Nigerians are waiting feverishly to know the results of the presidential election held on Saturday, 25 February 2023 and they are looking forward to who will be their next president among the three leading presidential candidates: Alhaji Atiku Abubakar , Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Chief Peter Obi.
However, this will definitely not happen this weekend as the electoral umpire; the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced on Saturday that elections in 141 polling stations in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state had been postponed.
INEC Chairman , Mahmood Yakubu , who is currently in the spotlight , however noted that the elections will be held on Sunday, 26 February 2023.
‘We have a situation in Bayelsa state, particularly in Yenogoa , the state capital, where in Wards 4,6,8 and 14 with 141 polling stations, the process was disrupted.
We remobilized security, and the situation is calm for us to continue the process. But the youth corps members expressed some apprehension about going back.
So we met with security agencies and we’ve decided that voting in these 141 polling units where the materials are actually intact, will take place tomorrow morning. Remember, we’re not only conducting presidential election, but also senatorial and reps elctions.
So it’s good to recover and conduct the elections so that we can conclude the processes. The youth corps members, who are serving as presiding officers and other commission staff, agreed that the elections should hold tomorrow morning’ he said.
In the meantime, Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Muhammed , has urged Nigerians to avoid the idea of posting election results on social media without caution.
In practice, unofficial announcement of election results especially on social media often precede the official announcement of election results in the country.
Alhaji Lai Muhammed, who voted at Oro Ward 2 polling station, Oro, Kwara state, at about 11:15 am had on arrival despite entreaties , refused to jump the queue and rather chose to wait until it was his turn more than one hour after his arrival at the polling place.
The information minister while talking to journalists including Team@orientactualmags.com noted that misinformation had been identified as a causative factor of political violence in the country.
‘The election has been very peaceful, but what has struck me was the turnout of the young, the old, men and women , they have all come out to cast their vote. I think you can see the determination on the faces of all the voters. They have been very patient and there is an atmosphere of conviviality I hope and wish that this will be the same atmosphere in every other polling place. I’m very impressed with the process, things are going on quite well, everybody has taken his own time. And there is no intimidation by anybody. You see also that the presiding officers have been quite understanding, when it’s a woman or a man who needs assistance, he or she is allowed to contact a co- voter of his or her choice to come and guide him or her.
My advice to everybody is to be patient until the presiding officers actually announce the results. And once such results are announced by the presiding officers, our constituents should please check on their agents. I want all our agents to be vigilant and to ensure other responsibilities are carried out, it won’t be nice for agents not to be around when election results are being announced. I want to please advise all of us to resist the temptation of posting unverified results. You don’t just have to post results without checking the source. To me, the best way is to actually hear from INEC. And when I say INEC, I’m not talking about INEC in Abuja. If INEC PO announces the results in my polling unit and gives my agent that results it is authentic. But it is just one of several thousands of results. So, I also want to appeal to media houses to please be responsible in broadcasting results. political violence does not just get recorded ,it is at the point of announcement, at the point of collation. But fake news is a fuel for this kind of violence’ he said.
Kwara state New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) has condemned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for having its name missing on the ballot papers used for the elections held in Kwara and other parts of the country on Saturday .
The state NNPP gubernatorial candidate, Prof. Shuaibu Oba AbdulRaheem commended the voters for coming out in large numbers and for showing eagerness to exercise their voting rights, but condemned the omission made on the ballot paper with regard to the name of his party.
‘NNPP logo appeared very blurred and the name of the party is not the same.
It is possible that people who can read are looking for the name NNPP but cannot find it and may not actually know the logo.
The only people that have an advantage are those that know the logo, but cannot see the name of the party beside it’ he said.
‘The name of a very popular candidate is not included, that is NNPP, and the remaining part of the logo is blurry, invariably the party is not ably represented on the ballot paper.
This means that if NNPP wins the election, other party may go to the tribunal to challenge the outcome of the election’ Kwara Central NNPP Senate candidate , Alhaji Abdul Ayelabegan also said..
Our reporter also reported that late arrival of INEC officials and election materials at some wards in Ilorin West local government , Kwara state including Ubandawaki, Ajikobi, Oloje, Ogidi, Oju Ekun/Sarumi, and Adewole wards made INEC extend voting at the places in question to 6:00pm- Team@orientactualmags.com
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