By Taiye Agbaje

Gender and Election Watch (GEW) observation group has said that the conduct of the Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly election was largely peaceful though there were pockets of violence.
Mufuliat Fijabi, the Chief Executive Officer, GEW Room of the Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF) stated this, on Wednesday, during a post-election briefing in Abuja.
Fijabi, who said that the group deployed 400 accredited observers for the polls, said the participation of women as voters, poll officials and candidates were highly commendable.
According to her, the elections witnessed the resilience of many Nigerians, especially women who participated as voters, poll officials and candidates.
She, however, expressed worry over the percentage of women candidates in the polls.
“Women are resilient and committed to a truly democratic process although the turnout of women need to continue to improve,” she said.

Fijabi, who acknowledged the efforts of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), asked for stronger efforts to consolidate on the gains made so far “and to continue to guarantee Nigerians that their votes truly count.”
“However, the challenges associated with the delays experienced in the opening of polls, pockets of disruption and the slow and untimely upload of results on the IREV remain strong concerns for Nigeria’s democracy,” she said.
While commending technological innovations in elections, she said thorough testing was a necessity before affirmation to avoid irregularities that could mar an entire electoral process.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the GEW Room, is an initiative of NWTF, an organisation founded to close the gender gaps in governance in Nigeria.
The group deployed its team across the FCT and seven states which include Adamawa, Kogi, Kano, Lagos, Oyo, Rivers and Anambra. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

By Tosin Kolade

The National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) on Wednesday congratulated the President-elect, Sen. Bola Tinubu over his victory at the Saturday’s presidential election.

The NYCN National President, Mr Sukubo Sukubo, said the former Lagos State governor’s victory was an endorsement of decades of relentless leadership and his selfless investment in democratic practices.

Sukubo, in a message signed by the National Public Relations Officer of the Council, Mr Dotun Omoleye, said the youth received Tinubu’s victory with much enthusiasm.

“The youth of this country received your victory with much enthusiasm in view of your track record, experience, creativity and peerless commitment to the cause of our nation, and development of the younger people.

“We nurse no doubt, that Tinubu’s presidency will further boost the hope and aspirations of the youth to become productive partners with the government across levels in the task of nation building.

“This is in line with his vision and years of proven devotion to attracting younger people into leadership opportunities and deploying their unique skills to productive sectors.’’

He said the Nigerian youths were confident of the President-elect’s exceptional capacity to engage the youth population in creative and other resourceful enterprises for the prime purpose of lowering the bar of insufficient jobs.

He said the NYCN also believed that the president-elect would use his office to fight insecurity and stimulate the intellectual assets required to develop the nation.

The NYCN urged Tinubu to immediately put measures in place towards tackling these menaces that had constituted existential hurdles to the country’s development.

The council called on the president-elect to implement the critical part of his manifesto that touches on the Students Loan, and the promise to guarantee hitch-free academic calendar.

It said the interventions were crucial to funding the education of younger people from vulnerable homes, and also serve as encouragement to motivate younger minds to be productive as responsible citizens.

“We urge the president-elect, in the spirit of sportsmanship, and his avowed acceptance of dissent choices, to work closely with other co-contestants in a bid to run an all-inclusive government and reunite the nation.

”The organisation wishes Tinubu a peaceful and impact-filled government as he pilots the affairs of the country for the next four years.”

The group further lauded the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for conducting free, fair and credible presidential and National Assembly elections on Saturday.

It urged the electoral body to learn from its past mistakes by taking proactive steps to improve on future elections, especially the forthcoming March 11 governorship and States Assembly polls.

This, the group said, should form part of its ingenious reforms to further deepen and sustain Nigeria’s unbroken democracy. (NAN) www.nannews.ng

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Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewole/Oluwole Sogunle

By Naomi Sharang

Chairman, Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, Sen. Opeyemi Bamidele, has said that Nigeria is favoured to have Sen. Bola Tinubu elected as the president.

He said this in a congratulatory message to Tinubu issued by his media office in Abuja, on Wednesday.

Bamidele (APC-Ekiti) described Tinubu’s victory in the keenly contested presidential election as a well-deserved reward for his esteemed courage, resilience, doggedness and hard work.

He said, “Tinubu showed unwavering determination and decades of building bridges across the nooks and cranny of the Nigerian nation.

“Tinubu’s victory is a sign that there is no short cut to success, but hard work.”

Bamidele who is also Chairman, Southern Senators’ Forum said the special grace of God upon Tinubu, his age-long vision to transform the country and his extensive political structures and networking skills contributed to his victory at the just-concluded election.

He said that Nigeria as a nation is well-favoured to have a leader like Tinubu as its president, saying “he is an adept problem-solver, a world-class technocrat, a visionary and reliable team player.

“Tinubu is a compassionate father and mentor to many great leaders across the country and a democrat with remarkable progressive credentials.”

He further said that Tinubu would herald the realisation of a new Nigeria because he has a formidable team of highly committed and thorough-bred technocrats who have deep scientific understanding of the varying challenges that the country is facing.

The lawmaker further urged Nigerians irrespective of political inclinations to join hands with Tinubu and his team in building a new Nigeria that the continent of Africa and the rest of the world would be proud of.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Tinubu was declared winner of the presidential poll by Chairman Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu in the early hours of Wednesday.

He scored a total of 8, 794,726 votes to defeat his closest rival former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who scored 6,984,520 votes.

Mr Peter Obi of Labour Party got 6,101,533 votes while Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) secured 1,496,687 votes.(NAN)

(www.nannews.ng)

NNL/JTJ

Edited by Julius Toba-Jegede

By Bolanle Lawal
The Balm In Gilead Foundation for Sustainable Development (BIGIF) has lauded women for coming out in their numbers to vote in the Feb. 25 Presidential and National Assembly elections.
BIGIF, through its brainchild, Case Tracking and Response Centre (CTRC) made the commendation on Wednesday in its post-election statement signed by Ms Oluwatumininu Adedeji, the Executive Director, BIGIF in Ado-Ekiti.
The foundation commended stakeholders in the election, particularly the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC) for conducting the elections as scheduled.
It stated that “Nigeria and Nigerians went to the polls on Feb. 25 to elect the president and federal lawmakers, which
presented an opportunity to put to test the Electoral Act 2022.
“We laud the conduct of security agencies, Civil Society Organisations and other election stakeholders for the overall
efforts toward the elections.”
The foundation appealed to political parties to direct grievances to relevant authorities without resorting to violence. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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Edited by Hadiza Mohammed-Aliyu

By Olukayode Babalola

The Nasarawa West Senator-Elect, Ahmed Wadada, has promised to sponsor a bill aimed at exploring Lithium in the state.

Wadada made the pledge in an interview with newsmen in Keffi local government area of the state on Wednesday shortly after receiving numerous guests who came to congratulate him on his victory at the polls.

According to Wadada, lithium is in high abundance in the district, hence his desire to sponsor a bill for the exploration of the solid mineral after the inauguration of the 10th National Assembly.

He said exploration and exploitation of lithium in the area will go a long way in providing jobs for people of the area and also generating revenue for the federal, state and local government areas in possession of the solid mineral in the zone.

“It is our duty as legislators to make laws that will see to the betterment of our society. For Nasarawa West Senatorial District, we are endowed.

“That is why today, you see Chinese nationals all around the district because of lithium and a quite a number of natural resources in the district.

“Lithium is a very sensitive and important natural resource and we have it here and so it is for us to see how best we can put laws in place that will exploit, explore and unfold this natural resource and other potentials for the good of the people,” he said.

Wadada said aside the bill, he would be very responsive to other needs of his people in a bid to give them quality representation at the Senate.

“All I will tell the electorate is that those qualities of mine that they had experienced in the past during my sojourn at the national assembly for eight years is what they should expect and even beyond.

“From 2011 that I left the National Assembly till now, the dynamics have changed and so I am very responsive and will only respond to those changes and see how best we can use them for the betterment of our people,” he said.

Wadada, who described his victory at the polls as the Will of God, pledged to cooperate and work with opposition parties to offer the best representation to the people of Nasarawa West Senatorial District.

“I am a team player, so we will work with relevant people and synergize and make live much easier for our people,” he said.

The Nasarawa West Senatorial District Senator-Elect also called on politicians to rebrand themselves for the people they want to serve if they want to emerge victorious at the polls.

He called on the electorate to vote for candidates who they think are suited for the position they are vying regardless of their political platform or parties.

“The era of adhering or getting magnetized to a political platform or party because you belong to a political party is gone. We can clearly see what happened in Nasarawa state.

“Today, Nasarawa state has no Senator-Elect of All Progressives Congress (APC) extraction because the people have shined their eyes. So let everybody shine his or her eyes for the good of the state,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Wadada, under the platform of Social Democratic Party (SDP), defeated the candidates of the ruling APC, and other parties at the just concluded National Assembly elections to emerge the Senator Elect.

Nasarawa West Senatorial District consists of Karu, Keffi, Kokona, Nasarawa and Toto local government areas. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Dorcas Jonah/Vincent Obi