News
2023 Elections: Presidency rejects EU report

The Presidency has rejected the European Union report on the outcome of the February 25 presidential election, in which Bola Tinubu emerged winner.

Recall that the European Union Election Observer Mission in Nigeria (EU EOM) said the poll was marred due to multiple failures by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

In a statement issued by Dele Alake, the Special Adviser to the President on Special Duties, Communication and Strategy, it said the presidency “strongly rejects, in its entirety, any notion and idea from any organisation, group and individual remotely suggesting that the 2023 election was fraudulent.”
Dismissing the verdict, the Presidency berated the EU, saying the organisation merely relied on prejudiced and uninformed social media commentaries and opposition talking heads to arrive at its conclusions. It added that the body failed to provide substantial evidence to impeach integrity of the election outcome.
The statement reads in part: “Sometimes in May, we alerted the nation, through a press statement, to plan by a continental multilateral institution to discredit the 2023 general elections conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“The main target was the presidential election, clearly and fairly won by the then candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu. While we did not mention the name of the organisation in the said statement, we made it abundantly clear to Nigerians how this foreign institution had been unrelenting in its assault on credibility of the electoral process, the sovereignty of our country and on our ability as a people to organise ourselves.
“We find it preposterous and unconscionable that in this day and age, any foreign organisation of whatever hue can continue to insist on its own yardstick and assessment as the only way to determine the credibility and transparency of our elections.
“Now that the organisation has submitted what it claimed to be its final report on the elections, we can now categorically let Nigerians and the entire world know that we were not unaware of the machinations of the European Union to sustain its, largely, unfounded bias and claims on the election outcomes.
“For emphasis, we want to reiterate that the 2023 general elections, most especially the presidential election, won by President Bola Tinubu/APC, were credible, peaceful, free, fair and the best organised general elections in Nigeria since 1999.
“It is worth restating that the limitation of EU’s final assessment and conclusions on our elections was made very bare in the text of the press conference addressed by the Head of its Electoral Observation Mission, Barry Andrews. While addressing journalists in Abuja on the so-called final report, Andrews noted that EU-EOM monitored the pre-election and post-election processes in Nigeria from January 11 to April 11, 2023 as an INEC accredited election monitoring group.
“Within this period, EU-EOM observed the elections through 11 Abuja-based analysts, and 40 election observers spread across 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. With the level of personnel deployed, which was barely an average of one person per state, we wonder how EU-EOM independently monitored election in over 176,000 polling units across Nigeria.
“We would like to know and even ask EU, how it reached the conclusions in the submitted final report with the very limited coverage of the elections by their observers who, without doubt, relied more on rumours, hearsay, cocktails of prejudiced and uninformed social media commentaries and opposition talking heads.
“We are convinced that what EU-EOM called final report on our recent elections is a product of a poorly done desk job that relied heavily on few instances of skirmishes in less than 1,000 polling units out of over 176,000 where Nigerians voted on election day.
“We have many reasons to believe the jaundiced report, based on the views of fewer than 50 observers, was to merely sustain the same premature denunciatory stance contained in EU’s preliminary report released in March.
“We strongly reject, in its entirety, any notion and idea from any organisation, group and individual remotely suggesting that the 2023 election was fraudulent.
“Our earlier position that the technology-aided 2023 general elections were the most transparent and best organised elections since the return of civil rule in Nigeria has been validated by all non-partisan foreign and local observers. Such are: the African Union, ECOWAS, Commonwealth Observer Mission and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).
“Unlike EU-EOM that deployed fewer than 50 observers, the NBA that sent out over 1,000 observers spread across the entire country for same election gave a more holistic and accurate assessment of the elections in their own report.
“NBA, an organisation of eminent lawyers and an important voice within the civic space, reported that 91.8 per cent of Nigerians rated the conduct of the national and state elections as credible and satisfactory. Any election that over 90 per cent of the citizens considered transparent should be celebrated anywhere in the world.”

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Natasha uncovers arrest plot after reported Akpabio to IPU in New York

Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has uncovered plot by security agents to arrest her upon arrival to Nigeria from Interparliamentary Union, IPU where she reported alleged sexual harassment against Nigerian Senate President, Godswill Obot Akpabio.

Akpoti-Uduaghan who represents Kogi Central Senatorial District was suspended for six months for flouting the purported Senate Rules and Order, after which she claimed sexual harassment and proceeded to the IPU.

She revealed that she faces arrest by Nigerian government as Nigerian security officials are planning to arrest her upon her return to Nigeria, claiming that the planned arrest was like ked to her participation in the IPU meeting in New York on March 11, 2025
On Sunday the Kogi female Senator was quoted as saying
that she was aware of plots.
“I’m aware there are plans underway to have me arrested as soon as I arrive Abuja,” Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan, who is still in the US after the IPU meeting, said.
Though she didn’t disclose details of the planned arrest by 2hich of the security agencies, her participation has however considered an embarrassement to the Nigerian government and since her appearance at IPU on March 11, 2025, things were no longer at ease within the government circles.
A source within security domain confirmed that a probe has been launched into Natasha’s participation at IPU.

News
Biggest cocaine, opioid shipments meant for US, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Poland seized in NDLEA’s 2 weeks raid [Pictorials]

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency in raid across states in last two weeks led to the seizure of biggest multiple illicit drug consignments bound for the United States, Saudi Arabia, Poland, Italy, and the United Arab Emirates.

The drugs, including cocaine, tramadol, loud, and molly, were concealed in various items such as prayer beads, board game packs, and female clothing.

This was made known in a statement signed by the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi on Sunday.
The statement read, “Desperate bids by some drug trafficking organisations (DTO) to move illicit consignments such as Cocaine, Tramadol, Loud, Molly and others concealed in prayer beads, packs of board games, female cloths to the United States of America, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Poland, and United Arab Emirates through logistics firms and the Lagos airport have been thwarted by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.
“At least, two suspects behind some of the aborted missions at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja Lagos have already been arrested. One of them is a 43-year-old businesswoman, Jakpor Egware May, who was nabbed at the Gate ‘C’ departure hall of the Lagos airport while attempting to board an Air France flight to Italy on Saturday, 8th March 2025.
“When she was searched, 190 parcels of tramadol 225mg and another parcel of skunk, a strain of cannabis, were recovered from her luggage. In her statement, she claimed that she bought the drugs herself, with the intention to resell them in Italy.
“At the export shed of the Lagos airport, NDLEA officers on Tuesday, 11th March arrested a 60-year-old suspect, Yahaya Fatai Ayinla, while attempting to ship a cargo containing cloths used to conceal 400grams of skunk going to New York, United States of America.
“At some logistics companies in Lagos, efforts by drug traffickers to export over two kilograms of Loud, Molly, Tramadol 365mg, 225mg hidden in Vitamin C bottles and female cloths to the US were frustrated by NDLEA operatives of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, DOGI. “Other shipments of 230grams of cocaine concealed in prayer beads, soles of locally made shoes and packs of board games heading to Saudi Arabia, Poland and UAE were equally intercepted between Monday 10th and Wednesday 12th March.”
In a separate operation in Kano, NDLEA operatives arrested 40-year-old Hassan Haruna at Chalawa and recovered 727 blocks of compressed skunk weighing 479 kilograms.
In Kogi State, officers intercepted 58,300 pills of tramadol along the Kabba-Obajana highway in a commercial bus traveling from Lagos to Abuja.
Additional raids in Kachia, Kaduna State, led to the arrest of 21-year-old Idris Hamza, who was found in possession of 4,900 pills of tramadol 225mg.
Another raid in the Hayin Banki area of Kaduna North LG resulted in the arrest of 25-year-old Aminu Magaji, from whom 2,900 tablets of tramadol 225mg were seized.
The statement added, “In Kano, a total of 727 blocks of compressed skunk weighing 479kg were recovered from a 40-year-old suspect Hassan Haruna who was arrested by NDLEA operatives at Chalawa area of the state on Wednesday 12th March, while no fewer than 58,300 pills of tramadol were intercepted along Kabba-Obajana highway, Kogi state in a commercial bus coming from Lagos enroute Abuja on Tuesday 11th March.
“Raid operations in Kachia, Kaduna state on Thursday 13th March led to the arrest of Idris Hamza, 21, with 4,900 pills of tramadol 225mg seized from him, just as a similar exercise in Hayin Banki area of Kaduna North LGA, on Friday 14th March resulted in the arrest of 25-year-old Aminu Magaji from whom 2,900 tablets of tramadol 225mg were recovered.”
In Kwara State, NDLEA operatives intercepted 40,200 tramadol 225mg tablets from two suspects, Olowoko Faruk and Akeem Ridwan.
A separate seizure of 21,700 tramadol capsules was made along Eiyenkorin expressway in Ilorin, leading to the arrest of a suspect identified as Salisu Usman.
In Taraba State, officers arrested 35-year-old Polycarp Adeku and seized 15.77 kilograms of skunk from him. In Osun State, NDLEA operatives intercepted a commercial bus carrying 48.7 kilograms of Ghanaian loud, Colorado, and Canadian loud, all potent strains of cannabis.
The statement added, “While a total of 40, 200 tablets of tramadol 225mg were recovered from the duo of Olowoko Faruk and Akeem Ridwan along Ilorin – Jebba expressway, Bode Saadu, Kwara state on Friday 14th March, NDLEA operatives equally seized 21,700 capsules of same opioid from a suspect Salisu Usman along Eiyenkorin expressway, Ilorin on Thursday 13th March.
“In Taraba State, NDLEA officers on Friday 14th March arrested Polycarp Adeku, 35, at Bente road, Kurmi LGA, with 15.77Kg skunk, while in Osun state, operatives on Thursday 13th March, intercepted a commercial bus marked SGB 564 YS coming from Idumota, Lagos Island in front of King University, Ode-omu, with a total of 48.7kg Ghanaian Loud, Colorado and Canadian Loud, all strains of cannabis. Not less than nine suspects have been arrested in connection with the seizure in Osogbo and Ile-Ife during follow up operations.”
In Abuja, NDLEA officers arrested 58-year-old Ade Esan, also known as Pastor, along the Gwagwalada expressway with 27,800 tramadol 225mg pills in his possession.
Another suspect, 26-year-old Usman Mohammed, was nabbed with varying quantities of skunk and cocaine.
In Abia State, a raid in the Ntigha community, Isiala-Ngwa North LG, resulted in the arrest of 34-year-old Chinaza Nwogu, also known as Young Money.
The statement added, “A 58-year-old suspect Ade Esan (aka Pastor) was on Tuesday 11th March arrested along Gwagwalada expressway, FCT Abuja with 27,800 pills of tramadol 225mg, while another suspect Usman Mohammed, 26, was nabbed same day with various quantities of skunk and cocaine at Wuse zone 3 area of Abuja.
“In Abia state, NDLEA operatives on Saturday 15th March raided the Ntigha community, Isiala-Ngwa North LGA, where a 34-year-old suspect Chinaza Nwogu (aka Young Money) was arrested with 274grams of heroin, 141grams of methamphetamine, 2.931kg of cannabis sativa, 4grams of cocaine and Seven Hundred and Fifty Three Thousand, Fifteen Naira (N753,015.00) monetary exhibit.”

News
Rivers Crisis: Wike taunts Fubara, accuse governor of sharing money belonging to State

The former governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike has accused the Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara of sharing Rivers State with those he surrounded himself with who cannot help him.

Speaking at a civic reception in his honor at Abalama Town in the Kalabari Kingdom, organized by NEW Associates, Wike, the former governor of Rivers State, blamed the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Dr. Tammy Danagogo, for instigating the political crisis in the state.

The former governor who is now the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT stated that Rivers State House of Assembly led by Speaker Martin Amaewhule who recently won their case at the Supreme Court would not be stopped from doing their constitutional duties.
Wike stated this while addressing the large crowd that gathered to receive him, Wike said he attended the event despite threats from certain individuals, emphasizing that the occasion proved the opposition was merely making “radio noise.”
“I heard some people say I wouldn’t come here. Who are they, and how many are they? What you’ve done today shows the world that all the noise on the radio is not the reality. If you are from Kalabari and the Ijaw nation and you are receiving me today, God will continue to bless you. I will always stand by you and support you.”
Wike also denied reports that he described the Ijaw people as a minority in Rivers State, stating that his words were taken out of context.
“Some people have deliberately misinterpreted my interview. However they choose to twist it is their business. I simply said we all worked together, and without unity, it would have been difficult to produce the governor. Chief Alabraba did not allow me to rest during the decision-making process; he nearly fainted when we were choosing the candidate.
“Himself, OCJ Okocha, Sergeant Awuse, and Celestine Omehia were present when we met. On the day of the primary, the current governor initially refused to run, saying my Commissioner for Finance, Isaac Kamalu, should be the candidate instead. Celestine Omehia insisted that Kamalu should run because he believed the governor couldn’t effectively carry out the responsibilities of the office.”
Wike alleged that those surrounding the governor advised him to withhold the salaries and allowances of Assembly members for over a year. He stressed that he would not interfere with the Assembly’s constitutional functions.
“They told you to seize the salaries and allowances of Assembly members for over a year, leaving them without income to feed their families or pay school fees. You were jubilating, and people encouraged you, assuring you that nothing would happen.
“Now, something has happened. I am not going to stop the Assembly from performing its constitutional duties. The Assembly should be allowed to do its job. People who love peace do not threaten others.
“I told you that the House of Assembly members would not lose their seats. I told you that the local government shenanigans would not stand. I don’t need to be a governor to know that what is illegal is illegal. We fight it constitutionally, following due process. What did we do wrong?
“We simply said that the Assembly members, local government chairmen, and National Assembly members worked hard to make you governor—do not abandon them. But they claimed I was asking for money. Has the money come? Those you are sharing money with, how far?
“Yesterday, I was a bad man, a crook, and a criminal. But it was that same ‘bad man’ who made you governor against all odds. If I hated the Ijaw people, I wouldn’t have done that, and nothing would have happened. I believe in the principle of ‘live and let live.”
Wike also criticized those surrounding the governor, labeling them “natural ingrates” and warning that money is not everything.
“Anyone who is not an ingrate would not associate with what is happening. I told the governor to enjoy what God had given him in peace and not to engage in unnecessary conflicts. But his advisers told him, ‘You are the governor, you have money.’ I agree, but money is not everything. These people have nothing to offer. Now, look at where we are. How far?”
Meanwhile, the chairman of the occasion, Chief Ferdinand Alabraba, praised Wike for his political acumen and unwavering support for the Ijaw people.
“Wike has worked to resolve the political crisis in Rivers State by following the dispute up to the Supreme Court. We pray that peace will return to the state through this process.
“We will continue to support you at all times and uphold collaboration as a powerful force for advancing the interests of all parts of the state. Your contributions to Kalabari land will remain indelible for generations to come.”

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