Uganda election: Facebook and Whatsapp blocked

Social media has been blocked in Uganda on the day of presidential elections to stop people "telling lies", President Yoweri Museveni has said.

Mr Museveni, 71, is seeking to extend his 30-year rule, in a race widely seen as the tightest in the East African state's history.

His main rival Kizza Besigye was briefly detained by police.

A foreign observer group condemned the blockage of social media and lengthy delays in opening voting booths.

Interviewed on TV about social media, Mr Museveni said: "Some people misuse those pathways. You know how they misuse them - telling lies.

"If you want a right then use it properly."

Many people found a way around the controversial restrictions, including opposition candidate Amama Mbabazi who tweeted advice on how to do it.

A VPN - a Virtual Private Network - gets round government censorship by redirecting your internet activity to a computer in a different country.

Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp and mobile money services were blocked.

Despite this, #UgandaDecides was trending on Twitter.

Commonwealth election observer mission head Olusegun Obasanjo said: "It is ill advised if anyone has blocked social media."

Condemning the failure of voting stations to open on time, he said: "Delays of three, four, five and even six hours, especially in Kampala, are absolutely inexcusable and will not inspire trust and confidence in the system and the process".

The electoral commission said difficulties in transporting electoral materials caused the delays.

The BBC's Catherine Byaruhanga in the capital, Kampala, reports that crowds were angry after waiting several hours to vote and police fired tear gas to disperse them.

Voting was cancelled at at least two polling stations in the city after clashes with police and accusations of fake ballots being distributed.

Some voters in Kampala, traditionally an opposition stronghold, accused the authorities of deliberately stalling the vote, AFP news agency reports.

"People are quite angry and everybody is believing that there is something wrong behind this because of the way they are delaying things," Moses Omony, a motorbike taxi driver, is quoted as saying.

Mr Besigye was arrested for demanding access to a house in Kampala where he believed vote rigging was taking place following the closure of polling stations, said Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda, spokesman for his FDC party.

He is among seven opposition candidates hoping to end Mr Museveni's 30-year rule.

A candidate needs to secure more than 50% of the vote to avoid a run-off with the second-ranked contender.

Ugandans also voted in parliamentary and local elections.

Official results are expected by Saturday.

• Kizza Besigye, 59, veteran opposition leader and once personal doctor to incumbent President Museveni. He has lost the last three elections
• Amama Mbabazi, 67, former ally of President Museveni and once prime minister and also served as defence, security and justice ministers
• Yoweri Museveni, 71, in power since winning a five-year guerrilla war in 1986 and he is one of Africa's longest-serving leaders. His final term was meant to end in 2006, but in 2005 he won a campaign to lift the constitutional term limits.

NIMASA Fraud: EFCC Seeks Court Order To Seize Tompolo’s Property

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is seeking a court order to seize all property belonging to former Niger Delta militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo popularly known as Tompolo.

In the ex-parte motion filed by Counsel to the EFCC, Mr Festus Keyamo at the Federal High Court, Lagos , the Commission’s sought order is pursuant to Section 80 & 81 of the Administration and Criminal justice Act, 2015.

The EFCC said the property seizure was sought pending the arrest and arraignment of Tompolo before the court.

The following property were listed in the application: Property at N0. 1 Agbamu Close DDPA Extension Warri (Effurun), Delta State, All property of Mieka Dive Limited and Mieka Dive Training Institute Limited situated at No. 77, Lioth Street, ODPA Ugborikoko, Uvwie Local Government Area, of Delta State. All property of Global West Vessel Specialist Limited, All property of Muhaabix Global Services Limited and A River Crew Change Boat named MUHA – 15.

Others are: The property known as “Tompolo Dockyard”, by the end of Enerhen Road, Effurun, Warri, the property known as “Tompolo Yard”, at the end of Chevron Clinic Road, next to Next Oil, Edjeba, Warri, the Diving School at Kurutie, at Escravos River and another known as “Tompolo House” at Oporaza Town opposite the palace.

The former militant warlord was recently declared wanted by the anti-graft agency following his failure to appear before the court to face trial on the charges preferred against him.

Tompolo and the former Director of the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Patrick Akpobolokemi and eight others were accused by EFCC of converting about 34 billion Naira belonging to the agency for their personal use.

While the others including Akpobolokemi had appeared in court to answer to the 40 count charges filed against them by the anti-graft agency, Tompolo had failed to be in court twice which made the court grant an order for his arrest.

The trial judge, Justice Ibrahim Buba, handling the case, had on January 12 issued a bench warrant for the arrest of Tompolo.

Again on February, 8, the judge renewed his orders, and also directed all security agencies in Nigeria to produce Tompolo in court.

Human Rights Abuse: Army Chief, Amnesty International Hold Talks

The Chief of Army Staff in Nigeria, General Tukur Buratai, on Thursday told a delegation from the Amnesty International that the military is making conscious effort to check human rights abuse by officers.

General Buratai’s statement is made in response to accusations by the rights advocacy group that personnel of the Nigerian Armed Forces carried out extra-judicial executions.

According to Amnesty International, about 20,000 cases of extra-judicial executions had occurred in Nigeria since 2012.

The Director Of Research Africa, Amnesty International, Netsanet Belay, told General Buratai that there was a serious concern that Nigeria needed to address.

“Its military is implicated in committing serious forms of war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity.

“We have looked into various aspects of this. We have documented over 20,000 cases of extra-judicial executions and we believe that over 1,200 men and boys may have been extra-judicial executed since 2012.

But General Buratai insisted that officers were trained to discharge their responsibilities professionally.

He told the group that the Nigerian Army had set up an internal Human Rights Desk to receive reports of human rights violation by officers.

“Before the establishment of the Human Rights Desk in the Army Headquarters, we had established a contact group between the Nigerian Army and the National Human Rights Commission. All issues of human rights that have been forwarded to the attention of the Nigerian Army we have investigated them and followed them to their logical conclusions.

“Similarly, all the issues that were brought to the Army, where human rights were alleged to have been violated, we have equally investigate them,” the Army chief told the human rights advocacy group.

He assured members of the public, the local and international human rights bodies that the Nigerian Army, under his leadership, would investigate all complaints of human rights violation brought before it.

Trending: Man strips in banking hall over N150,000 deduction

A photograph and video showing a man who stripped to his boxers in a Guaranty Trust Bank banking hall to get his problem resolved is trending online.

In the photo, a man who appeared to be in his 30s is seen sitting on the floor of a banking hall with just a pair of boxers and a neck chain on. His trousers and shirts are on the floor close to him.

In a video, the man angrily tries to share his story with whoever cared to listen as banking activities went on around him.

Speaking Yoruba, he said N150,000 had been illegally deducted from his account and despite repeated complaints, nothing had been done about it.

According to him, the issue has dragged on for over a month with nobody really caring to take his complaints seriously.

Obvious fed up with the way he had been treated, he vowed not to get up until his money was returned to him or until the matter got to the bank’s head office.

Even the knowledge that his actions were being recorded did not bother him.

“You can take my photograph and video. I don’t care. All I need is my money,” he shouted.

“GTBank, my money, give me my money. I have been patient enough.”

The trending photograph and video has elicited strong reactions from users of the social media with some criticising the bank for failing to resolve the issue swiftly, especially as the man sat unattended to for the duration of the video.

Minister Assures Nigerians Of Quick Passage of 2016 Budget

Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma, Minister of Budget and National Planning

The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma, has assured Nigerians of quick enactment of 2016 Budget by the government.

The minister said that measures were being put in place by government to resolve all pending issues delaying the passage of the budget at the National Assembly.

He gave the assurance during his meeting with the State Commissioners of Economic Planning and Chief Executives of state Planning Commissions in Abuja.

According to him, the budget is well crafted and well cut out with a sole purpose of reviving the economy.

Udo Udoma said the budget was structured more on non-oil revenue, adding that this was the first budget that would be funded more from non-oil revenue.

The minister said that agencies of government that generate revenues which are not being captured, will be captured to harvest resources and also get more people to pay taxes to increase tax collection.

He said that there was a funding gap, hence the government had to borrow to bridge the gap.

Udo Udoma said that it was important to revive the state of the country’s economy, adding that “we cannot afford to allow the economy to come to crumble”.

Dr Adeyemi Dipeolu, the Special Adviser to the Vice President on Economic matters, had earlier said that planning and budgeting functions were very important in the development process of any economy.

Dipeolu said that this was essential as it helped to bring about togetherness, coordination, harmonisation, strategic increase and uncommon objective in an economy.

He expressed optimism that the forum would engender progress in the direction of state of the country’s economy.

Dipeolu called for active participation of all stakeholders in providing favourable environment for successful transformation and progress of the Nigerian economy.

Dr. Othman Ibrahim, the Commissioner of Budget and Planning in Nassarawa State, also urged all stakeholders to put to practice all the deliberations at the meeting.

The event was attended by commissioners, permanent secretaries and representatives of various states of the federation.