Abuja
INEC Promises Credible FCT, Osun Polls
INEC Promises Credible FCT, Osun Polls
INEC promises credible FCT, Osun polls. According to him, the commission is prepared to reaffirm people’s confidence in INEC.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it will ensure that votes count in the forthcoming February Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council and August Osun governorship elections.
The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Osun, Mutiu Agboke, and his counterpart in the Federal Capital Territory, Aminu Idris, gave the commitment at the commission’s 2026 Induction and Strategic Retreat.
The event was organised for the INEC newly appointed national chairman, commissioners and Resident Electoral Commissioners.
Speaking with journalists on the sidelines of the event, Mr Agboke assured residents of Osun State of strict adherence to the rule of law to ensure transparent and credible polls. “The determination of INEC in the coming election is to ensure that people’s votes count.
“The chairman was clear about the rule of law and people’s votes. In our state, there is not going to be any exception.
“We are going to do our best.
“We are going to ensure that people follow the process and their votes count,” Mr Agboke said.
According to him, the commission is prepared to reaffirm people’s confidence in INEC, having taken lessons from the recently conducted Anambra governorship election.
He said the state would also take lessons from the February FCT Area Council polls and the forthcoming Ekiti governorship election.
Mr Agboke said that the engagement and re-engagement of stakeholders remained vital, adding that the commission would not stop enlightening stakeholders on the need for violence-free elections.
“And we have been doing it in Osun; we organise stakeholders’ engagement quarterly. “We carry the message to them. They understand what we are doing. That is why Osun didn’t record any issue after party primaries conducted recently; no issue came out of it.
“The stakeholders listened to what we told them, and the atmosphere was very peaceful,” he said. Mr Agboke, however, listed vote-buying and violence as the greatest challenges facing elections, calling on all stakeholders to join hands to address them.
He said: “We also need to let them (stakeholders) understand the fact that the cankerworm that is bedevilling the activities of the commission is just two majorly: vote-buying and violence.
“INEC has no money to distribute on election day. INEC does not have weapons to give to anybody on election day. “We should talk to ourselves. In talking to ourselves, the publicity or the engagement against these must be vociferous.
“INEC should not be the only one talking about these; also, the issue of voter apathy.
“What are political parties and their publicity secretaries doing about the lukewarm attitude of people towards elections?”
He urged political parties and their spokespersons to speak more forcefully about voter apathy and to engage more with the electorate.
“The important thing, particularly when an election is coming like this, is assurance, reassurance and the confidence of the people to buy into the election,” he said.
Mr Agboke said that people must change the narrative that “nothing good can come from INEC.”
“No, it’s not correct,” he said.
Also speaking, Mr Idris said that the commission was fully prepared to conduct free, fair and credible Area Council elections in the FCT on February 21.
“Before the commencement of the process, the commission released a timetable and schedule of activities. I can tell you now that we have implemented almost all the activities, almost awaiting election day.
INEC Promises Credible FCT
“The most important thing coming up in the next one week or so is the release of copies of the register to political parties and the collection of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs),” the FCT REC said.
He said that PVCs of those who registered during the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), as well as old uncollected PVCs, would be available for collection from January 15.
On expectations, Idris said that INEC remained optimistic that voters would troop out en masse to exercise their franchise at the polls.
“Our expectation is that people will come out, the voters will turn out higher than they did in the last FCT election, and that the election will be conducted peacefully.”
Mr Idris said that the retreat served as a reminder of INEC’s strategic objectives of conducting peaceful and credible elections.
Senior officials attended the event from across the 36 states and the FCT.
FCTA Confirms Antivenom Stock, Warns Negligent Hospitals, Gives Emergency Lines
FCTA confirms antivenom stock, warns negligent hospitals, gives emergency lines. The FCTA said all public hFCTA confirms antivenom stock, warns negligent hospitals, gives emergency linesospitals have sufficient antivenom after singer Ifunanya Nwangene’s death at FMC Jabi. Dr. Adedolapo Fasawe warned facilities to follow protocols or face sanctions, stressing that early treatment is critical.
FCTA
The territory has added 12 ambulances, improved ICUs, and centralized antivenom storage.
Residents are urged to use emergency lines 090157892931 or 090157892932.
FCT Police Warn NLC Against Planned Abuja Protest, Say Proscribed Groups Plot To Hijack
FCT Police warn NLC against planned Abuja protest, say proscribed groups plot to hijack. The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) police command has warned the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) against its planned protest scheduled for Tuesday in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
The NLC leadership had fixed February 3 for a solidarity rally along with members of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria and the Joint Union Action Committee (JUAC) at the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) secretariat in Garki Area 11.
The NLC declared that the rally is to publicly affirm that “an injury to one is an injury to all”, adding that the Nigerian labour movement will not abandon its members.
On January 24, the labour body declared support for the indefinite strike by workers of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), describing the action as “necessary and heroic” in response to alleged violation of workers’ rights.
In a statement, Joe Ajaero, NLC president, said the labour union stood “in very strong solidarity” with FCTA workers under the aegis of JUAC.
Ajaero described the strike as “a necessary and heroic response to a vicious cocktail of neoliberal attacks, gross administrative impunity, and a systematic violation of the fundamental rights of workers by the FCTA management and its political leadership”.
However, in a statement on Monday, Josephine Adeh, FCT police spokesperson, said the command respects the constitutional right to peaceful assembly, but noted that intelligence reports indicate “plans by proscribed groups and other non-state actors to infiltrate and hijack the protest, posing a risk to public peace and safety”.
Adeh said in the interest of public safety, the organisers should consider rescheduling the protest to prevent any breakdown of law and order and to protect lives, property, and the rights of other residents.
Police
“The Command remains committed to safeguarding all lawful activities and urges residents to continue cooperating with security agencies to keep the FCT peaceful and secure,” the statement reads.
Meanwhile, the national industrial court has reportedly issued an interim order restraining the NLC, TUC and JUAC from embarking on the planned protest.
The court had earlier ordered workers on the payroll of the FCT administration to suspend the strike.
Emmanuel Subilim, the presiding judge, held that although the matter before the court amounted to a trade dispute, the defendants’ right to embark on industrial action was not absolute.
Akwa Ibom Indigenes Protest RMAFC Meeting, Warn Against Tampering With State’s Oil Wells
Akwa Ibom indigenes protest RMAFC meeting, warn against tampering with State’s Oil Wells. Akwa Ibom indigenes resident in Abuja on Tuesday stormed the venue of a meeting of the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), where the Inter-Agency Technical Committee (IATC) on Disputed/New Oil Wells was sitting, to protest what they described as attempts to reopen a matter already settled by the Supreme Court.
The protesters cautioned that no individual or agency should tamper with Akwa Ibom State’s 76 oil wells, stressing that the ownership of the wells was conclusively determined in favour of the state by the Supreme Court in 2012.
They insisted that any move to revisit the issue through administrative or technical processes would amount to a disregard for the authority of the apex court and could undermine peace in the Niger Delta region.
Akwa Ibom State was formally represented at the IATC meeting by a high-powered delegation comprising leading legal practitioners, government officials and technocrats. Members of the delegation included Paul Usoro, SAN; Assam Assam, SAN; the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Uko Udom, SAN; Uwemedimo Nwoko, SAN; Emmanuel Enoidem, SAN; and a former Attorney-General of Akwa Ibom State.
Akwa Ibom Indigenes Protest RMAFC Meeting
Also on the state’s delegation were the Commissioner for Finance, Mr Emem Bob, Former Attorney General and Commissioner Justice, Barr. Ekpenyong Ntekim; the Commissioner for Information, Dr. Aniekan Umanah; Honourable Member representing Ikot Ekpene Federal Constituency, Dr Patrick Umoh, among others.
The delegation is expected to present Akwa Ibom State’s position before the committee, reiterating that the Supreme Court judgment remains final and binding, and urging all relevant federal agencies to respect and uphold the ruling.
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