Obasanjo tells Buhari to be magnanimous in victory

Abeokuta - Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Wednesday advised the President-Elect, Muhammadu Buhari, to demostrate magnanimity over his victory in the Saturday's presidential election.
Obasanjo gave the advice in Abeokuta in his congratulatory message to Buhari.
The former president noted that Nigeria's political system was unnecessarily overheated by politicians.
He observed that emphasis of the campaign was more on trivialities and was largely characterised by divisive, undignifying and disrespectful statements.
Obasanjo therefore advised Buhari to be magnanimous by "binding the wounds and bitterness occasioned by the campaigns and the evil disciples".
The elder statesman expressed the belief that such disposition would enable Buhari to focus on pressing issues requiring urgent attention when he eventually assumed office.
Obasanjo urged him to embark on institutional reforms, to improve various sectors including education, healthcare, economy, security, infrastructure, power and agriculture.
He also urged him to step up measures to promote national unity and cohesiveness as well as rid Nigeria of corruption.
While expressing confidence in the ability of Buhari to perform, Obasanjo advised him to recruit people of proven integrity to work with him.
"I am sure that there are men and women of goodwill, character and virtue across the board that you can mobilise to join hands with you in promoting Nigeria to enviable heights," he said.

- NAN

Troops rescue terror victims, unearth caches in Borno

By: Okoro Chinedu 2015-03-31 10:01
Lagos - Hostages that local troops have rescued from the clutches of the Boko Haram sect are receiving medical assistance.

On Monday evening, troops reported they had rescued a number of women, the elderly and children who were locked up by fleeing terrorists in Gwoza, Borno State.

“The freed hostages some of whom are so weak are being given medical attention while others are also receiving necessary care pending the arrival and activities of aid agencies.  Some of them are also providing useful information for the intelligence in aid of troops operations in the area,” Chris Olukalade, Director Defence Information, said.

Meanwhile, Olukalade said, in another development, a building which had been converted to a bomb making factory have been unearthed by troops in the course of ongoing mopping up operations in Gwoza.

The facility which is being used for the manufacture of various calibres of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) is still being carefully evacuated of dangerous materials.

“Massive destruction of infrastructure and property including blowing up bridges and burnt houses including Emir’s Palace had also been noticeable.,” Olukalade said.

He said troops were carefully removing land mines placed in various parts of the town,” said Olukalade.
He said in Bama, also in Borno State, troops on routine patrol in the suburbs of the town this morning recovered a large number of rifles and various arms believed to have been abandoned by terrorists who fled the area when troops were advancing to flush them of the town recently.

- CAJ News

PDP accuses Jega of bias

Abuja - There was a mild drama on Monday during the collation of results of Saturday's presidential election.

The representative of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the Presidential Collation Centre, Godday Orubebe almost disrupted proceedings.

He delayed the announcement of more results for several minutes.

He accused the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attaihiru Jega of bias in favour of the All Progressives Congress APC

He stated that while Jega set up a committee to investigate the protest letter of APC on Rivers election, he rejected the letter of PDP on Kano, Jigawa, Katsina and Kaduna.

Brandishing a copy of the final result, Orubebe also accused Jega of working for the APC.
He stated that the results tallied with the ones currently being read at the collation centre.

The insisted that Jega will not continue with the collation until he looks at the party’s grievances.
He was, however, prevailed upon to allow the exercise to continue.
Responding to the allegations, Jega denied knowledge of any result.
He also said he has not seen any petition from the PDP concerning the conduct of elections in Kano, Jigawa, Katsina and Kaduna.
Read more on: 2015 elections

Nyako’s son wins Adamawa Central Senatorial Zone

Yola - The son of the impeached Governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako, Abdul- Azeez Nyako has been declared the winner of the Adamawa Central Senatorial district, reports Thisday.

Nyako, who contested under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) defeated A'ishatu Dahiru of the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) and Dr. Idi Hong of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP).

Nyako scored a total  votes of 126 406, Dahiru got  91 578 votes while Hong of the Peoples Democratic Party got 48 506 votes.
Read more at Thisday.
Read more on: 2015 elections

Buhari wins narrowly in Lagos

Abuja - Opposition leader Muhammadu Buhari has scored a narrow victory over President Goodluck Jonathan in Lagos, officials results from the country's general election showed Tuesday.
The vote in Lagos was characterised by low turnout.
Only 1.7 million of 5.8 million registered voters cast ballots in the presidential and legislative polls held at the weekend.

Technical glitches, including failures in voter card identification devices being used for the first time in Nigeria, caused major delays nationwide, including in Lagos, a city of roughly 20 million people.

Frustrations over delays were thought to have kept turnout down in a number of states.
In Lagos, Buhari of the opposition All Progressives Congress took 792 460 votes, while Jonathan from the Peoples Democratic Party won 632 327.

The Lagos government has been controlled by the opposition since the end of military rule in 1999, but the PDP had earned victories there in past presidential elections.

Lagos was identified as a key swing state, where both Buhari and Jonathan had campaigned hard in the run up to election day.

It was not immediately clear how the low turnout would affect the national result, but news of the win in Lagos was cheered by APC loyalists at the party's headquarters in Nigeria's capital.

Lagos is Nigeria's most religiously and ethnically mixed area, and voters have a history of transcending the sectarian biases that frame voting in other parts of the country.
Buhari, a northern Muslim, has scored huge majorities in the north, while Jonathan, a southern Christian, is awaiting results from his strongholds.

- AFP

1st non-indigene wins House of Reps seat in Lagos

Lagos - Oghne Egoh, the first non-indigene to win a federal constituency seat in Lagos, on Tuesday expressed the desire to attract infrastructure development to the state.

Egoh, who was announced member of the House of Representative elect, Amuwo Odofin Federal Constituency, Lagos State, on Monday, made the promise in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Egoh polled a total of 29 761 votes to defeat the incumbent, Ganiyu Olukolu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who scored 20 616 votes.
"In this particular constituency the biggest problem we have is the decay of our infrastructure, there is no water, sewage system is bad, and there are no playing grounds," he claimed.

Egoh promised to lobby ministers in charge of the ministries responsible for such facilities for an improved infrastructure in his constituency.

He expressed the hope that his party would win the governorship election in the state, saying its wining would further bring more development to his constituency.

Egoh expressed happiness that the PDP's governorship candidate in the state took part in his campaign and understood the challenges in his constituency.

According to him, their combination as governor and Member House of Representative would greatly satisfy the desire of his people.

- NAN

INEC throws out APC petition, upholds Rivers elections

Abuja - The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has rejected the petition of the All Progressives Congress (APC) concerning the conduct of the presidential and national assembly elections in Rivers State.

The commission said there was no sufficient reason to cancel the results has been canvassed by the APC.
Prof. Attahiru Jega, Chairman of the commission, who disclosed on Tuesday during the continuation of the collation of results of the presidential election, said the commission found out that the allegations were not strong enough to annul the results or order a re-run.

He stated that the resolution of the commission is that it would accept the results coming from Rivers State but will keep intact all documentary evidences.
President Goodluck Jonathan won the state with over 1.4m votes.
Read more on: 2015 elections