying the people were “simply large in number”. A witness told TheCable that Alaba traders did not represent the entire population present for the voter registration exercise on the day. “I also came to change my name due to marriage,” she said, adding that the issue had less to do with ethnicity and more to do with breakdown of order. “You know, when a fight breaks out, thugs can beat anybody in their way. People should not spread fake news, nobody died but people were injured.” A group of security officers was said to have gone into the INEC office “with someone that looked like a traditional ruler or an eminent person in the society”, leaving the already-tensed crowd — queuing outside the main gate of the INEC office — furious.     “They entered the office at a time when three people were about to be called in for registration. When the wealthy man came out, a guy tried removing his plate number but the wealthy man stopped him. I think somebody slapped the wealthy man from the back,” she said. According to her, a few minutes after the man left the vicinity, thugs arrived on bikes, noting that there might be a connection between both incidents. “Because guys will be guys, instead of handling the issue with patience, they rushed and were injured. In fact, somebody who jumped a fence broke his leg and was rushed to the hospital,” she said. According to her, nobody knew the tribe of the man who confronted the wealthy man but the thugs were said to chant “you won’t register Igbos” as they dispersed the crowd. She, however, said there was a restoration of calm after the police intervened and chased the thugs away. Zubi Mmadueke, a middle-aged trader at the Alaba market, corroborated her claim. “We were waiting for them to start the registration but it didn’t happen. A few moments later, a group of soldiers arrived in a convoy”. Giving a slightly different account, Mmadueke said they “packed the printer inside a Hilux vehicle and went away with it”. “Not too long after, we saw many bikes – more than twenty bikes – with thugs wielding sticks,” he said. “They started chasing Igbo people away, telling us that everybody should leave and asking why we closed the market to register for PVC. Everybody ran away and I don’t think anybody was able to register that day.” Samuel Iyanuoluwa Poopla, another trader, said the traders had been informed that they should register for PVCs, expecting a smooth exercise. However, the traders were said to be disappointed at the handling of the exercise by INEC. “You should see how they were treating humans. Officers stood at the gate as people were being called in. The largest crowd was outside the gate but a number of people were also inside,” he said. Joy Okoronkwo, another trader at Alaba market, said the crowd was “large and discouraging”. She said this prompted her decision to leave the INEC office for a registration centre at Shibiri. “When I got to Shibiri, we still wrote down our names but we were told that anybody who does not live in that area should go home,” she said. When TheCable visited the INEC office, Ojo, on Friday, a group of people, over 20, were seen clustering around an INEC officer, who addressed them on the need to be patient; even as others remained on their seats unbothered, some visibly angry. Speaking on the issue, Olusegun Agbaje, resident electoral commissioner (REC), INEC, Lagos, confirmed the incident to TheCable. “I understand that there was some clash between thugs and area boys but not within our premises. Our work went on smoothly yesterday and even today, there was no problem in our office in Ojo local government,” he said. Reacting to claims by traders that there were only two registration machines at the office, he said it was because others were deployed to other parts of the local government. “The machines were taken to other wards and that started over a month ago,” Agbaje said. “Additional machines have now been sent to Lagos state and by next Tuesday, they are going to deploy them to all the local governments to further support what they have now.” According to him, INEC did not mandate the Alaba traders to close their shops. “It is unfair as they made it look as if INEC is not able to cope. It is not true. There is no way anybody can cope with that large number of people,” he said. “What we are arranging now is that we are discussing with the leadership of the market to let them know that maybe in batches now that we are going to have more machines in the area.”

  Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State has pledged to mobilise youths for the presidential ambition of the All Progressives Congress (APC) flagbearer Bola Tinubu. He made the pledge on Friday when the former Lagos state governor visited him in Abuja “The exercise (APC convention/primary) has come and gone. I am telling you that I will be that general that will be on the field to command the younger generation – because they believe in me in their numbers – that will lead them to the polling units in every nooks and cranny of the country to make sure that we win resoundingly,” the governor said, days after the Tinubu beat him and several others to win the APC presidential ticket. “Never again will PDP lead this country.” He also hailed the Tinubu for his contributions to democracy in Nigeria, saying the APC chieftain’s experience sets him apart from the rest. The governor also donated his campaign office to Tinubu. “Today, I have collapsed my Presidential Campaign Organisation. I am donating my campaign organisation’s secretariat to you,” he said. “I’ve learnt a lot from the little lecture you gave to us. What elders see when they’re in the valley, the younger ones won’t see it.” On his part, Tinubu appreciated the gesture and promised to work for the party and the country’s unity. He described the governor as a “son” and commended him for contesting for the APC presidential ticket despite his youthfulness. “Thank you, all members of Yahaya Bello Campaign Organisation,” Tinubu said. “You all made a mark, you were resolute. But there’s a difference between a tiger and a lion.” Tinubu’s visit to the governor is part of moves to reconcile members of the party following the primary election. He was accompanied by a former National Chairman of the APC Adams Oshiomhole.

  The Peoples Democratic Party in Kebbi State has gained eight new lawmakers from the ruling All Progressives Congress. The new entrant lawmakers comprised five members of the federal legislature and three members from the state legislature. It was alleged that the procedures to which congresses in the state were conducted by the APC resulted in the mass exit from the party where many members alleged that they were disenchanted. In the federal legislature, the senator representing Kebbi Central Senatorial District, Adamu Aliero; Kebbi North Senatorial District, Yahaya Abdullahi; Senate leader, including a member of the House of Representatives, defected from the APC to PDP. Also, members representing Aliero/Jega/Gwandu and Dandi/Arewa federal constituencies, Mohammed Jega and Abdullahi Zumbo, exited the APC for PDP. In the state assembly, Habibu Labbo, Ismaila Biu, and Mohammed Aliero, representing Gwandu, Arewa, and Aliero constituencies, also renounced their membership of the APC for the PDP. State Organising Secretary of the PDP in Kebbi State, Usaini Raha, confirmed the defection of the lawmakers to the party.

  The Independent National Electoral Commission in Akwa Ibom State has revealed that the All Progressives Congress governorship primary did not hold in the state. This is coming as Akanimo Udofia, who recently defected from the Peoples Democratic party to APC was declared the winner of the APC governorship primary. Udofia scored scored a total of 1,227 votes to defeat eight other governorship contenders including senator Ita Enang, the immediate past Senior Special Assistant to the President, Major General Mohammadu Buhari (retd), on Niger Delta Affairs. But a report sent to the INEC headquarters in Abuja, the state’s Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mike Igini, a copy of which was made available to our correspondent in Uyo, maintained that the governorship primary scheduled for Thursday May 26,2022 did not hold at all. The report read in part, “We wish to report that the APC governorship primary scheduled to hold on Thursday, May 26, 2022, at the Sheer grace Arena, Nsikak Eduok Avenue, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State did not hold at all,”. The report further stated that the commission’s monitoring team, led by Mr Igini, in the company of the Commissioner of Police in Akwa Ibom, Andrew Amiengheme, arrived at the venue of the primary for the third time at 6:45 p.m., without seeing anyone. It was gathered that while a faction of the party loyal to Senator Akpan James Udoedege was conducting its primary at the Sheer Grace Arena, the faction loyal to Senator Godswill Akpabio, was having it own at Okpo Obot street, Uyo, the state capital. Meanwhile, Senator Ita Enang, one of the aggrieved governorship aspirants in the state, has petitioned the National headquarters of the party and the election committee In the petition letter to the chairman, APC Gubernatorial Appeal Panel, Akwa Ibom state titled, ‘An appeal Against a null,void,and illegal gubernatorial nomination process in Akwa Ibom state’, Enang demanded that the entire process be nullified. “That All the processes of nominations of candidates in all elective positions should be called off and the party recalled, since INEC is not monitoring the whole exercise,” the petition partly read. It added, “I strongly appeal, that for the sake of APC having to be on the ballot for all the elections, there is need to come together so we can see how best to conduct our primaries. “My final prayer is that the purported nomination of Akan Udofia as the gubernatorial candidate of the APC be cancelled. “Mr. Akan Udofia is not an APC member. He is a PDP member, having contested and lost the PDP Primaries of Wednesday, May 25, 2022. “And the following day, May 26, 2022, he was purportedly to be on the ballot for the APC illegally declared. He cannot be on the ballot of both parties at the same time.”

  Foremost Lagos-based legal practitioner, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, SAN, has appealed to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to return to the state and face governance, saying governance in Lagos is “in recess.” Adegboruwa noted that since Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), declared his presidential aspiration, Sanwo-Olu has abandoned governance in the state. According to him, Sanwo-Olu “is the unofficial campaign manager of Tinubu, his media strategist and personal anchorman. The Governor has hardly been in office.” In a statement posted on his Facebook page, the senior lawyer said after declaring a total ban on Okada in the state, the governor has not been on ground to monitor the aftermath of the ban. He added that crime has been on the increase in Lagos. He said, “It was the Governor that declared the ban on motorbikes but he is not on ground to monitor the daily crisis occasioned by the declaration, though commendable but needs careful enforcement. “The rainy season in Lagos is always a bitter experience for Lagosians in flooding, heavy traffic and other casualties, but the Governor has not been on his seat to address issues related to this. Crime has been on the increase in Lagos lately. “No doubt state resources will be involved in these campaign activities and most government officials will cash in on the absence of the Governor to also abandon their responsibilities, either to pursue their political other business interests. “There are many more grave consequences attendant upon the decision of the Governor to abdicate his constitutional responsibilities in pursuit of the political ambition of the APC presidential flag bearer. “From all the foregoing, I do hereby appeal to Governor Sanwoolu to return to Lagos and assume his constitutional responsibilities of functional governance. His Excellency was not elected as Campaign Manager of politicians but as an administrator.”