• Atiku is the weakest among the top presidential aspirants and a serial betrayer – Oshiomhole
• FG blames State Govts for rising poverty
• Atiku’s wife claims husband was cheated out of winning 2019 elections
• I have fears over possible outcome of election – Jega
• INEC supervises airlift of BVAS machines to states ahead of 2023 elections

Across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, these are the five top Nigerian news stories you shouldn’t miss:

Atiku is the weakest among the top presidential aspirants and a serial betrayer – Oshiomhole

Former All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman Adams Oshiomhole has said that PDP presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar is a serial betrayer.

Atiku was deemed the least credible of the leading candidates for president by Oshiomhole.

He made the announcement on Wednesday’s episode of Politics Today on Channels Television.

“He (Atiku) is the weakest link right now among the three leading candidates.

“PDP governors said we can’t trust him, every agreement we made with him, he broke it; he is a serial betrayer of agreements,” he said.

The former Edo State governor added that Atiku’s ambition is just only about himself and not about Nigeria.

FG blames State Govts for rising poverty

The Federal Government has pointed the finger of blame at the State Governments for the country’s high poverty rate, claiming that the State Governments have not fulfilled their fair share of development obligations at the grassroots level, where the bulk of production takes place.

This was reported by Clement Agba, minister of state for budget and national planning, to State House Correspondents following President Muhammadu Buhari’s weekly FEC meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

Agba was answering a question on what he and his colleague, Minister of Financial, Budget, and National Planning Zainab Ahmed, were doing to alleviate the severe suffering that Nigerians are experiencing right now.

As if to dispel the myth that rising rates of hunger and poverty are unique to Nigeria, the Minister explained that the Federal Government has been allocating resources to alleviating hardship on the public through many of its social security programmes, but that state governments, which have been consistently receiving their shares of national resources, have been misdirecting the resource to projects that have almost no direct effect on the needs of the people.

He noted that the rural parts of Nigeria, home to 72 percent of the country’s poor, had been abandoned by governors, and that state executives preferred to work in the state capitals.

He bemoaned the fact that governors are putting their resources towards projects that draw attention to their state capitals, like flyovers and airports, rather than initiatives that improve people’s living conditions in rural areas.

Agba made the point that states own agricultural land but fail to invest in it to the extent that would benefit the rural population.

His advice to governors was to prioritize programs that help the most people out of poverty rather than the construction of skyscrapers, flyovers, and bridges.

Atiku’s wife claims husband was cheated out of winning 2019 elections

Atiku Abubakar’s wife, Titi, claims her husband won the 2019 presidential election for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

She announced this at a PDP rally in Akure, Ondo state, on Wednesday.

President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria was declared the winner of the 2019 election after he garnered more than four million more votes than his nearest rival, Abubakar.

Abubakar had challenged Buhari’s election win but lost in both the tribunal and the supreme court.

“My people, I, your daughter, am standing in your presence to tell you that my husband has done it before. The last election was won by my husband, but we were robbed,” Titi said.

“My husband, indeed, is a Fulani but he is not a killer and we have been together. I taught him our culture and tradition, and he is part of us.

“During [the] Obasanjo [administration], it was Atiku that brought the likes of el-Rufai, Ngozi Okonjo-iweala, and others who did well for Nigeria.”

I have fears over possible outcome of election – Jega

Prof. Attahiru Jega, the former chairman of INEC, has voiced concern about recent political developments.

Jega claims to have serious concerns regarding the results of the upcoming general election in 2023.

He made the remarks on Wednesday at a colloquium hosted by Abuja’s Electoral Hub.

In spite of the difficulties Nigeria is facing at the moment, Jega is confident that the country will emerge victorious.

“I have a lot of fears about the outcome of the election. But you will see people like me are what I’ll call an incurable optimist about the future of our country.

“So I remain hopeful that in spite of the recklessness that we see, the vandalism that we see perpetrated by many of our so-called leading politicians, we are hopeful that people will mobilise and become effectively engaged in the electoral process, so that we have a good outcome in 2023,” Jega said.

INEC supervises airlift of BVAS machines to states ahead of 2023 elections

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has transported the bimodal voter accreditation system (BVAS) machines to states for the 2023 elections.

According to the commission, Mahmood Yakubu, INEC chairman, was at the Murtala Muhammed international airport in Lagos, on Wednesday, to observe the airlift of the BVAS machines.

The commission said the development is part of its readiness assessment ahead of the elections scheduled for February and March 2023.

The BVAS machines, which were packed in cartons and sealed, were transported by Nigerian Air Force aircraft.