President-Elect Bola Tinubu casts his vote for governorship and house of assembly election at his Polling unit at Sunday Adigun street, Alausa, Ikeja.
Don Jazzy speaks on being shy amidst crowds
A popular music producer, singer and record label executive, Don Jazzy, has revealed that he is usually uneasy whenever he is in the midst of a crowd.
Speaking during an interview with a media personality, Hawa Magaji, the Mavin Records boss said, “I am not supposed to be an artiste. I and the camera don’t agree. However, I am better now. I actually prefer social media platforms such as Tiktok and Instagram. I turn down public speaking invitations all the time. If the people in the room are just about 20 or 30 people, and it is a question and answer session, I can do it. I don’t even like going live on Instagram.”
On what he looks out for before signing an artiste to his label, Don Jazzy said, “I look out for talent, luck, preparation, and being at the right place at the right time. Showcasing yourself is also important, even after someone discovers you.”
When asked if he sometimes feels bad about being taken advantage of, he said, “(American rapper) Kanye West says if you cannot use somebody and somebody cannot use you, you are useless. I am grateful that I can be used actually. That means I am valuable enough to be used for something. I feel like if people can reach out to me for something that they need; it means I am valuable.”
Omoni Oboli Cries Out, Calls On INEC To Allow Them Cast Their Vote At VGC
Popular Nollywood Actress Omoni Oboli cries out and called on INEC to allow them to cast their Vote At the VGC polling units but the INEC official ask them to come outside at the express to vote instead of the normal place they do vote.
Why I refused acting x-rated movie – Angela Eguavoen
An actress, Angela Eguavoen, has said that she once declined to act in an x-rated movie.
In an interview with Saturday Beats, she said, “I have been approached to shoot an X-rated film before. One random producer sent me a message on social media. Funnily enough, he was not even a Nigerian. He said I had a great body, and that I would be good in that aspect. He added that the pay would be mind-blowing. I blocked him immediately after reading the message. I don’t think I will ever do that.”
Eguavoen also denied that she was being stereotyped in Nollywood. She said, “I don’t think I am being stereotyped. In the course of my career, I have played diverse roles.”
On if women in Nollywood had equal opportunities with their male colleagues, the actress said, “Nollywood has opportunities for everybody, women inclusive. With the advent of social media, there are so many opportunities for everybody. I don’t think women are sidelined. I actually think women have a lot of opportunities, because there is no film that does not feature women. I feel a producer can comfortably make a film with an all-female cast, but they cannot do the same for men. If an entertainer is accepted by a community of women, their job is mostly done.”
Eguavoen, who often shares videos of herself singing on Instagram, stated that she had plans to release this year. She said, “Singing is one of the things I want to get involved in this year. I am going to record a couple of original songs and some ‘covers’ as well.”
Copied: Punch
MultiChoice is celebrating its 20th anniversary with new content.
Busola Tejumola, the Executive Head of Content and West Africa Channels, MultiChoice Nigeria, has announced that as the movie platform, Africa Magic of the popular pay TV company is celebrating its 20th anniversary, it will also be rolling out new content for their teeming subscribers.
At a media parley during the week, Tejumola said, “It’s been 20 years of Africa Magic and Nollywood growing together, building global careers and talents. In 2003, we began the journey of telling authentic Nigerian stories on Africa Magic to build a platform where everyday Nigerians see themselves in relatable stories reflecting our culture. In 2023, we’ve found ourselves celebrating 20 years of creating and telling Nigerian stories.
This year, we intend to break more boundaries and find new frontiers in local storytelling. We are adding 28 more series titles and 20 original movies for our customers, starting from April 2023. The exciting catalogue of content includes news, music, sports, reality TV shows, documentaries, drama series, movies and children programmes. This year, we will also investing more in indigenous productions across our language channels— Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo.”
Tejumola also recalled that Africa Magic launched with a single channel in Nigeria but had since expanded to seven channels. She added, “From April 2022 to March 2023, we had over 2,500 hours of production and licensed 10,000 hours of authentic Nigerian stories. Our indigenous languages are broadcast to over 42 African countries.”
The pay TV’s Head of Production West Africa, Victor Aghahowa, noted that some of the new content to watch out for are ‘The Residence’, ‘Ripples’, ‘Ugwu’, ‘Iwe’ and ‘Apo’.
He added that Africa Magic will now premiere new 130-episode series every six months, as opposed to 260-episode series every year.
Tinubu asked security to warn Obi against inflammatory remarks.
President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has asked security agencies in the country to caution the presidential candidate of the Labour Party LP, Mr Peter Obi against making incendiary comments capable of throwing the nation into a tailspin.
This came as he asked the national Broadcasting Commission NBC to caution television stations against granting access to Obi to delegitimize the presidential election.
‘We also advise the NBC to caution TV houses giving Obi the platform to de-legitimise a free and fair election, when he has taken his case to court”, he stated.
Tinubu made the demands in a statement issued Friday night in Abuja and signed by the Director, Media and Publicity at his campaign council, Mr Bayo Onanuga.
He said; “The defeated Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi still goes around inflaming passions, spreading lies as if he is still campaigning for the highest office in the land, weeks after the exercise was concluded and a winner announced.
“We are worried about his recent media rounds on Arise TV and Channels TV, in which he made profoundly misleading, criminally false and inciting statements about the election that he lost woefully.
“We call on the security agencies to caution him from further making incendiary remarks, especially after he claimed he is challenging the results of the election in the tribunal.
“Asked on Arise TV about his loss, he derided the election, considered by many to be the best in our recent history. He described it recklessly as ‘probably the worst’, ‘wrong election’, ‘not God’s will’. In one moment, he likened the election to ‘robbery’.
“He also fleetingly wore the toga of a political scientist redefining democracy, which the world knows as government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
“According to Obi, “to win in democracy is to win the people. The declared winner, Bola Tinubu did not win- that is what we are challenging…’ Later, he clarified in his moments of sobriety, after leaving the studio, that what he wanted to challenge was the process of declaring the winner.
“On Channels TV few days later, Obi made the ridiculous claim about ‘his stolen mandate’, echoing the position of his unthinking mob of supporters, who believe that he won the election, because some sponsored polls made the claim before the election.
“We consider the claim by the former governor of Anambra as very fraudulent as he fell short of winning any mandate. He came third, not even second, losing by 2.6 million votes to President-elect Bola Tinubu, despite getting outrageously padded votes from his ethnic South East states.
“From the false narrative Obi has been pushing, he is the one trying to steal Bola Tinubu’s mandate, by appealing unashamedly to tribal and religious sentiments and by resorting to his sickening penchant for lying boldfacedly to snatch what does not belong to him.
“We consider Obi’s TV statements as prejudicial to the case he has filed and contemptuous of the court. Only a desperate politician like Obi will embark on his course of action: seeking justice in court and simultaneously embarking on a mission of blackmailing and intimidating the judiciary.
“He is trying to present himself before his case takes off in court as a helpless, cheated victim of the ‘system’, robbed of a mandate by INEC. He is trying to position himself as the candidate ‘who won the people’, who is loved by the people, going by his self-serving definition of democracy.
“His antics, if he is able to sway the judges is to make them cancel the entire election, even without sufficient, substantial proof of malpractice. This will pave way for his dream alliance with the PDP, the second losing party, in a fresh election.
“The PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar spoke about his readiness to enter into such alliance in his post-poll press conference, as he accused Obi of taking his votes in the South South and South East.
“We hope the men and women of the judiciary will not fall for Obi’s cheap tactics and really examine the cases before them on merit and on the basis of substantial evidence presented.
“Let us remind Obi once again, he is welcome in the court,, where he is bound to lose woefully.
“Finally we advise Mr. Obi to stop attacking the integrity of the election just because he did not win the majority votes and the constitutional spread in 24 states. He should stop deceiving his gullible followers and raising unrealistic hopes about reclaiming the presidency from Asiwaju Tinubu.
“We also advise the NBC to caution TV houses giving Obi the platform to de-legitimise a free and fair election, when he has taken his case to court”.
Nigerian Governorship Elections 2023 (Live Updates And Monitoring)
Nigerians will be all out this morning from 8:00 am to Elect the Governors into the 28 State House who will be having their Governorship Election Today.
Today their will be election into
(1) 28 State Governorship Election
(2) 991 State House of Assemblies seats Election in all the 36 states
The governorship and state assembly elections are being held a week later than initially scheduled after a court case forced the Independent National Electoral Commission to move it forward.
Eight of the 36 states — Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, Osun, and Ondo — have governorship elections “off-season” due to litigations and court judgements.
While 28 states where governorship elections will be coming up this morning, the states are:
Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Enugu, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, Zamfara.
Of the 28 states, 11 serving governors are seeking reelection while 17 outgoing governors are in the final weeks of their constitutional two-term limits of eight years, having been sworn in on May 29, 2015.
Once again welcome to Nigeria Decides 2023 Governorship and State House of Assemblies Seats Election.
No tribalism, no fake news, no threat.
Ghana Holds Burial For Christian Atsu
Family, fans and beneficiaries of Christian Atsu’s charitable donations remembered the 31-year-old as a philanthropist.
Grieving Ghanaians gathered outside the country’s parliament building in Accra on Friday for the state funeral of national football team winger Christian Atsu, who died during the devastating earthquake in southern Turkey last month.
Atsu, 31, was caught up in a 7.8-magnitude earthquake that rocked Turkey and Syria on February 6, killing more than 54,000 people in both countries. He had gone missing following the collapse of an apartment building in Hatay.
There were initial reports the player had been pulled alive a day after the quake, but these turned out to be false and his body was later found under the rubble and flown back to Ghana.
Mourners silently filed past Atsu’s coffin, which arrived draped in Ghana’s national flag. Family, fans and beneficiaries of his charitable donations remembered him as a philanthropist.
“He’s even more than a football player,” said Fedna Asare, a family friend. “His name will forever be in our hearts because he has helped a lot of people.”
Atsu, 31, spent four seasons at Chelsea before a permanent transfer to Newcastle in 2017. He signed in September for Turkish Super Lig side Hatayspor, based in Hatay, near the epicentre of the earthquake.
He won the last of his 60 Ghana national caps in September 2019.
Atsu had been scheduled to fly out of southern Turkey hours before the quake but the Ghanaian had opted to stay with the club after scoring the winning goal in a February 5 Super Lig match. It was the last of his 33 career goals for Hatayspor.
Atsu’s older brother and twin sister were present at the site when his body was recovered, Ghana’s foreign ministry said.
A tribute was held for Atsu on February 18, attended by his widow Marie-Claire Rupio and their three children, at St James’ Park before Newcastle’s Premier League match against Liverpool.
Avoid sensitive areas, police warn election observers
The Lagos State Police Command has advised election observers to avoid sensitive areas during the governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections on Saturday.
The Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of operations, Oludotun Odubona, gave the security tips when the Economic Community of West African States Election Observation Mission, assigned to the South-West zone, paid a courtesy and working visit to the command.
The purpose of the visit was to introduce the observers to the command and to receive some security tips.
According to Odubona, the March 18 elections would be keenly contested and the security agencies are on the ground to ensure violence-free elections.
He said “The stakes are very high in the gubernatorial and State Assembly elections and will be keenly contested and to ensure that the elections are hitch-free, the police has identified sensitive areas and conflict zones.
Necessary steps are being taken.”
Odubona assured that police escort would be provided to the team of observers.
The court ordered Akwa Ibom to upload and publish the election results electronically.
A Federal High Court, Abuja, on Friday, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to electronically transmit Saturday’s governorship and House of Assembly election results in accordance with its regulations and guidelines.
Justice Obiora Egwuatu in a judgment also ordered the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System to upload a scanned copy of the form EC8A to the INEC Result Viewing Portal immediately after the completion of all the polling unit voting in Akwa Ibom.
The judge further directed the commission to conspicuously paste the publication of its result posters EC60(E) at polling units after completing the EC8A result sheets in the state.
He equally ordered INEC to enforce the observance and compliance of Section 27(1) of the Electoral Act, 2022 in the distribution of electoral materials during the conduct of the polls in the state by engaging the services of independent, competent, and reliable logistic companies who are non-partisans or known supporters of any political party for the distribution of electoral materials and personnel.
Egwuatu held that since the electoral umpire averred in its filed affidavit that it was aware of its responsibilities under the law and had not failed to carry them out, granting the prayers sought by the applicants would not do any harm to the commission but instead, energise its performance.
He gave the judgment following a suit filed by the Labour Party and its governorship candidate in Akwa Ibom, Uduakobong Udoh, including 13 state House of Assembly candidates for the March 18 elections.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the applicants, in the originating summons marked FHC/ABJ/CS/334/2023, dated and filed on March 15 by their lawyer, Moses Usoh-Abia, had sued INEC as the sole defendant.
The applicants, who sought seven reliefs, prayed the court for an order of mandamus compelling INEC and all its agents to comply with and enforce the provision of Clause 37 of the Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of the Saturday’s elections in Akwa Ibom.
They also prayed the court to mandate the presiding officers of all polling units to conspicuously paste the publication of result posters EC460(E) at the polling units after completing the EC8A result sheets.
They sought an order of mandamus compelling the commission to mandate the presiding officers of all polling units in the state to electronically transmit or transfer the result of the polling units, direct to the collation system and use the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System to upload a scanned copy of the EC8A to INEC Result Viewing Portal immediately after the completion of all the polling units voting and result procedures.
They said this was in compliance with the provision of Clause 38 of the guidelines for the conduct of the polls.
The applicants equally prayed for an order directing INEC to enforce the observance and compliance of Section 27(1) of the Electoral Act, 2022 in the distribution of electoral materials during the conduct of the polls by engaging the services of independent, competent, and reliable logistic companies who are non-partisans or known supporters of any political party for the distribution of electoral materials and personnel, among other reliefs.
NAN reports that Justice Egwuatu had, on Wednesday, granted leave to the applicants to proceed with a judicial review, filed requisite motion and put INEC on notice, following an ex-parte motion moved by Usoh-Abia.
Upon resumed hearing on the matter on Friday, Usoh-Abia informed that he had complied with the earlier court order and that their motion was served on INEC same Wednesday.
The lawyer said despite the service of their process, the commission was not represented in court.
The judge, however, said that he noticed INEC’s counter affidavit and a preliminary objection to their originating summons in the court file.
He said the application was filed on Thursday.
Responding, Usoh-Abia said though they were yet to be served by the commission, he was ready to proceed with the matter due to the urgency of the case.
He said the motion, dated March 15, had 26-paragrph affidavit with nine exhibits.
The lawyer urged the court to direct the electoral umpire to comply with its regulations and guidelines of Clauses 37 and 38 on the conduct of the elections.
He said the order was necessary because the commission, in the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly polls, failed to transmit results of the elections in the state and across the country.
He argued that INEC created the regulations and guidelines pursuant to Section 148 and 60(5) of the Electoral Act, 2022 to guide the conduct of elections and collating of election result among others.
Usoh-Abia said INEC’s refusal to comply with the law had resulted in serious prejudice; and had foisted uncertainty and frustration on his clients at their various polling units and wards.
The lawyer said if the order was not granted, the same scenario would repeat itself in the Saturday’s poll.
But INEC, in its preliminary objection, said the suit was incompetent and the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain it.
The commission argued that the applicants had not established a justifiable action against it.
It also said that the applicants acted in contravention of the practice direction by commencing the suit via originating summons.
Delivering judgment, Justice Egwuatu said he was satisfied that the applicants had complied with the practice direction rules in the filing of their application.
He also said that he was satisfied that a cause of action had been established against INEC in the paragraphs of the applicants’ process.
The judge, therefore, ordered INEC to direct all its presiding officers to comply with Clauses 37 and 38 of its regulations and guidelines for the conduct of tomorrow’s election in Akwa Ibom.
He held that the commission had the legal duty to act in accordance with the law.
The judge, however, refused to grant other reliefs.