Obey court’s ruling on substitution of party’s candidates, NNPP urges INEC
Professor Rufai Alkali, the national chairman of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to obey the court’s ruling, directing it to substitute the party’s candidates.
Alkali made this call on Wednesday at a news conference in Abuja.
“We most humbly urge the Commission to urgently comply with the court’s orders, expeditiously delivered by the Federal High Court and Appellate Court,” he said.
“This will further build up the confidence of the political parties and general public in the commission’s unflinching and unwavering commitment to conduct free, fair, and credible elections in 2023.”
He reminded all that the party had taken INEC to court over disagreements on the issue of uploading and submission of names of some of its candidates.
“On the first set of candidates, the lower court gave us a favourable judgment, about 80 National Assembly candidates were to be substituted.
“The position of the court at that time was that, though INEC has its own guidelines, the Electoral Act provision supersedes those in terms of the timeline for the final submission of candidates.
“Subsequently, we had a separate case of two senatorial candidates who purchased our forms and were screened and nominated after the primaries.
“One was Sen. Ibrahim Shekarau from Kano State, and the other one was from Taraba—also one of our deputy governorship candidates from Yobe.
“There is another House of Assembly candidate from Potiskum, Yobe State.
“You know the place of a deputy governor—no governor can run without a deputy. So, when somebody withdraws, he has to be substituted,” the party chairman said.
Read also: INEC tasks journalists on peaceful election
Elections: Big Brother Naija Titan is a distraction, shun the show – LP caution youth
Yunusa Tanko, the Chief Spokesperson of the Labour Party (LP) Presidential Campaign Committee, has warned Nigerian youths against committing their attention to the new reality show of Big Brother Naija, titled “The Titans,” saying it was a distraction to them.
Tanko gave this warning at a press briefing in Enugu on Wednesday.
He said the show, which is expected to air on January 15, is targeted at distracting them from casting their votes on the election dates.
Tanko alleged that the reality show was being sponsored by one of the major opposition parties to distract the youths from voting for their choice of candidate.
“The essence of this press conference is to alert the ever-vibrant Nigerian youths of the hidden agenda behind the new reality show tagged “The Titans.”
“We have credible information that it’s being sponsored by one of the major opposition parties to distract the Nigerian youths from changing the leadership that has placed them in perilous times laced with abject poverty,” he said.
He stressed that the information made available to them revealed that the son of one of the presidential candidates, in active collaboration with others, visited South Africa to hatch this plan.
EEDC to provide customers metres in 48hrs under mobile MAP programme
Vincent Ekwekwu, the Chief Technical Officer of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC), has assured customers that they would obtain their prepaid metres 48 hours after they enrol in the ongoing mobile Metre Asset Provider (MAP) programme.
Ekwekwu said this at the commencement of the mobile MAP programme for customers in Anambra State, held in Ogidi, Idemili North LGA, on Wednesday.
He pleaded with unmetered customers in the area to take advantage of the programme as it would lead to the end of estimated billing in payment for power supplied.
He said the programme would benefit not only the company but also the customers as it would result in fair pricing and prompt payment for energy consumed.
He added that the underlying benefit of the exercise is to increase patronage and close the metering gap because people are complaining that they are no longer comfortable with estimated billing.
“But with this arrangement, the era of estimated and post-paid is gone, apart from the smart prepaid metres being recharged online, and you can now regulate your supply and manage your energy,” he said.
20 ships discharge petroleum products, others at Lagos ports – NPA
In an effort to resolve the prolonged fuel shortage crisis, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) said on Wednesday that 20 ships at the Lagos Port Complex were discharging petrol and other items.
The NPA revealed that in its publication titled “Shipping Position,” items being discharged were bulk wheat, general cargo, butane gas, petrol, bulk salt, bulk sugar, frozen fish, and bulk urea.
The port authority said that it was also expecting 10 other containers laden with frozen fish, containers, bulk sugar, bulk urea, base oil, bulk gypsum, soya bean meal, and petrol from Jan. 11 to Jan. 16.
It added that two other ships had arrived at the port waiting to berth with containers and gasoline.
US, Japan agree to step up security cooperation amid China worries
Amid geopolitical tension between China and the US, the United States and Japan on Wednesday announced stepped-up security cooperation to curb any kind of Chinese aggression. This partnership is an endorsement of a major military buildup Tokyo announced last month.
According to Reuters, a joint statement issued after a meeting between their foreign and defense ministers in Washington said the two countries “provided a vision of a modernized Alliance postured to prevail in a new era of strategic competition.”
“We agree that the PRC is the greatest shared strategic challenge that we and our allies and partners face,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a joint news conference after the meeting, referring to the People’s Republic of China.
