Amid the angst across Nigeria following the rejection of obligatory electronic transmission of election results by the National Assembly during its amendment of the Electoral Act, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has hinted it is working on procuring at least 200,000 electronic voting machines.
The commission said by its own processes and procedures, it is dealing with four components of Electronic Voting System (EVS): Electronic Voter Register (EVR), Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), Electronic Voter Authentication (EVA) and Electronic Transmission of Results (ETR).
Speaking exclusively with LEADERSHIP in Abuja, INEC’s national commissioner for information and voter education, Festus Okoye, said the commission had invited 49 companies for a Request for Information (RFI) demonstration and that it was yet to shortlist any company for the purposes of supplying any of the machines.
Okoye said, “The commission is working on the estimates for these machines and we are working at procuring at least 200,000.’’
He noted that the commission had been uploading Polling Unit Results with its Smart Card Readers, the Z-pad and other electronic solutions.
“The commission is embarking on the Continuous Voter Registration exercise using a new Voter Enrolment Device (IVED) that captures fingerprints and facials and also has the capacity for authentication,’’ he said.
Okoye, who did not mention the cost of the machines, stated that the commission was working on a package that contains the four elements of the electronic voting system.
A report by the New York University School of Law, Brennan Centre for Justice on the ‘Cost of Replacing Paperless, Computerised Voting Machines in the United States said it would fall in the range of $130 million to $400 million.
However, the Brennan Centre said this estimate is specific to the cost of the machine itself and does not include other items related to using and maintaining machines over time that may be included in a voting machine contract.
Recall that INEC had already acquired many of these machines and their appurtenances and used them in Edo and Ondo governorship elections, and in several other off-season legislative elections across the country. If electronic transmission of results is not approved in the new electoral act, the machines would become redundant and waste away, with all the investment in them, running into hundreds of millions of dollars
The National Assembly had in 2018 approved the sum of N189 billion for the 2019 poll, and some Nigerians are of the view that INEC might spend about $300 million or more to purchase at least 200,000 electronic voting machines for the 2023 elections.
So far, a handful of companies including Smartmatic, Dominion and Election Software and Systems create and sell the hardware and software that tally and tracks votes and the lucrative support contracts to keep them going. The companies are a sizable global business that Wintergreen Research estimates will be worth $8 billion by 2026.
This is because, although elections are ultimately a public affair, the mechanics of democracy are, in practice, powered by private enterprise.
The passage of the 2021 electoral amendment bill by the National Assembly, especially clause 52(3) seeking electronic transmission of election results by INEC, has continued to generate controversy among Nigerians who see the process as one of the ways of ensuring free, fair and credible elections.
All 52 senators of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) voted against the obligatory transmission of election results, while 28 voted for it during the clause-by-clause consideration of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2021. A total of 28 others were absent during the voting process.
….. something happened last week, in Oba, Anambra State, Nigeria: the funeral of the mother of a man popularly known as Obi Cubana, which would seem to be a metaphor for the collapse of values in Nigeria generally, the effect of poverty – spiritual, mental and physical – and how that pushes the people to desperate ends. The burial of Cubana’s mum may be seen as a form of celebration, she died at 75, but it was a lavish send-forth that was terribly obscene. The town of Oba has certainly never witnessed anything like that. Not even in the entire Anambra state has anyone organised anything so loud and extravagant. This was not a celebration of life. It was a celebration of Money. Obi Cubana’s mother died in November 2020. It took him more than seven months to plan the burial and when he decided that it was time for the dead to be sent forth, his obvious intention was to organise the mother of all burials, such that even the living would envy the dead and wish to die. The only problem is that not many Nigerians would rather die knowing that it is not every one that would ever get that kind of burial. Oba is ordinarily a quiet town of nine villages, located between the commercial town of Onitsha and the industrial town of Nnewi. During the civil war, it was the last frontier of the Biafran Army. But that community will now be remembered for a long time, for the burial of the mother of a certain Obi Cubana. The role played by the social media, and by Cubana’s friends is remarkable: how a country lost its moral centre and has produced a generation of new Nigerians who worship money, ego, kudi. The excitement generated among young Nigerians who could not make it to Oba but who followed the event on social media and became excited, is a measure of the extent of the crisis that Nigeria faces.
By Friday, the spectacle had begun to unfold. Social media managers of the burial who apparently had been engaged to do so – they are called influencers – told us and showed pictures, about the Obi Cubana Festival of Money. The first of the videos that I saw was that of a young man throwing Naira notes around, on the streets as if he was distributing candies to children. The notes were in packs, crisp new notes, and as each bundle was thrown at the crowd, people fell over themselves and rushed to pick up pieces. This was like a John the Baptist display. Many of Cubana’s friends and guests would soon arrive, and before they did, many of them posted on Instagram, the stacks of money they were going to spend. Cartons of Naira notes. In one post, a group of women were shown swimming in a pool, others were hanging around, scantily dressed, all looking like they had adjusted their biological features. That is now standard practice among a category of Nigerian women. They do a breast job, acquire a surgical, traffic-stopping butt, and they all look alike, fully bleached to their knuckles, with fake hair, strange eyelashes that protrude like pins, and of course foreign accents that have a combination of every dialect from Wales to mid-West America.
The boys by the pool threw money into the water and the girls scrambled to grab their share of the offering. This was the pattern throughout the burial. Naira notes, sorry bundles of Naira, were thrown about, sprayed, pasted so recklessly you would think this was a future Olympics Game, in which the athletes were preparing for a Gold Medal. Obi Cubana himself was at the centre of it all. One lady, simply identified as Livy was shown in one video throwing so many bales of money at Cubana that he exclaimed that he would need a Chest X-Ray! The way money was being thrown like pieces of cement blocks, I also thought that an ambulance should have been on standby. “Killed by money at Cubana’s mother’s burial” would have been an appropriate headline in the circumstance. The public was later informed that Obi Cubana got about 300 million Naira as contributions by his friends to bury his mother. He also received over 100 rams, and 400 cows, 46 out of that was supplied by one guy called Cubana Priest who not only announced the donation but also said that was just a tip of the iceberg.
Cubana himself did not disappoint. He wore a diamond pendant that was valued at N50 million. His mother’s casket, specially imported from wherever was said to have been about N40 million. This celebration of money was so unbelievable, the burial became a matter for social media punditry and the creation of emojis. Some people said it was certain Obi Cubana’s mother was already in Heaven as a saint, sitting on the right-hand side of the Almighty. Nobody has been to Heaven to confirm that, so we have no proof. Others said with the volume of money spent at the funeral, the Nigerian government should henceforth approach Obi Cubana for a loan and stop disturbing China, IMF and the World Bank. Other observers were worried about the source of the money that was being thrown around like confetti. Nigerian banks would also readily tell you that they don’t have new notes. They give out dirty notes to their customers. But there were more crisp, mint notes in circulation at Oba over the weekend than in the entire Nigerian banking system. And the notes were abused.
The Central Bank Act of Nigeria – Sections 5, 21 (4-5) prescribe penalties for the abuse of the country ‘s national currency. The law forbids the sale, purchase, and the plunking of the Naira, and prescribes penalties: six months imprisonment or a fine of N50, 000 or both. The penalties are so light, I don’t think they mean anything to Cubana and his friends or their likes. And why should that bother them anyway when the Oba funeral was attended by the same law enforcement officers who should know that it is an offence to abuse the Naira (truth is: policemen joined others to collect the notes that dropped on the floor), and there were lawmakers and prominent politicians in attendance too. In fact, nobody should be surprised if Cubana ends up as a Governor or Senator tomorrow. He has effectively used his mother’s burial to prove a point: that he has cash and the courage to spend it. Nigerians worship money. And that was why throughout the weekend: the popular saying was: who no dey Oba, na wahala him get? Women were turned into objects and debased. Whoever had not seen his girlfriend or wife was advised to go to Oba in Anambra State. And there was a particular video of one lady who collected up to three big bags of money, by just picking money from the floor like a mendicant! Nollywood stars fell over themselves to be seen and heard. One respected actor even got so carried away he began to act like an Area Boy on Instagram. I won’t mention his name because he is a man I like very much. Money is a Devil in Nigeria. It turns even the most enlightened into clowns.
At Obi Cubana’s mother’s burial, so-called celebrities, some of these characters who describe themselves as brands (whatever that means!) became ushers, bodyguards, “all-right-sirs” and videographers. Obi Cubana has every right to bury his mother the way he wants. But who is he? How did he make his money? How much tax does he pay to the Nigerian government? The Oba burial is over now, but the only thing anybody will remember is the Bacchanal orgy of money. I am not sure half of the people at the event even know who Cubana’s mother was. What kind of person was she? How did she relate within the community? Did she even ever see, handle, spend, a bundle of crisp Naira notes in her lifetime? Who are Obi Cubana’s family members? Does he even have siblings or extended family members? They were all blanked out! Members of the Oba community were advertised as crumb eaters. They struggled to grab the Naira notes that were thrown into the air. They stared at the money-miss-road invaders from a distance. When it was all over and the waka-come-Cubana crowd left, they struggled over the left-over crumbs of cow-meat barbecue. They were effectively reminded of their poverty.
Obi Cubana would probably not visit that community again until he needs to organise another show-off. Would it not have been better if he built a hospital in his mother’s memory? Or a school? Or a church? And then the people will remember her, and not how her son and his friends put money to shame at her funeral. And who are these friends? The kind of names that have been mentioned sound unfamiliar to me: E-Money, Internet Money, Pablo Cubana, Escoba, Jowizaza, Livy, Cubana Priest. Is the Nigerian Immigration Service, in charge of aliens and expatriates, the Nigerian Identity Management Commission (NIMC) in charge of National Identity Registration and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in charge of Homeland Security, aware of the presence of these people inside Nigeria? Who are they? And why do they spend money like that? Not even Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, or Warren Buffet will throw money around like that!
The burial of Otunba Mike Adenuga’s mother in 2005 has been compared to that of Cubana’s mother’s burial, and certainly Otunba Adenuga should feel maligned. It is an unintelligent comparison. The point that has been made is that when Adenuga was burying his mother he donated a cow to every street in Ijebu-Igbo, his home town. Yeah. But there were no drunkards throwing bales of money on the streets or cleavage-bearing women, bleached from head to toe, with artificial physiognomy and a mass of excessive protoplasm, promenading here and there, with shameless, bedmatic display. Last weekend, we saw a new definition of womanhood in Oba.
My point is about taste, class and values, not melodrama, or the right of persons to live as they wish. And here, I also draw attention to the burial about the same time of the mother of the former Managing Director of Access Bank, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, which took place in Lagos at the Tafawa Balewa Square. The contrast is striking but I bring it up because it also says something about Nigeria: the emergence of two polarized publics, both of seemingly strong weight and whose difference lies is the inherited future of our children because of the way Nigerian leaders have failed the people. The burial of Apostle Mrs Aig Imoukhuede was a dignified, classy event attended by the Nigerian establishment from politics to business and civil society. It was the celebration of a woman who achieved distinction in her own right and whose accomplishments in that regard were properly show-cased. The funeral was not about her first son, the banker, investor, philanthropist, friend of every important figure. It was, most appropriately, a celebration of her life. Nobody had any need to throw money around. Even if Mrs Imoukhuede was a trader at Oyingbo market, there would have been no need to turn her funeral into a festival of money. And yet the richest and most influential Nigerians with the strongest pedigree were there. One weekend, two burials, different tales! I leave it to you to stretch the comparison. I have made my point: Nigeria is in trouble. Young Nigerians, products of a failed leadership, worship money and fakery. The gentrified class train their children in the best schools abroad, but those same children will return to a country that would have been taken over by the Oba crowd who are sadly, the future of Nigeria. Obi Cubana, and Aig Imoukhuede, our commiserations.
Our attention has been drawn to some online news publications purportedly linking the arrest of Mr Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) by the Federal Government of Nigeria to Prof Charles Soludo
We make bold to say Professor Charles Soludo remains a proud and accomplished son of Ndigbo and do not have any hands in the arrest of Nnamdi Kanu as being alluded
We therefore urge the general public to disregard any insinuations or concocted stories allegedly linking the respected Professor to such bizarre narrative as this could be a politically motivated action to smear the good name of Prof Charles Soludo
Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu has indicated she no longer had interest in presiding over the trial involving the publisher of SaharaReporters and convener of #RevolutionNow movement, Omoyele Sowore and co-defendant Olawale Bakare.
Justice Ojukwu, who has been transferred to Calabar informed Chief Justice Justice Tsoho that although she would continue with other cases, she would no longer preside over Mr Sowore’s.
There have been controversies in Sowore’s trial since his arraignment in 2019.
Justice Ojukwu had ordered that Sowore and Bakare be released on bail but the Department of State Services disobeyed the order for several weeks. After granting him bail, the DSS re-arrested Sowore inside the court, causing commotion which made the judge flee.
He was, however, released following nationwide condemnation.
In February 2020, the Office of the Attorney-General took over the case, amended the charges and re-arraigned Sowore and Bakare.
The judge ordered the Federal Government to pay N200,000 as the cost to the defendants for the frivolous application for adjournment and adjourned till February 13.
A court official told PUNCH that two other judges also refused to take up Sowore’s case due to its ‘sensitive nature.’
“It seems some of these judges feel intimidated. They don’t want Federal Government trouble. The case is high profile and controversial. So, they have been avoiding it,” the source said.
It was also learnt that the fundamental human rights suit instituted by Sowore against the head of DSS Yusuf Bichi for unlawful detention, which is pending before Justice Inyang Ekwo, has also been returned to the chief justice for reassignment after several adjournments.
The All Progressives Congress has said that at the appropriately time it will come up with a consensus and agreeable presidential candidate that will fly its flag in 2023.
Sen. John Akpanudoehede, National Secretary, APC Caretaker and Extra-ordinary Convention Planning Committee, said this in a statement issued on Tuesday in Abuja.
The statement was in reaction to the Peoples Democratic Party’s recent allegation that President Muhammadu Buhari had a self-succession plan.
The APC scribe, however, stressed that the party would not allow individual ambitions to derail the Buhari administration, ahead of the 2023 presidential poll.
He said unlike the opposition PDP, the APC was a disciplined party, noting that the former was just been haunted by its past.
Akpanudoedehe recalled the third term agenda of the PDP while it was in power, pointing that the APC would surprise it with the outcome of its planned congresses scheduled to commence on July 31.
“After our congresses and the National Convention, we will shock them (PDP) by bringing a consensus and an agreeable candidate that will fly the flag of the party come 2023.
APC has no third term agenda like PDP. What we are doing now is to stabilise the party and not allow individual ambitions to derail President Buhari’s administration,” he said.
A member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), George Moghalu, has dragasked the Federal High Court, Abuja to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to delist the name of Andy Uba and the party from the list of political parties and candidates for the November 6 Anambra gubernatorial election.
Akelicious reports that Moghalu was among the aggrieved 14 aspirants who purchased forms to contest for the governorship election under the platform of the APC.
Moghalu, in the suit dated and filed July 8, 2021, by his lawyer, Chris Uche, SAN, alleged that the party failed to conduct a valid primary election for the selection and nomination of the party’s candidate in the forthcoming election.
He specifically asked the court to declare that the APC failed to conduct a valid primary election in line with the provisions of the 1999 constitution as amended, the Electoral Act and the APC’s constitution and guidelines for election and demanded the sum of N122.5 million damages from the APC.
Moghalu claimed that the sum of N22.5 million was meant for the refund of payment for the expression of interest form and nomination form.
He is also asking the court to order the APC to pay him another sum of N100 million as “exemplary and general damages for the breach of contract to commence and conclude primary election and or breach of Section 87 of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended) and the regulations and guidelines of the political party.”
Defendants in the suit marked FHC\ABJ\CS\648\2021 are the All Progressives Congress, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Andy Uba.
Parts of the reliefs sought included a declaration by the court that the APC has no candidate to field in the November 6 governorship poll in Anambra State having failed to conduct a valid primary in line with the law.
He also wanted the court to declare that Uba is not a candidate in the forthcoming election because the said primary that produced him as the candidate of the APC did not comply with the provisions of the law.
The plaintiff, in the motion exparte dated and filed July 13, 2021, also prayed the court to make an order for the expeditious hearing of the suit so as not to deny him justice.
However, the court is yet to fix a date for the hearing.
Why Simon Ekpa was removed as Radio Biafra anchorman —IPOB
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has explained reasons behind the removal of Mazi Simon Ekpa as the anchorman of Radio Biafra.
In a statement titled “Why Mazi Simon Ekpa may not continue as broadcaster on Radio Biafra – IPOB”, the Media and Publicity Secretary, Comrade Emma Powerful explained that Mazi Ekpa “doesn’t want to follow the laid down rules of operation in Radio Biafra.”
Comrade Powerful further explained that IPOB leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu gave the directive while in detention but Mazi Simon Ekpa has refused to follow the principles.
He said: “Mazi Simon Ekpa has refused to sign the rules of engagement and code of conduct guiding those broadcasting on Radio Biafra.
“We don’t understand why Mazi Ekpa would not like to follow the steps of other broadcasters on the platform who have since done the needful.
“IPOB is a big movement, and cannot just change the rules because of one individual as this may set a bad precedence.
“Mazi Simon Ekpa is hardworking Biafran whose immense contributions towards the restoration of Biafra are highly appreciated.
“But for not signing the code of conduct as a broadcaster on Radio Biafra, he may not continue to have the opportunity of broadcasting via the platform.”
Powerful, however, elaborated that the decision was not intended to ridicule or undermine anyone but to prove to all that due process cannot be compromised in IPOB.
“IPOB is a well-structured movement where activities of members are regulated with well thought-out rules.
“No one should act in a way that suggests that the laws are meant for certain group of people,” he added.
He noted that while Simon Ekpa has the right to make his broadcasts on Facebook and other platforms of his choice, he may no longer broadcast on Radio Biafra as one of the official broadcasters.
The United Kingdom Parliament has declared that the Nigerian government has to explain the roles it played and the manner of the arrest of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, from Kenya.
IGBERE TV reports that the UK Minister of State for the Commonwealth, Lord Tariq Ahmad, demanded that the Nigerian government should explain to the British government how it repatriated the IPOB leader.
This followed a debate by the UK Parliament on July 7, during which British lawmakers discussed the UK government’s assessment of Kenya’s role in Kanu’s arrest.
Lord Alton of Liverpool raised the issue at the House of Lords, seeking to address the controversies surrounding the transfer of Kanu from Kenya to Nigeria against his will.
He also sought to know if there was any assistance provided to the embattled IPOB leader by the High Commission in Abuja.
A parliamentary schedule stated, “Lord Alton of Liverpool to ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of (1) the alleged role of the government of Kenya in the detention and alleged mistreatment of Nigerian activist Nnamdi Kanu, (2) the circumstances surrounding the transfer of Kanu to Nigeria against his will, and (3) of any assistance being provided to him by the High Commission in Abuja. HL1665.”
In response to the parliament’s debate, Ahmad said, “We are seeking clarification from the Nigerian Government about the circumstances of the arrest and detention of Nnamdi Kanu.”
Ahmad also confirmed claims by the British High Commission in Abuja that the UK government was providing consular assistance for the IPOB leader.
“The UK has requested consular access to Kanu from the Nigerian government, and we stand ready to provide consular assistance,” he maintained.
While the Buhari regime has refused to disclose how it repatriated the IPOB leader from Kenya, the UK government had clarified that Kanu travelling with a British passport was not arrested within its shores.
IPOB had also accused Kenya’s special police force of arresting, detaining, and torturing Kanu before the authorities handed him over to the Nigerian government.
But Kenya, through its high commissioner to Nigeria, Wilfred Machage, refuted the claim, stating that the East African Country was not involved in the whole process.
But findings by The Guardian, a UK newspaper, indicated that he was arrested in Kenya, as Kanu’s UK passport remains in Kenya.
He was said to have entered Kenya this year with his British passport on a visa expiring in June, the newspaper reported.
Yoruba Nation agitator, Chief Sunday Adeyemo aka Sunday Igboho has not been released by the authorities of Benin Republic, his media aide Olayomi Koiki has informed DAILY INDEPENDENT.
There were reports on social media that Igboho who was arrested in Cotonou on Monday night alongside his wife Ropo Adeyemo has been released and is on his way to Germany.
When contacted by our correspondent, Koiki said the report is untrue as nothing of such happened
Please disregard the report. There is nothing as such ” he said.
He has assured Ndi Anambra that he will take Anambra to the world and bring the world to Anambra. How?
He will turn the state into one state mega city that is livable and holistically developed to ensure that security, prosperity and happiness are guaranteed for the people. Therefore, the world will come to invest, live, work and relax in Anambra state.
Now the minds of Ndi Anambra have been stretched. Social Scientists will tell you that once the mind is stretched, it will never be the same again. Ndi Anambra are enthusiastically looking forward to the Soludo’ s promise land.
Today, he is their most popular, trusted and preferred candidate for the Governorship election coming up on November 6, 2021.
This, too is his cross.
Convinced that he will deliver on his promise as he did in the past in similar global and national assignments, the people are putting in everything- their time, talents and treasures into the project to ensure it comes to fruition. It has never happened before but as we say in marketing, the passionate believers in the Soludo Solution brand are breaking the category paradigm.
Like a hurricane, Soludo stares you in the face everywhere as the hope that Anambra can build on and consolidate the stellar legacy projects of Governor Willie Obiano who too, has not hidden his wish to hand over the baton of leadership to him.
Alas,Friday July 16 was the day INEC and political hawks in the state sought to test the resolve of Ndi Anambra on the Soludo for governor project. Buoyed by Jigawa state high court judgement procured by the enemies of Ndigbo, INEC did the unthinkable. They placed the name of someone who was adjudged unfit to run for governor by the APGA governorship screening committee in place of Soludo.
Earlier, a so- called charge of non disclosure of the purchase of London residence was roped around his neck ostensibly to paint him black and deny him public sympathy. All the dubious machinations failed .
Instead,the world was thrown into shock. Nigeria and Anambra were in shock and disbelief. INEC has by this singular action murdered sleep. We thank God that the outpourings of emotions did not turn riotous as Prof Jason Nwankwo and Charles Okigbo hinted in their letter of solidarity from their USA base.
We reproduce the submissions of the duo which succinctly portray the mood of majority of Ndi Anambra and Ndigbo across the globe. “The news of reinstating Prof. Soludo to the list of candidates contesting the Anambra governorship election has made our day. It could have been riotous situation if Prof. Soludo was manipulated out of the Anambra electoral process.
The Anambra intellectuals in diaspora were already mobilizing for action. We thank Onwa Na Awa, Joe Anatune, from Soludo’s media office who asked for calmness in the face of the insult to Anambra people. We will continue to monitor the situation to ensure that the popular candidate, Prof Soludo, the people’s choice, wins the election.
The Anambra intellectuals in diaspora hereby advise Edozie Njoku, Jude Okeke and Chukwuma Umeoji to join hands with us to elect Prof. SOLUDO to the governorship of Anambra State.
Signed:
Professors Jason C. Nwankwo and Charles Okigbo.”
Finally Soludo is a good man with multitudes of brand believers who are ready to defend and stand with him. The Umeojis and their co-travellers should realise they are wasting precious time and resources trying to work against the people’s Choice.
