President Muhammadu Buhari has opened up on why he was neutral and allowed delegates to vote for their preferred presidential candidate during the All Progressives Congress’ special convention and presidential primary. The President opened up on what transpired during the buildup to the party’s convention on Saturday in Katsina when he paid a Sallah visit to the Emir of Katsina, Dr. Abdulmumin Usman Kabir, at his palace. Speaking on what played out before the emergence of the party’s flagbearer, Bola Tinubu, Buhari explained that the delegates were given a free hand to pick him (Tinubu) in demonstrating the internal democracy in the party. According to him, party leaders initially gave me a list of thirty presidential aspirants, out of which I was asked to pick a candidate of my choice. The President said rather than pick or anoint a candidate, he allowed the delegates to pick the candidate of their choice which resulted in the emergence of Tinubu. Buhari, who spoke in Hausa, said, “I was given a list of thirty (30) aspirants to pick from. Most of them were my ministers and governors. So, who will I choose or support? “One of the governors even came to see me and asked who are we to choose. “If I do that, it would affect my Vice President because he was listening to our conversation. I then told them to choose who they want. “So, they elected Tinubu as APC presidential candidate.” He added, “I hope the forthcoming (2023) general elections would also be peaceful just like the way APC conducted its congress where they elected the party’s National Chairman, the presidential candidate and how the presidential candidate picked his running mate. “I hope God will help us to conduct the general elections peacefully.” He, however, appealed to Nigerians to allow peace to reign during the 2023 general elections. On insecurity in Nigeria, the President insisted that his government was doing its best in tackling the challenge. “May God gives us the wisdom to serve people more,” he declared. The Emir of Katsina had while welcoming the President to the palace, urged him to expedite action on the Kano/ Katsina highway; the Kano/ Katsina/ Maradi railway and the Rimi Windmill Power generation project. The monarch said apart from contributing to the development of Katsina state, the projects would also create employment for residents. The state Governor, Aminu Masari, in his remarks also said security operatives were doing all they could to tackle banditry and other crimes in the state. He called on residents to also give the security operatives the necessary support. The governor later saw the President off to the Umaru Musa Yar’dua Airport where he later took off for Abuja in a Nigeria Air force Aircraft.

  The Economic Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC has arrested three persons for alleged vote-buiying. The suspects include, Jimoh Kazeem, Adeyemo Bahir and Abidogun Ismail. The suspects were arrested by officials of the EFCC at Polling Unit 002, Ward 2, Ababu, Isale Osun, Oshogbo.

  Ademola Adeleke, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the governorship election in Osun state, has won his polling unit. Adeleke defeated Gboyega Oyetola, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), to win polling unit 009, ward 02, Abogunde, Ede North LGA. The PDP standard-bearer polled 218 votes while Oyetola, the incumbent governor, secured 23 votes. Meanwhile, Bisi Akande, a chieftain of the APC, won his polling unit for the ruling party. In Akande’s polling unit in ward 04, Isedo, Ila-Orangun LGA, the PDP polled 117 while APC had 140 votes. The APC also secured victory in the polling unit of Rauf Aregbesola, the minister of interior. Although the minister, a former governor of the state, failed to show up for the election, his party fought off the PDP to emerge victorious. APC’s Oyetola polled 164 votes in the polling unit situated in Isare Ward 8, Ilesha East, to defeat PDP’s Adeleke who secured 134 votes.

  The Anambra State Police Command has killed over 10 hoodlums and destroyed three camps harbouring suspected criminals in Achalla, Awka North Local Government Area. The police during the operation recovered a human skull, one locally made rocket propelled grande RPG launcher, two (RPG) bombs, one single-barrel long gun, and an empty chain of bullets from the criminals. The state police command’s spokesperson, DSP Toochukwu Ikenga disclosed this in a statement on Saturday. According to him, the attack on the suspected criminals took place on Friday. Ikenga said the suspected criminals had earlier captured two policemen and a civilian. The victims joined the police in their operation, with the aim of recovering a stolen vehicle. The police, however, reinforced and dislodged the suspected criminals, leading to the killing of 10 of them, while many others escaped with bullet wounds. “During the operation, police recovered a human skull, one locally made rocket propelled grande RPG launcher, two (RPG) bombs, one single-barrel long gun, and an empty chain of bullets. “Other recovered items include; one Toyota Sienna, one Mercedes Benz 4matic SUV, two cylinders, a huge quantity of hard drugs and other items, including a police beret and a police belt,” he said. According to Ikenga, the discovery followed a counter-offensive operation launched against criminal elements who had on 15/7/2022 laid an ambush against a 6- man police team and a civilian car tracker who were on a recovery operation of a Toyota Sienna Space Wagon. “The vehicle was earlier snatched at gunpoint on 9/7/2022 in Oye-Agu Abagana. Four of the police operatives escaped the ambush, while two of the police operatives and the car tracker were captured by the criminals. “Unfortunately, some of the hoodlums escaped with bullet wounds. They (hoodlums) had murdered their captives (two policemen and a civilian) and set their bodies ablaze. “The remains of the two murdered police officers and the civilian car-tracker have been recovered and deposited in a morgue, while police operation is still ongoing in the area to track the fleeing gang members,” he said. Ikenga quoted the Commissioner of Police in Anambra State, CP Echeng Echeng, to have condoled with the families and friends of the murdered civilian and the police operatives, describing the incident as a classic example of the risk and sacrifices the police are exposed to in the onerous task of serving and protecting the country. Echeng also assured the Anambra people that efforts are being intensified towards a total reclamation and domination of all the public spaces occupied by hoodlums in the state by apprehending and bringing them and their accomplices to justice.

  A coalition of over 80 civil rights organizations under the aegis of the Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room on Saturday raised doubts over the credibility of the governorship election in Osun State following alleged public sale and buying of votes. The organisation said that although priority voting was given to the elderly and persons with disabilities in most of the polling units, “a few of the polling units were located in places with staircases making it inaccessible for people with crutches.” The NCCSR raised the issues in its second preliminary statement signed by its Co-conveners, Ene Obi, Asma’u Joda and James Ugochukwu. The statement read, “There was open negotiation of buying and selling of votes well-coordinated by the polling agents in many of the polling units. There were no complaints from any of them against each other. Codes and coupons were used to extract commitments from voters as opposed to the blatant money exchanging hands observed in the Ekiti State Governorship election. “From Situation Room’s observations, no violence has been recorded and the number of people who came out was encouraging. We commend the people of the State of Osun for coming out early to cast their votes, especially the elderly who waited in queues patiently. “INEC’s deployment of materials and personnel should also be commended. Vote trading was recorded in most of the areas observed particularly outside Osogbo. As voting continues, we call on all stakeholders to maintain the peaceful atmosphere recorded so far.” The organization also said Osun state has witnessed a high rate of Permanent Voters Cards collection, recording a total of 1,518,303 as reported by INEC. They added that the voting day started peacefully without any indications of the apprehension that had trailed the days preceding the election. The NCCSR said it received reports from its network of observers of the early arrival of materials and INEC officials in most of the polling units which led to the early commencement of voting. “There was adequate presence of security personnel across the State and deployed across most of the polling units visited. Security personnel was friendly and professional in their approach. A number of them complained of not receiving their allowances ahead of the election. “Some of the polling units were sited in residential spaces and palaces. In the polling units with large registered voters, the voting areas were rowdy implying that polling units with smaller numbers units are more orderly naturally. “Political party agents were present in most of the polling units observed. A minimum of four party agents and a maximum of six. “Knowledge of voting procedures and civic education of voters was very poor. Voting cubicles in many of the polling units were not positioned to ensure the secrecy of the ballots making it possible for voters to flash their votes to other people. “The BVAS were deployed according to the number of registered voters. In polling units with over 1,000 voters, INEC kept to its promise to deploy two BVAS machines. The machines functioned credibly well. “There were issues with the fingerprint verifications, however, the facial capture worked very well recording approximately one minute for accreditation and voting in Osogbo and in outside areas, it took longer.” :

  The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) carried the day in one of the early election results declared by officials of the Independent National electoral Commission (INEC) in Osun State, on Saturday. At Polling unit 05, Ward 07 in Ilesa West Local Government Area, Senator Ademola Adeleke of the PDP garnered 47 votes while incumbent Governor Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) trailed with 17 votes. A total of 120 voters registered in the polling unit while 71 were accredited on the day of the election. The total number of valid votes was 67 while four votes were voided.

  Taraba state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has told all other political parties in the state to get ready for a shocker in the 2023 general elections. It said its candidates would win all elective positions in the state. Spokesman of the party, Andeta’rang Irammae, who spoke also said the litigations that greeted the gubernatorial primary elections of the party would also be resolved. He however enjoined supporters of the party and residents of the state to get their Permanent Voters Card, PVC, ready to exercise their franchise in 2023. In his words, “ We are a truly Democratic Party and we are applying political and democratic means to address the grievances of some aspirants who have dragged the party and our Governorship Candidate Lt. Col. Agbu Kefas to court. “The aggrieved aspirants are our members and PDP is one big family whose umbrella is capable of accommodating all. “Our internal conflict resolution mechanism is stronger and more efficient than any other political party in the country. “PDP members, supporters and the public are hereby enjoined to remain calm as the National Secretariat of our great party and our State chapter are on top of the issues at hand and very soon we will resolve internal family issues. “Our primary concern is to win all elective positions in the 2023 elections and we would not leave anything to chance on our road to achieving this goal. “We want to urge PDP loyalists, supporters and the public to use the window provided by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register and ensure they collect their Permanent Voters Cards (PVC) to vote for PDP at the State and National level so we return our dear country back on the path of growth and prosperity. “This country cannot afford to survive another four years of misrule, bad governance and visionless leadership which the APC has provided at the national level in the past seven and half years.“

  The All Progressives Congress National Secretary, Iyiola Omisore, has faulted claims that the ongoing Osun State governorship election was characterised by voter inducement at some polling units. He made the clarification after voting at his unit, Moore 003, Ife Ward 1 in Ile Ife in Ife East Local Government Area of the state on Saturday. Omisore arrived at the polling unit at about 1.30 pm amid cheers from the party members and loyalists who had stayed back after casting their votes to witness the APC chieftain perform his civic responsibility. Asked about alleged vote-buying and voter intimidation in the election in the area, Omisore said, “I am not aware and I did not see anybody engaged in such. I can see how free people are now. “I cannot see any sign of what you have said,” he added. The APC national scribe, who voted at about 1.36pm, hailed the voting process in the unit and indeed Ile Ife, describing the exercise as peaceful and successful. He said that the election witnessed a “massive turnout and as well as peaceful”. Omisore hailed the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System technology deployed by the Independent National Electoral Commission for the election, saying, “I think it works well without any hitch”. “I was able to go through the process and cast my vote under one minute,” the APC national scribe said.