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Osun REC Admits Politicians, INEC Staff Bypassed BVAS

Published

3 years ago

February 2, 2023

The Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Osun State, Dr Mutiu Agboke, has said Bimodal Voter Accreditation System did not allow over-voting during the last governorship election in the state.

Agboke, who spoke at the palace of Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrosheed Akanbi, during a visit to the royal father on Tuesday, also said the judgment of the Election Petition Tribunal which annulled the outcome of the July 16 poll in the state, exposed how over voting can occur.

The REC, in a video clip of the speech he made at the palace of Oluwo, obtained in Osogbo on Wednesday also said some politicians in connivance with INEC staff members may have deliberately bypassed BVAS during the polls.

He said, “It was BVAS that helped INEC to expose those who carried out over-voting on election day. So it was not the BVAS that created the problem, that should be corrected. Based on that ruling, we have identified some inadequacies from the politicians, voters, our staff and our responsibility is to ensure that we cover all these gaps so that the votes of the Osun people can speak for them.

“Politicians in connivance with our staff members deliberately bypassed the BVAS. It was this BVAS that exposed over-voting during the Osun election. So with this judgment of the tribunal, we have known how over-voting can happen. We are going to beam our searchlight on those staff members and I can assure you that all of us should own the process together. This is the way we can correct these anomalies.”

Speaking in a similar vein during a stakeholders’ meeting held with chairmen of political parties in Osun State at the INEC state office in Osogbo on Wednesday, Agboke said once BVAS was not used and a vote was cast, over-voting would occur.

“So I want to tell Osun people that the issue of over-voting was not orchestrated by BVAS. We did not use BVAS to vote or cast our ballot. Our ballot was manual voting; over-voting was caused by fraudulent people that came to vote on election day. They are criminally minded.

“Let us stop all these blame games on INEC, let us open our eyes very well on the election. Watch out for our staff who may want to connive with politicians. We must all own the process together.”

PUNCH

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Venezuela Frees Eight Opposition Leaders

Published

2 minutes ago

August 24, 2025

Editor

Venezuelan authorities released eight opposition leaders from jail early Sunday, including a former congressman and two Italian citizens, and granted house arrest to five others, an opposition politician said.

Most of those released had been charged with corruption in opposition-run mayoral offices.

Also set free was Congressman, Amirico de Grazia, detained amid protests that erupted during President Nicolas Maduro’s reelection in 2024.

“Today, several families are once again embracing their loved ones. We know there are many left, and we have not forgotten them; we continue to fight for everyone,” two-time former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles said on X.

Opposition leaders Victor Jurado, Simon Vargas, Arelis Ojeda Escalante, Mayra Castro, Diana Berrio, Gorka Carnevalli, as well as Italian nationals Margarita Assenzo and de Grazia were released, Capriles said.

Nabil Maalouf, Valentin Gutierrez Pineda, Rafael Ramirez, Pedro Guanipa, and David Barroso were placed under house arrest.

The Italian government confirmed the release of de Grazia and Assenzo, who must appear in court to clarify the conditions of their release. It also vowed to continue working on securing the release of other detained Italians.

“We have always said, and we maintain it: we will talk to whomever we need to talk to so that there is not a single political prisoner in our Venezuela!” Capriles added.

AFP

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Russia, Ukraine Exchange Prisoners Of War, Civilians

Published

6 minutes ago

August 24, 2025

Editor

Russia and Ukraine each sent back more prisoners of war on Sunday in the latest in a series of exchanges that have seen hundreds of POWs released this year, the two sides said.

Large-scale prisoner exchanges were the only tangible result of three rounds of talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul between May and July.

They remain one of the few areas of cooperation between the two countries since Russia’s offensive began in 2022.

“On August 24, 146 Russian servicemen were returned from the territory controlled” by Kyiv, the Russian defence ministry said on Telegram.

“In exchange, 146 prisoners of war of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were transferred” to Ukraine, it added. Ukraine did not confirm any figures for the release.

Russia also said that “eight citizens of the Russian Federation—residents of the Kursk region, illegally detained” by Kyiv were also returned.

Ukrainian forces launched a surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region in August last year, seizing hundreds of square kilometres (miles) of territory in a major setback for the Kremlin.

Russia deployed thousands of troops from its ally North Korea as part of a counterattack but did not fully reclaim the region until April.

Among the Ukrainians released on Sunday was journalist Dmytro Khyliuk, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Khyliuk was kidnapped in the Kyiv region in March 2022. He is finally home in Ukraine,” Zelensky said on social media.

Also freed was former Kherson mayor Volodymyr Mykolayenko, “who spent more than three years in captivity,” Zelensky’s aide Andriy Yermak wrote on X.

“In 2022, he was on the list for return, but Volodymyr voluntarily refused to be exchanged in favour of a seriously ill prisoner with whom he was sharing a cell in a Russian prison,” Yermak said.

AFP

Headline

Israeli Strikes In Yemen’s Capital Kill Two, Say Rebels

Published

27 minutes ago

August 24, 2025

Editor

Israeli strikes in Yemen’s capital Sanaa on Sunday killed at least two people, according to the country’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels, who have repeatedly launched missiles and drones at Israel throughout the Gaza war.

AFP images showed a large fireball lighting up the skies over the rebel-held capital, leaving behind a column of thick, black smoke.

The Huthis’ health ministry reported “two martyrs and 35 wounded” in the Israeli raid.

A Huthi security source told AFP the air raid targeted a building in central Sanaa, while the group’s Al-Masirah TV reported that the two dead were killed in a strike on an oil company facility in the city.

The channel said the targets also included a power station in Sanaa’s south that was previously hit last Sunday.

The Israeli army said it had struck a military compound where the presidential palace is located, along with two power stations and a fuel depot.

The strikes were “in response to repeated attacks by the Huthi terrorist regime against the State of Israel and its civilians”, including “in recent days”, it said.

Late Friday, the Huthis fired a missile that Israeli authorities said had “most likely fragmented in mid-air”.

Local Israeli media outlets, the Times of Israel and Ynet, citing the military, reported the missile carried a cluster warhead, the first of its kind known to have been fired from Yemen.

READ ALSO:Israeli Fire Kills 34 In Gaza

The Israeli defence ministry released a photo on Sunday showing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Israel Katz and army chief Eyal Zamir following the strikes in Yemen from a command bunker.

In a statement released by his office, Netanyahu said the air force had struck “the presidential palace in the heart of the capital Sanaa, the city’s power plant and the fuel tanks that supply it”.

“The terrorist Huthi regime is learning the hard way that it will pay — and has paid already — a very high price for its aggression against the State of Israel,” he said, adding “the whole region” was also learning a lesson in Israeli power.

In a statement from their political bureau, the Huthis vowed to respond, saying they would “not deviate from the fight” against Israel and its ally the United States “until the aggression stops and the (Israeli) blockade on Gaza is lifted”.

Iran’s foreign ministry on Sunday condemned the Israeli strikes.

Since the October 2023 start of the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, the Huthis have repeatedly fired missiles and drones at Israel, claiming to be acting in solidarity with the Palestinians.

Most of the Huthi attacks have been intercepted, but they have prompted retaliatory Israeli air strikes on rebel targets in Yemen.

On August 17, Israel said it targeted an energy infrastructure site in Sanaa linked to the Huthis, with Al-Masirah reporting at the time the capital’s Haziz power station was hit.

The latest Israeli statement said the Haziz facility was targeted again on Sunday.

A photographer working with AFP reported significant damage after the August 17 strike.

Beyond attacks on Israel itself, the Huthis have also targeted ships they say are linked to the country in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden off Yemen.

The group broadened its campaign to target ships tied to the United States and Britain after the two countries began military strikes aimed at securing the waterway in January 2024.

In May, the rebels cemented a ceasefire with the United States that ended weeks of intense US strikes, but vowed to continue targeting Israeli ships.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said earlier this month that the Huthis would “pay with compound interest for every attempt to fire at Israel”.