COVER
FG Admits Faults in Feb 25 Election
By Mathew Dadiya, Jude Opara & Mirian Gom, Abuja
Following series of disagreement and protests by the opposition political parties on the credibility of the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections, the Presidency, yesterday admitted that there were some delays and technical faults in the conduct of the general elections but assured that it will be improved in the future.
It said that the integrity of the Electoral Act of 2022 was strengthened, noting that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) cut out ghost, unauthorised or multiple votes to stem fraud.
The election may not have been pluperfect, but due to the steps the government has taken, it is an improvement on previous polls, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu stated yesterday.
Though “it is true there were some delays and technical faults in the process that we can learn from – as is the case in any election the world over – the vote progressed and consolidated democracy in Nigeria,” the presidency admitted.
That achievement should not be overlooked, adding that the next step is for the Election Commission to ensure transparency in collation.
“Adverse reactions as received from some quarters are themselves a part of the learning process for everyone. Elsewhere, the world had been treated to epic lies, obfuscation, jingoism and hate, and told by global media to expect a different outcome. Nigerians shocked the world by refusing religious hatred and sectarian politics.
“Thanks former ambassadors Mark Green and Johnnie Carson – along with other foreign observers – for their concerns over the logistics of the recent general election in Nigeria and their work as observers on the National Democratic Institute/International Republican Institute Election Observation Missions.
“It is worth setting their comments in context. No one has disputed the result of the election, except the candidates that fell short. The biggest and the most competitive presidential election in the history of Nigeria has been won by one man: Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The US State department congratulated President-elect Bola Tinubu of the governing All Progressives Congress, APC and the people of Nigeria on the outcome of the “competitive election.” British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, was also quick to congratulate the winner, on this victory. And so did many others in ECOWAS and the African Union.
“All true friends of Nigeria should join the people in proceeding forward for sustainable peace. I
APC victory in the presidential election, underscored by the nationwide wave of support in the National Assembly results was clear mandate for the party to retain power for another term of four years, it boasted.
“This election is an improvement on past elections and due credit should be given to the government and people of this country,” the presidency added.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), yesterday said it is willing to make available all necessary documents on the Feb. 25 presidential election for inspection by interested parties.
Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the Chairman, INEC, said this when he received a team of lawyers from the Labour Party (LP) led by Dr Livy Uzoukwu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) in Abuja yesterday.
Yakubu acknowledged the receipt of a letter from the LP dated March 6, notifying it that the team would visit for inspection of election materials.
He said that the letter also requested the commission to get in touch with its Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) across the 36 states and the FCT to make the documents available for the prosecution of the LP’s petition.
Yakubu said that INEC had scheduled a virtual meeting with all the RECs to discuss among other issues, the matter of providing Certified True Copies (CTCs) not only to the LP but to all other litigants.
“I want to assure you that the commission will not hide any document from anybody and will make available any document that they have requested.
“Please be assured that INEC has nothing to hide; whatever you are asking for will be made available to you.
“There are two categories of documents those that are in possession of the headquarters of INEC we will easily make these documents available to you.
“Specifically, the EC8Ds from the states and the EC8DA, which is the collation at the national collation centre by the commission itself.
“The EC8DA, the declaration, so many documents, a total of I think 39 documents, this we can easily certify and give you almost immediately,” he said.
Yakubu said other documents being sought for were at the states level, saying that INEC would work out a schedule to know when the team would visit the states ,so as to easily facilitate not just certification of documents, but also the inspection requested for each of the documents.
“The other one is accreditation data from the back end. This will also be made available to you. Remember that the accreditation data covers over 176,000 polling units.
“We have to print them physically certify them, and give them to you, so the tall and short of what I am saying is that you will get this document speedily,” he said.
Yakubu urged the LP legal team to interface with INEC’s legal team immediately to work out things.
Speaking, Uzoukwu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and Lead Council to the LP Presidential Legal Team, said the visit was to prepare ground for the inspection of the materials for the presidential election.
“As you all know, election petition is time sensitive, we have 21 days to file a petition on behalf of our clients and out of that 21 days we probably have about 10 days to go and up till now we have not received any documents.
“We have written to INEC requesting for documents apart from that,the Court of Appeal made an order on the March 3, ordering INEC to release those documents to us but we haven’t received any hence requested for a meeting with the chairman of finance.
“ INEC graciously granted that audience within a very short notice, and he has given us assurance, concrete assurance on record that all documents we require will be made available and if possible, some of them will be made available to us today,’’he said.
Uzoukwu said the team believed that INEC would respond as promised adding that “we are leaving here rest assured that at least we will leave with some documents,the rest can then come from tomorrow and so on and so forth.
“At least if we get some of them today that is indicative that we’ll get some other documents from tomorrow, next tomorrow to enable us fight this petition,’’he said.
Dr Tanko Yusuf, Chief Spokesperson for Peter Obi/Datti Ahmed presidential campaign council, said that the party gave an ultimatum for INEC to make available the documents failure of which it would mobilise its members to demonstrate against INEC nationwide.
Yusuf said that graciously the chairman of INEC haven read that particular statement granted them the opportunity to come and liaise with him and he has assured the team of lawyers to present these documents.
Yusuf said however, that the INEC chairman granted the party’s request for its lawyers to assess the documents.
“So, we want to wait and see the responses of our legal team, it is the legal team that will give us the marching order.
“When they are satisfied with what they’ve received from INEC so that our members nationwide and worldwide will be satisfied that we are doing our job and they are ready to prosecute this case accordingly,” he said.
By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The Development Bank of Nigeria Plc (DBN) has launched DAWN: DBN Action for Women in Nigeria, unveiled its Impact Report and presented MSME Data Assets at the seventh edition of Annual Lecture held in Abuja.
DBN, in a statement on Thursday, said while delivering a welcome address, its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Dr Tony Okpanachi, said the central challenge was no longer reforms themselves but ensuring benefits reach businesses at end of the chain.
He asked how to make sure benefits reach traders in Onitsha, fabricator in Aba, farmer in Kebbi and young founder in Yaba, noting that MSMEs accounted for about half of Nigeria’s GDP and more than eight in every ten jobs, adding that when reform works for MSMEs it works for most Nigerians.
He explained that reform becomes prosperity only when entrepreneurs can act on it whether through long tenor loans to buy equipment, banks willing to take risk or skills and records needed to grow.
He said working through Participating Financial Institutions DBN provides longer term funding, partial credit guarantees through subsidiary Impact Credit Guarantee Limited and capacity building including Entrepreneurship Training Programme.
He disclosed that as at December 2025 DBN had disbursed a cumulative N1.4 trillion to MSMEs through 84 Participating Financial Institutions creating about 1.6 million jobs nationwide.
Under the new five year strategy, the Bank aims to reach more than two million MSMEs with deliberate targets for women led businesses, youth led businesses and underserved states.
On DAWN, Okpanachi said finance alone had not enabled enough women-led businesses to scale.
He said initiative brings together financing, guarantees and credit support, technical assistance, outcome linked grants and market linkages delivered through banks, microfinance institutions, fintechs, aggregators, cooperatives and direct channels.
Its priority sectors are agriculture and exports, healthcare, arts and creatives, technology and green business.
He said DAWN is about moving gender focused lending beyond intention and turning access into opportunity.
On the sidelines of the lecture DBN and African Development Bank held a signing ceremony of AfDB DBN 61 million United States dollars Gender Line of Credit development that reinforces Bank commitment to women led enterprises.
Okpanachi urged Participating Financial Institutions to extend lending into sectors and states where access to finance has been limited, policymakers and regulators to measure reform by what changes for business at end of chain and MSMEs to formalise, keep good records and use support now available.
The Vice President as Special Guest of Honour was represented by Dr Fred Iklaga Senior Technical Adviser in the Office of Special Adviser to the President on Economy.
Keynote speakers were Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria, Dr Karl Toriola, and Chairman of Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, Dr Segun Ogunsanya.
Fireside chat featured Chief Executive Officer of Sterling Bank Abubakar Suleiman, manufacturing and trade entrepreneur Mrs Omoyemi Chukwurah and by video Kola Masha of Babban Gona.
The Secretary to the Government of Federation, represented by Augusta Warren Bekaredebo, said 2026 tax reforms would bring relief to many small businesses expressing optimism that a lot of businesses will be smiling by next year because they will be exempted from tax.
By Tambaya Julius, Abuja
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has threatened possible nationwide industrial action following the failure of talks with the Federal Government over workers’ welfare, petrol prices and other outstanding labour demands.
The warning came after a meeting between the government and organised labour at the Ministry of Labour in Abuja on Thursday, October 22, ended without an agreement.
The congress has given the Federal Government until Tuesday, October 27, to make meaningful progress on the issues, warning that its relevant organs would decide the next line of action if the next meeting fails to produce concrete commitments.
The NLC has also directed its affiliates, state councils and civil society allies to begin mobilising members for possible nationwide action.
In a statement issued after the meeting, the NLC Acting General Secretary, Benson Upah, expressed disappointment over what he described as the government delegation’s lack of preparedness for the negotiations.
According to the congress, organised labour presented its demands in good faith but left the meeting without any concrete commitments from the government.
The demands include a reduction in petrol prices to 2024 levels, renegotiation of the national minimum wage, implementation of agreed tax relief measures and resolution of the terms of settlement involving the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU).
The congress also called for the resolution of issues raised by the Joint Public Service Negotiating Council (JPSNC) over peculiar allowances, wage awards and hazard allowances.
The NLC said the government delegation lacked the necessary authority to engage meaningfully on the issues presented by labour representatives.
“The meeting between the Federal Government and organised labour, convened at the Ministry of Labour in Abuja on 22nd October 2026, has ended without resolution,” the statement said.
It added that the Minister of Labour requested that the meeting be adjourned until October 27 to allow the government to prepare adequately for further discussions.
The preparations, according to the statement, would include bringing relevant ministers and heads of departments and agencies to the negotiating table.
The congress said it remained open to dialogue but would not accept continued delays in addressing workers’ concerns.
“We will report back to our organs, and if no meaningful progress is made on Tuesday, the relevant organs of the NLC will decide the next line of action,” it said.
The labour body urged workers and members of the public to remain calm while the negotiations continue, even as it directed its affiliates and allies to prepare for possible industrial action.
“However, we urge all affiliates of NLC and TUC; all state councils and our civil society allies to be alert and start mobilising for a possible action across the nation while we hope that the tenets of our demands are met by the government,” the statement added.
The October 27 meeting is expected to provide another opportunity for both sides to address the outstanding issues and prevent a possible escalation of the dispute.
However, the NLC’s decision to begin mobilisation suggests that tensions could rise if the next round of talks fails to produce meaningful progress.
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has barred its personnel from escorting politicians during campaigns for the 2027 general elections.
Zonal Commanding Officer, RS6, ACM Abimbola Owolabi, gave the directive during her maiden visit to the Cross River Command in Calabar on Wednesday.
Owolabi said patrol vehicles and sirens must not be used for political activities or private engagements, including weddings and funeral processions.
She directed officers deployed to campaign venues to focus exclusively on traffic management to prevent congestion and road crashes.
The zonal head warned personnel against leading political convoys or providing escorts for politicians, stressing that official vehicles must not be used for unauthorised purposes.
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