Politics
Osun: APC Obtained Incomplete BVAS Report – Ex-INEC Director
A former Director of Voter Education and Publicity of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, has thrown more light on the election petitions tribunal judgment that sacked Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the 2022 governorship election in the state.
The Osun State Election Petitions Tribunal had last Friday ruled and nullified the election of Adeleke and directed INEC to withdraw his certificate of return and issue a new one to Adegboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
But during an appearance on national television on Monday, Osaze-Uzzi said the discrepancy in the 2022 Osun State governorship election, as it related to the BVAS, was owing to the fact that the APC obtained an incomplete report upon which the judgement was based.
“The second member [of the tribunal] – the Honourable Justice who dissented from his two colleagues – said, ‘I would rather use the primary source of this information, and the primary source of this data is actually the machine itself.
“It is basically a computer. So, rather than go to the server where it transmitted data, I would use the printout from the machine itself,” he said.
He added, “The machines were tendered, so were the reports from the server, and there ought not to have been a discrepancy, but somewhere along the line, not all the data had been transmitted at the time the APC obtained the certified copy of the initial server report.
“It was BVAS that exposed that as it were, and the fact that the BVAS report was relied on. But we have to be careful; which of the BVAS reports was relied on? Was it what was transmitted to the server – to the backend – or was it the BVAS itself?”, he further stated.
He said there was a need to break the verdict of the tribunal, adding that the majority of the tribunal members – “the chairman and the second member” – relied on the initial report and the initial report of the backend, duly certified by INEC.
Osaze-Uzzi explained that the APC obtained a certified copy of the initial server report while the remaining data was transmitted by the BVAS hardware.
“It was downloaded from the server [after it was] transmitted. But a couple of days later – INEC used the word ‘synchronised’, I’m not too sure I like that word, but – you synchronise it and say, ‘Have all the results been transmitted – has all data been transmitted from the machine, BVAS itself, to the server?’
“The machine is a physical one and then it transmits to a physical one. It now went, checked and said, ‘There’s a problem here.’ The BVAS report now downloaded itself, [we] now brought it out and examined each BVAS machine and now found out that no, some data was not transmitted to the server,” the ex-INEC director said.
Osaze-Uzzi, however, encouraged stakeholders to be optimistic about the use of BVAS as it exposed the over-voting in the election as ruled by the tribunal, describing the judgement as a validation of the role BVAS has played in enhancing the electoral process.
The 16th Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, says he would not help President Bola Tinubu’s administration to correct the administration’s policies affecting the citizens.
Emir Sanusi spoke on Wednesday in Lagos as the chairman of the 21st Anniversary of Fawehinmiism (Gani Fawehinmi Annual Lecture 2025).
The emir stated that while there were “a few points” he could offer to explain the trajectory the administration had taken and how such decisions were predictable, he chose not to do so because “they don’t behave like friends.”
He said explaining the government’s policies would help the government, but he did not intend to assist them due to the way they had treated him.
“I can give a few points that are contrary, that explain perhaps what we’re going through and how it was totally predictable, most of it, and maybe avoidable. But I am not going to do that.
“I have chosen not to speak about the economy or the reforms or to even explain anything because if I explain, it would help this government, but I don’t want to help this government,” the emir said while addressing some of the points made by speakers about the economy.
He added: “You know they’re my friends, but if they don’t behave like friends, I don’t behave like a friend. So I watch them being stooges. And they don’t even have people with credibility who can come and explain what they are doing. I am not going to help. I started out helping, but I am not going to help. I am not going to discuss it. Let them come and explain to Nigerians why the policies that are being pursued are being pursued.
“Meanwhile, I’m watching a very nice movie with popcorn in my hands. But I will say one thing: What we are going through today is, at least in part, not totally, but at least in part, a necessary consequence of decades of irresponsible economic management.
“People were told decades ago that if you continue along this path, this is where you’re going to end up, and they refused to open their eyes. Now, is everything being done today correct? No.”
Emir Sanusi, who was deposed as the 14th Emir of Kano in 2020 by then-Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, the current national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), was reinstated as the 16th Emir of Kano in 2024 by the New Nigeria People’s Party-led Kano State Government.
His emirship has faced ongoing challenges from forces believed to be backed by the federal government, including federal officials’ continued recognition of his predecessor, Emir Aminu Ado Bayero.
Last month, the police barricaded his palace, with the state government accusing the federal government of orchestrating the action to stir unrest in the peaceful state.
The Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Representatives, Rt Hon. Oriyomi Onanuga, is dead.
Also known as Ijaya, Rt Hon. Onanuga, who was the member representing Ikenne/Sagamu/Remo North Federal Constituency, is said to have died following a brief illness.
This was confirmed in a tweet on the official X (formerly Twitter) account of the House of Representatives, on Wednesday night.
Rt Hon Onanuga, who was born in Hammersmith, London, to Nigerian parents on December 2, 1965, was a politician and entrepreneur. She held the position of Deputy Chief Whip in the Nigerian House of Representatives since 2023.
She contested and won a seat in the House of Representatives under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2019. She also served as the Chairperson of the House Committee on Women Affairs and Social Development.
Gov. Aiyedatiwa, however, exempted two members of the cabinet from the dissolution due to the critical nature of their duties.
The two commissioners exempted include the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Dr Kayode Ajulo, SAN, and the Commissioner for Finance, Mrs. Omowunmi Isaac.
This was contained in a statement issued by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Ebenezer Adeniyan, in Akure, the Ondo State capital.
Mr Adeniyan said in the statement that “All the affected cabinet members are to hand over all government properties in their care to the accounting officers of their respective ministries.
Gov. Aiyedatiwa thanked the executive council members “for their service and contributions to the development of Ondo State under his administration and wished them well in their future endeavours”.
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