Press spotlights protest led by Atiku to INEC office in Abuja, others

APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The report that days after announcing his decision to challenge outcome of the February 25 elections, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, yesterday, led stalwarts and members of the party in a protest march to headquarters of the INEC is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Tuesday.
The Guardian reports that days after announcing his decision to challenge outcome of the February 25 elections, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, yesterday, led stalwarts and members of the party in a protest march to headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Abuja.
With placards reading ‘Save our democracy from INEC,’ ‘INEC is an enemy of the Nigerian democracy,’ ‘Cancel 2023 general elections now,’ ‘We stand for justice, we fight for a new Nigeria,’ and ‘Nigerians have lost confidence in INEC,’ among others, the demonstrators marched from Legacy House, PDP presidential campaign office, through British High Commission, Abuja, the National University Commission (NUC) office to the Maitama office of the electoral umpire, to protest outcome of the election won by candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
Among the protesters were PDP governors, top party chieftains, including national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu; former national chairman, Uche Secondus; chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT), Adolphus Wabara; former Senate President, Bukola Saraki; Senator Dino Melaye, among others.
INEC had on Wednesday declared Tinubu President-elect after he polled 8,794,726 votes to defeat Atiku, who had 6,984,520 votes, while Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) got 6,101,533 votes.
Clad in black attires, Atiku and party leaders reiterated their earlier rejection of the results, saying the election was marred with infractions and they would challenge it in court.
The party also presented a letter of protest to INEC, which was received by the National Commissioner, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye.
Speaking earlier before Okoye received the petition, Atiku said the party would continue its protest daily for a long time, adding that the exercise will not stop them from going to court to challenge the outcome of the election.
He said: “We are protesting and we have every right to protest. It doesn’t stop us from going to court. We will protest for a very long time, either everyday or every other day.”
The newspaper says that troops of Sector 3, Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) have repelled the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) attacks on Monguno community in Borno State.
According to the task force, the ISWAP fighters attacked the community bordering Cameroon on Sunday, March 4, in an attempt to penetrate the town on the shores of Lake Chad.
A counter-insurgency expert in the Lake Chad region, Zagazola Makama, disclosed in Maiduguri, yesterday, that the terrorists sneaked into the community through Abbari community and Charly 6 formation.
“The troops swiftly engaged the terrorists in a fierce gun battle that lasted over 30 minutes,” he said.
Makama noted that the superior firepower of the army led to the successful repulsion of the terrorists.
Confirming the development, the MNJTF Commander, Maj-Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar, said: “We’ve pushed them back into the Lake Chad waters, while the community is being protected against further attacks.”
The Punch reports that Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria have begun partial compliance with the Supreme Court order approving the use of old N1,000 and N500 and N200 notes as legal tender for 10 months.
The Supreme Court had, last week ordered that the old naira notes should be allowed in circulation along with the new notes until December 31, 2023.
The court had said the Federal Government’s naira redesign policy contravened the 1999 Constitution.
On Monday, findings by The PUNCH revealed that commercial banks had begun partial compliance with the order even though the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation kept mum on the matter.
Visits by our correspondents to several bank branches in Lagos, Abuja and other major cities revealed that some banks had commenced compliance with the Supreme Court order.
The CBN and the AGF office had refused to comply with previous orders by the Supreme Court on the controversial naira redesign policy.
Among others, the Supreme Court had on February 8, 2023 nullified the February 10 deadline stipulated by the CBN for the phasing out of the old naira notes.
The CBN and the AGF office however failed to comply with the directive.
While the CBN and AGF office failed to take a decision on the latest order by the Supreme Court order, some commercial banks on Monday began to pay their customers the old notes.
Several Gtbank branches in Lagos and Abuja paid customers the old N1000 and N500 notes on Monday, according to findings by The PUNCH. Also, several branches of the United Bank for Africa paid customers the old N1000 and N500 notes.
However, other commercial banks refused to pay their customers, saying they were awaiting CBN directive on the matter.
Findings by The PUNCH showed that the CBN had yet to issue a directive to banks on the matter but some banks relied on the Supreme Court ruling to go ahead with paying their customers.
The newspaper says that Nigeria’s Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba, has disclosed that the Federal Government plans to establish a basket fund to collect donations for the 2023 population and housing census.
He made this disclosure at a high-level partners engagement to seek support for the 2023 census in Abuja on Monday.
Agba noted that a total of N869bn is needed for the census, adding that the government committed N291,5bn with the need for an additional N327.2bn.
He said, “The total requirement for the census (including post census activities) is N869bn ($1.88bn): census requirement – N626bn ($1.36bn) which is about $6 per capita (just slightly above the threshold of up to $5 per capita); Post-Census (up to 2025) is N243bn ($527m).
“So far, the government has committed N291.5bn ($632m) to the census, making it 46 per cent of total funding for the census. An Additional (immediate) sum of N327.2bn ($709.9m) is required to complete the census.”
Agba further disclosed that the census exercise was to be conducted last year, but rescheduled for March 2023, but there is a recommendation that it should be held in May, 2023.
He said, “The last census in Nigeria was conducted in 2006. In 2014, the previous government proposed another census for 2016 in line with the UN recommendation for Decennial census.
“That administration, however, exited in 2015 without accomplishing the wish. From 2015 to 2016 the country slipped into a recession due to crash in oil price and production.”
He added that the basket fund will be managed by the United Nations Population Fund, which is also providing the National Population Commission with technical and financial support.
The minister urged members of the private sector to either donate cash or offer to buy some of the materials needed for the census.
GIK/APA