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An Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) accredited observer for the House of Assembly elections in Bayelsa State , Women Arise Group has said voting did not take place in the seven wards of Nembe Local Government Area of the state. Speaking to journalists in Nembe this afternoon, accompanied by a team of other observers who monitored the elections in the state, Lawson said his team moved around various wards and discovered that there were no elections in seven wards under Constituency 2, 4,5,6,7,11,12, and 13 all in Nembe Bassambiri. Lawson who is a Senior Programmes Officer further disclosed that the polling units in the afore mentioned wards were all deserted and there was no presence of INEC officials nor party agents. “Our findings revealed that the materials meant for the affected units were diverted to an unknown destination by kingpins of a political party and their thugs for illegal thumb printing. “It was also learnt that members of one of the p

By Lasisi Olagunju The North has made its choice with the election of General Muhammadu Buhari for another four years. The difference between Buhari's votes and those of Atiku Abubakar is 3,928,869. Out of that figure, the South West's contribution is 259,780. What percentage is that?   The three zones in the North contributed more than 80 percent of the balance. I don't want to join those who point at the huge votes from desolate North East towns and villages as proof of rigging. The fact that what the opposition called a heist passed without a whimper from that crimson corridor meant it enjoyed their popular acceptance. The jubilant North and the reluctant South must therefore brace up to live with what Buhari himself has described as the "tough" times of the next four years. I watched video clips of Northern youths celebrating Buhari's victory. They had cause to be happy, he is their daddy. I saw in their hands daggers, I saw sticks an

By Femi Aribisala In the 2015 presidential election, Muhammadu Buhari of the APC was awarded 15,424,921 votes by Attahiru Jega’s INEC; while Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP was awarded 12,853,162 votes. In that election, Buhari presided like a colossus over the North, which was stoked up to insist on a Northern presidency. Bola Tinubu presided over the South-west, in coalition with Buhari; while President Goodluck Jonathan prevailed in the South-south as its native-son. Suppression of South-Eastern Votes However, the South-eastern states were regarded as orphans, they had no real godfather. As a result, APC succeeded essentially through INEC suppression of the votes of the South-east; and the exaggeration of the votes of the North; especially the North-west. INEC ensured that, far more disproportionately relative to other geopolitical zones, millions of South-East voters disappeared between 2011 and 2015. INEC registered only 7.6 million voters from the entire So