NAIJAFEED

Tuesday, October 31, 2023

Atiku says court ruling will erode trust in elections in Nigeria

Nigeria's main opposition leader Atiku Abubakar said on Monday last week's Supreme Court decision affirming President Bola Tinubu's election win would erode trust in elections and called for changes to the electoral laws to improve transparency.

The country's top court rejected a challenge by Atiku and Peter Obi, who came second and third in the vote, slamming the door on any legal challenge against Tinubu, who says he won fairly.

Reacting to the judgment for the first time, Atiku told reporters the court's decision would lead to "the erosion of trust in the electoral system and our democracy".

He criticised the judges for refusing to admit new evidence he said showed Tinubu had used a fraudulent university certificate to contest, which the president denies.

"As for me and my party this phase of our work is done. However, I am not going away," the 76-year-old Atiku said, hinting he may not be ready to retire from active politics.

Atiku, a former vice president between 1999-2007, said Nigeria's electoral laws should be amended, including making electronic voting mandatory and requiring a candidate for president to garner more than 50% of the vote to win.

In Nigeria, a candidate only requires a simple majority and at least 25% of the votes in three quarters of the country's 36 states to be declared president.

The Supreme Court judgment followed a pattern seen in previous presidential elections that have been challenged in court. None of the attempts to overturn results through the courts has been successful.

By Camillus Eboh,Reuters

No evidence president of Nigeria forged college record

Rising Food Prices in Nigeria Hit Nation’s Beloved Jollof Dish

Nigerians are being pinched by rising food prices where it hurts the most: Rice, the main ingredient for making jollof, a popular delicacy in many Nigerian homes, jumped 61% in September.

A kilogram of the local variety of the ingredient sold for 757 naira in September from 471 naira a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday.

Other ingredients used for making jollof are also up, a reflection of the cost-of-living crisis faced by many Nigerian households where about half of income is spent on food.

Vegetable oil rose 31%, onions gained 30% and frozen chicken – the preferred protein at the heart of a jollof rice, was 24% higher.

Food prices have surged in Nigeria as a result of higher transport costs after President Bola Tinubu in June announced the end of gasoline subsidies.

The reforms, as well as changes to the country’s foreign exchange regime that saw the naira weaken sharply, have been welcomed by investors and the International Monetary Fund, but they’ve been painful for ordinary Nigerians.

Annual food inflation quickened to 30.6% in September as headline inflation rose 26.7%, the fastest pace since August 2005.

Read more: Nigerians Left Cold by Tinubu Reforms as Investors Applaud

That’s leaving many households struggling to survive in Africa’s most populous nation, where at least 40% of the people live in extreme poverty.

Tinubu declared a state of emergency in July allowing the government to take exceptional steps to improve food security and supply. It later announced a 500 billion-naira ($625 million) package aimed at improving food supply, easing transportation costs and boosting manufacturing.

The International Committee of the Red Cross warned on Monday that acute food insecurity and malnutrition is worsening. Families are taking on higher debt to cover basic needs, the group said, citing an almost doubling in the price of maize in some parts of the country since the end of fuel subsidies.

Anthony Osae-Brown, Bloomberg

Video - Ghana-Nigeria rivalry transcends from cuisine to the pitch

Monday, October 30, 2023

Germany willing to invest in Nigerian gas and minerals

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Sunday his country was willing to invest in gas and critical minerals in Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer, as he started a two-nation visit to sub-Saharan Africa.

This is the third visit to the region by Scholz in two years and comes as conflicts elsewhere highlight the growing importance of an energy-rich region in which Berlin has traditionally had little involvement.

"There is a willingness to invest, especially in critical minerals," Scholz told reporters at a joint briefing with Nigerian President Bola Tinubu in the capital Abuja.

On gas, he welcomed Nigeria's efforts to expand its LNG capacity.

"If we are successful, if there is a better chance of exporting the produced gas ... it is then the question for German companies to do their private business," said Scholz.

Tinubu said he had "a very deep discussion" on the issue of gas and encouraged German businesses to invest in pipelines in Nigeria.

Nigeria is also seeking to woo investors to its mining sector, which has long been underdeveloped, contributing less than 1% to the country's gross domestic product.

Without giving details, Scholz said there was also a willingness from German companies to build railways in Nigeria. That sector is currently dominated by Chinese companies, which have won contracts to expand rail lines in Africa's biggest economy.

Scholz also met the president of the commission of West African regional group ECOWAS and said it was necessary to work with the bloc "to prevent that putsches will become a trend" following recent military coups in Niger and Gabon.

By Felix Onuah, Reuters

Friday, October 27, 2023

Video - Nigeria enforces measures to curb wildlife trafficking

The West African country is showing signs of winning its battle against wildlife trafficking. Authorities have seized and burned a huge collection of illegal wildlife products, including pangolin scales and rare animal skins, worth over 1 million U.S. dollars.

CGTN

Supreme Court of Nigeria affirms President Tinubu's election win

ABUJA, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Nigeria's Supreme Court on Thursday upheld President Bola Tinubu's election win, bringing to an end a legal challenge brought by his two main rivals, who argued that his victory was marred by irregularities.

The ruling will give 71-year-old Tinubu a clear mandate to govern Africa's most populous nation, which is grappling with double-digit inflation, foreign currency shortages, a weakening naira, widespread insecurity and crude oil theft.

The biggest opposition, People's Democratic Party (PDP), said it was "alarmed and disappointed" by the ruling, but Tinubu welcomed the judgment.

"We are all members of one household, and this moment demands that we continue to work and build our country together," Tinubu said in a statement.

Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999 after three decades of almost uninterrupted military rule, but accusations of ballot-rigging and fraud have followed its electoral cycles.

The judgment by seven Supreme Court judges, which is final, follows a pattern seen in previous presidential elections that have been challenged in court. None of the attempts to overturn results through the courts has been successful.

"This judgment by the Supreme Court has evidently shaken the confidence of Nigerians in the judiciary, especially the Supreme Court as the last hope of the common man," the PDP said.

Atiku Abubakar of the PDP and Peter Obi of the Labour Party came second and third respectively in the February vote, but rejected the result and called for Tinubu's win to be annulled.

The two opposition leaders had appealed a Sept. 6 tribunal judgment that endorsed Tinubu's victory.

In the appeal, they argued that the electoral commission failed to electronically transmit results from polling stations to an online portal, which undermined their authenticity.

They also said Tinubu had won less than 25% of the vote in the federal capital Abuja so he did not meet the legal threshold to become president.

The judges dismissed all their arguments.

By Camillus Eboh, Reuters

No evidence president of Nigeria forged college record

Opposition claims president Tinubu forged diploma

Peter Obi challenges Nigeria's presidential election result in court