News
There was plan to annul 2023 presidential election – Wole Soyinka
On Wednesday, Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka said there was a conspiracy to annul the 2023 presidential election.
While referring to the 1993 election canceled by former military dictator Ibrahim Babangida (retd.), Soyinka said, “History was about to repeat itself, some people were determined to take us back to those days.”
The Independent National Electoral Commission had declared Bola Tinubu, as President.
Tinubu, a former Lagos State governor, was declared winner after polling 8,794,726 votes to win the 2023 presidential election.
The Nigerian playwright who spoke on Channels Television on Wednesday, said, “I am alleging that there was a conspiracy from the very beginning before the election to make sure the elections did not take place or that even if the voting did take place, that everything be reverted to what happened under Babangida.
“When we all just woke up and discovered that even though the results have been calculated, even though the results were in possession of international bodies, including monitoring embassies and so on, even if we had the results directly, it was suddenly annulled.”
He added that to him, “it was no longer a contest between individuals, it was now a contest between the so-called interim political party and democracy.
“When you have a binary like that, I have no doubt or hesitation about what side of the barricade my position should be.”
While reacting to the comment of the vice-presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 election, Datti Baba-Ahmed, Soyinka said it was “a disgraceful interview”.
Baba-Ahmed, a former House of Representatives member had asked the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kayode Ariwoola, not to swear in Tinubu as duly elected president of the country.
Soyinka described Baba-Ahmed’s comment as “disgraceful and menacing”.
“At that interview by Datti, that disgraceful and menacing interview, was for me the ultimate signal because this was somebody calling for the rubbishing of a structure he profited ever to become a governor,” Soyinka added.
The Supreme Court had in October 2023 dismissed the cases of Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party and Peter Obi of the LP challenging the declaration ofTinubu’s as the winner of the February 25 presidential poll.
A seven-judge panel ruled without merit the opposition’s appeals over claims of fraud, electoral law violations, and Tinubu’s ineligibility to run for president.
The court thrashed all the grounds of appeal of Atiku and PDP on qualification, non-compliance with the Electoral Act, the 25 per cent votes in FCT, and electoral malpractices.
Punch
Former lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani, has described the planned increase in electricity and telecom tariffs as unconscionable.
The statement comes after the telecoms regulator last week approved the increase in mobile tariffs.
The federal government also recently said that plans were ongoing to increase electricity tariffs “over the next few months.”
However, Sani, who said the government’s plan is unreasonable, insisted that it should be halted.
The ex-lawmaker also expressed his support for the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) over the scheduled protest against the government’s proposal, calling it a welcome development.
“The planned increase in electricity tariffs in the midst of poor power supply and the proposal to increase telecom tariffs is unconscionable and should be halted. The scheduled labour union protest is a welcome development,” he posted on X.
The United States President, Donald Trump, has revealed his decision to cut off all future funding to South Africa, citing poor treatment of “certain classes of people.”
Trump made this known on Sunday in a post on Truth Social, his social media platform.
According to Trump, South Africa was seizing land and mistreating some citizens without concern for the violations of their rights.
“South Africa is confiscating land and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY.
“I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed!” Trump wrote.
Reports suggest that the American leader may be defending White South Africans, some of whom have alleged that the South African policy is unfair to them.
There are indications that the federal government will on Monday meet with the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, to stop the planned Tuesday nationwide protest against the 50 percent telecommunications tariff hike.
A reliable source familiar with the matter, who preferred anonymity, disclosed this on Monday morning, noting that the meeting between the NLC leadership and the federal government is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Monday.
The source said the meeting was a “dialogue on matters of national interest as it affects Nigerian workers.”
According to the source, it will be an inter-ministerial meeting with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), purposely to resolve issues raised by the NLC concerning the federal government’s approved upward adjustment to telecommunications tariffs, which the NLC, its allies, and others are vehemently opposing.
This comes as the NLC is already mobilizing workers for a mass protest tomorrow (February 4) against the 50 percent tariff hike approval.
On Thursday last week, in a letter to affiliate unions and state councils, NLC General Secretary Emma Ugboaja urged them to mobilize other Nigerians to send a serious message to the government.
The planned protest follows the 50 percent telecom tariff approval by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on January 20, 2025.
The approval had sparked widespread rejection among telecom subscribers.
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