Headline

State Assembly Polls: 9 Days After, INEC Yet To Release Results Of 183 Constituencies

Published

2 years ago

March 28, 2023

Nine days after the March 18 Governorship and State Assembly elections, the results of 183 constituencies across seven states have not been published by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

Some of the polls have been declared inconclusive while the commission is withholding the results in some states.
Also, governorship election results in Kebbi and Adamawa, two of the 28 states where the polls were held have been declared inconclusive.

Meanwhile, the INEC has fixed April 15 for the conduct of supplementary polls for two governorship, 11 Senate, 35 House of Representatives and unnumbered state assembly slots.

Adamawa, Yobe, Jigawa, Sokoto, Kano, Kaduna and Zamfara top states with awaited assembly polls results.

In Adamawa, the INEC Public Affairs Officer, Malam Dahiru Jauro, told Vanguard that “the issue is being handled by the legal department and the man in charge is not on seat. By Wednesday, we will issue certificates of return to the winners so the document (result) will be ready on Tuesday.”

In Sokoto, an official said, “the Acting REC, Auwal Aliyu Kangiwa, just got the list of the results today (yesterday) and we are planning to release it tomorrow (Tuesday).”

In Kaduna, a source said, “we are still waiting for the official Kaduna Assembly elections result. We don’t know why it was delayed.”

APC leads in the battle for state legislatures with 421

In the battle for the 993 state houses of assembly slots, no fewer than eight parties have won 810 seats with the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, winning most with 421 slots. The main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has 303 seats; the Labour Party, LP got 36; All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, 22; Social Democratic Party, SDP, 10; and Young Progressives Party, YPP 9. The rest are New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP 8; and African Democratic Congress, ADC 1.

APC dominates four zones, PDP one

From the results released, the APC won more seats in four zones (South-East, South-West, North-Central and North-East) while the PDP dominated in South-South.

In the South-East, where three assembly polls are conclusive, the APC cornered 45 seats followed by the LP 32; PDP 25; APGA 18 and YPP 6.

The APC repeated the feat in the South-West where it won 86 seats compared to PDP’s 76 and LP’s 2 while one constituency is inconclusive.

In the South-South, the PDP had the upper hand with 111 slots while the APC had 35 positions. YPP had 2 and LP one while constituencies were inconclusive.

Also, in the North-Central where four constituencies are pending, the APC won 100 seats while the PDP got 42 slots. Other parties that registered their names as winners are SDP-4, NNPP-2, YPP-1, LP-1 and ADC-1.

In the Northeast, results from four of the six states show the APC to have won 61 seats compared to PDP’s 39, NNPP’s 3, and SDP’s 1.

How parties fared in states

South-East

Abia: LP 10, PDP 11, YPP 2, APC 1
Anambra: APGA 17, LP 8, YPP 3, PDP 2
Ebonyi: APC 18, PDP 2, APGA 1, LP 1, Inconclusive 2
Enugu: PDP10, LP 14
Imo: APC 26, Inconclusive 1

South-West

Lagos: APC 38, LP2
Ekiti: APC 23, Inconclusive 1
Ogun: APC 16, PDP1
Ondo: PDP 22, APC 4
Osun: PDP 25, APC 1
Oyo: PDP 28, APC 4

South-South

Akwa Ibom: PDP 24, YPP 2, Inconclusive 1
Bayelsa: PDP 17, APC 4, APGA 2
Cross River: APC 19, PDP 5, LP1
Delta: PDP 22, APC 7
Edo: PDP 12, APC 8, LP 1, Inconclusive 3
Rivers: PDP 31, Inconclusive 1

North-Central

Benue: APC 21, PDP 10, LP1
Kogi: APC 22, PDP 2, ADC 1
Kwara: APC 23, PDP 1
Nasarawa: APC11, PDP 8, SDP 3, NNPP2
Niger: APC 16, PDP 5, SDP 1, Pending 4
Plateau: PDP 16, APC 7, YPP 1

North-East

Bauchi: PDP 22, APC 6, NNPP 1
Borno: APC 28
Gombe: APC 20, PDP 4
Taraba: PDP13, APC 7, NNPP 2, SDP 1, APGA 1

North-West

Katsina: APC 32, PDP 1, invalid 1
Kebbi: APC 13, PDP 1, Inconclusive 10
Zamfara: PDP 6, Others not released
Kaduna: APC 4, Others not released

INEC to hold Adamawa, Kebbi, 94 constituency elections April 15

Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, said yesterday that all outstanding governorship, National and State Assembly supplementary elections will take place on Saturday, April 15, 2023.

In a statement, INEC National Commissioner in charge of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, said: “The commission met today (yesterday) March 27,’ 2023 and reviewed the areas where supplementary elections are required to conclude the outstanding Governorship, National and State Assembly elections across the country.

‘’It would be recalled that 26 state governorship, 104 senatorial, 329 federal and 935 state constituency elections have been concluded and winners declared.

“Consequently, supplementary governorship elections will be held in Adamawa and Kebbi states, five senatorial districts, 31 federal and 58 State Assembly constituencies. ‘’Owing to the competitive nature of the elections, especially for legislative seats, supplementary elections will be held in just a few polling units in some constituencies.

“A comprehensive list of the polling units by State, Local Government, Registration Area, registered voters and PVCs collected will be published on our website on or before Wednesday, March 29, 2023.

“Meanwhile, the commission has fixed Saturday, April 15, 2023, for the conduct of the supplementary elections in the affected polling units nationwide.

‘’We appeal to all political parties, candidates and stakeholders to note the date and locations of the supplementary elections. The earlier accreditation for polling and collation agents, observers and the media subsists for the supplementary elections.
“The commission, once again, urges political parties, candidates and their supporters to see the exercise as an election and not war.

‘’They should avoid incendiary statements and negative mobilisation so that the elections can be conducted and concluded as scheduled.’’
VANGUARD

Headline

92-year-old Convicted For 1967 Killing In UK’s Oldest Cases

Published

7 hours ago

June 30, 2025

Editor

A 92-year-old British man was convicted on Monday for a rape and murder committed nearly 60 years ago, in one of the UK’s longest-running cold cases.

Ryland Headley was found guilty by a UK court for raping and killing 75-year-old Louisa Dunne after breaking into her house in Bristol, southwest England in June 1967, when he was 34 years old.

It is “one of the oldest cold cases to ever be solved in the UK”, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which brings criminal prosecutions, said.

Local police reopened the case in 2023 and matched DNA from the victim’s skirt and other items from the original probe to Headley, who had also served a prison sentence for raping two elderly women in 1977.

He is due to be sentenced by a judge at Bristol Crown Court on Tuesday.

During the initial investigation, police had found a left-hand palm print from Dunne’s home, where she was found dead from strangulation.

The palm print was compared to 19,000 men to no avail.

At the time, Headley was a railway worker who lived just outside the area in which men and boys were asked to give prints.

Reaching a dead-end, police sealed away forensic evidence for half a century. Both DNA testing and later Headley’s palm print resulted in matches.

When Headley was arrested at his home last November, he told detectives: “I don’t know what you are talking about. Very strange, very strange.”

“For 58 years, this appalling crime went unsolved and Ryland Headley, the man we now know is responsible, avoided justice,” said Charlotte Ream of the CPS.

Following the conviction, Dunne’s granddaughter Mary Dainton said her death had a “far-reaching impact throughout my family”.

“I was just 20-years-old when my grandmother died and I’m now almost the same age as she was when she was killed,” Dainton said outside court.

Police said they were now looking into other possible cold cases Headley could be linked to.

“Ryland Headley has now been convicted of three rapes of elderly women within their own addresses, and in the case of Louisa Dunne, her murder as well,” Dave Marchant of Avon and Somerset Police told the PA news agency.

“I think there’s every possibility that there are other offences out there – over the 60s, 70s, however long a time period – which Mr Headley could be culpable for.”

Headline

Hope Dashed As Norwegian Company Apologizes For ‘Mistakenly Telling’ Thousands They Won Big On Lottery

Published

8 hours ago

June 30, 2025

Editor

A Norwegian lottery company on Monday apologised to 47,000 crestfallen gamblers who were mistakenly told they had won huge sums in a lottery, the firm blaming a currency conversion error.

State-owned gambling group Norsk Tipping said they had published incorrect prize amounts after a Eurojackpot draw on Friday because of an error converting from euro cents to Norwegian kroner.

The winnings had been multiplied by 100 instead of being divided by 100, the company said.

Among the disappointed was Ole Fredrik Sveen, who was on holiday in Greece when he received a message from Norsk Tipping that he had won 1.2 million kroner ($119,000).

“I thought: ‘Wow, is it finally my turn? Could it be true?’ I go onto the Norsk Tipping website, and there it says in black and white: ‘Congratulations, you have won!’,” Sveen told public broadcaster NRK on Monday.

In reality, he had won 125 kroner ($12).

On Monday, Sveen and the 47,000 others received apologies by text message from Norsk Tipping for the snafu.

“The apology was a poor consolation. They should have sent it out after the mistake, not today,” he said.

The Lottery Authority said Monday it had launched a review to determine if gambling laws had been broken, and Culture Minister Lubna Jaffery called the error “totally unacceptable”.

The firm’s chief executive Tonje Sagstuen resigned on Saturday after the scandal, leaving acting chief executive Vegar Strand to apologise on Monday.

Strand said his company’s state ownership made the mistake particularly problematic, noting that the firm was “entirely dependent on the trust of the population”.

“We have deeply disappointed our customers and take full responsibility for rectifying the situation. Such errors are serious for a company that is supposed to manage the trust of Norwegians,” Strand said.

“The work to rebuild trust again has the highest priority going forward.”

AFP

Headline

Musk Renews Attack On Trump, Says ‘Big, Beautiful Bill Utterly Insane’

Published

8 hours ago

June 30, 2025

Editor

Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has renewed his public criticism of United States President Donald Trump, taking aim at the administration’s controversial “Big, Beautiful Bill,” which recently cleared a critical hurdle in the Senate, TIMES reported.

In a post on X on Saturday, Musk denounced the 940-page legislative package as economically harmful, claiming it would severely damage emerging industries while supporting outdated sectors.

“The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country,” he wrote to his more than 220 million followers.

He further described the legislation as “utterly insane and destructive.”

The senate narrowly voted 51–49 to advance the bill on Saturday night, following extended negotiations among Republicans. Vice President J.D Vance was present to cast a tie-breaking vote, though it was ultimately not required.

Musk, who once served as head of the Department of Government Efficiency under Trump, left the administration after a high-profile fallout and has since emerged as one of the bill’s fiercest opponents.

He described the measure as “political suicide” for Republicans and warned that it would raise the national debt ceiling by $5 trillion — the largest such increase in US history. “America is in the fast lane to debt slavery,” he added.

Responding in an interview aired Sunday on Fox News Sunday Morning Futures, Trump attempted to defuse the tension. “I haven’t spoken to him much, but I think Elon is a wonderful guy,” he said. Trump also suggested Musk’s frustration stemmed from disagreements over recent changes to electric vehicle mandates.

Musk’s opposition to the bill is not new. Earlier in June, he urged Americans to contact their representatives, calling the legislation a “massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill.”

Despite the bill’s advancement in the Senate, it faces continued resistance. Senate Democrats have slowed proceedings by demanding the entire bill be read aloud in protest.

“If Senate Republicans won’t tell the American people what’s in this bill, then Democrats are going to force this chamber to read it from start to finish,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer