ONE WORD

  Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, has put together a legal team of 19 Senior Advocates of Nigeria to challenge the outcome of the February 25 election. Atiku briefed them on Wednesday at his campaign Headquarters in Abuja, asking them to “establish the claim of illegality in the election and reclaim the mandate of the Nigerian people.” The team is headed by a seasoned litigation and commercial lawyer, JK Gadzama. He further declared that it is crucial for them to go through this process not just for himself and PDP, but also to reinforce constitutional democracy and safeguard it for future generations. The list of SANs includes Chief Chris Uche, Paul Usoro, Tayo Jegede, Ken Mozia, Chief Mike Ozekhome, Mahmood Magaji, Joe Abraham, Chukwuma Umeh, Garba Tetengi and Chief Emeka Etiaba – as well as Chief Goddy Uche, Professor Maxwell Gidado; PDP’s National Legal Adviser A.K. Ajibade; O.M. Atoyebi; Nella Rabana; Paul Ogbole; Nuremi Jimoh and Abdul

  A former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George, has alleged that a plot is afoot to “eliminate” the candidate of Labour Party (LP) in Lagos, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, ahead of the March 11 governorship election in the state. George said this at a press conference in Lagos on Monday. He said that if anything happens to Rhodes-Vivour, Nigerians should know who to hold responsible. “We wish to inform Nigerians about the heinous plan, to secretly eliminate the Labour Party governorship candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, the latest move by the take Lagos occupiers, to take him out of circulation before the election on Saturday. “We, hereby, warn that, should anything happen to this vibrant bonafide.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State has debunked reports on social media that its governorship candidate, Abdul-Azeez Adediran (Jandor) was in talks with his counterpart in the Labour party (LP), Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour. The LP candidate, Rhodes-Vivour, had also reportedly said he is in talks with “the real owners of PDP structure in Lagos State” for that purpose. But, in a statement issued on Monday, by the PDP Publicity Secretary in the State, Hakeem Amode, said the party is not in talks with any political party. Amode, who doubled as Chairman, Media and Publicity Team for JandorFunke 2023 Campaign Council, emphasised that the PDP governorship candidate is not planning to step down for any candidate of any political party. He noted that the PDP is a proper democratic party and that only the state executive of the party can be described as the custodian of the PDP.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has released the breakdown of seats won by political parties in the National Assembly. The commission conducted the presidential and National Assembly elections on 25 February. INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, in his remarks during a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioner (RECs) in Abuja on Saturday, said eight political parties produced lawmakers in the election. The parties are —the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Social Democratic Party (SDP), Labour Party (LP), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) African Democratic Party (ADC) Young People Party (YPP). There are 18 recognised parties in the country. According to Mr Yakubu, election into 423 out of 469 national legislative seats have been concluded and results declared. He said in the Senate, 98 out of 109 seats have been declared while 325 out of 360 seats have been declared for the House of Represe

  The Duke and Duchess have been asked to 'vacate' their UK home, the couple's spokesperson has confirmed. Earlier reports suggested that Frogmore Cottage, in the grounds of Windsor Castle, had been offered to Prince Andrew.  But Buckingham Palace has not commented.  Harry and Meghan were reportedly told to leave the property by Buckingham Palace in January, days after Harry published his memoir, Spare.  The late Queen gave the couple, who now reside in the US, the Grade-II listed10-bedroom residence as a gift.  They refurbished the property for an estimated £2.4m in 2018–19, initially covered by taxpayers before being repaid in full by the duke

 

  The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has scored the highest votes in Saturday’s presidential election in Nasarawa State. Obi secured 191,361 votes in the contest with his closest challenger, Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, who scored 172,922 votes while Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party scored 147,093 votes. The presidential election results were collated and announced in Lafia on Monday by the Independent National Electoral Commission’s collation officer in Nasarawa State, Prof. Ishaya Tanko. Tanko, who is the Vice Chancellor, University of Jos, Plateau State, added that the NNPP presidential candidate scored a total of 12,715 votes. The Collation Officer narrated that the total registered voters in the state were 2,552,716 while the total valid votes were 540,566. He added that the accredited voters in the state were 562,464 but the total votes cast were 556,937 while the rejected votes were 16,371. Credit: The PUNCH