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Stop Making Yourself Stumbling Block At The Tribunal, Neo Africana Centre Tells INEC

Published

2 years ago

June 8, 2023

The Neo Africana Centre has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to stop constituting itself into a stumbling block at the Presidential Election Petitions Court but should, instead, act in ways and manners that can redeem its battered image.

The Centre’s admonition came in the wake of complaints by the lawyers of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, as well as those of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, to the effect that the commission has been blocking them from having full access to the electoral materials that they need to tender at the tribunal in support of their petitions.

The public policy think tank said that having mismanaged an election that would have been a watershed in Nigeria’s electoral history, INEC still has an opportunity to redeem its image by ensuring that it cooperates with all the parties concerned in the matter.

In a statement by its Director of Public Affairs, Jenkins Udu, the Centre called on INEC to stop playing the hide and seek game that it is currently playing at the tribunal. It equally charged the commission to shun the temptation of persevering in its grievous sins.

The statement reads in part:
“We have noted with concern the recalcitrance and uncooperative attitude of the Independent National Electoral Commission on matters relating to the petitions filed at the Presidential Election Petitions Court by aggrieved parties.

The commission, from the outset, betrayed its biases and left no one in doubt that it would not allow those contesting the outcome of the presidential election it conducted to have their way. This open partisanship is most unbecoming of a public institution such as the electoral commission.

“We recall with regret that lawyers to the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the February 25 presidential election, Mr Peter Obi, have severally complained of evident lack of cooperation by INEC in their bid to have access to relevant electoral materials in support of their petition. A few days ago, one of the lawyers to Peter Obi told the tribunal that INEC is yet to grant them full access to the BIVAS machines.

“The following day, the legal team of the Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, also had reason to complain to the tribunal about the uncooperative attitude of INEC, even after collecting a whopping N6.69 million from them. The Atiku team said it was unable to tender certain documents in court because INEC was yet to release those vital documents to them. The tribunal was forced to adjourn abruptly on account of this.

“These developments are worrisome. They portray INEC as partisan in a matter in which it ought to be neutral. Even though its integrity has seriously been called to question by the mess it made of our elections on February 25, the commission still has an opportunity to redeem its image from the barrage of condemnations flying all over Nigeria. Rather than constitute itself into a stumbling block, INEC should give the petitioners all the necessary access they deserve. It is within their right, and the commission owes them this basic obligation.

“It is bad enough that INEC messed up the 2023 general elections. It will be worse if the commission leaves the public with the impression that it is bent on frustrating genuine efforts at righting its own wrongs.”

Related Topics:#INEC presidential election Tribunal

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White House Slams Trump’s Nobel Prize Snub

Published

18 hours ago

October 10, 2025

Editor

The White House lashed out at the Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday after it awarded the peace prize to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and overlooked US President Donald Trump.

“The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace,” White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung said on X.

“President Trump will continue making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives. He has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will.”

Since returning to the White House for his second term in January, Trump had repeatedly insisted that he deserved the Nobel for his role in resolving numerous conflicts — a claim observers say is broadly exaggerated.

Trump restated his claim on the eve of the peace prize announcement, saying that his brokering of the first phase of a ceasefire in Gaza this week was the eighth war he had ended.

But he added on Thursday: “Whatever they do is fine. I know this: I didn’t do it for that, I did it because I’ve saved a lot of lives.”

Nobel Prize experts in Oslo had insisted in the run-up to Friday’s announcement that Trump had no chance, noting that his “America First” policies run counter to the ideals of the Peace Prize as laid out in Alfred Nobel’s 1895 will creating the award.

AFP

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Transgender Woman Jailed For Deceiving Man About Gender In UK

Published

18 hours ago

October 10, 2025

Editor

A British court has sentenced a transgender woman, Ciara Watkin, to 21 months in prison for deceiving a man into sexual activity by falsely claiming to be a biological female.

According to a BBC report on Friday, the victim told Durham Crown Court he would not have consented to the sexual encounter had he known Watkin was biologically male.

The court heard that Watkin, 21, from Thornaby in Stockton-on-Tees, was found guilty of sexual assault after jurors rejected her claim that the man “would have realised” her gender identity.

Recorder Peter Makepeace KC said he was “certain” the victim “fully believed from start to finish” that Watkin was a woman due to her “lies and deception.”

Watkin, who was born male and had used the name Ciara since childhood, had not undergone any medical transition or surgery, the BBC reported.

Both Watkin and the victim were 18 when they met on Snapchat, where she used a female cartoon character as her profile picture. They later met in person, leading to sexual contact. Prosecutor Paul Reid told the court that Watkin even claimed to be menstruating to stop the man from touching her below the waist.

When Watkin later confessed to being biologically male, the man said he was “physically sick” and immediately reported the matter to the police.

“He said he was shocked and upset about being deceived, adding that he felt ashamed, embarrassed, and had been ridiculed online due to Watkin’s actions and deception,” the report stated.

The victim, who described himself as heterosexual, told the court he felt “part of his masculinity was taken away.”

Defence counsel Victoria Lamballe argued that Watkin’s actions were not “predatory or sadistic” but stemmed from “shame and a deep sense of discomfort” with her own body.

She said Watkin, who has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, identified as female from primary school and had endured years of bullying.

“It is hardly surprising that Watkin built up a façade and presented almost as a caricature of herself to mask the inner turmoil she feels at having been born into the wrong body,” Lamballe said, adding that Watkin “simply wanted to be loved.”

However, Recorder Makepeace ruled that the victim was “totally deceived,” saying Watkin had lied to “get away” with her deception and was aware the man would not have consented if he knew her biological sex.

The judge also criticised Watkin’s attitude during the trial, describing her as “flippant, disinterested, and bored,” showing “not a shred of remorse.”

He said, “At the heart of this case was your frustration at wanting sexual experiences with heterosexual males, which, by definition, you needed to deceive to achieve.”

Watkin will serve her sentence in a male prison, where authorities said protective measures would be taken to ensure her safety. She will also remain on the sex offenders register for 10 years and has been issued a lifetime restraining order preventing contact with the victim.

Detective Constable Martin Scotson of Cleveland Police said Watkin “purposely concealed her sex in order for the sexual activity to take place,” adding that he hoped the conviction would allow the victim to “move forward with his life.”

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Burkina Rejects US Deportees, Calls Trump’s Proposal Indecent

Published

21 hours ago

October 10, 2025

Editor

Captain-Ibrahim-Traore
Burkina Faso, ruled by a junta hostile to the West, has refused to take in people kicked out of the United States, in a snub to one of President Donald Trump’s signature migration policies.

Since Trump’s return to the White House, his administration has made deporting people to third countries — often to nations they have no connection to — part of a sweeping immigration crackdown.

In Africa, Eswatini, Ghana, Rwanda and South Sudan have all accepted people expelled from the United States in recent months. But late on Thursday, Burkina Faso’s foreign affairs minister said the west African country had refused Washington’s overtures.

“Naturally, this proposal, which we considered indecent at the time, runs completely contrary to the principle of dignity,” Karamoko Jean-Marie Traore said on national television.

Hours earlier, the US embassy in the capital Ouagadougou announced the suspension of regular services for most visas for people living in Burkina Faso.
Instead, Burkinabe citizens will now have their services handled in Lome, the capital of neighbouring Togo.

“Is this a way to put pressure on us? Is this blackmail? Whatever it is… Burkina Faso is a place of dignity, a destination, not a place of expulsion,” Karamoko Jean-Marie Traore said.

Burkina Faso’s leader, Captain Ibrahim Traore, styles himself as an anti-imperialist Pan-African strongman.

Since seizing power in a coup in September 2022, he has shunned former colonial master France and the wider West, forging closer ties with Russia instead.