Two experts appointed by the World Health Organization to investigate allegations that some of its staffers sexually abused women during an Ebola outbreak in Congo have dismissed the U.N. agency’s own efforts to excuse its handling of such misconduct as “an absurdity.”

Some of the victimized women say — nearly four years later — they are still waiting for WHO to fire those responsible or be offered any financial compensation.

In October 2020, Aichatou Mindaoudou and Julienne Lusenge were named by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to head a panel investigating reports that some WHO staffers sexually abused or exploited women in a conflict-ridden region of Congo during the 2018-2020 Ebola outbreak.

Their review found there were at least 83 perpetrators of abuse who worked for WHO and partners, including complaints of rape, forced abortions and the sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl, in the biggest known sex abuse scandal in the U.N. health agency’s history.

The panel also found that three WHO managers mismanaged a sexual misconduct case first reported by the Associated Press, involving a U.N. doctor signing a contract to buy land for a woman he allegedly impregnated.

A confidential U.N. report submitted to WHO last month concluded that the managers’ handling of that case didn’t violate WHO’s sexual exploitation policies, because the woman wasn’t considered a “beneficiary” of WHO aid, since she didn’t receive any humanitarian assistance.

“The restrictive approach favored by WHO is an absurdity,” Mindaoudou and Lusenge said in a statement, adding that beneficiaries of WHO “should only be interpreted in favor of potential victims of sexual exploitation and abuse, with the view of maintaining accountability.”

Anifa, a Congolese woman who worked at an Ebola clinic in northeastern Congo, said she was offered a job at double her salary in exchange for sex with a WHO doctor and was still traumatized by the experience.

“How many times do I have to speak before [the doctors] at WHO responsible for the sexual abuse are punished?” she asked. “If WHO does not take radical measures, we will conclude that the organization has been made rotten by rapists.”

Anifa, who didn’t share her last name for fear of reprisals, said she didn’t expect any financial compensation from WHO, explaining that “money will not erase the wounds I have in my heart.” She reported the alleged misconduct to WHO in 2019, but never received a response.

Mindaoudou, a former government minister in Niger and Lusenge, a human rights activist in Congo, also slammed WHO for its failure to punish any senior staffers linked to the abuse, saying there was a “culture of impunity” at the organization.

When allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation surfaced in the press in September 2020, Tedros said he was “outraged” and that anyone found to be involved would face serious consequences. WHO emergencies chief Dr. Michael Ryan claimed the agency had “absolutely no details” of the abuse.

But the internal U.N. report noted that Tedros was informed of sexual abuse allegations in 2019 and that some cases of alleged misconduct were discussed by senior WHO staff shortly after they occurred. Tedros himself travelled to Congo 14 times during the outbreak and said he was personally responsible for WHO’s Ebola response.

To date, no senior managers at WHO linked to the sexual misconduct have been fired; Tedros said last month that because the U.N. report found there was no evidence managers acted improperly, three suspended officials returned to work.

WHO has refused to comment on the internal U.N. report, but Tedros has said repeatedly that he has “zero tolerance” for sexual abuse and exploitation, pointing to the creation of a new department to prevent misconduct. Dr. Gaya Gamhewage, who heads that work, told U.N. investigators that prior to being appointed, “sexual exploitation and abuse were not familiar terms to her.”

Tedros said earlier this month that the agency has established a $2 million fund to help survivors of sexual abuse in Congo, but it’s unclear how many women have obtained assistance.

Jeanette, a woman who says she was impregnated by a WHO doctor while working at an Ebola center in Butembo, said she was pressured into having an abortion, which nearly killed her. She said she is waiting for WHO to punish the doctor responsible for her pregnancy and has had no offers of financial compensation.

“I don’t have the strength to work since the abortion,” she said. “WHO should know that their staffers are flatterers, freeloaders and liars.”
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Three people died and eight others were injured when a helicopter operated by the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia crashed Saturday in the country’s Lower Shabelle region, the mission said in a statement on Sunday.

In the statement the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) said the helicopter, carrying eleven passengers including soldiers from Somalia military, was participating in training drills for casualty evacuation when the crash occurred. 

“Regrettably, three of the eleven passengers on board lost their lives. Eight injured officers have been evacuated to Mogadishu for urgent medical attention,” ATMIS said in the statement.

It did not give any details on casualties, including their nationality, but said investigations had begun to determine the cause of the crash.

ATMIS is assisting Somalia’s central government in its war against the Islamist al Shabab insurgency.

The al Qaida-allied al Shabab group has been fighting for more than a decade to topple Somalia’s government and establish its own rule based on its own strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law.
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Polls officially closed for the presidential election in Nigeria, Africa’s most populated country, Saturday afternoon. But in some polling centers, voters are still trying to cast their ballots. The Independent National Electoral Commission has said the delay was caused by logistics issues and concerns of insecurity.

Hundreds of voters are still in line to cast their ballots several hours after voting officially ended.

Some of them say they had been waiting in queue since 5 a.m., more than three hours before the polls opened.

Frustration was getting to many. 

“I’ll sleep here, and I’m ready to sleep until tomorrow. I’m not longer in a hurry. Anytime they’re ready, we will be ready, too. I have mattress and my pillow; everything is here already,” said this voter.

The Independent National Electoral Commission briefed journalists Saturday afternoon and said the delay has been caused by setbacks in deployment of staff and election materials to those areas, as well as security threats.

INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu said early Saturday that the commission was warned of an attack by bandits in Shiroro local government area of central Niger state and delayed opening the polls there.

Yakubu also said the INEC has received reports of election disruptions — including the theft of voting machines — and violence across many states, including Lagos, Anambra, Katsina, Imo, Delta, Abia, Kebbi and Bayelsa.

Yakubu said security officers responded and retrieved some of the stolen Bimodal Voter Accreditation Systems (BVAS) and restored calm to these places.

“In Oshimiri local government area of Delta state, thugs attacked a polling unit and two BVAS machines were lost in the process. Similarly, in Katsina state, thugs attacked one of our voting locations and snatched six BVAS machines. But again, we’re able to recover and use the spare BVAS machines,” said Mahmood Yakubu, the INEC chairman.

The Oshimiri machines were not recovered.

Out of 18 candidates in the race for presidency, three stand a realistic chance.

Across thousands of polling units where voting has been concluded, many praise the INEC for introducing the BVAS technology for the first time in a major national election.

“I’ve casted my vote and honestly INEC has done a good job, we’re not scared of anything. Whoever is verified is inside the system, it’s not a manual stuff. Our names are there, informations are there,”said Emeka Okafor who had just voted. 

Many here say they will remain in line until they cast their ballot, however long that may take.
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From dozens of farms nestled among the hills of Ghana’s Volta region to the cafes and restaurants of the capital, Accra, the women farming and marketing Ghanaian coffee are working to gain a firmer foothold in the small but growing sector.

Ghana is the world’s second-largest cocoa producer behind neighbor Ivory Coast, but is one of Africa’s smallest in terms of coffee output. Most smallholder farmers lack access to the resources needed to market their beans.

Benedicta Tamakloe, a former computer science teacher and founder of the Accra-based roaster Bean Masters, decided to help by working with female farmers who were struggling in the male-dominated sector.

“At first, I just wanted to help these women in my home village find buyers,” Tamakloe told Reuters, thinking back to when Bean Masters, one of the few female-owned coffee companies in Ghana, began in 2018.

“Then a friend told me: you have to be in the game to know the game,” she said.

Bean Masters exclusively sources beans from female-owned farmers who form a collective of around 200 growers – the country’s largest of its kind which also helps members harvest their crop.

“We want to ensure we’re getting the best beans possible,” Tamakloe said to Isha Pagniw, owner of a farm near the top of a forested mountain on Ghana’s eastern border with Togo where a group of women were plucking bright red coffee fruit from branches dappled by the morning sun.

As the women worked, Tamakloe walked among them with a device to test the coffee beans’ moisture content.

The collective produced around 10 tonnes of coffee last year, much of which Tamakloe roasts herself at a chocolate factory in Accra. A portion of the proceeds funds development projects in the villages where the women farm.

Today, Bean Masters coffee is mostly sold in bulk to high-end restaurants and hotels. But Tamakloe aims to expand her production of retail-sized bags this year to make Bean Masters available to all kinds of consumers.

At Kozo, an Afro-Asian fusion restaurant in Accra, Tamakloe and the staff sipped espressos made with Bean Masters coffee. The owner visited Pagniw’s farm with Tamakloe in 2021, and has exclusively stocked Bean Masters ever since.

“It’s a company that fosters women empowerment, sustainability and authenticity,” said aspiring sommelier Ivy Esinam Lanyoh. “That is a vision that needs to be supported.”
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Fatima Ali, who fled her hometown of Baga in northeast Nigeria after an attack by Islamist insurgents, was keen to take part in the country’s election Saturday and cast her first vote in five years.

But that hope hung in the balance as voting machines malfunctioned at her polling station, leaving many people frustrated.

Nigeria’s parliamentary and presidential election was marred by delays in several parts of the country caused by issues including technical problems with a new biometric anti-fraud voter accreditation system and the late arrival of vehicles to transport them.

Ali, 38, is among more than 2 million people who have fled their homes because of a long-running insurgency in the northeast and are known as internally displaced people. She said she had come out to vote because of the hardships she has endured since leaving her hometown of Baga, near the border with Niger.

“The person I wanted to vote (for) is the one that will consider all the suffering that we are facing today,” Ali told Reuters at the polling unit just a few meters away from her temporary camp she shares with hundreds of other families.

At a polling station near her temporary camp in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, Ali waited patiently with some 200 other internally displaced people to vote. But the voting machines had not been fixed at the time polls were due to close at 2.30 p.m. (1330 GMT).

Still, it seemed she would still get a chance to vote.

Hajja Zara Bukar, an official from the Independent National Electoral Commission  said voting at the polling unit may have to be held Sunday.
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The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for killing more than 70 soldiers, wounding dozens and taking five hostages, in an ambush on a military convoy in northern Burkina Faso.

The statement, posted Friday by Amaq, the group’s news agency, said it attacked a convoy trying to advance to areas under its control near Deou, in the Sahel’s Oudalan province. It said it seized weapons and chased retreating soldiers for miles into the desert.

Images released by the group show 54 slain bodies in military uniform lying in the bloodstained dirt, as well as more than 50 seized assault rifles and images of the five soldiers it said were taken prisoner.

The announcement comes one week after the attack in Deou and days after another attack in Tin-Akoff town, where locals and civil society groups say dozens more soldiers and civilians were killed when a military outpost was hit.

It’s unclear how many people have been killed in the two incidents. Last week the government confirmed that 51 soldiers died in the Deou ambush, but it has not responded to requests for updated numbers or commented on the attack in Tin-Akoff.

Violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group has wracked the country for seven years killing thousands and displacing nearly 2 million people. Frustration at the government’s inability to stem the violence led to two coups last year, each one preceded by a major attack on the military.

This is the deadliest ambush on soldiers since the new junta leader, Capt. Ibrahim Traore, seized power in September and analysts say it could threaten his grip on power.

“There’s a persistent stream of militant attacks north of the country and the public is undoubtedly taking notice of their government’s inability to provide security. Any further attacks this colossal could threaten a public scene and even threaten to unseat the junta,” said Laith Alkhouri, CEO of Intelonyx Intelligence Advisory, which provides intelligence analysis.

One soldier involved in the ambush in Deou, who was not authorized to speak to the media, said their convoy was outnumbered as more than 300 jihadis encircled them, firing rockets and mortars. “We lost many men,” he said.

The large number of jihadis and the different colored headscarves they were wearing appeared like a coalition of many extremist franchises that he hadn’t seen before, he said.

The Islamic State and an al-Qaida linked group, known by its acronym JNIM, are not known to work together, but rather have been fighting each other for territory and influence in the country as well as in neighboring Mali where they operate. Analysts say it’s extremely unlikely they would have joined forces.

Some locals say the increase of jihadi violence against the military is revenge for torture and extrajudicial killings by soldiers against people presumed to be jihadis.

Hamadou Boureima Diallo, a local journalist in the Sahel’s Dori town, told The Associated Press by phone that he spoke with locals who witnessed the latest attack in Tin-Akoff and were able to flee and that they blamed the killings on revenge.

“These recent bloody attacks against soldiers is because when the soldiers arrest terrorists or presumed terrorists they torture them and make photos or videos that circulate on social media,” said Diallo, recounting what the locals said.

He added that they said, “We have seen some of the videos —where presumed terrorists are being tortured—This is not good.”
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Officials in Cameroon and Niger say several million people in Boko Haram-affected territories are threatened by severe hunger as floods and wildlife destroy thousands of hectares of farmland. Governors from the two West African nations visited northern Cameroon Friday after a crisis meeting in Diffa, Niger. They say millions of people, including thousands who were returning after fleeing conflicts between cattle ranchers and fishers, need food and resettlement help.

Lake Chad Basin Governors Forum officials say millions of refugees and displaced persons returning to towns and villages in Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria and Niger are in urgent need of lifesaving aid.

Boko Haram terrorism in the region has left more than 36,000 people dead, mainly in Nigeria, while 3 million have been forced to flee their homes according to the United Nations.

Midjiyawa Bakari is chairman of the forum, made up of eight governors of Boko Haram-affected territories.

He says he visited Boko Haram-affected areas in Niger and Cameroon Friday so he could understand challenges facing those returning to their towns and villages.

Bakari spoke to Tele Sahel, Niger’s state broadcaster, and Cameroon government-owned broadcaster, CRTV.

He says several conflicts are reported among civilians returning because the Lake Chad Basin, which is home to more than 40 million people, has shrunk 90% in 60 years. Bakari says livelihoods in the area revolve around livestock, fishing and farming. He says he held a crisis meeting with Mohamed Mouddour, governor of Niger’s Diffa region, to see how living conditions of several million people in dire need can be improved and their security against potential Boko Haram attack assured.

Bakari, who is also the governor of Cameroon’s Far North region on the border with Chad and Nigeria, blames climate change for the disappearing Lake Chad Basin waters. He says clashes between herders, fishermen and farmers over water and tributaries of Lake Chad are reported on a weekly basis.

The forum says thousands of people displaced last year by flooding and elephant attacks are also returning and need resettlement help.

As the governors call for international help for the returning refugees and displaced persons, Cameroon, Nigeria and Chad report that migratory caterpillars, crickets and weaver birds are decimating thousands of hectares of farmland on their borders. The farmlands are either owned by displaced persons or grow food for refugees and displaced persons.

Jean Felix Wankague is the highest Cameroon government agriculture and livestock official in Logone and Chari, an administrative unit on Cameroon’s northern border with Chad and Nigeria.

He says the caterpillars, crickets and weaver birds have devastated several hundred hectares of millet, rice and corn plantations. He says helpless farmers are either shouting or beating drums to chase the birds and crickets. Wankague says the migratory birds from forests and national parks in Cameroon, Nigeria and Chad are searching for food and water.

Wankague spoke to VOA through a messaging app from Kousseri district in Logone and Chari.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, reports that this year, millions of crisis-affected people in West and Central Africa will remain in a dire situation as humanitarian response funding remains inadequate, and the crisis is outpacing the response.

OCHA says $2.53 billion is needed to adequately address the region’s most pressing humanitarian needs and assist 7.4 million people.
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Voters in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, head to the polls Saturday to cast ballots in presidential and parliamentary elections. President Muhammadu Buhari, who is in his second term in office, is not eligible to run again after serving the maximum of eight years in office. There are three main presidential candidates running to succeed him and the race is seen as the most competitive since the country switched from military rule to democracy in 1999. Here is what to know about the elections:

When is voting?

Polling stations are open from 8:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. local time, however, anyone in line by 2:30 p.m. will be allowed to cast a ballot.

How many people can vote?

More than 93 million Nigerians are registered to vote and can cast ballots in about 176,600 polling stations across the country.

Who is running in the presidential race?

Eighteen candidates are running to succeed President Buhari. However, only three of them are seen as having a strong chance to win — Lagos Governor Bola Tinubu, who is the candidate for the ruling All Progressives Congress; former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, of the main opposition People’s Democratic Party; and Peter Obi, a third-party candidate of the smaller Labour Party.

How does a presidential candidate win?

A presidential candidate needs to receive the largest number of votes cast nationwide as well as receive at least a quarter of the vote in at least 24 states. Nigeria has 36 states.

What if no one meets this threshold?

If no candidate receives the most votes and at least a quarter of the vote in 24 states, the top two candidates will compete in a runoff.

When would a runoff take place?

The constitution stipulates a runoff must be held within 21 days of the announcement of the election results.

How does a parliamentary candidate win?

Candidates for a seat in the House of Representatives or the Senate need only win a simple majority of votes in their district.

What are the main issues?

Nigeria is facing double-digit inflation, a currency shortage, and security troubles, including an Islamist insurgency in the northeast and separatist violence in the southeast. All three of the main presidential candidates have made improving the economy and strengthening security their main priorities.

Are there concerns of fraud?

Nigeria has a long history of electoral fraud. The Independent National Electoral Commission has banned the use of mobile phones at voting stations to try to curb the illegal practice of candidates paying people to vote for them. In such cases, voters would often use photographs of their ballots as evidence in order to receive payments. “Vote buying remains a major threat to our democracy,” Mahmood Yakubu, the head of Nigeria’s election commission, told reporters Thursday. The electoral commission has also set up a system to identify voters through fingerprints and facial recognition, to curb voter fraud.

Are there concerns of violence?

Past elections have been marked by violence, including clashes between supporters of rival parties. The top presidential candidates this year signed a peace accord on Wednesday, to ensure a peaceful election. Nigeria’s army and police have also pledged to ensure a peaceful election.

When are results expected?

Election officials are expected to start releasing results Sunday; however, full tallies are not expected for several days. The election commission has not said when it expects to declare official results.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse.
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Fighting in the area of Las Anod, in the breakaway Somaliland republic, has escalated, with medical sources now saying more than 100 people have been killed in three weeks of clashes.

Local militias are fighting to pull three regions away from Somaliland in order to rejoin Somalia. So far, calls for a cease-fire are being ignored.

Las Anod is the capital of the Sool region, which together with the Sanaag and Cayn regions is fighting to withdraw from Somaliland and be governed by Somalia to the south.

Dr. Abdimajid Husein Sugule told VOA that the five hospitals in the town were running out of medical supplies and bed space, as more injured and dead people were brought into the facilities each day.

He said this week that 105 people had been killed and 602 injured in the three weeks of fighting.

The U.N. and other diplomatic missions in the country have called for an end to the fighting, and so has Somalia’s federal government. Despite these calls, shelling and gunfire have continued as both sides have dug trenches to defend their positions.

Somaliland President Muse Bihi announced last week that he would be dispatching clan elders to seek an end to the violence. However, clan elders in the battle-battered town demanded that Somaliland pull out its troops first as a precondition for dialogue.

A standoff

Abdiaziz Isaack, a security analyst with Hamad Bin Khalifa Civilization Center, a cultural and research organization, said it was unlikely that either side would back down on its demands for dialogue. He said that while the elders in Las Anod see the pullout of the Somaliland forces as critical for confidence building and lessening tensions, Somaliland on the other hand perceives a pullout as creating a vacuum, which could allow Puntland to return.

Somaliland captured the Sool region from Somalia’s semiautonomous Puntland region and the two sides have been involved in deadly disputes since then.

Isaack said the only viable option for resolving the dispute was pressure from the international community.

He said Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s call for an end to the violence at the beginning of February had been met with silence. That, he said, left the international community as the only broker that could employ diplomacy and pressure to stop the fighting.

On Thursday, officials from the U.S. Embassy in Mogadishu visited Somaliland, where they condemned the fighting in Las Anod and called for a cease-fire.

Mohamed Ahmed, a security analyst at Nomad Development Enterprise, a security consultancy in Mogadishu, told VOA that rising international pressure could end the fighting soon.

But he added that Somaliland might not agree to withdraw its forces from Las Anod as a condition for talks because of possible domestic pressures faced by Bihi.

Bihi’s term as president ended in November 2022, although he secured an additional two years from parliament.

Ahmed said Somaliland thinks a withdrawal from Las Anod could risk its control. Also, he said, Bihi, lacking a full mandate and political backup, likely fears that withdrawing Somaliland troops from Las Anod could draw criticism from the political opposition.

Aid agencies have warned the fighting could worsen an already fragile humanitarian situation, as the Horn of Africa battles a severe drought that the U.N. warns could degenerate into famine by midyear.
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As Nigerians prepare to vote Saturday, VOA’s Hausa Service spoke with people who shared their hopes, expectations and fears about the direction of the country.

For Mustapha Abubakar of Zamfara state, the primary issue to be addressed is insecurity.

According to the UNHCR, more than 3.1 million people are internally displaced and 343,000 have been forced to flee the country due to violence. Extremist violence, intercommunal clashes and kidnapping for ransom have all played a role in deteriorating security.

“Definitely any president that is coming to power now, we want him to address the proper issue on the security, then followed by that is food, because there is hunger,” Abubakar said. “In fact, the issue of the security is one that has to be leading to the massive, massive hunger that is in the masses of the people.”

The violence has produced a climate of fear in the country. According to a Gallup Poll released Friday, Nigerians feel less safe than they did eight years ago when President Muhamadu Buhari took office. Only about 53% of those polled said they feel safe walking alone at night, down from 61% when Buhari was first elected.

As Safiya Ajao, a filmmaker from Jos told VOA, “It is very paramount that we are safe in our own country.”

People also voiced concerns about the economy and the cost of living. Global shocks including the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine have led to spikes in the cost of staple food items. The inflation rate inside the country rose to nearly 22% in January.

“In Nigeria today people are suffering because of the way things are expensive, especially in matters of food items,” Aisha Muhammad Sintalma of Maiduguri told VOA. “So, if the food items are cheap, I would be happy. This is the main concern I have. Everything can be possible if food is available for citizens.”

Gallup found that 3 in 4 Nigerians struggled to pay for food and nearly half had difficulty affording housing costs.

Other Nigerian voters pointed to the need to invest in education to give young people the skills to find jobs or start their own businesses.

“I would like the next president to look at the issue of education more seriously and after that the issue of employment, not necessarily the white collar job, but create an environment for the young ones, the entrepreneurs, for them to have the businesses flow,” said Mahmud Danjuma, of Borno. “For everyone to have peace of mind that is the issue of security.”

Faith in elected officials is also on the decline in Nigeria. Voters cited issues including corruption, an inability to deliver on promises and leaders who are out of step with the people as undermining their faith in government.

According to Gallup, 94% of Nigerians see corruption in government as widespread. Voters’ approval of leadership dropped from more than 60% in 2015 to 24% in 2022.

“There are so many challenges that are confronting in Nigeria everyday people. I want him to look into those and address it,” said Chris Orji of Abuja. “I just I want a president that can easily interact with people on a monthly basis, not the one to be cut off and we wouldn’t hear him. And those who are around him will not be telling him the true feelings of Nigerians.”

This report originated in VOA Hausa Service.
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Nigerians made up the largest number of sub-Saharan African students in Ukraine when Russia invaded a year ago, forcing thousands to flee. Despite the war, universities in Ukraine and Nigeria have teamed up to help those students complete their degrees. Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja, Nigeria.
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Nigeria’s electoral commission says the country is ready for Saturday’s presidential and parliamentary elections despite scattered violence in the run-up to the polls.

Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), told journalists Thursday that the commission had begun dispatching sensitive materials to Nigerian states, and that it had been working with the nation’s security forces to provide maximum safety for staff and election materials.

“They have assured us of their preparedness to adequately secure the election,” he said. “This is very important as it will assure voters of their safety during elections, which is cardinal to voter turnout.”

Nigeria is also dealing with shortages of cash and fuel, and experts say that changes the dynamics of the polls.

“We’ve also had to consult with Nigerian National Petroleum Limited on the fuel situation,” Yakubu said. “Likewise, the Central Bank of Nigeria will provide us with the necessary small amount of cash that we require from our budget to make payment for some critical service providers.”

This is the most contested election in history of Nigeria’s democracy with 18 candidates running to be president.

Nigeria has been struggling to stem widespread violence and kidnappings perpetrated by armed gangs. Security problems have gotten worse in the run-up to the polls, with several attacks and arson recorded on INEC offices. Officials said they had recorded over 50 attacks in all since the last elections in 2019.

Police said a senatorial candidate was killed early Thursday by gunmen in southeast Enugu state on his way from a campaign event.

Peace agreement

This week, the government’s National Peace Committee hosted an event where candidates signed a peace accord. Abduslsalami Abubakar, former head of state and chairman of the NPC, spoke during the event.

“Issues of major concerns that have the potential to negatively impact on the integrity are emerging,” he said. “One of such issues is the spread of fake news, and misinformation continues to pose a significant threat to the 2023 general elections.”

President Muhammadu Buhari spoke at the peace signing ceremony in Abuja.

“I am aware of the deep concerns about the conduct of the 2023 general elections and outcomes they may throw up,” he said. “However, since my assumption of office we have worked so hard to ensure that we pass on a legacy of free, fair, credible, safe and peaceful elections.”

The INEC said about 150,000 election observers were already in Nigeria, including delegates from the African Union, European Union and the U.S.

Campaigning and the final push for votes was set to end Thursday.
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