Daily Watch – Guvs insist on fighting Paris Club refund, APC sow doubt over BVAS

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has kicked against the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deploy the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV), saying Nigeria is not ready for the use of such technology. There had been allegations that the ruling party was sponsoring moves to oust the INEC Chairman because of his insistence to deploy greater technology to enhance the electoral process. APC National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu stated this on Wednesday evening when he received a delegation from the Commonwealth Election Observation Mission. He said; “First, I was privileged to serve as a senator. Our concern is how ready are we to deploy some of these technologies as regards transmission because we are taking a major step in transmitting election results in realtime. To transmit results, in every part of the nation Nigeria I’m not sure that the network covers it, I know that even in parts of Abuja there is no network and we have from now till February when in substantial parts of the country there is no electricity. INEC must assure us 100 percent that as of when due in transmitting results they are ready because they spoke about recharging batteries but we had in previous elections when it says it can’t recharge”. Earlier, INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu had stated at a meeting with the Civil Society Situation Room and the Commonwealth delegation that there was no going back on the use of the technology.

The Peoples Democratic Party’s vice presidential candidate and Delta governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, has said the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, will meet with the G-5 governors to put an end to the contending issues lingering within the party after their primaries. Okowa denied reports that the party planned to dump the G-5 governors led by Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike ahead of the 2023 presidential election. Okowa said this on Wednesday in Yenagoa after a meeting of the South-South Governors Forum, alongside Akwa Ibom Governor Udom Emmanuel, Edo’s Godwin Obaseki and the host governor, Senator Douye Diri. He said the PDP will not allow the G-5 governors to leave the party. However, Wike was not at the meeting. According to Okowa, “The claim that the party will dump the G-5 Governors is definitely not true. They are part of our family and I believe there are issues and these issues are being attended to. Very soon, the Presidential Candidate will meet the governors. They are part of the family and we will not allow them to go. Obviously, there are many things being put in place to reconcile all sides and move together as one.”

The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has resolved to sustain legal action against the disbursement of the $418 million Paris Club refund and promissory notes issued to consultants by the Ministry of Finance and the Debt Management Office (DMO). In a communique released after its 8th teleconference meeting in Abuja, Sokoto Governor Aminu Tambuwal and NGF Chairman said the governors are determined to explore all legal channels available in ensuring that the fee is not paid to consultants. “Regarding the $418 Million Paris Club Refund and promissory notes issued to Consultants by the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Debt Management Office (DMO), the Forum remains resolute in exploring all legal channels available to it in ensuring that resources belonging to states are not unjustly or illegally paid to a few in the guise of consultancies,” he said. Tambuwal said the 36 state governors also instructed their lawyers to approach the Federal High Court to stop the proposed privatisation of 10 National Integrated Power Projects (NIPPs). “The effect of the order of the Court is that respondents cannot proceed with the proposed sale of the power plants belonging to the Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited (NDPHCL) until the hearing and determination of the motion on notice for interlocutory injunction,” the communique read.

Sudanese health officials, on Wednesday, said at least 26 people have died from Dengue fever in one of the worst outbreaks the country has seen in recent years. As of 21 November, 460 cases of the disease and a further 3,436 suspected cases had been recorded, the Sudanese Health Ministry announced on social media. Around 20 of the deaths were recorded in the southern Kordofan region, one of the areas where the outbreak was first reported by the Sudanese Doctors Committee in early November. Several local media outlets put the official number of cases as much higher. Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne disease that occurs in tropical areas of the world, usually spreading near stagnant sources of water. At the height of Sudan’s rainy season in August and September, flash flooding killed at least 144 people and destroyed tens of thousands of homes, along with roads and other vital infrastructure. Half of the country’s 18 states have registered cases, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO says dengue cases have increased eightfold over the past 20 years, due in part to better reporting of the disease. Research published in The Lancet Planetary Health last year suggested global warming was resulting in both malaria and dengue “being found in more areas, gradually emerging in previously unaffected places, and re-emerging in places where they had subsided”.