INEC postpones governorship, assembly election in 10 Lagos polling units (Guardian)
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has postponed governorship and state assembly elections in 10 polling units in the Victoria Garden City (VGC) around the Lekki area of Lagos State.
Some of the polling units affected include PU 032,033, 119 -124.
INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Segun Agbaje made the announcement while speaking to journalists.
According to him, corps members deployed as ad hoc staff on Saturday were hesitant to enter the VGC estate as they alleged that they were held hostage in the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly elections. Read more
Nollywood actress flees as thugs overrun Lagos polling unit (DailyTrust)
Chioma Akpotha, Nollywood actress, has cried out in fear after being attacked at her polling unit in Lagos.
Akpotha, who did an Instagram live recording, said she was manhandled by the thugs.
The actress, who ran to some soldiers, said she was done with accreditation and was about to vote when strange looking men invaded the polling unit around Victoria Garden City in Lagos.
“They destroyed my side mirror, hit my car. I don’t even know the extent of damage to the car, but I just ran out for my life because they wanted to stab me and all that. Thank God I came with some people to help me.” Read more
Guber Poll: Abuja natives condemn ‘political discrimination’ (Leadership)
The natives of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) under the auspices of Abuja Original Inhabitants and Youth Empowerment Organization (AOIYEO), have condemned the alleged discrimination against the citizens of the FCT from participating in the governorship election of Saturday, March 18, 2023, as enshrined in section 299 of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
President of the indigenous organisation, Ambassador Isaac David, on Saturday in a press briefing on behalf of the natives in Abuja, lamented that during the governorship and state House of Assembly elections, all eligible Nigerians trooped out to elect their leaders in the 36 states, except in Abuja, where millions of citizens were denied the right to vote and be voted for.
According to David, “Meanwhile the 1999 constitution gives the FCT this right in Sections 42 and 34 (I) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended and Articles 2, 3, 5, 13, 19 and 20 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights Ratification and Enforcement Act. Cap A9, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.” Read more
Voters hold INEC hostage in Festac (Vanguard)
At polling unit 023 FHA Festac, voters have insisted that INEC officials will not leave until the result of the polling unit is uploaded on the INEC server.
The crowd even refused to allow INEC upload the result offline, because, according to them the result of the polling unit which they allowed the officers post offline during the presidential election was doctored when the result was announced.
At the polling unit, under the governorship, LP scored 74 votes APC 13 and PDP 4.
The official called police and customs trooos who couldnt even quell the anger of the voters
As at 5.30pm the officials are still trying to upload while a lot of interventions are being made to allow them upload offline. Read more
Senator-Elect Adebule wins polling unit for Sanwo-Olu (Nation)
All Progressives Congress (APC) Lagos West Senator-elect, Dr. Idiat Adebule has delivered her Polling Unit 029, Iba in Ojo for Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and House of Assembly candidate Segun Ege.
APC polled 115 votes leaving the Labour Party (LP) candidate at a distant second with 57 votes and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) came third with seven votes.
The House of Assembly results showed that APC got 113 votes, Labour Party – 52 votes while PDP only garnered seven votes. Read more
Party agent arrested with N3.2m cash in Lagos (Vanguard)
A party agent was arrested in the Oshodi area of Lagos with N3.2 million cash.
This is just as a woman, who identified herself as a Ward leader in the Ejigbo area of Lagos was arrested with a herbalist, on the Isolo/Egbe road.
Vanguard gathered that some Military men on patrol, who were alerted to the harassment of voters by thugs, were on their way to attend to the distress call when they intercepted some persons in one of the pooling units in Oshodi. Read more
INEC postpones elections in Rivers LGA over inability to distribute electoral materials (Channels)
The Governorship and State House of Assembly elections are not holding in Asari-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State following the insistence of voters to sight electoral officers and Collation officers.
It was gathered that there was a heated disagreement at the RAC Center in Buguma, Headquarters of Asari-Toru Local Government over the non-presence of INEC EOs and Result Sheets.
It took the efforts of security agents to calm the voters as they insisted on citing INEC EOs and Result Sheets before materials could leave the RAC Centre. Read more
Ekiti ex-deputy gov Egbeyemi dies at 78 (Punch)
The immediate past Ekiti Deputy Governor, Bisi Egbeyemi, is dead.
He died at age 78.
Egbeyemi was a deputy governor to Governor Kayode Fayemi. He served between 2018 and 2022.
The former deputy governor died around 8 pm on Friday after a brief illness. Read more
Chi-chi Nwanoku debuts Europe’s 1st majority Black orchestra in the US (Ebony)
The Chineke! Orchestra, Europe’s first majority-Black and ethnically diverse orchestra, makes its US debut at New York City’s Lincoln Center on March 20, 2023. The co-presentation between Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the New York Philharmonic and The Juilliard School kicks off the orchestra’s first-ever North American tour.
Founded by Chi-chi Nwanoku, a trip to Detroit, Michigan, inspired the Nigerian-Irish bassist to champion change across the Atlantic and celebrated diversity in classical music, a field where Black musicians can be a scarcity.
In honor of Women’s History Month, Nwanoku shares why she started the foundation and her meet-cute with her instrument of choice: the double bass. Read more
John Boyega finally “comfortable” with treatment of Star Wars character, 2 years after Disney call-out (Deadline)
John Boyega has made peace with the role that previously caused him anguish that he made public, but now says “made a man of him.”
The star of JJ Abrams’s Star Wars reboot previously called out Disney for its treatment of his character Finn, stormtrooper turned resistance fighter.
He said in 2020 of Finn’s spotlight in The Force Awakens followed by his diminished role over the course of the franchise:
“What I would say to Disney is, ‘Do not bring out a black character, market them to be much more important to the franchise than they are and then have them pushed to the side. It’s not good.’ ” Read more
Good Burger sequel starring Kenan & Kel greenlit by Paramount+ (Decider)
Streaming in general has been on the nostalgia wagon for some time now, with Paramount+ being no exception. It has just been revealed that the platform has greenlit a Good Burger sequel starring Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell.
According to Deadline, Thompson and Mitchell will be reprising their respective roles as Dexter Reed and Ed from the ’90s-kid classic, which came out more than 25 years ago.
“I can’t believe it’s been a little over 25 years since great customer service was born at Good Burger! Being a part of something so many generations of people have come to love has made me so proud and now to be back where it all began working on the sequel is surreal,” said Thompson. “Love performing with my brother Kel and can’t wait to show the fans what these characters have been up to since we last saw them.” Read more
Sir Rod Stewart cancels Australian performance due to viral infection (BelfastTelegraph)
Sir Rod Stewart said he has cancelled a performance in Australia due to being told he has a “viral infection”.
The 78-year-old singer-songwriter, who has had six number one hits in the UK charts including Baby Jane and Maggie May, was due to sing at the venue A Day On The Green in Mt Duneed Estate, Geelong.
He posted a statement on Twitter that he was “absolutely downhearted” to be “disappointing” fans and is working hard to return to the stage. Read more
De La Soul honour Trugoy The Dove with TV performance featuring The Roots (NME)
De La Soul paid tribute to their late band member Trugoy The Dove with a performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon featuring The Roots.
The rap legends appeared on Thursday night’s episode (March 16) to perform ‘Stakes Is High’ from their classic 1996 album of the same name.
Trugoy The Dove died at the age of 54 last month. He had been suffering from several health issues in recent years, although no cause of death was revealed. Read more
Trump says he expects to be arrested Tuesday as New York law enforcement prepares for possible indictment (CNN)
Former President Donald Trump said Saturday he expects to be arrested in connection with the investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney next week and called for protests as New York law enforcement prepares for a possible indictment.
In a social media post, Trump, referring to himself, said the “leading Republican candidate and former president of the United States will be arrested on Tuesday of next week.”
“Protest, take our nation back,” he wrote. Read more
Putin visits Crimea to mark the anniversary of its annexation from Ukraine (NPR)
Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to Crimea to mark the ninth anniversary of the Black Sea peninsula’s annexation from Ukraine on Saturday, the day after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader accusing him of war crimes.
Putin visited an art school and a children’s center, locations that appeared to have been chosen in response to the court’s action on Friday.
The court specifically accused him Friday of bearing personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine during Russia’s full-scale invasion of the neighboring country that started almost 13 months ago. Read more
Leon Edwards is set to defend his welterweight title for the first time when he faces Kamaru Usman (DailyMail)
Leon Edwards will defend his welterweight title for the first time at UFC 286
The Brit knocked out Kamaru Usman in the fifth round when they met at UFC 278
‘Rocky’ will be aiming to go 2-1 up after Usman won the first meeting in 2015
Leon Edwards will defend his welterweight title for the first time in an epic trilogy showdown against rival Kamaru Usman.
‘Rocky’ defeated the ‘Nigerian Nightmare’ back in last August via a fifth-round KO to win the belt at UFC 278.
Before the defeat to Edwards, Usman was unbeaten in 19 fights. The Nigerian will now be out for revenge and has already beaten the Brit. The former welterweight champion won the first meeting via decision back in 2015. Read more
Orban is fastest scoring Nigerian at Genk (Punch)
Gift Orban’s hat-trick heroics in the Europa Conference League has seen the 20-year-old set a new record at his Belgian club, Gent, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
Orban scored three goals within the space of just 205 seconds to help Gent beat Istanbul Basaksehir 4-1 in Turkey on Wednesday.
It was Orban’s second hat-trick in four days. Read more
Real will attack Barcelona with title on the line, Ancelotti says (IrishExaminer)
Real Madrid will not hold back in El Clasico against Barcelona at Camp Nou on Sunday as they bid to close a nine-point gap to their arch-rivals at the top of LaLiga.
Barca would take a huge step towards winning their first title for four years by beating the champions for the third time in a row.
“We will play attacking football on Sunday. Without taking risks, we will go out on attack,” Real manager Carlo Ancelotti told a news conference on Saturday. Read more
Cassano suggests Benfica much better than Inter ahead of UCL quarter-finals (FootballItalia)
Antonio Cassano does not have faith in Inter’s chances against Benfica in their upcoming Champions League quarter-final clash, calling the Portuguese side the ‘positive surprise’ of the competition.
The Nerazzurri booked their spot in the quarter-finals of Europe’s premier club competition after securing a 1-0 aggregate win over Porto in the Round of 16, a vital result for Simone Inzaghi and his squad.
Benfica topped a Champions League group containing Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus, and had little trouble in their Round of 16 tie with Club Brugge, winning 7-1 on aggregate. Read more
Jake Paul banned from attending Leon Edwards vs Kamaru Usman at UFC 286 (Mirror)
Jake Paul won’t be able to attend Leon Edwards’ title defence against Kamaru Usman at UFC 286 tonight due to a long-standing ban.
The YouTube star has become one of the biggest names in combat sports since his arrival on the scene, having fought some of the UFC’s biggest former stars in the boxing ring including Tyron Woodley and Anderson Silva. His personal career took a significant dent after losing to British star Tommy Fury in Saudi Arabia last month, but the ‘Problem Child’ remains on course for an MMA debut next after signing with PFL.
Paul has a negative relationship with UFC president Dana White after making it his mission to improve conditions and pay for fighters on the kingpin’s roster. The 26-year-old further complicated his relationship with White after starting a fighters union with former rival Silva, in addition to making a ‘diss track’ on White. Read more
Elena Rybakina stuns world No.1 Iga Swiatek to reach Indian Wells final (CNN)
Elena Rybakina defeated world No. 1 Iga Świątek in straight sets on Friday to reach the Indian Wells final and continue her electric run of form this season.
Świątek had no answer to the powerful groundstrokes unleashed by the Wimbledon champion as the Pole was overwhelmed 6-2 6-2 in an hour and 16 minutes.
With this victory, Rybakina became the first player to win multiple matches against a reigning world No.1 since 2019, after she defeated the Świątek in the fourth round of the Australian Open earlier this year. Read more