The Director General of the Asue/Ogie Campaign Council, Matthew Iduoriyekemwen, on Sunday morning alongside members of the Peoples Democratic Party, protested the just concluded governorship election at the Independent National Electoral Commission.

He also said that the Peoples Democratic Party would protest the outcome of the polls, which he said, was being skewed in favour of the All Progressives Congress candidate, Senator Monday Okpebholo.

While journalists and some party agents were waiting at the Conference Hall in the INEC office for the announcement of the results, protesters numbering about 20 stormed the entrance gate of INEC.

Iduoriyekemwen said the PDP was cruising to victory but information available to them showed that there were plans to juggle the final results that would not reflect the wishes of the voters.

He also alleged that the leader of the APC in the state, Adams Oshiomhole and reinstated deputy governor of the state Philip Shaibu were thumb printing ballot papers to close the gap with which the APC was leading.

We have information that the result is being skewed to favour Okpehbolo when it is clear that our candidate is coasting to victory.

“We will not accept this, we will contest it” he said at about 2:27 am when he led the protesters to the venue.

They were dispersed by the police shortly after speaking to journalists through the barricade.

PUNCH Online late Saturday night reporter that tensions were rising in the ongoing Edo State Governorship election as the INEC acknowledged a second complaint regarding discrepancies in polling unit results.

In a statement posted on its official X account late Saturday night, INEC assured the public of swift action, vowing to investigate allegations of incorrect figures being entered into result sheets.

PUNCH Online earlier reported that INEC has uploaded 90.33 percent of the results from the Edo governorship election to its Result Viewing Portal.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has alleged that the All Progressives Congress (APC) is mounting pressure on Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to suspend the collation of results in Edo state.

The state governorship election took place on Saturday and result collation is ongoing in some LGAs.

In a statement, Debo Ologunagba, the national publicity secretary of the PDP, said “intelligence” available to the party indicates that the APC wants the result collation of the governorship election suspended “to make way for the manipulation of the INEC portal and replace the real results from the units with fabricated figures in favour of the APC”.

The PDP said Asue Ighodalo, the party’s candidate, is taking an early lead in the election, adding that the APC is planning to invade collation centres with thugs to disrupt the process.

“Our Party has also been made aware that the APC is mounting pressure on the Military to withdraw from their positions so as to enable the APC convey its armed thugs to disrupt and manipulate the collation process,” Ologunagba said.

“The PDP in very strong terms cautions INEC and the APC to note that the people of Edo State already have authentic results from the Polling Units across the State and that any attempt by anybody or group whatsoever to alter the results will inflame the already charged situation with very severe consequences on perpetrators.

“INEC must not lose sight of the violent protest that trailed the criminal attempt by the former Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mallam Hudu Ari to alter the outcome of the 2023 Governorship election in that State which nearly led to the death of some INEC officials.

“INEC and the APC must note that any attempt to change the results of the Edo State governorship election will provoke worse consequences as the people have indicated their readiness to use every means allowed in a democracy including legitimate physical confrontation, if necessary to protect their votes.

“The PDP charges the Electoral Commission to resist the pressure by the APC and ensure that nobody tampers with the results as obtained from the Polling Units.

“Our Party commends the military for its professionalism in defending our democracy in the Edo State governorship election and urges the Military High Command not to succumb to the pressure from the APC to withdraw from their posts and allow for the manipulation of the process.

“The PDP again charges the people of Edo State to remain at the Coalition Center in their numbers and monitor the collation process so as to ensure that their Will as expressed in the election is affirmed.”

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it will investigate allegations of falsified polling unit results in the Edo governorship election.

In a post on its official X page on Saturday, the commission said the complaint is the second received out of the 4,519 polling units in the state.

“The Commission’s attention has been drawn to an allegation of wrong figures entered into polling unit result sheets in the ongoing Edo State Governorship election,” the post reads.

“This is the second complaint we have received out of the 4,519 polling units used for the election.

“The Commission will immediately investigate the matter and deal with any proven infraction.”

Earlier today, Obozuwa Josephine, a presiding officer of the commission, allegedly recorded more votes than accredited voters in Osholo primary school, Weppa ward, Etsako east LGA in Edo.

The total number of accredited voters according to the Form EC 8A filled by Josephine was 213 — but 406 votes were recorded as the total number of valid ballots cast.

Shortly afterwards, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) demanded the immediate arrest and prosecution of the presiding officer.

Debo Ologunagba, PDP’s spokesperson, in a statement, alleged that Josephine allocated non-existent votes to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The PDP also demanded the arrest and prosecution of members of the APC involved in the alleged falsification.

“The election result sheet for Osholo Primary School Polling Unit, Weppa in Etsako East Local Government Area shows that whereas 213 voters were accredited, Obozuwa Josephine criminally and fraudulently allocated 352 votes to the APC, 52 to the PDP and one to the LP, giving a total of 406 as votes cast,” he said.

“It is highly provocative that the INEC PO Obozuwa Josephine could be so compromised by the APC to audaciously and feloniously allocate unearned 352 votes to the APC above the 213 voters officially accredited in that Polling Unit.”

With the right interventions by the Federal Government, the pump price of petrol produced by the Dangote Petroleum Refinery may crash below N600/litre, crude oil refiners have said.

The Publicity Secretary of the Crude Oil Refiners Association of Nigeria, Eche Idoko, told Sunday PUNCH in an interview that the association still has a strong belief that local refineries like Dangote and others can bring down the cost of petrol.

Idoko said the N898/litre claimed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited as the price it bought petrol from Dangote reflected the rising exchange rate.

He explained that the N898 would drop to N550 if the exchange rate is pegged at N1,000/$ for locally-produced petroleum products. 

According to him, the PMS being sold by the Dangote refinery since last week Sunday was produced from imported crude and the ones bought locally in dollars.

“If you remember, we did say that if we begin to refine locally and there is a naira sale, the price of PMS will drop. We still stand strongly by that position. This particular batch of product that is being sold by Dangote, the crude was purchased in June at the international price.

“NNPC supplied 60 per cent of that crude and the remaining percentage was imported by Dangote at the international price. Now, when they refine that product, they have to sell at the international price because they are a business, they have to make money,” he said.

Even at N898, Idoko emphasised that the NNPC is buying at 300 below the usual landing cost of almost N1,200/litre.

“The pricing that you are seeing now is a reflection of what the international price is, less the cost of freighting. If you look at it now, NNPC was buying the product at N300 less; they’re paying N300 more for the product they were importing than what they are buying from Dangote at N889.

“That N300/litre was what I had mentioned before that local refining would take care of, even without any intervention,” he noted.

The CORAN spokesman added that the naira crude sale would automatically free up about 40 per cent of the nation’s foreign exchange which he said had gone into servicing the importation of petroleum products.

“If the financial sector is sincere, we should see an immediate climb by the naira against the dollar. And if the naira climbs against the dollar, without even the government pegging the price of the exchange rate for dollars in the pricing of that group, we will see a reduction in the price automatically,” he stated.

To crash the price of Dangote petrol significantly, Idoko advised the Federal Government committee working on crude sales to local refineries to sell the feedstock in naira at a discount and peg the exchange rate at about N1,000 to a dollar.

“But because we are not completely in touch with what happens in the financial sector, we have said to the government – two things you will do. You will sell in naira at a discount, and then at that discount, you will peg the price at a particular exchange rate to the dollar.

“For instance, you can say, you are using N1,000 as an exchange rate for this dollar deal, for the locally refined petroleum products. And like that, you will see a significant drop in the price,” he stated.

He noted that the special committee had gone back and was still working.

“So, whatever is happening now is outside whatever is being discussed by the government. And there is a whole lot of politics here and there. Some people are afraid that this would make Dangote become a monopoly. Dangote now is a member of our association and will play by the rules of our association. We would also control the chances of monopoly to start with. Then the NMDPRA is there as a major gatekeeper to control any form of monopoly.

“There are two more things I will say, rather than see what is happening as a minus, NNPC should be thanking the local players for coming in to rescue them. The NNPC should see Dangote and the other private players that have come in as a partner and work with them to solve this issue.  Let us all work together and not try to gaslight the public against the other person,” he said.

Idoko condemned the imposition of levies and taxes on the PMS price by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority as reflected in the estimated prices released by the NNPC.

“In this price alone, about 25-30 per cent of that money goes to the government in levies. In that breakdown, you see that this money goes to taxes and levies from NMDPRA and other organisations. At a time when Nigerians are groaning, you reconsider these fees. When people’s purchasing power has been enhanced, then you can improve this. It happens all over the world, even in the United  States. they give tax cuts every day,” he emphasised.

The refiner spoke further, “As it is right now, this pricing you see is a reflection of what the price will look like if there is no intervention at all, because of how the naira is doing and because of what crude is doing in the international market. But if the government intervenes by way of naira sales and pegging the dollar exchange rate for crude transactions at a reasonably low rate, you will see an improvement. This is different from paying money as a subsidy. You are only just putting mechanisms in place to ensure the product is cheap.”

Going mathematical, he analysed the breakdown of the estimated price released by the NNPC.

According to him, a litre of Dangote PMS is $0.52, which translates to N842.61 when calculated at an exchange rate of N1,637 to a dollar.  He said this would have been N520 if the exchange rate was pegged at N1,000 to $1.

“The premium is $0.03, which should be N30 if the exchange rate is N1,000. The two will give you N550/litre as the gantry price. If the government removes levies and taxes, the product will be below N600, especially if the crude is sold at a discount.” he stated.

Asked if he is certain that the government can cap the dollar rate at N1,000, Idoko retorted, “For this intervention, yes.  The crude belongs to the people now, and it’s NNPC’s crude. NNPC can give the crude for local refining at $1,000. You refine, the NNPC collects everything and stores it. The NNPC needs a strategic storage arrangement. We have depots in almost all the states in Nigeria. Load those depots with PMS for the rainy day.

“Right now, people don’t have the purchasing power. With the intervention, we can keep the price under N600, maintaining this N1,000 as the dollar benchmark for 36 months, after which we will review and go higher. What you are using to buy these things now are purely internal funds. You are not sourcing for dollars or anything; it’s Nigeria to Nigeria. The crude is your own. The currency you are receiving is your own.”

On Monday, NNPC announced that it would sell the petrol lifted from the Dangote refinery at a price above N1,000/litre in the far north.

Its spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye, disclosed this in a statement titled, ‘NNPC Ltd Releases Estimated Pump Prices of PMS from Dangote Refinery Based on September 2024 Pricing’.

Soneye explained that the price may go for as high as N1,019/litre in Borno State and N999.22 in Abuja, Sokoto, Kano, and others.

In Oyo, Rivers, and other areas in the South, it will be N960/litre. The lowest price, according to an infographic released by the NNPC, is N950 in Lagos and its environs.

Recall that the Dangote Group had disagreed with NNPC last week Sunday on the N898/litre PMS cost announced by NNPC as the price at which Dangote sold the product.

The Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer, Anthony Chiejina, said the claim that Dangote refinery sold PMS at N898/litre to the NNPC was misleading and mischievous, saying it was deliberately aimed at undermining the milestone achievement towards addressing energy insufficiency and insecurity, which has bedeviled the economy in the past 50 years.

“We urge Nigerians to disregard this malicious statement and await a formal announcement on the pricing, by the Technical Sub-Committee on Naira-based crude sales to local refineries, appointed by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, which will commence on October 1, 2024, bearing in mind that our current stock of crude was procured in dollars,” Chiejina noted.

He added that the PMS was sold to the NNPC in dollars with a lot of savings against what the company had been importing.