Israeli military forces raid Gaza's largest hospital in operation against Hamas

The Israeli military raided Gaza’s largest hospital early Wednesday, conducting what it called a “precise and targeted” operation against Hamas as Israel seized broader control of northern Gaza, including capturing the territory’s legislature building and its police headquarters.

The gains carried high symbolic value in the country’s quest to crush the militant group that rules Gaza.

The raid unfolded “in a specified area” of the Shifa Hospital, which has been the site of a standoff with Hamas. Israeli authorities claim the militants conceal military operations in the facility. But with hundreds of patients and medical personnel inside, the military had refrained from entering.

In recent weeks, Israeli defense forces have publicly warned that such use of the hospital jeopardized its protection under international law. On Tuesday, military officials conveyed again to Gaza authorities that all military activity in the hospital must cease within 12 hours.

“Unfortunately, it did not,” the military said.

Hamas has denied accusations that it uses the hospital for cover.

Israeli military officials gave no further details on the raid but said they were taking steps to avoid harm to civilians.

Meanwhile, Israeli defense officials said they have agreed to allow some fuel shipments into the Gaza Strip for humanitarian purposes. It was the first time Israel has allowed fuel into the besieged territory since Hamas’ bloody cross-border invasion on Oct. 7.

Inside some of the newly captured buildings, soldiers held up the Israeli flag and military flags in celebration. In a nationally televised news conference, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Hamas had “lost control” of northern Gaza and that Israel made significant gains in Gaza City.

But asked about the time frame for the war, Gallant said: “We’re talking about long months, not a day or two.”

One Israeli commander in Gaza, identified only as Lt. Col. Gilad, said in a video that his forces near Shifa Hospital had seized government buildings, schools and residential buildings where they found weapons and eliminated fighters.

The army said it captured the legislature, the Hamas police headquarters and a compound housing Hamas’ military intelligence headquarters. The buildings are powerful symbols, but their strategic value was unclear. Hamas fighters are believed to be in underground bunkers.

For days, the Israeli army has encircled the hospital. Hundreds of patients, staff and displaced people were trapped inside, with supplies dwindling and no electricity to run incubators and other lifesaving equipment. After days without refrigeration, morgue staff on Tuesday dug a mass grave in the yard for more than 120 bodies, officials said.

Elsewhere, the Palestinian Red Crescent said Tuesday it had evacuated patients, doctors and displaced families from another Gaza City hospital, Al-Quds.

Israel has vowed to end Hamas rule in Gaza after the militants’ Oct. 7 attack into Israel in which they killed some 1,200 people and took roughly 240 hostages. The Israeli government has acknowledged it doesn’t know what it will do with the territory after Hamas’ defeat.

The Israeli onslaught — one of the most intense bombardments so far this century — has been disastrous for Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians.

More than 11,200 people, two-thirds of them women and minors, have been killed in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah. About 2,700 people have been reported missing. The ministry’s count does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths.

Almost the entire population of Gaza has squeezed into the southern two-thirds of the tiny territory, where conditions have been deteriorating even as bombardment there continues. About 200,000 fled the north in recent days, the U.N. said Tuesday, though tens of thousands are believed to remain.

The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said Tuesday that its fuel storage facility in Gaza was empty and that it would soon end relief operations, including bringing limited supplies of food and medicine in from Egypt for more than 600,000 people sheltering in schools and other facilities in the south.

“Without fuel, the humanitarian operation in Gaza is coming to an end. Many more people will suffer and will likely die,” said Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of UNRWA.

Israeli defense officials, who repeatedly rejected allowing fuel into Gaza saying Hamas would divert it for military use, changed course early Wednesday. Israel will allow some 24,000 liters (6,340 gallons) of fuel into the Gaza Strip for humanitarian operations, officials said.

The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, the Israeli defense body responsible for Palestinian affairs, said it would allow U.N. trucks to refill at the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border later Wednesday. It said the decision was in response to a request from the U.S.

PLIGHT OF HOSPITALS

Fighting has raged for days around the Shifa Hospital complex at the center of Gaza City that has now “turned into a cemetery,” its director said in a statement.

The Health Ministry said 40 patients, including three babies, have died since Shifa’s emergency generator ran out of fuel Saturday. Another 36 babies are at risk of dying because there is no power for incubators, according to the ministry.

The Israeli military said it started an effort to transfer incubators to Shifa. But they would be useless without electricity, said Christian Lindmeier, a World Health Organization spokesman.

The Health Ministry has proposed evacuating the hospital with the supervision of the International Committee of the Red Cross and transferring the patients to hospitals in Egypt, but has not received any response, ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said.

While Israel says it is willing to allow staff and patients to evacuate, some Palestinians who have made it out say Israeli forces have fired at evacuees.

Israel says its claims of a Hamas command center in and beneath Shifa are based on intelligence, but it has not provided visual evidence to support them. Denying the claims, the Gaza Health Ministry says it has invited international organizations to investigate the facility.

The evacuation at the Al-Quds Hospital followed “more than 10 days of siege, during which medical and humanitarian supplies were prevented from reaching the hospital,” Palestinian Red Crescent officials said.

In a post on X, they blamed the Israeli army for bombarding the hospital and firing at those inside.

The White House’s national security council spokesperson, John Kirby, said the U.S. has unspecified intelligence that Hamas and another Palestinian militants use Shifa and other hospitals and tunnels underneath them to support military operations and hold hostages.

The intelligence is based on multiple sources, and the U.S. independently collected the information, a U.S. official said on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

Kirby said the U.S. doesn’t support airstrikes on hospitals and does not want to see “a firefight in a hospital where innocent people” are trying to get care.

MARCH FOR HOSTAGES

Families and supporters of the around 240 people being held hostage by Hamas started a protest march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The plight of the hostages has dominated public discourse since the Oct. 7 attack, with solidarity protests held across the country. The marchers, who expect to reach Jerusalem on Saturday, say the government must do more to bring home their loved-ones.

“Where are you?” Shelly Shem Tov, whose 21-year-old son, Omer, is among the captives, called out to Netanyahu. “We have no strength anymore. We have no strength. Bring back our children and our families home.”

BATTLE IN GAZA CITY

Independent accounts of the fighting in Gaza City have been nearly impossible to gather, as communications to the north have largely collapsed.

Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said Israeli forces have completed the takeover of Shati refugee camp, a densely built district bordering Gaza City’s center, and are moving about freely in the city as a whole.

Videos released by the Israeli military show troops moving through the city, firing into buildings. Bulldozers push down structures as tanks roll through streets surrounded by partially collapsed towers.

The videos portray a battle where troops are rooting out pockets of Hamas fighters and tearing down buildings where they find them, while gradually dismantling the group’s tunnel network.

Israel says it has killed several thousand fighters, including important mid-level commanders, while 46 of its own soldiers have been killed in Gaza.

AP

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russia and Ukraine may never sign peace treaty – Kiev

Russia and Ukraine may never sign a formal peace treaty ending the current conflict, Kirill Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, wrote in an op-ed, excerpts from which were published on Monday. He pointed to Russia and Japan, which never signed a comprehensive peace treaty after World War II due to Tokyo’s claims on several of Russia’s Kuril Islands. 

“There are cases in history when old wars between the states have not been legally concluded. An obvious example is Russia and Japan. They did not sign a peace agreement after 1945 due to [the dispute] over the Northern Islands, also known as the Kuril Islands in Russia. This territorial problem is now more than 70 years old,” Budanov wrote in an op-ed for NV magazine,

“This is why such a scenario is highly likely in our case, considering that Russia has significant territorial appetite when it comes to Ukraine, and not only pertaining to Crimea.”

Budanov’s assessment comes as Kiev’s long-anticipated counteroffensive, launched in the summer, has largely petered out without achieving any significant victories on the ground. Ukrainian troops struggled to break through fortified defense lines and cross thick minefields, losing many NATO-supplied tanks and other armored vehicles in the process. Speaking to the Economist this month, Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s top general, described the situation on the battlefield as “a stalemate.”

The prospects of a peace treaty between Moscow and Kiev remain bleak as both countries ruled out compromising with one another. President Vladimir Zelensky and other top-ranking Ukrainian officials ruled out negotiations unless Russia surrenders its recently acquired territories. Moscow repeatedly said that it would be impossible.

Crimea voted to leave Ukraine and join Russia in 2014, following a Western-backed coup in Kiev that year. Four other former Ukrainian territories – the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, as well as the regions of Kherson and Zaporozhye – did the same after holding referendums on the matter in September 2022.

At the same time, President Vladimir Putin argued last month that Moscow was aiming not to acquire new lands, but to protect the people of Donbass and maintain its own security. He said that the Ukrainian delegation was close to signing a neutrality pact in March 2022, but has since discarded preliminary agreements. 

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine says Russia tries to push on east, involves more drones

A top Ukrainian military official said Russian troops continued simultaneous assault attempts in several directions on the country's east, now launching even more attack drones.

Kyiv's counteroffensive aimed at retaking occupied land in the country's south and east has not managed to move as fast as expected due to heavy mining and strong defensive lines of Russian troops.

In mid-October, Russian soldiers launched a massive offensive campaign near the eastern town of Avdiivka, followed by an intensification in other frontline sections in the east.

On Tuesday, the head of Ukraine's ground forces, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, said that Russia, despite high losses, has been attacking Ukrainian positions near Kupyansk.

"In addition, the enemy has increased the use of kamikaze drones," he said on Telegram messenger.

"North and south of Bakhmut, Russian troops are trying to seize the initiative by conducting counterattacks. However, our defenders break all the plans and attempts of invaders to seize our land," Syrskyi added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday he received military reports on an increasing number of attacks in the east, including in Avdiivka direction.

He added that Ukrainian forces hold the ground and continue assault operations. Reuters could not independently verify battlefield reports.

RT/Reuters

Geoffrey Hinton, the computer scientist known as a “Godfather of AI,” says artificial intelligence-enhanced machines “might take over” if humans aren’t careful.

Rapidly-advancing AI technologies could gain the ability to outsmart humans “in five years’ time,” Hinton, 75, said in a Sunday interview on CBS’ “60 Minutes.” If that happens, AI could evolve beyond humans’ ability to control it, he added.

“One of the ways these systems might escape control is by writing their own computer code to modify themselves,” said Hinton. “And that’s something we need to seriously worry about.”

Hinton won the 2018 Turing Award for his decades of pioneering work on AI and deep learning. He quit his job as a vice president and engineering fellow at Google in May, after a decade with the company, so he could speak freely about the risks posed by AI.

Humans, including scientists like himself who helped build today’s AI systems, still don’t fully understand how the technology works and evolves, Hinton said. Many AI researchers freely admit that lack of understanding: In April, Google CEO Sundar Pichai referred to it as AI’s “black box” problem.

As Hinton described it, scientists design algorithms for AI systems to pull information from data sets, like the internet. “When this learning algorithm then interacts with data, it produces complicated neural networks that are good at doing things,” he said. “But we don’t really understand exactly how they do those things.”

Pichai and other AI experts don’t seem nearly as concerned as Hinton about humans losing control. Yann LeCun, another Turing Award winner who is also considered a “godfather of AI,” has called any warnings that AI could replace humanity “preposterously ridiculous” — because humans could always put a stop to any technology that becomes too dangerous.

‘Enormous uncertainty’ about AI’s future

The worst-case scenario is no sure thing, and industries like health care have already benefitted tremendously from AI, Hinton emphasized.

Hinton also noted the spread of AI-enhanced misinformation, fake photos and videos online. He called for more research to understand AI, government regulations to rein in the technology and worldwide bans on AI-powered military robots.

At a Capitol Hill session last month, lawmakers and tech executives like Pichai, Elon Musk, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg suggested similar ideas while discussing the need to balance regulations with innovation-friendly government policies.

Whatever AI guardrails get put into place — whether by tech companies or at the mandatory behest of the U.S. federal government — they need to happen soon, Hinton said.

Humanity is likely at “a kind of turning point,” said Hinton, adding that tech and government leaders must determine “whether to develop these things further and what to do to protect themselves if they [do].” 

“I think my main message is there’s enormous uncertainty about what’s going to happen next,” Hinton said.

CNBC

Even as airlines try to maximize their route networks and fly more planescloser to full than ever before, many travelers are still hoping old tricksaround "asking nicely for an upgrade" will work for them.

Earlier this year, longtime flight attendant Patricia Green wrote a post saying that "can I have an upgrade?" is both the single most frequently asked and annoying question for flight attendants due to their limited ability to help.

Another flight attendant with a commercial airline, 25-year-old Destanie Armstrong became the latest to speak up against such actions on social media platform TiKTok.

'Our airline considers it as stealing,' flight attendant explains in viral video

"We never allow that," Armstrong says in response to a question from one of her followers asking how often flight attendants switch someone over into first class. "If someone wants to wants to switch cabins or even get an upgrade, that's to be dealt with [by] the gate agent."

In her post with Simple Flying, Green had also said that any upgrades are finalized before the passenger boards the flight. Once in the plane, switches can sometimes occur if there's a problem with the seat but flight attendants do not have the authority to do it just to be nice.

"You can get in a lot of trouble for doing that, giving out upgrades," Armstrong explained. "Our airline considers it as stealing because the passenger didn't pay for the ticket or get the upgrade."

Armstrong also explained that, because anyone entitled to an upgrade would have received it before the flight boarded, first class seats are usually even more full than the rest of the cabin. As such, seats that may appear empty usually simply mean that the passenger assigned to its is running late or is in the bathroom.

Don't try to pull this on a plane (it won't work and will annoy the flight crew)

But despite all this, Armstrong said she still frequently sees all types of bad behavior on the part of the passengers — some will try to sneak into first class when they think the flight attendants are not looking while others try to give compliments or "flirt" with her with poorly-masked hopes of getting that upgrade.

"There have been multiple times that men have hit on me thinking that I'm going to move them to first class because they told me I was pretty," Armstrong said.

In reality, whether one gets an upgrade is almost always outside of the flight attendant's control because it depends on how full the plane is — even when there is free room, priority is always given to those who are willing to pay for the upgrade or those who have frequent flyer status that offers it to them in such situations.

That, however, doesn't stop some someone aboard every flight from trying their luck. According to Armstrong, another type of difficult traveler behavior comes from those who sit in the exit row seat (which, on many planes, also happens to be a premium economy seat) and then gripes about having to move when the flight attendant asks them to.

TheStreet

Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have directed all workers in Nigeria to withdraw their services effective midnight, November 13, 2023.

The decision, an outcome of the Joint National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of NLC and TUC, was conveyed in a joint statement on Monday urging workers to withdraw their services starting at 12:00 midnight on November 13.

“In furtherance to the decision of the Joint National Executive Council (NEC) of NLC and TUC, all workers in Nigeria are hereby directed to withdraw their services effective 12:00 midnight today, 13th November 2023,” the unions said in a joint statement.

The union added that all affiliates and state councils of NLC/TUC are directed to issue circulars for maximum compliance and these circulars should be made available to the national secretariats or posted to the NEC and CWC Whatsapp Platforms.

“While we shall update you with developments as they unfold, do remain assured of our commitment to Nigerian workers and people.”

Meanwhile, the directive comes despite a restraining order issued by the National Industrial Court of Nigeria last Friday, prohibiting the labour unions from commencing their scheduled strike on Tuesday, November 14.

The court, presided over by Benedict Kanyip, president of the court, directed the labour unions to halt their industrial action.

Earlier announcements by the NLC had called for a state-wide strike in Imo State starting November 1, protesting against what they described as “persistent and egregious violations of the rights and privileges of workers” by the state government.

Speaking on the matter, Joe Ajaero, NLC national president, stated, “Despite our repeated efforts to engage in constructive dialogue and reach amicable agreements, the Imo State Government has become a habitual and serial breaker of these agreements, continuing to trample on the rights of workers in the state.”

“As a result, we are left with no choice but to embark on mass protests and industrial actions beginning on the 1st day of November 2023,” Ajaero said.

Earlier this month, some thugs and police officers allegedly attacked Ajaero and other NLC members who had gathered at the union’s council secretariat ahead of a planned protest in the state.

The Guardian

The presidency has criticised the organised labour over its directive on nationwide strike as a result of the assault on Joe Ajaero, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President.

The organised labour comprising NLC and Trade Union Congress (TUC), directed all affiliate unions of the two labour centres to implement the resolutions of the joint National Executive Council of TUC and NLC from midnight of Tuesday, November 14, 2023.

President of TUC, Festus Osifo, who addressed reporters at Labour House earlier in the day, said the strike would remain until “governments at all levels wake up to their responsibility.”

But in a statement on Monday night, Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, described the decision as an attempt to blackmail the government.

He said the strike action is unjustifiable, noting that it would cause undue hardship.

“We notice with dismay the decision by the Nigerian Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress to call out workers to commence a strike action from midnight, despite a restraining order issued last week by Benedict Backwash Kanyip of the National Industrial Court.

“This decision by the NLC and TUC other than being an ego tripping move is clearly unwarranted. It is an attempt to blackmail the government by the leadership of the NLC.

“We are still at a loss as to why the NLC and TUC decided to punish a whole country of over 200million people over a personal matter involving the NLC President, Joe Ajaero, whose error of judgment led to assault on him in Owerri while he was planning to incite the workers in Imo State into a needless strike.

“While the Federal government does not condone any form of violence and assault on any citizen of Nigeria regardless of his or her social and economic status, it is on record that the Inspector General of Police has ordered investigation into what happened to Ajaero while the Commissioner of Police in Imo State under whose watch the incident happened has been transferred out of the state.

“Calling out workers on a national strike over a personal issue of a labour leader despite a clear court order against any industrial action amounts to an abuse of privilege. Power at any level should never be used to settle personal scores. Rather, it should be used to promote collective progress and advance national interest.

“We reiterate that this strike action is illegal, immoral, unjustifiable and irresponsible. What the strike notice issued Monday night after official hours suggests is it’s designed for a sinister and hidden agenda to cause undue hardship and cause civil disturbance in our country. This is unacceptable,” the statement read in part.

Daily Trust

Saudi Arabia authorities have cancelled the visas of all 264 passengers airlifted by Air Peace upon their arrival in Jeddah, from Kano.

According to a source, the Middle Eastern nation asked the airline to return all 264 passengers to Nigeria, but later allowed 87 passengers to remain.

The flight, which took off from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, via the Aminu Kano International Airport in Kano, on Sunday night, was said to have arrived in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Monday.

However, on landing, according to the source, Saudi Arabia authorities announced that all the passengers’ visas were cancelled.

The source said the cancellation was a shock to passengers and airline personnel because they went through the advanced passengers pre-screening system (APPS) — which was also monitored by the Saudi Arabia authorities before the flight left Nigeria.

The source questioned whether the development was a plot to dissuade Air Peace from continuing its operations on the route given the carrier has been recording a high load factor, and also the flight expected to leave on Tuesday to Jeddah was already fully booked.

“Saudi Air has been operating directly from Nigeria to Saudi Arabia and since Air Peace started flight service to the Middle East nation at relatively lower fares, it has been receiving high patronage and as Nigerian carrier, it helps to conserve foreign exchange for the country,” the source said.

It was understood that the Nigerian embassy waded in, forcing the Saudi authorities to reduce the number of passengers that would be returned from 264 to 177.

A source at the Nigerian embassy in Jeddah, said Saudi immigration personnel are unaware of who cancelled the visas, noting that the airline was already airborne to Jeddah when the passengers’ travel documents were voided.

“The airline was exonerated in all this as the APPS, which is live between both countries would have screened out any invalid visa and its passenger. The system accepted all affected passengers and passed them on,” the source said. 

The source added that Air Peace is already returning the deported 177 travellers to Nigeria.

“They are on their way to Nigeria now,” the source said.

‘VISA CANCELLATION DUE TO GEOPOLITICS’

Speaking on the issue, John Ojikutu, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Centurion Aviation Security and Safety Consult, Nigeria, said the action of the Saudi authorities was due to geopolitics.

To prevent the situation from reoccurring, he suggested that the Nigerian government should designate domestic airlines with foreign operations as flag carriers as the United States did.

“There is geopolitics there and there is also diplomacy. There is the need for the Nigerian government to stand firmly with Nigerian carriers and also designate them as flag carriers; so that other countries will know that they represent Nigeria,” Ojikutu said.

“Government must come out and intervene. The government must be behind Air Peace now to ensure that it is not denied its rights as contained in the Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) between the two countries.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs must not keep quiet. Nigeria must not keep quiet. Ideally, the government is expected to stand behind any of the country’s airlines that it designates to fly overseas.”

Earlier in November, Air Peace, Nigeria’s flag carrier, expanded its operations into the Middle East with the commencement of direct scheduled commercial flights into Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The Cable

Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, has been declared winner of the Saturday, November 11 governorship election.

According to the State Returning Officer, Faruq Kuta, Diri, having polled the highest number of votes and met the conditions specified in the Electoral Act, was declared winner of the election.

Diri, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was declared as the duly elected governor of the state after polling a total of 175,196 to defeat his closest rival and former minister of Petroleum Resources and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Timipre Sylva, of the All progressives Congress (APC), who garnered 110,108 votes.

Total number of votes cast was 291,212; voided votes were 3,668, while valid votes were 287,534.

The governor beat Sylva in six out of the eight local councils- Kolokuma/Opokuma, Ogbia, Yenagoa, Sagbama, Ekeremor and Southern Ijaw; while Sylva won in Nembe and Brass, with Labour Party’s (LP) candidate, Udengs Eradiri, winning none.

A breakdown of the results show Kolokuma/Opokuma: APC- 5,349; PDP-18,465; Ogbia: APC-16,319, PDP-18,435; Yenagoa: APC-14,534, PDP- 37,777; Sagbama: APC- 6,608, PDP- 35504; Ekeremor: APC- 8,445, PDP- 23,172; Nembe: APC 22,249’ PDP- 4,556; Brass: APC- 18, 431, PDP- 12, 602; Southern Ijaw: APC- 18,174, PDP- 24, 685.

Following the declaration of Diri as winner of the election, there was celebration around Yenagoa, as his supporters and PDP members defied the heavy downpour to express their joy over the outcome of the poll, albeit, peacefully.

The crowd of supporters soon dispersed to Government House and homes of party chieftains to continue the celebration.

Security in town was tight, as policemen and others patrolled major roads and streets to forestall any breakdown of law and order.

The Guardian

Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room has expressed disappointment with the conduct of Saturday’s off-cycle governorship elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states, describing it as a major setback in the nation’s democratic development.

In a statement on Monday in Abuja, Situation Room said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) did not show that it had learned from the challenges it faced in conducting the general elections eight months ago.

“These elections represent a major setback in Nigeria’s democratic development,” it said in statement signed by its convener, Yunusa Ya’u, and co-conveners, Mimidoo Achakpa and Franklin Oloniju.

The group said “the disturbing reports of high levels of results falsification and other forms of electoral irregularities in the governorship elections in the three states raise serious questions about the credibility of elections and the future of democracy in Nigeria.

It, therefore, called on INEC to “fully review the elections in Kogi and Imo States to identify the incidents of malpractice that took place and reflect the genuine vote of the people.”

It also called for an independent audit of election administration in Nigeria and compliance with electoral law by INEC.

“Without this, we are worried that not much improvement can be achieved,” it added.

Irregularities observed

The Situation Eoom said in its observation report that the elections were marred specifically by logistical challenge, delay in the commencement of voting, over voting, violence and vote buying.

It said that only 29 per cent of the polling units in Imo State had commenced voting by the official time of 8:30 a.m.

In Bayelsa, 66 per cent of polling units started at the scheduled time while 86 per cent compiled in Kogi states.

The group reported that election officials did not turn up in several polling units in Ideato North and Ideato South LGAs and a few polling units in Orlu, Orsu, Okigwe and Oru East LGAs.

“The failure of INEC to turn up disenfranchised voters in the affected areas,” it stated.

“Voting in Bayelsa State was affected by the incidents of the capsized boat in Southern ljaw LGA and the abduction of INEC’s Supervisory Presiding Officer assigned to Registration Area 06 (Ossioma) in Sagbama.”

While the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) performed optimally in most polling units, the group said it worried about INEC’s failure to address reports of over voting as contained in the Electoral Act (2022).

“The inability of INEC to synchronise the record of accreditation by the BVAS with the Result Viewing Portal (IReV Portal) in real time despite improved access to internet broadband in Nigeria is questionable. By permitting the bypass of the BVAS, INEC has effectively rolled back the gains of electoral reform recorded in recent times,” it added.

The group also condemned commission’s management of results in areas where there were reports of falsification of results.

It said: “INEC had acknowledged incidents of pre-filled result sheets before the commencement of polls affecting 5 LGAs in Kogi State -Adavi, Ajaokuta, Ogori/Mangongo, Okehi and Okene. Regrettably, INEC has gone ahead to collate results from these LGAs without conducting any thorough investigation and making its findings public. This is condemnable.”

In Imo State, the group said, INEC uploaded results of polling units where voting did not take place on the election results viewing portal (IReV).

The group added that politicians attempted to exploit INEC’s weaknesses to tamper with results in Bayelsa State, especially in Brass, Sagbama, Southern ljaw and Nembe LGAs.

“These incidents question INEC’s integrity and the willingness and ability of the Commission to conduct credible elections. To ascertain the depth of the damage, Situation Room is calling on the Commission to release data of accredited voters as recorded on the BVAS and total votes cast on a local government basis in these states,” it said.

The Situation Room report also noted some pockets of violence recorded in the three states.

In Bayelsa State, it said, one of its observers was chased out of the Ward Collation Centre in Ogbia township by personnel of the Nigerian Army while another observer with the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) was attacked and her phone confiscated by a party agent in polling unit 003, Ogboloma Town Square, Ward 11, Kolokuma LGA without any intervention from the security agents present at the polling unit.

The group said its partners also reported 19 incidents of violence by noon on election day in the three States.

“These incidents of violence were recorded in Anyigba, Dekina LGA of Kogi State, Sagbama and Brass of Bayelsa State and Ikeduru LGA of Imo State,” it said.

The report added, “It will seem that security agents deployed for election duty, rather than help in securing the process and ensuring its integrity, they opted to collude with politicians and even in some cases, protected the politicians, enabling them to indulge in vote buying and other conducts that compromised the elections in these three states.

“The Commercialisation of Nigeria’s elections appears to have reached unprecedented heights. Political parties and their agents operated openly and with impunity, distributing money in the purchase of votes without any effort from the security agents to contain it.

“Sums paid at polling units ranged from N1,000 to N30,000, along with cooked and uncooked food items. There has to be an effective mechanism to halt politicians weaponizing poverty to win elections in Nigeria.”

PT

Yiaga Africa, a civil society organisation (CSO), says the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) missed an opportunity to rebuild citizens’ trust in Nigeria’s electoral process.

On Saturday, off-season polls took place in Bayelsa, Kogi, and Imo states.

Briefing journalists in Abuja on Monday, Samson Itodo, Yiaga’s executive director, said: “These off-cycle elections were to test the commitment of key democratic institutions such as INEC, security agencies and the executive to restore public confidence in the electoral process”.

“Yiaga Africa is concerned about the continuous decline in the quality of our elections and the penchant to lower the integrity standards of our elections irrespective of reforms introduced by INEC and progress made in reforming our election legal framework,” Itodo said.

“The November 11 elections were another missed opportunity to rebuild trust and confidence in the electoral process.

“The elections question the commitment of democratic institutions such as INEC, political parties and other state institutions to electoral integrity and credible elections.

“The elections in Kogi and Imo reaffirm the lack of commitment to democratic principles and credible elections on the part of electoral stakeholders. 

“The zero-sum attitude to electoral politics undermines electoral integrity and citizens’ right to elect leaders.”

The CSO questioned the transparency of the election in Imo adding that elections were not held in several polling units across different LGAs in the state including nine polling units in Orsu, eight in Okigwe, eight in Oru East, seven in Orlu, one polling unit each in Ideato North, Ikeduru, Oru West and Owerri West LGAs.

“Yiaga Africa urgently calls on INEC to review and conduct a comprehensive audit of the Imo governorship election results to inspire confidence in the process and its outcome,” the statement reads.

Itodo also said reports received from Yiaga’s observers “revealed that INEC polling officials were unprofessional and partisan in over 15% and 14% of polling units in Imo and Kogi states, respectively”.

He added that “Yiaga Africa verified 101 critical incidents witnessed by WatchingTheVote citizen observers. Eighty-seven (87) of these reports were received from Imo and 14 of the reports were received from Kogi”.

However, Yiaga commended INEC for improvements in the management of election logistics across the three states.

“The commission’s prompt response to the report of cases of pre-filled results sheets (EC8A) in Kogi state was equally impressive,” the statement reads. 

“Yiaga Africa hopes the commission will fulfil its commitment to ensuring the culprits face the full wrath of the law.

“Yiaga Africa also observed a reduction in cases of election day-related violence and commends the efforts of the police and other security agencies. 

“However, Yiaga Africa hopes all reports of election offences, compromise and unprofessional conduct of some police officers are duly investigated and culprits properly punished.”

The Cable