Card Reader Flaws Exposed At Mock Election

The test run of the Card Reader Machines proposed for the forthcoming general elections, carried out in 12 states, yesterday, exposed the flaws in the new voting technology introduced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), reports Vanguard.

While in some states, the machines failed to recognise Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), the machines’ batteries went down after barely three hours of operation in other states.

At Igboukwu Ward 1 in Anambra State, the Card Reader failing to recognise about half of those who presented the cards. However, at Onigbongbo ward in Lagos, the thumbprints of most prospective voters were generally recognized by the card readers.

Some residents of the area complained that they were yet to get their PVCs, despite seeing their names on the voters’ register.

Lagos State Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, Akin Orebiyi, who monitored the exercise, commended the exercise, noting that the result had cleared doubts about the efficiency of the SCRs.

“The intention of today’s exercise is primarily to test the efficiency of the Smart Card Readers. That is why we are here. And we have achieved good results. This shows that the Card Readers are efficient. So, politicians who have doubts about the device can now see that the device will contribute to making the elections credible,” Orebiyi said.

The exercise was carried out in Lagos, Ekiti, Anambra, Ebonyi, Taraba, Bauchi and Kano. The other states where the mock accreditation exercise took place were Kebbi, Delta and Rivers States.

Anambra State REC, Edwin Nwatarali, who monitored the exercise with some of his staff, took note of the deficiencies. He however expressed happiness that there was no incidence of the Card Reader rejecting the PVCs brought to the polling stations by their owners.

Kunle Afolayan’s ‘October 1′ Wins 9 out of 13 categories In AMVCA 2015

Movie maker and actor Kunle Afolayan’s movie, October 1 won 9 out of the 13 categories at the African Magic Viewers Choice Awards yesterday March 7th. The movie won Best film, Best director, Best Sound Design, Best Makeup, Best Costume, Best Script, Best Lighting Design, Best Lead actress and Best Production design.

ISIS to Release Video Accepting Boko Haram

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria is expected to release a video accepting Boko Haram into its fold after the Nigerian sect pledge allegiance to the Islamist sect.

Abu Ward Al-Raqqawi, a member of Raqqa, who are the founders and activists in Syrian revolution and also one of the first persons to share Boko Haram’s audio on Twitter, said the terrorist group will accept Boko Haram in a video soon.

 In an audio recording believed to be from Boko Haram’s leader Abubakar Shekau, the jihadists,
who have been waging a six-year military campaign in northern Nigeria, said they were merging with ISIS.

A translation of the Arabic broadcast said:

‘We announce our allegiance to the Caliph… and will hear and obey in times of difficulty and prosperity.’
The recording identified ‘the Caliph’ as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS and self-proclaimed caliph of the Muslim world.

The message means that ISIS now has a foothold in Nigeria, as well as controlling swathes of Iraq and Syria and parts of Egypt and Libya.

Baghdadi has already accepted pledges of allegiance from other jihadist groups in the Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan and north Africa as he seeks to expand their reign of terror.

Poor states in Nigeria

The Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) 2014 report has revealed Nigeria’s poorest states.

According to the report which puts the percentage of Nigerians living in poverty at 43.3 per cent, Bauchi State has the highest percentage of people living in extreme poverty, followed by Kebbi State.

The Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (2014) “Nigeria Country Briefing”, which measured multidimensional poverty index (MPI) for Nigeria noted that 19.3 percent of the population remained vulnerable to poverty while 25.3 percent of Nigerians live in severe poverty.

OPHI is an economic research centre within the Oxford Department of International Development at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom.

26.6 percent of Nigeria’s over 170 million people are destitute, while 68.0 percent and 84.5 percent of the Nigerian population lived below $1.25 per day and $2 per day respectively in 2010, the report said.

A person is identified as multidimensionally poor (or ‘MPI poor’) if they are deprived in at least one third of the weighted indicators including years of schooling, school attendance, child mortality, nutrition, electricity, sanitation, water, floor, cooking fuel and assets. These 10 indicators are grouped under three dimensions; education, health and standard of living.

Nigeria’s 10 poorest state, according to the report are:

– Bauchi, with the highest percentage of MPI poor.
– Kebbi State
– Zamfara
– Sokoto
– Yobe
– Jigawa
– Katsina
– Gombe
– Borno
– Niger

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Fear of Election Violence: Politicians Move their Families Overseas

In  a bid to avoid being caught up in the violence that may erupt after the February 2015 general elections, politicians, many chief executive officers/chairmen of companies, top businessmen and several other wealthy Nigerians have started relocating their families out of Nigeria.

Investigations by PUNCH showed that some apprehensive politicians and members of the business community started relocating members of their families abroad few weeks ago.

In fact, it was learnt that many are still moving their families out of the country.

According to findings, medical check-ups, vacation, among others, are being cited by wealthy Nigerians as the reasons for their trips to stay out of Nigeria during the elections.

Aviation experts told Punch that passenger traffic in Nigeria is usually low between January and March but that is not the case this year.

The CEO of a travel agency, who identified himself as Damian and did not want further details about himself or his company in print, said many of his clients had made bookings to travel abroad for fear of being caught up in violence.

Damian said, “It is true that there is an increase in the number of transactions we receive; many people are making bookings to leave the country.

“People are afraid; they fear that there may be violence after the election. Those making travel plans are mostly businessmen. I am also running away. I will leave before the election and return after the person who emerges as the president of the country has been sworn in.”

Similarly, a popular travel agency on Lagos Island told one of our correspondents that many managing directors/chairmen of some companies in Nigeria had booked their flight tickets in anticipation of leaving the country before the general elections.

One of the senior workers with the company, who simply identified himself as Thaddeus, said aside politicians who thronged the firm to buy tickets, many companies’ MDs and businessmen had bought tickets from the firm between November 27, 2014 and January 14, 2015.

Thaddeus named the United States, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirate as the most preferred destinations of the MDs.

He said, “Some politicians made arrangement to travel out of the country after the election, while many of the MDs chose to leave the country with their families a week before the poll.

“Before the political parties’ primaries held late year, we procured tickets for the families of some politicians and we believe that they must have left the country by now. The politicians started procuring their tickets from the first week of this month.”

A human rights activist, Jiti Ogunye, said it is necessary that politicians refrain from manipulating the electorate and election results to avoid violence after the elections..

Ogunye said, “The first condition for credible election is the activation of electoral justice. Politicians should learn not just to preach peace but to do justice. If they manipulate the election results, there could be reaction of violence. So I advise that they play by the rules so that we can enjoy peace in this period. They should not rob the electorate of their decisions.”

Source: Punch

Muna Obiekwe Biography

The passing away of Nollywood star actor Muna Obiekwe came as great shock both for Nigerians and the actor’s colleagues. It would be recalled that the sad news broke out yesterday. It was however surrounded by controversy as some insisted that the information was fake.

The misunderstanding was connected with the tweet allegedly posted by the actor himself on a Twitter handle, @MunaObiekwe, that he was still hail and hearty. Soon the indications emerged that the mentioned Twitter account was fake.

Obiekwe’s colleagues took to social media to express their sorrow over his death.The president of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Ibinabo Fiberesima, confirmed the news in a phone interview with Y!Naija saying:

“Yes, he is truly dead, i have spoken to his wife… He was a private person, he didn’t tell us he had problems so there was no way we could have helped….please i can’t disclose much information for now.”

It was learnt by The Nation that Muna had been battling renal related ailment but had kept it secret for a long time before informing Ibinabo Fiberesima.

Some unconfirmed reports say that his death was connected with his financial state.

“He could not go for his regular dialysis for the past two weeks because he was broke but rejected seeking public assistance due to shame.”

Muna Obiekwe’s Biography

Today we are paying tribute to Muna Obiekwe and recalling some of the episodes of his career which got Nigeria talking.

1. Raunchy movie scene?

The Enugu based Nollywood star was once involved in a serious controversy over a spicy incident with a fellow colleague, Biola Ige. Muna was pictured grabbing Biola’s boobs in the movie, Pregnant Hawker. However the actress later said that the widely circulating photo was fake and that there was no such scene in the movie.

Muna also commented:

“…I don’t remember the movie. I also don’t remember grabbing Biola’s boobs. If the movie exists, that scene never took place.

“Like I told you, I don’t recall the movie. I do a lot of movies and I can’t remember what happens in all of them. The fact that I don’t recall means that the movie was shot a long time ago. Probably three or more years back. When love scene was in vogue with producers. I’m still searching for the movie to acquaint myself with the story.

“There has never been anything between myself and any actress that I’ve made a movie with. My romantic relationships have always been outside the movie industry. I don’t take my work home.”

2. Muna becomes a baby daddy, they say

In 2011 it was reported by Nigeriafilms that that the actor fathered a girl “birthed by Treasure Daniels(one of the shocking look alike twin of the Gholden Girlz fame) who recently meandered into music.” It seems however that the information was never confirmed and remained rumours till the date.

3. The many roles of Obiekwe

The actor has featured in dozens of movies including Men in Love, Songs of Sorrows, Wasted Effort, My Best Friend, etc.

In the drama Men in Love dating back to 2010 he played a gay man. The film was harshly criticized as many alleged that it was popularizing the ideas of homosexuality in Nigeria.

In Fumble the actor played a role for which he was wearing a female pant in one of the scenes.

We express condolences to the family members, friends and colleagues of Muna Obiekwe. Rest in peace.