Former Chief of Staff  to Imo State  Government  and son -in-law to former Governor Rochas Okorocha, Mr Uche Nwosu said yesterday that he was accused of supplying arms to militants.This allegation was contained  a petition  made to the police  by  yet-to-identified individual.

Nwosu made this known  in Owerri, while narrating the  experience of  his  arrest by security operatives at St Peter’s Anglican Church Eziama-Obiere, in Nkwerre Local Government Area of Imo State  during the outing service of his late mother, Jemimah Nwosu, last Sunday.

He  explained that he was taken to the Police Tactical Squad office in Abuja, where he was told by the police that  “Someone wrote a petition against me (Nwosu), that I was supplying arms to militants and giving them money.”

He added that there was no time that the police officially invited him to come and answer questions from the petition against him.

He  therefore  demanded from the Inspector General of Police, IGP,  Usman Alkali Baba  to investigate the owner of the private jet which was used to fly him  from Enugu to Abuja.

Nwosu spoke as the former  governor of the state and his father-in-law Rochas Okorocha expressed  shock over Nwosu’s experience in the hands of his abductors.

This is even as the  Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, yesterday, described as a sacrilege, the  alleged abduction  from  a Church  service, condemning the  act in  its  entirety.

IPOB said  the  abduction  has exposed the masterminds of insecurity in Imo State, adding that it is a vindication that  IPOB and Eastern Security Network, ESN, are not  responsible  for the numerous attacks, abductions/kidnappings in  the state  contrary to alleged false accusations and propaganda by the  state  government against the pro Biafra group.

Narrating his ordeal, Nwosu said: “The petition the  Police  said was from somebody  stated that their reason  for arresting me  was  that I was  supplying arms to militants and giving them money. The whole plan was cooked up in Imo State Govt House. The security men attached to the Government House, one Shaba was behind this plot.

“The  plot was to  humiliate  me and malign my image. No security man from  Abuja or the state command came for that operation. Those  security  officers were all security men attached to the government of Imo State.

A  normal policeman cannot behave the way they did. They came and shot inside the church which no professional police officer would do. They shot anyhow. They are a killer squad from the Government House.

“Nobody invited me or called me on phone. I would have answered but I did not receive any invitation from the police. So, just like that, they came, arrested  me and handled me like a criminal and treated me like I have committed an  offence.

“I want the Inspector General of Police, IGP, to investigate the person who ordered for my  arrest and the owner of the private jet and who paid for the private jet that took me from Enugu   to Abuja. They took me to the tactical squad office and the IG sent somebody to come  and interview  me and I gave  my statement. From what I gathered,  the IG was not properly briefed on what was going on.”

However, the Imo State Government through the Imo State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Declan Emelumba, has maintained  that  the  government has no hand in the  events that led to the arrest of Nwosu and that  it was purely the  activities of the security operatives, adding that they should wait for the outcome of the investigation of the police.

(Vanguard)

National Chairman of the Independent Nationa l Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu, has described the Bi-modal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) as a voting tool that has come to stay.

Making the declaration during a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners on Tuesday in Abuja, Yakubu said that the success recorded from the November 6 Governorship Election showed that with time, the errors would be resolved.

“It is now over seven weeks since the conclusion of the Anambra Governorship election. Despite the challenging security situation in the State, the Commission was resolute in our determination to proceed with what many believed was going to be an impossible election to conduct.

“So too is the uploading of Polling Unit results on the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal in real-time on Election Day. We are convinced that the introduction of technology in voter accreditation and result management is better than the best entirely manual process. ⅘

It also increases public confidence in the process. We will continue to deepen the use of technology in our elections,” Yakubu said.
He expressed joy that the election passed off peacefully and the outcome adjudged to be free, fair, transparent and credible.

While thanking the staff of the Commission, as well as the National and Resident Electoral Commissioners who were deployed to supervise different aspects of the elections, the INEC boss also commended the security agencies for working cooperatively and professionally with the Commission to secure the environment for the peaceful conduct of the election.

“Our appreciation also goes to all the stakeholders from political parties and candidates; civil society organisations that deployed thousands of observers across the State despite the security challenges; the media for the extensive coverage of the election; the religious, traditional and socio-cultural associations for working for peace during the election; and the National Peace Committee for bringing parties and candidates to commit to peace before, during and after the election.

“Above all, the Commission appreciates the voters in Anambra State for their resilience and orderly
conduct.

“As you are aware, the Commission piloted two important technological innovations in the Anambra State Governorship election. The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) was deployed for the first time in a major election after the successful pilot in the Isoko South I State Constituency in Delta State in September this year.

The BVAS has replaced the Smart Card Reader for verification and authentication as part of our improved voter accreditation process.

“The new technology was designed in-house by INEC engineers. Like every new technology, glitches were observed and important lessons learnt.

“We wish to assure Nigerians that the Commission has reviewed the performance of the BVAS in Anambra State and there will be a tremendous improvement leading to optimal performance in future elections.

“The second technological innovation introduced in the Anambra Governorship election went virtually unnoticed by many Nigerians.

For some time now, dedicated portals were created by the Commission to handle different aspects of the electoral process. For instance, the nomination of candidates by political parties, including the uploading of nomination forms, is now done online. So too is the accreditation of election observers and the media.

In addition, and for the first time in the history of the Commission, the accreditation of polling and collation agents nominated by political parties was done online.

“This has ensured that all such agents were provided with identification tags bearing not only their party logos, names and other personal details, but personal photographs as well. In all, the Commission issued 63,745 identification tags to agents of the 18 political parties that sponsored candidates for the election.

This has sanitized the process and made the identification of ghost party agents easier. We will maintain the same arrangement for all forthcoming elections, including the 2023 General Election,” Yakubu added.

The INEC boss said that the Second Quarter of the CVR exercise have been  completed following its commencement online in June and physically at designated centres in July, saying that Nigerians were given weekly updates for the last six months.

According to the chairman, the Third Quarter of the exercise would commence in January next year.
He said: “The Commission is aware that Nigerians would like to know when the exercise will be devolved beyond our State and Local Government offices to enable more citizens to register. Secondly, for those already registered, they would like to know when their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) will be available for collection.

The Commission is working on these concerns and issues and will issue a comprehensive schedule for both activities early in the New Year.

George Moghalu, ex-National auditor of the All Progressive Congress, APC has said Andy Uba has no locus to challenge the victory of Chukwuma Charles Soludo, the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the Anambra governorship election.

Moghalu, a candidate in the party’s primary for the Anambra governorship election said this while reacting to the court’s judgement nullifying Andy Uba’s candidacy in the recently conducted election.

The APC chieftain in a statement by the Director of his Campaign Organization, Arch Okey Chukwuogo, on Tuesday, called the court verdict a clear vindication of the wishes and prayers of the entire members of the party in the state.

The judgement is expected because nobody sees illegality and calls it legal and fair is fair and it is good to take what belongs to everyone? Moghalu wrote.

I will be surprised if he goes to the appeal court and what are you appealing for when it is clear that no primary election was conducted in Anambra APC and by the judgement it means that Andy Uba was not a candidate in the said election.

He has no locus to go to the election petitions tribunal to challenge the victory of the APGA candidate that win the election which he was not part of and he did not participate in.

(Journalist101)