Five things to know to start your Monday

Elections: Labour Party alleges malpractice, calls for cancellation, Presidency’s intervention

Labour Party has alleged malpractices in the result collation of the Presidential and National Assembly elections on Feb. 25.

The National Chairman of the Labour Party, Julius Abure, said this at a news conference to address the serious matters arising from the 2023 election.

Abure said that the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) by its conduct had caused Nigerians, particularly youths, who took part in this election with high hopes of a free and transparent process to hold strong feelings of disappointment and disillusionment.

“The Electoral Act was amended in 2022 for the electronic transmission of results after they are declared at the polling
units.

“Nigerians participated in this process with the belief that the use of technology and adherence to the agreed electronic
transmission of results to INEC servers at polling units would ensure a free, fair, and transparent election.

“Yesterday, being Saturday, Feb.25, 2023, the very process which INEC assured Nigerians would be followed was truncated for whatever reasons.

”No matter what those reasons are, they are totally unacceptable to Nigerians and members of the party.

“INEC servers shut down and only presidential elections
could not be uploaded onto the INEC server.” (NAN)

Read also:NLC asks Buhari to call INEC to order over shoddy conduct of polls

LP wins Eti-Osa Federal Constituency by 24,075 votes

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Thaddeus Attah of the Labour Party (LP) as winner of the Eti- Osa  Federal  Constituency  seat in the House of Representatives.

Prof Funmilayo Odukoya, who is the INEC Returning Officer, made the declaration on Sunday at the Collation Centre, Lagos State Model Nursery and Primary School, Marwa, Lekki 1.

Attah won with 24,075 votes, beating his counterparts, Olubankole Wellington (Banky W) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who had 18,666 votes, and Babajide Obanikoro of the APC, who had 16,901 votes.

“That Thaddeus Attah of LP, having satisfied the requirement of the law is hereby declared winner and is returned elected; signed by me. Thank you so much,“ Odukoya said.

She said that other candidates received the following votes: Oladehin Olufemi, African Democratic Congress, 1,422 votes; Azeez Kabirat of New Nigeria Peoples Party, 414 votes, and Olasunkanmi Ololade, Social Democratic Party, 207 votes.

PDP’s Siyako wins Gombe South Senatorial seat

Anthony Siyako of the PDP has been declared winner of the Gombe South Senatorial election.

Professor Saleh Abdu, the Returning Officer who declared the result on Sunday in Kaltungo, said Siyako polled 97,956 votes to defeat his closest rival, Joshua Lidani of the APC.

Lidani, a former deputy governor of the state, polled 36,879 votes.

Abigail Albashi of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) polled 1551 votes to finish third in the contest. (NAN)

UNECA projects Africa’s economy to reach $1.97bn by 2030 through renewable energy

Antonio Pedro, the acting executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), has said that Africa’s economy is expected to reach $1.97 billion dollars by 2030 through the continent’s use of renewable energy.

Pedro, made this known at the Fifth African Science, Technology and Innovation Forum in Niamey, Niger on Sunday.

The theme of the forum was: “Accelerating Development and Diffusion of Emerging Technologies for a Green, Inclusive and Resilient Africa’’.

“One key opportunity for us lies in the renewable energy market. The value in this market in 2020 was estimated at 881.7 billion dollars and is projected to reach 1,977.6 billion dollars by 2030.

“A 10 percent share can easily add 200 billion dollars to Africa’s economy.’’

Oil little changed as Russian supply cuts support prices

Oil was little changed in early trade on Monday, as Russia’s plans to deepen oil supply cuts continued to support prices, while increasing global inflation risks and rising crude inventories in the United States weighed.

West Texas Intermediate U.S. crude futures (WTI) was trading at $76.36 a barrel, 4 cents, or 0.05 percent higher, while Brent crude futures was down 2 cents, or 0.02 percent, at $83.14 a barrel at 0114 GMT.

Russia plans to cut oil exports from its western ports by up to 25 percent in March versus February, exceeding its previously announced production cuts of 5% of its output during the month.

Despite oil inventories in the United States at their highest since May 2021, the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting signalling further monetary tightening and a strong rally in the dollar last week, prices edged higher early on Monday before paring some gains. (Reuters)