CSO commends military personnel on election duty

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

Aleading civil society organisation, Election Monitoring Coalition (EMC), has commended personnel of the Nigerian military for displaying professionalism during Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections.

The group said the conduct of personnel of the Armed forces of Nigeria during the election was commendable.

The Coalition said its men on ground specifically went out to assess the conduct of the AFN on Saturday, and found them to have

Al-Makura loses Nasarawa South Senatorial seat to Onawo of PDP

From Gambo Ahmed Lafia

Senator Amakura(Nasarawa South) has lost his reelection bid to the former House of Representatives member, Mohammed Onawo of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Declaring the outcome on Monday in Lafia, Nasarawa State Prof. Ahmed Ashiku, the Returning Officer opined that Onawo got 93, 064 votes to defeat Al-Makura of APC who got 76, 813 votes.

The returning officer asserted that Onawo of PDP having satisfied the requirement of the Electoral law and scored the highest number of votes is hereby returned elect.

Speaking to Newsmen shortly after the outcome of the result, Francis Orugu, Nasarawa State Chairman of PDP described it as a victory for democracy.

Labour Party wins Edo South senatorial seat

INEC on Monday declared Mr Neda Imasuen of the Labour Party (LP) as the winner of the Edo South senatorial district election of Saturday.

The Returning Officer, Prof. A. Obasuyi, declared that Imasuen scored 167,250 votes to defeat his PDP and APC opponents, who scored 57,933 votes and 61,749 respectively.

The LP candidate for Oredo federal constituency, Mr Iyawe Eseosa won his election, Obasuyi said.

The APC and PDP candidates at the election scored 15,747 votes and 11,889 votes respectively, he added. (NAN) carried out their responsibilities with high ethical standards.

The group premised its investigations on promises by the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen LEO Irabor, that the AFN will not only remain apolitical, but will totally collaborate with the relevant security agencies in ensuring a peaceful election; to assess conduct of the elections in areas with security challenges; and determine the worthiness of insinuations that the military was going to play a biased role.

EMC in a statement issued on Monday by its Director, Monitoring, Bello Yahuza and

Director, Politics, Yewande Amusa said reports from different parts of the country indicated that the AFN kept to its promise.

“Generally, observers reported that the security personnel behaved and conducted themselves professionally,” EMC said.

EMC gave kudos to the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen LEO Irabor for building a military force with enviable records, especially in conduct during electioneering period.

The Coalition said that all those who made different insinuations targeted at the top echelon of the

Armed forces before the election have now realized their error.

The Coalition further gave kudos to the AFN for peaceful conduct of polls in the North East and South East, saying nobody thought it would have been possible in the two regions.

EMC in the press release urged contestants in the remaining elections to play by the rules and accept the results in the interest of the nation.

According to EMC “We note how troops nullified attempt by terrorists to disrupt elections in Mandara Mountains in Gwoza, Borno State.

“In Gombe soldiers recovered two ballot boxes from thugs who snatched them from the Government Science Secondary School in the Jekadafari area of the state.

“Across the country, it is a story of professional conduct by our troops. This indeed is commendable.

“EMC want to say without any reservations that the Armed Forces of Nigeria scored almost 100 percent in the Presidential elections, and we re certain that they will continue like that in the March 11, 2023 elections.”