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UN Calls For Violence-Free 2027 Nigeria General Election As INEC Discovers 1.27m Invalid Voters

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Ahead of next year’s general elections, the United Nations has demanded violence-free polls, warning the Nigerian electorate against allowing the elections to become sources of violence and instability.

 

The UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for West Africa and the Sahel, Leonardo Santos Simão, made the appeal during a courtesy visit to the management of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Abuja on Wednesday. He also urged Nigerians to see the election as a democratic process to promote peace, national cohesion and development.

Simão emphasised that the UN recognised the enormous responsibility facing INEC, particularly amid the security challenges confronting Nigeria and other countries in the West African sub-region.

Announcing that the UN would maintain a presence during the electoral process to encourage positive conduct and support an atmosphere conducive to peaceful participation, he said: “We are here, pleased to give you moral support, that you are not alone in facing this mammoth task.”

Simão clarified that the UN would not participate as an election observer because it had no mandate to undertake election observation.

He stressed, however, that the outcome of Nigeria’s 2027 elections would have implications beyond its borders, particularly for democratic stability, regional integration and peace in West Africa.

According to him, peaceful elections in Nigeria could encourage other countries in the region, while instability could have wider consequences.

Earlier, INEC Chairman Joash Amupitan had disclosed that its technology-enabled verification exercise had identified about 1.5 million questionable voter registration records, with more than 1.27 million confirmed invalid and removed from the National Register of Voters.

Amupitan insisted that the Commission’s efforts to sanitise the National Register of Voters and address identified irregularities that could undermine the credibility of the electoral process had led to the identification of about 1.5 million questionable registration records.

He further explained that more than 1.27 million records had been confirmed invalid and removed from the database as part of preparations for the 2027 general elections.

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Mother Of Ghanaian Boy Killed In US ‘Wants Justice’ As She Flies For Funeral

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The mother of a 15-year-old Ghanaian boy who was fatally shot in the United States last week has left Ghana for America after being granted an emergency visa by President Donald Trump.

 

“I want justice for my son,” Doris Adu Gyamfi said at the airport before her departure.

She said he had dreamt of becoming a medical doctor.

Her son, Javits Frimpong, who had only been in the US for a year, was chased down and shot on Thursday morning on his way to school in the Bronx, New York.

He was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Police have not made any arrests and an investigation is ongoing as authorities search for three teenage boys in connection with the shooting.

His death has sparked outrage in both Ghana and the US, and reignited the debate about gun violence in America.

Doris Adu Gyamfi said she was going to the US to help plan her son’s funeral

His mother was escorted to the airport by relatives and Dr Erieka Bennett, Head of Mission of the African Diaspora Forum.

“I’m going to America to plan my son’s funeral,” Gyamfi said.

She thanked the government and well-wishers for their support and prayers following her son’s death.

In a social media post on Saturday, New York mayor Zohran Mamdani said Trump had agreed to grant a visa to Gyamfi so she could mourn her son in person.

Mamdani said the murder of a child was a pain no parent should endure, “let alone from thousands of miles away.”

“Javits Frimpong’s mother deserves to say goodbye to her son in person. I just got off the phone with President Trump, and he has agreed to grant her visa immediately,” he said.

“All of New York City is mourning this tragedy,” he added.

Ghana’s government has condemned the killing and said it was following the case closely to ensure justice.

It has urged US authorities to conduct a thorough investigation and said it was ready to provide legal and consular support to ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice.

Police are searching for three teenage suspects who fled the scene, captured on surveillance footage.

The shooting has sparked concern among Ghanaians about the safety of children sent to study in America.

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Europe On Alert After Supermarket Freezers Hit By Cyber-Attacks In 10 Countries

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A spate of cyber-attacks that hit supermarket chains across at least 10 European countries on Monday has prompted European Union officials to warn of a deliberate attempt to disrupt the food supply chain.

 

Supermarkets have reported problems in Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Germany and Sweden, and the significant increase in freezer temperatures has forced retailers to discard food.

Temperatures in chains across Europe reportedly rose as high as 50C (122F).

No-one has yet admitted carrying out the cyber-attacks.

Supermarket chains said the temperatures of refrigerators and freezers in some of their shops soared as high as 50C
The European Union has raised concerns about the attacks, which come three weeks after a cyber-attack disrupted as many as 700 French grocery stores, causing food losses estimated at tens of millions of euros.

The security of refrigeration systems as well as other devices that can be monitored remotely has heightened concerns about government-backed hybrid attacks.

The EU’s food and agriculture commissioner, Christophe Hansen, said the bloc was taking the incidents very seriously and warned of further disruption in the future.

Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier was careful not to attribute blame, but said: “These incidents of course show once again how cyber-attacks can disrupt essential services and affect citizens’ daily lives.”

“These are not isolated incidents and of course we have to be collectively resilient and prepared for such cyber incidents.”

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Spanish Transport Minister Resigns Days After Deadly Train Crash

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Spain’s Transport Minister Óscar Puente has resigned – six days after the high-speed train collision in which at least 69 people were killed and dozens injured.

 

He announced his decision in Congress, after giving evidence on last Wednesday’s disaster near the town of Urda, south of the capital Madrid, in which a train smashed into the back of another which had stopped on the same line.

“A transport minister in a country like Spain cannot remain in office after two accidents of this seriousness in less than a year,” he said – a reference to January’s crash on the same line in which 46 people were killed.

Last week’s crash was one of the worst rail disasters in Europe’s modern history, and Spain’s worst crash since 2013.

Rescuers had to use heavy lifting equipment to get access to derailed carriages where a number of passengers were trapped
Puente announced his decision at the end of a congressional session on Tuesday evening in which he had outlined new rail safety measures and been grilled by the opposition.

He said he had taken the decision to resign immediately after the 28 October disaster, but had not made it public.

Puente had been under mounting pressure in the wake of the disaster as opposition parties and some allies of the government called on him to step down.

His resignation comes as a blow to the Socialist-led government ahead of a general election set for 29 November.

During his lengthy hearing before lawmakers, Puente said: “I wish to inform you that I am not only stepping down from my position as minister of transport, but that I am also withdrawing my name from the lists for the early legislative elections.”

Last Wednesday’s accident involved a train run by state-owned operator Renfe with 397 passengers on board and a stationary train run by private operator Iryo, which was carrying 147 passengers.

A reported issue with the automatic signalling system – a computer failure – had forced all trains to halt on the affected stretch.

Leaked audio recordings published in Spanish media soon after the crash revealed conversations between train drivers and a control centre just minutes before the disaster.

The three recordings of conversations between Madrid’s control centre and two train drivers appear to show that the Renfe train was given clearance to move even though the other train had stopped on the track, about 25km (15 miles) ahead.

In one, a control centre operator is speaking to the driver of the Renfe train, which was having some technical difficulties.

After some exchanges, the control operator tells the driver: “Continue your journey and then proceed under [Lateral Signalling Block], at normal speed with normal operation.”

The driver replies: “At normal speed?” To which the controller answers: “Yes.”

The Lateral Signalling Block is a back-up system used when the automatic signalling or data transmission system fails.

The driver of the stationary Iryo train says in another audio recording that communication with the train-control system has been lost, and it is not moving.

The train “is stationary in front of the entry signal at Urda”, the driver tells the control centre operator. After a series of exchanges, the driver is then told to “resume the journey” normally.

The Iryo driver then contacts the control centre again, according to a later recording, saying they cannot start the train. “The train won’t allow me to control the [security] system. That’s why I am still stopped in front of the entry signal,” they say.

The latter recording suggests that the controller had been notified that the Iryo train remained stationary as the Renfe train approached.

Iryo said its carriages were “struck from behind” by the other train.

Puente said last week that the decision to instruct the trains to move again, without any speed restrictions, was “inexplicable”.

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