FG declares Tuesday public holiday to mark Eidul-Mawlid

 

The Federal Government has declared Tuesday, October 19, 2021, a public holiday to mark this year’s Eid-ul-Mawlid celebration in commemoration of the birth of the Holy Prophet Muhammad.

Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, who made this declaration on behalf of the Federal Government, congratulated all Muslim faithful both at home and in the diaspora for witnessing this year’s occasion.

He enjoined all Nigerians to “imbibe the spirit of love, patience and perseverance which are the virtues of the Holy Prophet Muhammad,” adding that doing so would guarantee peace and security in the country.

This was disclosed in a statement signed by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Interior, Dr. Shuaib Belgore on Friday.

According to the statement, “Ogbeni Aregbesola enjoined Nigerians, particularly Muslims, to refrain from violence, lawlessness and other acts of criminality. As the indisputable leader of our race, we must show responsible leadership in Africa.

“While calling for a stop to all divisive tendencies across the country, the Minister urges all Nigerians and the youth, in particular, to embrace the virtues of hard work and peaceful disposition to fellow humans, irrespective of faith, ideology, social class and ethnicity and cooperate with President Muhammadu Buhari’s led-Administration in its effort to build a progressive and enviable nation that all citizens would be proud of.”

2023: Lawmakers rejecting e-voting for self-interest, says Jega 

A former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Attahiru Jega, on Saturday criticised the National Assembly for downplaying the importance of the electronic transmission of results in general elections, saying that federal lawmakers were ignoring the innovation for self-interest.

Jega said the constitutional provision that prohibits the use of technology is a hindrance to electronic voting in the country which he said was cost-effective and easy to deploy.

He, therefore, urged the National Assembly to remove the legal encumbrance for electronic voting to be possible in the 2023 elections.

Speaking at a lecture titled, ‘Politics, governance and leadership recruitment in 21st century democracy,’ organised by Kwara Visioners Network for Rural Development at the University of Ilorin, Jega said, “The National Assembly, after 2019 elections, promised to review the electoral legal framework which will improve the integrity of the electoral commission.

“The most important issue that can add value to the integrity of elections they are jettisoning that because of self- interest. We have upscaled the integrity of the Nigerian electoral commission with incremental use of technology.

“INEC, itself, said it can rarely use it in the 2023 elections. In fact, INEC has used it in some elections in parts of the country. It is a pilot scheme which all the stakeholders have been observing and said is good.

“The next thing is to remove the major hindrance in the use of technology because there is a constitutional provision which says that electronic voting is prohibited. Many Nigerians who are in support of electronic voting are blaming INEC for saying it cannot use electronic voting. They have forgotten that there is a legal provision that says electronic voting is prohibited.

Unfortunately, the National Assembly is opposed to the use of electronic transmission of results. From my personal experience in INEC, one of the major ways in which the integrity of the electoral process is undermined is in the manual transmission of results from the polling units to ward, local and constituency levels.