Month: January 2024

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Elections are supposed to be the means by which the people of a country choose their leaders and express their will. However, in some African countries, elections are often marred by fraud, violence, and manipulation, undermining the legitimacy and credibility of the democratic process.

None the less, Africa has witnessed many cases of electoral fraud and manipulation, undermining the democratic process and the will of the people.

Here are five of the most rigged elections in Africa, based on various sources:

– Liberia 1927: This election was so rigged that it made it into the Guinness Book of World Records as the most fraudulent election ever reported in history. The incumbent president, Charles D.B. King, won the election with 240,000 votes, while his opponent, Thomas J. Faulkner, received only 9,000 votes. However, the number of registered voters was less than 15,000. The election was accompanied by widespread allegations of voter fraud, as Faulkner accused members of the True Whig Party government of using slave labour at home and selling slaves to the Spanish colony of Fernando Po, and involving the Army in the electoral process.

– Zimbabwe 2008: This election was described by Human Rights Watch as “deeply flawed”. The election pitted incumbent Robert Mugabe, who ruled from 1987 to 2017, against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. After the elections, no official results were announced for more than a month. It was later reported that Tsvangirai won 47.9% of the vote and Mugabe 43.2%, necessitating a run-off. Ahead of the runoff, supporters of Mugabe and Tsvangirai perpetrated violence so much that Tsvangirai announced that he was withdrawing from the race. Tsvangirai who described the run-off as a “Violent sham” said that his supporters risked being killed if they voted for him. The run-off went on without Tsvangirai and Mugabe was declared the winner as the only participating candidate.

– Democratic Republic of the Congo 2011: This election was marred by irregularities and controversies. The election was between Etienne Tshisekedi and President Joseph Kabila. Reports from international organisations such as the United Nations and the European Union held that the elections were held under difficult conditions. Tshisekedi reportedly declared himself as President claiming that the majority of the people turned against President Kabila. Kabila who was leading with 4.9 million votes, allegedly ceased all email and SMS services nationwide. Tshisekedi trailed behind with 3.4 million votes. It was also alleged that over 5,000,000 ballot papers were pre-ticked for Kabila.

– Kenya 2007: This election was marred by ethnic hostility and violence. The election was between incumbent Mwai Kibaki, Party of National Unity, Raila Odinga, Orange Democratic Movement and Kalonzo Musyoka Orange Democratic Movement–Kenya. The election results were disputed by Odinga who claimed that Kibaki had rigged the vote. The announcement of Kibaki as the winner triggered widespread protests and clashes that left over 1,000 people dead and 600,000 displaced. The crisis was resolved by a power-sharing agreement that made Kibaki the president and Odinga the prime minister.

– Uganda 2016: This election was criticized by the international community and the opposition as unfair and fraudulent. The election was between incumbent Yoweri Museveni and his former ally Kizza Besigye. Besigye was arrested several times before and after the election, and his party headquarters were raided by the police. The election results showed that Museveni won with 60.8% of the vote and Besigye got 35.4%. However, Besigye rejected the results and claimed that he had won with 52% of the vote. He also accused Museveni of using intimidation, bribery, and ballot stuffing to rig the election. The election observers from the European Union and the Commonwealth also reported cases of harassment, arrests, and interference with the media and civil societies.

The labour union has proposed a minimum wage of $300 (N436,500) for Nigerian workers ahead of negotiations on the new national minimum wage.

Chairman, Trade Union Side, Joint Meeting of the National Public Service Negotiating Council (JNPSNC), Comrade Benjamin Anthony, made this proposal at the 2023 meetings of the Separate and Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council held in Goshen City, Nasarawa State, on Tuesday.

The union argued that the current minimum wage of N30,000 has since been eroded by the high exchange rate coupled with the abrupt removal of fuel subsidy which has translated into the high cost of living in the country, hence the demand for a new wage.

Anthony, who was represented by the Secretary of the Union, Comrade Boma Mohammed, also frowned at the recent delays in the payment of salaries by the Federal Government to workers, saying the trend must be stopped and avert the repeat of such things as the suffering in the land, which is already unbearable.

He said, “In light of the above, Labour has proposed a Living Wage of $300 (N436,500) for Nigerian Workers. This is due to the fall in the value of our currency, today if you carry N100,000 to the market you will come back with a leather bag of items.

“We call on Government to immediately pay the arrears of the N35,000 wage award along with the current and expedited action on the process of getting a new living wage to bring succour to the working class people,” he added.

Meanwhile, the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, said most governors of the 37-member Tripartite Committee on Minimum Wage are not complying with the proposed base pay structure.

Ajaero stated this in an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday.

Recall that Vice President Kashim Shettima inaugurated the committee in Abuja earlier on Tuesday, saying the decision was aimed at ensuring a decent living wage and in compliance with the existing National Minimum Wage Act of 2019, which will expire in a few months.

He said, ”Most of the governors in the minimum wage committee are those who are not paying minimum wage or paying them in breaches.”

”The governors who are in full compliance with the minimum wage are not adequately represented, so whatever made the Federal Government bring in those who are not compliant or compliant in breaches to form the bulk of the membership of the minimum wage committee from the state government that will unfold with time,” he added.

Vice President Kashim Shettima has revealed that Prof Ishaq Oloyede is the first Registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board to have made over N50bn for the Federal Government within a year.

The Vice President, who represented President Bola Tinubu, disclosed this on Wednesday while speaking during a public engagement organised by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

The dialogue on “Youth, Religion, and the Fight against Corruption” was held at the Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja, where the Fraud Risk Assessment Project for Ministries, Departments, and Agencies was also launched by the EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede.

While speaking on the issue of corruption in the public sector, the Vice President noted that JAMB had never made up to $1m for the Federal Government before Oloyede assumed office.

Shettima said, “One person I always respect is Prof Ishaq Oloyede. Over the years, JAMB never made upto $1m for the Federal Government.

“However, when Prof Oloyede assumed office, JAMB made over ₦50bn for the Federal Government in one year.”

Other dignitaries present at the dialogue were the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi; a former Minister of Power, Babatunde Fashola; the Ọọni of Ifẹ, Ọba Enitan Ogunwusi; the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar; the President, Christian Association of Nigeria; the Chairperson, Nigeria Committee of Vice Chancellors, Professor Lilian Salami; and the Registrar of JAMB, Professor Ishaq Oloyede.

Oloyede was appointed the registrar and Chief Executive of JAMB by former president, Muhammadu Buhari in. 2016.

Punch Newspaper

No fewer than 10,378 candidates, who wrote the Direct Entry examination organised by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board in 2023, currently have their admission suspended following the failure of their A-level issuing institution to submit a verification report to JAMB.

In February 2023, JAMB issued an advisory to guide candidates seeking to gain admissions through Direct Entry in the 2023/2024 academic session.

According to JAMB, the advisory was basically to address the issue of candidates using unacceptable or forged A-level certificates/ qualifications to gain admission.

Recently, JAMB advised the candidates to contact their former institutions as soon as possible to have their certificates verified, stressing that it would not accept students with unverified certificates.

JAMB also stated that it had written to all tertiary institutions that issued certificates and that a substantial number of them had answered positively, but others had not.

Findings by The PUNCH on Monday revealed that JAMB had decided to suspend the admission of 10,378 candidates following the failure of over 240 institutions, comprising majorly of polytechnics and colleges of education, to send verification reports of A-level results of the admission seekers.

A report by JAMB, which our correspondent obtained in Abuja, said, “The verification exercises conducted by the Nigeria Post-secondary Education Data System have compelled the board to introduce further steps to address the series of sharp practices and inconsistencies in the ongoing 2023 DE admission exercise.”

JAMB noted that as part of efforts to arrest these series of unwholesome practices, “The NIPEDS has written to all tertiary institutions in the country to facilitate the verification of the A-level certificates of their respective students. While a significant number of these institutions have responded and had their students’ A-level certificates verified and the admissions of their students consequently processed, NIPEDS has yet to receive any response from many institutions.

“In effect, all such candidates holding the certificates of these institutions would not be considered for admission until they are verified.”

Analysis of the list of affected institutions by our correspondent puts some of the institutions with the highest number of unverified A-level results by candidates as follows, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, 1,314; Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, 611; Aminu Saleh College of Education 269; College of Education, Minna, 248; Federal College of Education, Okene, 164; Federal College of Education, Kotangora 164; Federal College of Education, Abeokuta, 383 candidates among others

The Head of National Office, West African Certificate Examination, Nigeria, Dr Amos Dangut, said as of Monday, 8,285 candidates had registered for the maiden Computer Based-West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination for Private Candidates, 2024.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Dangut revealed that the exam would start on Wednesday, January 31, and end on Saturday, February 17, 2024, in Nigeria.

In November 2023, WAEC, in a press release, announced that it had concluded plans to conduct its WASSCE for private candidates using the computer-based model.

Dangut said that WAEC was aware that the news of this innovation was initially greeted with some level of resistance, saying, “This only served as fuel for the council to forge ahead on its course to conduct the CB-WASSCE.”

He said the council was encouraged by the acceptance of the innovation as evidenced by the number of entries received so far.

“As of today, Monday, January 29, 2024, a total of 8,285 candidates from across the federation have registered for the examination. Out of this number, 3,949 are male, representing 47.66 per cent while 4,336 are female, representing 52.3 per cen of the total candidature,” he said.

Dangut explained that candidates would be examined in 19 subjects, made up of 26 papers in a hybrid mode.

“Plans have, therefore, been concluded for this first-ever computer-based examination, which will be delivered in a hybrid mode. The hybrid mode entails that the Objective or Multiple Choice questions will be rendered on-screen and candidates are required to give their responses on the screen.

“The Essay and Practical questions will be rendered on-screen, likewise, but candidates will be required to give their responses using the answer booklets provided,” he said.

He called on candidates to visit WAEC’s e-learning portal for materials that would demonstrate to candidates the requirements for the conduct of the CB-WASSCE.

“We are set for the conduct of CB-WASSCE for Private Candidates, in 2024. We have and we will always work hand-in-hand with the Federal Ministry of Education, the various state Ministries of Education, the Nigeria Police Force, other security agencies and stakeholders, to deliver, as usual, a credible examination to the Nigerian child and the general public,” Dangut said.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Los Angeles has dismissed Ramon “Hushpuppi” Abbas’s appeal to review and ostensibly reduce his 11-year sentence, citing his sterling behaviour during his stay in jail.

Mr Abbas, convicted in 2022 for money laundering and a series of online scams in tens of millions of dollars, raised the motion to appeal the sentence after reappraising his chances of success, Peoples Gazette learnt. 

The motion was filed in November 2022, two weeks after Judge Otis Wright sent him to jail.  

The convict had enrolled in prison educational courses and also taken an active role in cleaning prison facilities, becoming one of the correctional facility’s top toilet cleaners, in a bid to earn a lighter sentence.

Still, the appellate judges remained implacable in their decision to deny his appeal.

The judgment was made on January 19. It was announced by Molly Dwyer, the court’s clerk, on behalf of the appellate judges.

It was not immediately clear whether he would file a fresh case to keep the hopes of his early release alive since his lawyers, John Iweanoge and Louis Shapiro, had already pulled out prior to the dismissal.

The denial for sentence appeal came days beforer Nigerians were dismayed by a viral video that seemingly showed someone believed to be Mr Abbas holding a feast with others inside what was reported as his detention facility at Fort Dix, New Jersey.

Although The Gazette did not report the video, several online commenters said the dominant voice matched the convicted fraudster’s.

Fort Dix also did not return a request for comment clarifying whether or not it is standard protocol for inmates to throw parties with friends behind bars, film such events and then circulate the video on social media.

Similarly, Mr Abbas’s ally, Olalekan Jacob Ponle alias Mr Woodberry, convicted for scamming several individuals and businesses of millions of naira, has asked the U.S. Court of Appeals to reduce his eight-year sentence, claiming it was wrongly calculated in that he was made to suffer for both the crimes he planned and the ones he actually committed.