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Pressure mounts for vote recount in Venezuela

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Venezuela’s opposition piled pressure on electoral authorities Monday to recount the tight vote to replace late leader Hugo Chavez, calling for protests if acting President Nicolas Maduro is formally proclaimed the winner.

With the United States and the Organization of American States (OAS) backing his call for a vote review, opposition leader Henrique Capriles said Maduro would be an “illegitimate president” if the election result was confirmed.

After Chavez dominated elections for 14 years, his political heir barely defeated Capriles — by just 235,000 votes — in a nation deeply divided by the late president’s oil-funded socialist revolution.

Defying expectations of an easy victory for Maduro, Capriles won 49.1 percent of the vote in Sunday’s election, just shy of the 50.7 percent for his rival, according to the National Electoral Council (CNE).

Maduro with his supporters: vote audit wanted

Maduro with his supporters: vote audit wanted

Maduro said he was open to a recount, but Information Minister Ernesto Villegas invited supporters to gather in a central Caracas square to celebrate with Maduro on Monday when he receives the official victory proclamation from the CNE.

Capriles urged Venezuelans to bang their kitchen pans later Monday if the proclamation goes forward — a popular Latin American form of protest known as a “cacerolazo” — to “let the world know our outrage, our anger.”

The 40-year-old state governor also called on Venezuelans to peacefully protest in front of CNE offices on Tuesday to demand a recount.

The Organization of American States backed calls for a recount, while the White House said an audit would be an “important, prudent and necessary step.”

“In our view, rushing to a decision in these circumstances would be inconsistent with the expectations of Venezuelans for a clear and democratic outcome,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

OAS chief Jose Miguel Insulza offered to send OAS election experts to help.

“In a context of deep division and political polarization, as shown by the electoral process, the leader of the OAS made a fervent call for a national dialogue to help calm the mood of the Venezuelan society,” the OAS said in a statement.

Around the world, Chavez’s closest allies — from Cuba to Ecuador and Russia — congratulated their friend’s handpicked political heir, one month after the charismatic leader lost his battle to cancer aged 58.

Cuban leader Raul Castro said his ally’s victory “shows the strength of the ideas and work of Comandante Hugo Chavez.”

Riding a wave of grief over his mentor’s death, Maduro had led opinion polls by double digits ahead of Sunday’s vote, but Capriles ran an energetic campaign that tapped into deep discontent over rampant crime and economic weakness.

Both candidates pledged during the campaign to recognize the result.

But Capriles — who accepted defeat when Chavez beat him by 11 points in October polls — said he had a list of some 3,200 “incidents” that took place during the vote.

Maduro — a 50-year-old former bus driver who rose to foreign minister and vice president under Chavez — called his victory “fair, legal, constitutional.”

Before dying, Chavez had urged Venezuelans to vote for Maduro if he was unable to return to power. During the campaign, people chanted “Chavez, I swear, my vote is for Maduro,” but enthusiasm appeared to have waned at the 11th hour.

At a newspaper stand in the capital’s business district of Chacao, known as a Capriles stronghold, supporters of the 40-year-old state governor said they wanted a recount.

“We want a review of the vote so that we can move forward, so that we are clear whether we lost,” said 56-year-old public accountant Oswaldo Gomez.

Under the constitution, a recall referendum can be called after the third year of a presidency if 20 percent of voters’ signatures are gathered.

Across town, in Caracas’ historic center, Maduro supporters said the opposition must accept defeat.

“The numbers don’t lie. The little bourgeois should recognize the result given by the CNE,” said Nahem Machado, a 41-year-old construction worker.

Ignacio Avalos, a sociology professor at Central University of Venezuela, said the nation was in a “very delicate situation.”

“Such a thin difference in a country that is so extremely polarized is hard to deal with politically,” Avalos said.

“The big challenge, however this finishes, is how to become one country again, with its conflicts and contradictions.”

The burly, mustachioed leader vowed to continue the oil-funded policies that cut poverty by almost half to 29 percent through popular health, education and food programs.

But Chavez’s self-declared “son” faces a litany of problems: South America’s highest murder rate, with 16,000 people killed last year, chronic food shortages, high inflation and recurring power outages

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Posted in Nigeria News. A DisNaija.Com network.

Source: PM News

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Nigeria News

Kano Transfers Over 1,000 Almajiris To Different States Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic

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The Kano State Government on Saturday said it has transferred 1,098 ‘almajiris’ to different states of the country.

The commissioner for local government, Murtala Garo, disclosed this while presenting a report before the state’s task force on COVID-19 at the government house, Kano.

Almajiris are children who are supposed to be learning Islamic studies while living with their Islamic teachers. Majority of them, however, end up begging on the streets of Northern Nigeria. They constitute a large number of Nigeria’s over 10 million out-of-school children.

Mr Garo said the Kano government transported 419 almajiris to Katsina, 524 to Jigawa and 155 to Kaduna. He said all of them tested negative for coronavirus before leaving the Kano State.

Despite the coronavirus test done in Kano for the almajiris, the Jigawa government earlier said it would quarantine for two weeks all the almajiris that recently arrived from Kano.

Mr Garo said another 100 almajiris scheduled to be taken to Bauchi State also tested negative to COVID-19.

In a remark, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje said the COVID-19 situation in Kano was getting worse. He appealed for a collaborative effort to curtail the spread of the virus in the state.

Mr Ganduje, who commended residents for complying with the lockdown imposed in the state, said the decision was taken to halt the spread of the virus.

Kano State, as of Saturday night, has 77 coronavirus cases, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

The decision to transfer the Kano almajiris is part of the agreement reached between Northern governors that almajiris in each state be transferred to their states of origin.

However, even before the latest agreement by the governors, the Kano government had been transferring almajiris to other states and neighbouring countries after it banned street begging in the state, most populous in Northern Nigeria.

Despite the transfers, however, no concrete step has been taken to ensure such children do not return to Kano streets as there is freedom of movement across Nigeria although interstate travel was recently banned to check the spread of the coronavirus.

 

Sourced From: Premium Times Nigeria

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Nigeria News

COVID-19: ‘Bakassi Boys’ Foil Attempt To Smuggle 24 Women Into Abia In Container

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By Ugochukwu Alaribe

Operatives of the Abia State Vigilante Service, AVS, popularly known as ‘Bakassi Boys’ have arrested 24 market women hidden in a container truck, at Ekwereazu Ngwa, the boundary community between Abia and Akwa Ibom states.

The market women, said to be  from Akwa Ibom State, were on their way to Aba, when they were arrested with the truck driver and two of his conductors for violating the lockdown order by the state government.

Driver of the truck, Moses Asuquo, claimed he was going to Aba to purchase stock fish, but decided to assist the market women, because they were stranded.

A vigilante source told Sunday Vanguard that the vehicle was impounded while the market women were sent back to Akwa Ibom State.

Commissioner for Home Land Security, Prince Dan Okoli, who confirmed the incident, said that  smuggling of people into the state poses great threat to the state government’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID- 19.

 

Sourced From: Vanguard News

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Nigeria News

Woman Kills Her Maid Over Salary Request

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Operatives of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Yaba of the Lagos State police command have arrested one Mrs Nene Steve for allegedly killing her maid, Joy Adole

The maid was allegedly beaten to death by Nene for requesting for her salary at their residence located at 18, Ogundola Street, Bariga area in Lagos.

Narrating the incident, Philips Ejeh, an elder brother to the deceased said that he was sad when they informed him that his sister was beaten to death.

He explained that the deceased was an indigene of Benue State brought to Lagos through an agent and started working with her as a maid  in January 2020.

‘’She reported that her boss refused to pay her and anytime she asked for her salary she will start beating her.

She was making an attempt to leave the place but due to the total lockdown she remained there until Sunday when her boss said she caught her stealing noodles and this led to her serious beating and death,’’ Ejeh said.

He called on Lagos State Government and well- meaning people in the country to help them in getting justice for the victim.

The police spokesman, Bala Elkana, stated that the woman and her husband came to Bariga Police  Station to a report that their house girl had committed suicide.

Detectives were said to have visited the house and suspected foul play with the position of the rope and bruises all over the body which confirmed that the girl had been tortured to death and the boss decided to hang up the girl to make it look like suicide.

He said: “The police moved on with their investigation and found a lot of sign of violence on her body that she has been tortured before a rope was put on her neck.’’

He added that the police removed the corpse and deposited it in the mortuary for autopsy to further ascertain the cause of the death.

Elkana said the matter has been transferred from Bariga police station to Panti for further investigation while the couple have been arrested and will be charged to court.

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Boko Haram Attacks: Buhari Summons Urgent Meeting Of Service Chiefs

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President Buhari and the Service Chiefs in a meeting. (File photo)

Ostensibly alarmed by the latest killings of dozens of soldiers by Boko Haram insurgents, President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned an urgent meeting of Service Chiefs to find ways to stop the trend. 

He has also dispatched the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, to the neighbouring Republic of Chad for an urgent meeting with President Idris Deby and his defence counterpart. 

Knowledgeable sources said in Abuja on Friday that the president is worried by on the deterioration of security situation on the Nigeria – Chad Border that has led to the recently increased Boko Haram terrorism in the area.

The sources which did not want to be named in Abuja said: “Nigeria has a Chad  problem in the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) put together to secure the Lake Chad basin areas and repeal the Boko Haram terrorist attacks against all the countries neighbouring the Lake.”

The sources noted that Chad is believed to be having their own internal security challenges and this has reportedly led to their pulling away their own troops manning their own border around Lake Chad,  saying: “That lacuna is being exploited by the Boko Haram terrorists, who go in and out of Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon to launch terrorist acts.  This is a clear illustration of the fact that terrorism is beyond national borders.”

When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed that the Defence Minister is going to Chad but said he is unaware of the purpose. 

Meanwhile, the military authorities are said to be in the process of identifying the families of the latest victims with a view to making contact with them. 

Credible sources revealed that it is the reason the president is yet to make any pronouncement on the matter. 

“The President has called an urgent meeting with the Service Chiefs, as well as the fact that families of the latest victims of the Boko Haram are being identified and contacts made before a government pronouncement on the tragic attacks. This, it is understood, is the reason for the silence of the government over the incident,” the source said. 

 

Sourced From: Tribune

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