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INEC announces date for 2023 general elections

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Yakubu

 

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has announced the date for the 2023 general election in the country.

According to INEC, the general elections would hold February 18, 2023.

Chairman, INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who disclosed this expressed confidence in the National Assembly’s ability to pass Electoral Act Amendment Bill before the 2023 general elections.

Speaking at a public hearing on the ‘National Electoral Offences Commission (Establishment) Bill, 2021’ organised by Senate Committee on INEC, on Tuesday in Abuja, Mahmood noted the importance of the bill to the 2023 general elections.

“We are confident that the National Assembly will conclude work on the legal framework in earnest. In order to do so, there should be clarity and certainty about the electoral legal framework to govern the 2023 general elections.

“We are confident that the national assembly will do the needful and do so in earnest. The commission is anxious to know the legal framework to govern the conduct of the 2023 general elections.

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“By the principle established by the commission, the 2023 general elections will hold on Feb. 18, 2023, which is exactly one year, nine months, two weeks and six days away from today,” he said.

Yakubu said that the commission would release the timetable for the general elections immediately after the Anambra governorship election, scheduled to hold on Nov. 6.

On the Electoral Offences Commission Bill, Yakubu appealed to the National Assembly for its expeditious passage.

“It is not that the commission hasn’t done much or anything about the prosecution of electoral offenders.

“Since the 2015 general elections, 124 cases have been filed in court and are being prosecuted. So far, we have only achieved 60 convictions out of the cases.

“We will like to see more prosecution of offenders, not just of ballot box snatchers and falsifiers of results of elections, but more importantly, their sponsors.

“We look forward to the day when highly-placed sponsors of thuggery, including chieftains of political parties and candidates, will be prosecuted,” he said.

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Earlier, President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, while opening the hearing, said that the bill would not only harmonise regulations and laws related to electoral offences, but also serve as deterrence to offenders.

Lawan, who was represented by Senate Minority Whip, Sen. Philip Aduda, said having the electoral offences commission would be a solution to ensuring diligence in the administration of electoral justice system.

While commenting on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, Chairman, Senate Committee on INEC, Sen. Kabiru Gaya, said that it would be passed soon.

“The process will soon be concluded. We are presently working with stakeholders towards concluding the process and the president’s assent within this quarter,” he said.

On the electoral offences commission, Gaya said the bill provided for the commission to investigate and prosecute electoral offenders on the powers of the attorney-general and adopt measures to prevent, minimise and eradicate electoral offences.

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JUST IN: NSIB locates wreckage of crashed helicopter in Port Harcourt

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The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) says its search and recovery teams have successfully located the wreckage of the ditched Sikorsky SK76 helicopter.

In a statement on Thursday, Bimbo Olawumi Oladeji, NSIB’s director of public affairs and family assistance, said the wreckage was identified during recovery dives conducted on Wednesday night.

Details later…

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Don’t Patronise Fake Oil And Gas Bodies, NUPENG Cautions

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The leadership of our Union has identified fraudulent advertisements from individuals falsely claiming to represent a dubious association of Transporters and Oil and Gas Marketers.

The association urge the public and government institutions to be vigilant against these unscrupulous figures, who seek to exploit the current economic landscape following the removal of fuel subsidies. The Union reaffirms its support for recognized associations in the industry and urges all stakeholders to reject these miscreants and their deceptive practices.

The open letter below:

The attention of the leadership of our great Union has been drawn to some advertisements on news media of some unscrupulous and dangerous individuals claiming to be members of one amorphous association they claim is both Transporters and Marketers of the Oil and Gas at the same time, and we wish to state that this association is nothing but assemblage of failed Rent Seekers in the Subsidy Regime and Irredeemable Smugglers of Petroleum Products disguising as businessmen and women.

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The general public and government institutions are hereby warned and strongly . advised to be very wary of these individuals who are desperately seeking ways and means to continue to exploit Nigerians and collecting rents in other manners since the current administration removed subsidy from petroleum products and make
smuggling unprofitable for them.

 

The leadership of our great Union recognizes National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) as the legitimate umbrella body of Transporters in the Nigeria Oil and Gas Industry and Employers of Petroleum Tankers Drivers (PTD) of which our Union has Collective Bargaining Agreement with on behalf of Petroleum Tankers Drivers.

We also recognize Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Major Energy Marketers Association of Nigeria (MEMAN) as well as Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) as legitimate marketers of Oil and Gas products. These are associations of Marketers that are well known and respected in the downstream sector of the Nigeria oil and gas industry.

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There is also no ambiguity in the fact that the Nigeria Labour laws only recognize Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) as the umbrella bodies
for oil and gas Workers in Nigeria. These are the two organizations that represent and protect the job interests of the Nigeria oil and gas workers including Petroleum lanker Drivers (PTD) as prescribed in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Niger
AFFILIATED TO THE NIGERIA LABOUR CONGRESS (NLC) & Industrial Global Union
Ref:
SUPPORT OUR DREAM

GAS WORKERS

We implore all well-meaning Nigerians and government officials whose names these Usurpers and Rent Seekers are dropping to urgently disregard any invitation from them and publicly denounce them because they are purely mischief-makers, names Droppers and unscrupulous business individuals that can sell their families and country for money and are unfortunately part of those that plunge the country into the current economic woes and hardship that the country is currently battling and struggling with. Following numerous failed attempts to coerce our Union into collecting money for them at various petroleum depots, they have now resorted to these names-calling and cheap blackmail to further their insidious rent-seeking schemes.

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Our Solidarity remains Constant for the Union makes us strong!!!

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Finally, Joseph Wayas, ex-senate president, to be buried November 30 — three years after his death

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November 30 has been fixed for the burial of former Senate President Joseph Wayas, who died three years ago.

 

Wayas, who served as senate president from October 1, 1979, to December 31, 1983, died on November 30, 2021, at a London hospital after a protracted illness. He was 80 years old.

 

On July 10, his remains arrived in Nigeria after several controversies that followed the repatriation of his corpse.

 

Speaking on Thursday at a press briefing in Calabar, the capital of Cross River, Dorn-Cklaimz Enamhe, secretary of the central planning committee for Wayas’ burial, thanked Bassey Otu, governor of the state, and other individuals for repatriating Wayas’ body.

 

Enamhe noted that the committee, in collaboration with other authorities in Nigeria and the Nigerian High Commission in the United Kingdom (UK), worked together to ascertain the authenticity of the body.

 

He also appreciated the media for constantly reminding the nation that the body of the former senate president was yet to be buried.

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“Unfortunately, the body has been kept this long due to issues and disagreement among members of his family,” he said.

 

“We had to wait for these issues to be resolved, and as of today, they have been resolved; that is why we are going ahead with the burial.”

 

Nsa Gil, the chief press secretary to the governor of Cross River, added that the funeral would be held at the UJ Esuene Stadium in Calabar and later at the deceased’s hometown in Bassang, Obanliku LGA.

 

Senate President Godswill Akpabio and many other dignitaries are expected to attend the burial.

 

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