News
Presidential Election: Legal Practitioner and Social Critic, Inibehe Effiong Urges LP, PDP not to panic over INEC’s objections
A legal practitioner and social critic, Inibehe Effiong has urged people not to panic over objections to admissibility of documents by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, at the ongoing hearings at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, saying
it is a distraction, while claiming that the objected documents by the INEC were duly certified, adding that the Court will act on them.
In a post via his verified Twitter handle on Thursday, the legal expert claimed that “the Electoral Commission’s neutrality is a mirage, especially in electoral litigations”.
He alleged that the INEC had basically aligned its defence strategy with the other Respondents, including the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Effiong said, “People should not panic over objections to admissibility of documents by INEC at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal. I’m not surprised by INEC’s roguish and embarrassing attitude. These are public documents duly certified. The Court will act on them. It is a distraction.
“Ordinarily, INEC being the maker of the documents which they’ve certified, that is Form EC8 series (polling unit & collation results), they’re not supposed to object to their admissibility.
“I’ve always said that INEC’s neutrality is a mirage, especially in electoral litigations.
“The documents have been admitted, though the Respondents will state the grounds for their objections in their final addresses.
“Typically, the tribunal will look into the documents and act on them.
“As long as the documents have been duly certified, there’s no cause for alarm.
“INEC has basically aligned their defence strategy with the other Respondents (Tinubu, APC and Shettima). They’re working in sync as they always do.”
At the resumed hearing of the petition filed by Atiku and the PDP challenging the election of President Tinubu at the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja, counsel to the petitioners, Mr Chris Uche, SAN, said that the team had prepared a second schedule of documents to be tendered.
Some documents the petitioners tendered in evidence through Mr Eyitayo Jegede, SAN, were certified true copies of Form EC8A downloaded by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from its Result Viewing Portal (IREV).
The Form EC8A was for eight local government areas of Bayelsa, 23 local government areas of Kaduna State, 20 local government areas of Ogun and of 23 local government areas of Kogi.
Form EC8As are sheets used for collection of results at the polling units level.
But counsel to INEC, Mr Kemi Pinhero, SAN, objected to the admissibility of all documents relating to Kogi except for those of five Local Government Areas, namely, Olamaboro, Ofu, Omala, Okehi and Ajaokuta.
He said this was because the five local governments whose documents he did not oppose were specifically pleaded in the petitioners’ pleadings.
Pinhero also objected to the admissibility of the documents relating to the BVAS except for Kogi, Rivers and Sokoto states.
News
NYSC warns against night travel as 2026 Batch B Stream I orientation begins June 10
The orientation exercise will officially end on Tuesday, June 30, 2026.
The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) announced Thursday that the 2026 Batch ‘B’ Stream I Orientation Course will begin on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, with the reception and registration of prospective corps members across the country.
In a statement signed by Caroline Embu, Director, Information and Public Relations, NYSC said that the registration would end at midnight on Friday, June 12, in all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
The NYSC added that the swearing-in ceremony for prospective corps members mobilised for the 2026 Batch ‘B’ Stream I service year would also take place on Friday, June 12.
The orientation exercise will officially end on Tuesday, June 30, 2026.
The scheme wished all mobilised Nigerian graduates safe journeys to their various orientation camps nationwide and reiterated its warning against night travel.
It advised prospective corps members to suspend their journeys once it is 6pm and spend the night at any available corps members’ lodge, military formation, police station, outpost, or palace of a traditional ruler before continuing the next morning.
News
President Tinubu appoints 40 years old Prof Aina as JAMB Registrar
Prof Aina will succeed Prof Is-haq Oloyede, whose two-term tenure expires on July 31, 2026.
•Prof Segun Aina
President Bola Tinubu has appointed Professor Segun Aina as the new registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
Prof Aina will succeed Professor Is-haq Oloyede, whose two-term tenure expires on July 31, 2026.
Professor Aina, who will be 40 in July, is a distinguished academic and systems expert with extensive experience in national examination systems, digital infrastructure, and public-sector institutional reform.
A statement by the presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, stated that “President Tinubu expects Professor Aina to bring to bear his vast experience, knowledge and practical insight into the operations of the Board to take the critical educational organisation beyond the laudable heights achieved by his predecessor.”
A professor of computer engineering at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Aina began his career with JAMB during his National Youth Service, gaining foundational experience in national admissions and data-driven institutional processes.
These insights have shaped his ongoing contributions to examination reform and systems optimisation.
News
Nigeria now produces 10,000 passports per hour
In an address during the International Civil Service Conference 2026 in Abuja, the minister said that the reform has transformed passport production from a slow, manual and fragmented process into a system driven by automation, integration and efficiency.
Photo: Minister of Interior, Olatunji Olubunmi-Ojo
Minister of Interior, Olatunji Olubunmi-Ojo, said that Nigeria can now produce “nothing less than 10,000 passports per hour.”
The minister attributes the passport production fest to the establishment of a world-class centralised personalisation centre in Abuja, a development he described as the first of its kind since 1963.
In an address during the International Civil Service Conference 2026 in Abuja, the minister said that the reform has transformed passport production from a slow, manual and fragmented process into a system driven by automation, integration and efficiency.
“For the first time since 1963, we have a world-class centralised personalisation centre in Abuja,” said Olubunmi-Ojo.
“And what that means is that from a system that could do 400 or 500 passports per hour, all over the world, we could barely do three, four thousand a day or per hour.
Today, we are in a position to do nothing less than 10,000 passports per hour with a centralised level of control.”
He said the nder the new arrangement, stressing that the innovation marks a major shift in the management of internal security services and public administration.
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