President Buhari has said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) owes Nigerians detailed explanation for its decision to delay the general elections.

Speaking at the All Progressives Congress (APC) emergency caucus meeting at the party secretariat, President Buhari said:

‘‘Definitely, the reasons such incompetence manifested have to be explained to the nation. After the elections, we have to know exactly what happened and who is responsible.

‘‘The constitution and the laws protect INEC but they must not take us for granted. If for example, the National Assembly refused to approve what INEC wanted, then INEC would have more than enough reasons why they couldn’t perform.

‘‘If the time for the constitutional elections, four years after was not obeyed by the government and the system, INEC will have a case. But we do not understand why this inefficiency and we have to move into details after the election to find out who’s responsible.’’

Noting that the electoral commission had all the time and resources it needed to conduct the polls, the President said there was no justification ‘‘to wait for only six hours to postpone the votes’’, in the early hours of February 16.

The President also used the occasion to warn all political actors to ensure an environment free from intimidation and violence for all eligible citizens to peacefully cast their ballot on the Election Day. The President announced that he has directed security agencies to contain any acts of lawlessness before, during and after the elections.

‘‘We are not going to be blamed of trying to rig the elections. I want Nigerians to be respected. Let them vote whoever they want across the parties. I am not afraid, I have gone to all 36 states and Abuja and I think I have enough support across the country,’’ he said.

President Buhari urged all APC supporters to vote peacefully in the upcoming elections.

‘‘We have so much to do and I think we should again go back to our loyal, committed people in all constituencies. If anything happens we have nobody to blame. We have to tell our constituencies that they have to be patient and act in a very responsible way by going peacefully to vote again, and they should depend on party representatives at each of the 176,000 polling units,’’ he said.

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has said petroleum will be sold across the country from Wednesday, February 20th at N140/litre.

A statement released by Chinedu Okoronkwo, IPMAN’s National President, said the slash in price will last five days and end on the 25th of February.

IPMAN says the decision is to encourage many Nigerians to travel to their respective destinations to cast their votes duirng the Saturday February 23rd and March 6th election days.

“IPMAN was prompted to slash N5 from the N145 per litre official Petroleum pump price in a bid to motivate Nigerians to return to vote again on February 23. We urge all our members across Nigeria to immediately reduce the fuel pump price from N145 per litre to N140 per litre.

“This is because of the political situation that hit the country after INEC suddenly announced the postponement of presidential and National Assembly elections after Nigerians were fully prepared. We are all aware how Nigerians travelled to different parts of the country in order to exercise their civic duty; unfortunately, they heard a sad news of postponement of the polls.

“This made us deem it fit to reduce the pump price in order to ease their suffering, and to also motivate them to travel again to exercise their franchise on February 23.” the statement read

A 39-year old woman identified as Iwuagwu Onyinyechi, has been arrested by the Ogun police command for allegedly defrauding a Christian faith-based organisation to the sum of N100m, under the pretense of assisting the organisation to raise fund for its charity programme.

The police command in a statement on Sunday by its spokesperson, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said Onyinyechi’s arrest followed a petition written by a Lagos-based lawyer of the organisation, Godswill Ojakovo, to the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, in which he complained that his client was defrauded by the suspect through an act of forgery.

According to Oyeyemi, the suspect claimed to have got a Local Purchase Order (LPO) from a property company and appealed to the organisation to help fund the LPO, consequent upon which a sum of N33.118m was transferred into to her bank account.

While the organisation was awaiting the repayment of the loan, the suspect came with another two LPOs she claimed to have got from a Catholic Hospital, Iju and a private school in Ikorodu, Lagos State, upon which another sum of N77m was given to her, after convincing the organisation with relevant documents and proofs to back her claims.

But as soon as the suspect got the last payment in September 2018, she disappeared into thin air and this prompted the organisation to make discreet inquiries about the LPOs she submitted and found out that both of them were forged.

Miss Osasuwa, a 25-year-old shop attendant in Benin City, the Edo State capital now goes to work without wearing pants.

She said she no longer wore pants, especially while going out, following the activities of young men who engage in money ritual in the area.

Osasuwa is not the only female in Benin who has stopped wearing pants while going out, for fear of being forced to remove it at gunpoint.

Daily Trust on Sunday gathered that last month, a young man in his early 20s was caught with female and children’s pants. It took the intervention of the police to rescue him from crowd justice.

It was also gathered that the young men started the act by stealing babies’ pampers from dustbins, a development that forced many women to start burning pampers after use.

It was further learnt that these young men graduated from stealing babies’ pampers to female underwear for ritual purposes when pampers were not yielding much dividend.

These desperate young men, it was gathered, would go to the extent of visiting people’s houses to steal female pants. They also block the highways and lonely streets at night, forcing young women to part with their underwear at gunpoint.

It was gathered that while those who engage in money ritual steal pants directly, others steal to sell to prospective buyers at exorbitant prices.

Mr Isaac Ordia, who spoke to our correspondent on the development, said there were many incidents where young women were forced to remove their pants at gunpoint.

“In December last year, young men allegedly blocked Agbor road with guns. When they stopped a vehicle, the occupants thought they were there to rob, but surprisingly, they separated the men from women and asked them to pull their pants and hand over to them. After collecting the panties, they zoomed off,’’Ordia said. He added that the act of stealing pants for ritual purpose started in Delta State but rapidly spread to Edo.

Our correspondent also learnt that some brave young women manage to wear pants while going out, but they apply charcoal on it, believing that the substance neutralizes the potency of rituals.

It was further gathered that, having noticed that young women no longer wear pants, those who engage in the act resorted to using white handkerchiefs to clean the private parts female victims, also at gunpoint.

Speaking on the development, Agatha Osas, a student said, “I only wear pants at home. I remove it while going out and put on jeans trousers. Since I heard that they forced some girl to remove their pants on the road at gunpoint, I have stopped wearing pants. But I put on tight wears while going out since it is pants they are interested in.

Helen Juliet, a 25-year-old stylist said she still went out with pants but mindful of walking in lonely streets at night.

“I can’t do without wearing pants. However, many young women have stopped wearing pants because of what has been happening. They were stealing from people’s homes, but when people became conscious of where they hanged their underwear, they resorted to taking it at gunpoint.

“After washing, I only hang my pants on Sundays when I would be at home. And I have to sit down and watch till they dry and I take them inside. I have to be very careful so that they will not be stolen for ritual purpose,’’ she said.

Also, a 20-year-old tailor who gave her name as Edith said, “I always put on trousers so that I can walk around without people noticing that I am not wearing pants. Some of us now go with charcoal because it is said to neutralise the potency of the ritual and would not have any effect on the victim. I have to go with charcoal whenever I am going out.’’

She lamented that the development is making them uncomfortable and called on security agents to do something about it.

Another young woman who preferred anonymity also told Daily Trust on Sunday that, “They caught one at Agbor park with children and female pants, which he wanted to use for ritual. You will see them riding exotic cars and you won’t know that they are into money ritual.

“We also learnt that each pair of pants costs between N250,000 and N300, 000, depending on its efficacy. This is why young men are involving themselves in the theft of pants.

Pants sellers lament

Our correspondent who visited some of the markets in Benin observed that respective underwear sections, which hitherto witnessed crowds of female customers, were no longer the beehive of activities they used to be.

A pants seller at the Oba Market, who only gave her name as Omoh, said things were no longer the way they used to be since the issue of pants theft began.

“I have not witnessed it, I only heard about it. We are still selling little by little, but not the way it was. I can tell you that the patronage has reduced drastically since the incident started,” she said.

Omoh, who sat in one corner of her shop waiting for customers, lamented that they were facing hard times as a result of the development.

Also speaking, Sivalnus Favour, 25, who also sells underwear, said they were hoping that things would improve in the market.

“Ladies no longer patronise us. And when you give prices to the few that come around, they will simply tell you that they are no longer wearing pants, and walk away. It is affecting our business negatively,’’ she said.

At Ekiosa market, a trader, Onyebuchi Aleleiwu said, “I come to the market every day without selling anything. When there was patronage, I would sell above N100,000 a day, but these days I come here to keep vigil over my goods, The pants we sell at N200 here, we learnt that the young boys who steal them for ritual purpose will sell it at N300,000. I used to sell over 15 dozen a week, but now I can’t even boast of selling one dozen. Now, the issue has become bad market for us,’’

“Since they started stealing pants, young women only pass by our shops.”

“Late last year, I sold over 20 dozen in a week, but now, to sell a dozen has become a problem. This used to be our peak period as schools resumed. Parents and young women would buy many pants and keep till schools went on holidays, but now, schools have opened but no one is coming to buy from us. We usually get new stocks almost every week, but the one we bought over three weeks are still there,” she added.

Also speaking, Lucky Okhaafo, 40, who sells at the New Benin market, said the development was also affecting the sale of tight wears, not only pants.

“I deal on wholesale, but the business has crashed due to the development and we now struggle to make little sales,’’ he said.

Another trader, Ogbewu Isilode lamented, “If I tell you that the development doesn’t affect us, I would be telling lies. This is 10am and I am yet to sell anything. In the past, by this time I must have sold over four dozen. But now, any young woman you call for patronage will tell you that they don’t wear pants anymore. The development is affecting our business, We trade on wholesale basis, but now, we don’t even see anybody who would even ask for one.”

Source: Daily Trust