MISSISSIPPI GODDAMN

Black residents of Jackson, Miss., blast plans by white-dominated Legislature for more state control


Timothy Norris is the owner of Mom’s Dream Kitchen, a soul food restaurant opened by his mother in Mississippi’s capital, Jackson, 35 years ago.

(Rogelio V. Solis / Associated Press)

BY EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
ASSOCIATED PRESSFEB. 27, 2023 

JACKSON, Miss. —

Random gunfire, repeated break-ins and a decaying city water system are constant challenges at Mom’s Dream Kitchen, the soul food restaurant that Timothy Norris’ mother opened 35 years ago in Mississippi’s capital.

“I have some cousins that live in Ohio,” said Norris, 54, who now owns the restaurant. “They came last year. They hadn’t been here in 22 years. They were completely shocked at Jackson.”

Citing rising crime, Mississippi’s Republican-controlled House recently passed a bill expanding areas of Jackson patrolled by a state-run Capitol Police force and creating a new court system with appointed rather than elected judges. Both would give white state government officials more power over Jackson, which has the highest percentage of Black residents of any major U.S. city.

The state Senate also passed a bill to establish a regional governing board for Jackson’s long-troubled water system, with most members appointed by state officials. The system nearly collapsed last year and is now under control of a federally appointed manager.

The proposals for state control of city affairs have angered Jackson residents who don’t want their voices diminished, and are the latest example of the long-running tensions between the Republican-run state government and Democratic-run capital city.

“It’s really a stripping of power, and it’s happening in a predominantly Black city that has predominantly Black leadership,” said Sonya Williams-Barnes, a Democratic former state lawmaker who is now Mississippi policy director for the Southern Poverty Law Center Action Fund. “You don’t see this going on in other areas of the state” with majority-white populations and leadership.


A look at the water crisis in Mississippi’s capital and what led up to it
Sept. 2, 2022

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said the proposals reeked of apartheid and “plantation politics.”

“If we allow this type of legislation to stand in Jackson, Miss., it’s a matter of time before it will hit New Orleans, it’s a matter of time before it hits Detroit, or wherever we find our people,” Lumumba said.

The sponsor of the expanded police and court bill, Republican Rep. Trey Lamar, from a rural town 170 miles north of Jackson, insists that the proposal is aimed at making Mississippi’s capital safer and reducing a judicial backlog.

“There is no intent for the effect to be racial whatsoever,” said Lamar, who is white, in response to arguments that courts with appointed judges would disenfranchise Jackson voters, who select their area’s jurists.


OPINION
Granderson: Why Jackson, Miss., reminds me of Flint, Mich.
March 11, 2021

Black lawmakers say that creating courts with appointed judges would strip away voting rights in a state where older generations of Black people still remember the struggle for equal access to the ballot.

The appointed judges would not be required to live in Jackson or even the county where it’s located. They would be appointed by the chief justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court — a position currently held by a white conservative from outside Jackson.

About 83% of Jackson’s nearly 154,000 residents are Black, and about 25% live in poverty. The pace of white flight accelerated in the 1980s, about a decade after public schools integrated. Many middle-class and wealthy Black families have also left.

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves has campaigned on withholding state financial support that the city requested. During last year’s water crisis, Reeves, speaking elsewhere, said that it was “as always, a great day to not be in Jackson.”


Racism seen as root of water crisis in Mississippi capital
Sept. 17, 2022

Jackson residents have a longstanding distrust of their municipal water system; during crises in August, September and December, people waited in long lines for bottled water. But opponents of a regional water board note that state officials sought a role only after the federal government approved hundreds of millions of dollars for the troubled city system.

The state-run Capitol Police department has been involved in several violent incidents, including the shooting death of a Black man during a traffic stop and a crash that killed another Black man during a police chase.

At Mt. Helm Baptist Church, the Rev. CJ Rhodes said many people in his predominantly Black congregation strongly object to expanding Capitol Police territory and creating courts with appointed judges.

“They feel — viscerally feel — like this is taking us back to the 1950s and 1960s,” said Rhodes, the son of a civil rights attorney. “It feels like this sort of white paternalism: ‘We’re going to come in and do what we need to do, citizens of Jackson be damned.’”

Maati Jone Primm, who owns Marshall’s Music & Bookstore in a struggling Black downtown business district, said she’s not surprised by the majority-white Legislature’s attempts to control Jackson.

“It’s a way to disempower Jackson and its citizens,” said Primm, whose storefront window displays a handwritten sign: “Jim Crow Must Go” — a phrase on T-shirts that Mississippi NAACP leader Medgar Evers had in his car the night a white supremacist assassinated him in Jackson in 1963.

The Capitol Police currently patrol state government buildings in and near downtown. The House bill would expand the territory to cover the city’s more affluent shopping and residential areas, as well as several neighborhoods that are predominantly white.

The House and Senate have exchanged bills for more debate. On Thursday, a Senate committee suggested having Capitol Police patrol the entire city.

Some white residents also object to a wider territory for the Capitol Police and new courts.

“It’s ridiculous. I think judges should be elected officials,” said Dan Piersol, a retired art museum curator who lives in a neighborhood that would be patrolled by Capitol Police and would sit in the new court district.

Mom’s Kitchen, located in the once-safe neighborhood where Norris grew up, is a casual place that serves baked chicken, turnip greens and candied sweet potatoes. The dining room has a broken window with cardboard taped over it, a vestige of earlier vandalism.

Norris said he often feels unsafe working there. A few months ago, he said, he was looking outside when “a guy just rolled by ... shooting in the air.”

“It scared me,” said Norris, who’s also a licensed therapist specializing in helping young Black men, including some who have had violent encounters with law enforcement officers.

Norris said he would like to see a more effective police presence in Jackson, but he believes the Capitol Police are not the answer.

“Policemen should be building a relationship with the community,” Norris said.

Study: Back-to-back hurricanes likely to come more often


BY SETH BORENSTEIN

Aiden Locobon, left, and Rogelio Paredes look through the remnants of their family's home destroyed by Hurricane Ida, Sept. 4, 2021, in Dulac, La. A new study says that back-to-back hurricanes that hit the same general place in the United States seem to be happening more often. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)


What used to be a rare one-two punch of consecutive hurricanes hitting about the same place in the United States weeks apart seems to be happening more often, and a new study says climate change will make back-to-back storms more frequent and nastier in the future.

Using computer simulations, scientists at Princeton University calculate that the deadly storm duet that used to happen once every few decades could happen every two or three years as the world warms from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas, according to a study in Monday’s Nature Climate Change.

Louisiana and Florida residents have already felt it.

In 2021, major Hurricane Ida blasted Louisiana with 150 mph winds. Just 15 days later a weakening Nicholas came nearby, close enough for its wind, rain and storm surge to add to the problems, said study co-author Ning Lin, a risk engineer and climate scientist at Princeton. Her study looked at not just the storms but the problems back-to-back hurricanes caused to people.

The Ida-Nicholas combo came after Louisiana was hit in 2020 by five hurricanes or tropical storms: Cristobal, Marco, Laura, Delta and Zeta. Laura was the biggest of those, packing 150-mph winds.

After Laura, relief workers had set up a giant recovery center in a parking lot of a damaged roofless church when Delta approached, so all the supplies had to be jammed against the building and battened down for the next storm, said United Way of Southwest Louisiana President Denise Durel.

“You can’t imagine. You’re dumbfounded. You think it can’t be happening to us again,” Durel recalled 2 1/2 years later from an area that is still recovering. “The other side of it is that you can’t wish it upon anyone else either.”

Florida in 2004 had four hurricanes in six weeks, prompting the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration to take note of a new nickname for the Sunshine State — “The Plywood State,” from all the boarded-up homes.

“We found a trend,” Lin said. “Those things are happening. They’re happening more often now than before.”

There’s a caveat to that trend. There haven’t been enough hurricanes and tropical storms since about 1950 – when good recordkeeping started – for a statistically significant trend, Lin said. So her team added computer simulations to see if they could establish such a trend and they did.

Lin’s team looked at nine U.S. storm-prone areas and found an increase in storm hazards for seven of them since 1949. Only Charleston, South Carolina, and Pensacola, Florida, didn’t see hazards increase.

The team then looked at what would happen in the future using a worst-case scenario of increasing carbon dioxide emissions and a more moderate scenario in line with current efforts worldwide to reduce greenhouse gases. In both situations, the frequency of back-to-back storms increased dramatically from current expectations.

The reason isn’t storm paths or anything like that. It’s based on storms getting wetter and stronger from climate change as numerous studies predict, along with sea levels rising. The study looked heavily at the impacts of storms more than just the storms themselves.

Studies are split on whether climate change means more or fewer storms overall, though. But Lin said it’s just the nastier nature and size that increases the likelihood of back-to-back storms hitting roughly the same area.

Any increased frequency in sequential storms in the past was likely due to a reduction in traditional air pollution rather than human-caused climate change; when Europe and the United States halved the amount of particles in the air since the mid-1990s it led to 33% more Atlantic storms, a NOAA study found last year. But any future increase will likely be more from greenhouse gases, said two scientists who weren’t part of the study.

“For people in harm’s way this is very bad news,” University of Albany hurricane scientist Kristen Corbosiero, who wasn’t part of the study, said in an email. “We (scientists) have been warning about the increase in heavy rain and significant storm surges with landfalling TCs (tropical cyclones) in a warming climate and the results of this study show this is the case.”

Corbosiero and four other hurricane experts who weren’t part of the study said it made sense. Some, including Corbosiero, say it is hard to say for sure that the back-to-back trend is already happening.

Colorado State University hurricane expert Phil Klotzbach said the emphasis on worsening effects on people was impressive, with storm surge from rising seas and an increase in rainfall from warmer and stronger major hurricanes.

“You have to have faith and be able to move forward. You’ve just got to be in constant motion,” Durel, the Louisiana United Way president, said. “Our neighbors mean much more than wallowing in aggravation.”

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POST MODERN FALSE FLAG

U.S. Energy Department believes lab leak was most likely the source of COVID, report says

The conclusion is due to new intelligence, but the department made its judgment with “low confidence,” according to people who have read the classified report, The Wall St. Journal said.

By Olivia Konotey-Ahulu

Bloomberg
Mon., Feb. 27, 2023

A laboratory leak was the most likely origin of the COVID-19 virus, according to findings by the U.S. Energy Department, The Wall Street Journal reported.

A classified intelligence report provided to the White House and key members of Congress said the virus likely spread due to a mishap at a Chinese laboratory, The Journal reported on Sunday.

The Energy Department had previously been undecided on the source of the virus. The conclusion is due to new intelligence, but the department made its judgment with “low confidence,” according to people who have read the classified report, The Journal said.

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday there’s “a variety of views” in the U.S. intelligence community about whether the virus originated naturally or in a lab and he “can’t confirm or deny” the Wall Street Journal report.

President Joe Biden has asked the National Laboratories, which are part of the Energy Department, to be part of the assessment, Sullivan said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“And if we gain any further insight or information, we will share it with Congress and we will share it with the American people,” he said. “But, right now, there is not a definitive answer that has emerged from the intelligence community on this question.”

China has long hit back at any suggestion that the COVID-19 virus originated in a lab. The Chinese Embassy in Washington didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular working hours.

China Must Be 'More Honest' on COVID Origins, Envoy Says

By Reuters
Feb. 27, 2023

Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns attends the World Peace Forum at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China July 4, 2022. 

REUTERS/Yew Lun Tian

By Michael Martina and David Brunnstrom

WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) -China must be more honest about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. ambassador to China said on Monday, after reports that the U.S. Energy Department concluded the pandemic likely arose from a Chinese laboratory leak.

Nicholas Burns, speaking by video link at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event, said it was necessary to push China to take a more active role in the World Health Organization (WHO) if the U.N. health agency was to be strengthened.

China also needed to "be more honest about what happened three years ago in Wuhan with the origin of the COVID-19 crisis," Burns said, referring to the central Chinese city where the first human cases were reported in December 2019.

The Wall Street Journal first reported on Sunday that the U.S. Energy Department had concluded the pandemic likely arose from a Chinese laboratory leak, an assessment Beijing denies.

The department made its judgment with "low confidence" in a classified intelligence report recently provided to the White House and key members of Congress, the Journal said, citing people who had read the intelligence report.

Four other U.S. agencies, along with a national intelligence panel, still judge that COVID-19 was likely the result of natural transmission, while two are undecided, the Journal reported.

The Energy Department did not respond to a request for comment.

President Joe Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said on Sunday there were a "variety of views in the intelligence community" on the pandemic's origins.

"A number of them have said they just don't have enough information," Sullivan told CNN.

Asked to comment on the report, which was confirmed by other U.S. media, China's foreign ministry referred to a WHO-China report that pointed toward a natural origin for the pandemic, likely from bats, rather than a lab leak.

"Certain parties should stop rehashing the 'lab leak' narrative, stop smearing China and stop politicizing the origins-tracing issue," foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said.

'A LITTLE BIT ORWELLIAN'

Burns told the Chamber event that it was a difficult moment for U.S.-China relations, with Beijing seeking to deflect blame after the U.S. military this month downed an alleged Chinese spy balloon that drifted across the continental United States.

"We're now in this surreal moment where the Chinese, who I think lost the debate over the balloon globally, lost influence and credibility around the world because of what they've done - they're now blaming this on us," Burns said.

"It's a little bit Orwellian. And it's a little bit frustrating, because I think everybody knows the truth here."

China reacted angrily when the U.S. military downed the balloon on Feb. 4, saying it was for monitoring weather conditions and had blown off course.

Burns added that it was the obligation of the United States to maintain its military strength "in and around Taiwan" to ensure the self-governed island claimed by Beijing has the ability to deter any kind of "offensive action" by China.

"It's also ... our responsibility to galvanize the rest of the world to make sure that the Chinese cannot get away with coercion or intimidation against Taiwan itself," he said.

(Reporting by Michael Martina and David Brunnstrom in Washington and the Beijing newsroom; Editing by Don Durfee and Alistair Bell)

China Responds to 'Politicized' Wuhan Lab Leak Theory

BY JOHN FENG ON 2/27/23 

China said Monday that studies into the origins of COVID-19 "should not be politicized" after a new assessment led to fresh scrutiny into a possible laboratory accident in late 2019 in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.

Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, pointed to the March 2021 findings of a joint WHO-China report that called the lab leak theory "extremely unlikely." That verdict was "a science-based, authoritative conclusion," she said at a regular press briefing in Beijing.

"Certain parties should stop rehashing the 'lab leak' narrative, stop smearing China and stop politicizing origin tracing," Mao said after The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reported that the United States Department of Energy concluded, with "low confidence," that SARS-CoV-2 had emerged as a result of a lab mishap.

The DOE, which oversees U.S. national laboratories, was previously undecided about the virus's origins. It now joins the FBI's own "moderate confidence" assessment as only the second agency to side with the lab leak theory. Four other agencies still lean toward natural transmission as the most likely explanation for the initial outbreak, while two remain undecided.

This aerial view shows the P4 laboratory on the campus of the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China's central Hubei province on May 27, 2020. China has said that studies into the origins of COVID-19 "should not be politicized."

HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

The WHO-China report published almost two years ago was the only authoritative assessment the United Nations health agency was able to produce about the start of the pandemic. Beijing appointed half the researchers on the mission, restricted the team's access to critical data, and blocked WHO attempts to conduct a phase-two study that included a review of Wuhan's surroundings.

Beijing's decisions went some way toward undermining the report's eventual findings, which were largely dismissed by American officials. As a result, the phase-one mission report lacked "extensive recognition from the international community," contrary to China's claim.

Four months after taking office, President Joe Biden ordered the U.S. intelligence community to determine the likely origins of the virus behind the disease that has now killed at least 6.8 million people worldwide, including upward of a million Americans. The report after 90 days was inconclusive, but the agencies judged the virus was not a biological weapon and wasn't released with Beijing's knowledge.

Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's technical lead on COVID, said at a press conference on February 15 that the unsuccessful phase-two plans later morphed into the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO), a multinational panel that included Chinese experts, announced in October 2021.

"I think we need to be perfectly clear that WHO has not abandoned studying the origins of COVID-19. We have not and we will not," Van Kerkhove said in Geneva. "But let me also be very clear that we continue to ask for more cooperation and collaboration with our colleagues in China to advance studies that need to take place in China."

"We will follow the science. We will continue to ask for countries to depoliticize this work, but we need cooperation from our colleagues in China to advance this," she said.

"We will not stop until we understand the origins of this. And it is becoming increasingly difficult because the more time that passes, the more difficult it becomes to really understand what happened in those early stages of the pandemic."

Republicans React to Energy Department’s Reported Finding That COVID ‘Likely’ Leaked From Wuhan Lab

By Gary Bai
February 27, 2023

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) questions Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, former head of security at Twitter, during Senate Judiciary Committee on data security at Twitter, on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 13, 2022. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Republican lawmakers responded to a news report saying that the U.S. Energy Department had concluded the lab leak theory was “likely,” saying that the finding supports what many have long suspected.

A Wall Street Journal article on Feb. 26 reported that a classified intelligence report by the Energy Department said that the virus likely leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

“So the government caught up to what Real America knew all along,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) wrote in a Twitter post on Sunday.

The responses came as GOP lawmakers ramp up investigations into the origin of COVID-19 and allegations of government-big tech censorship of the debate.

The Energy Department was previously undecided on the issue but now joins the FBI in corroborating the lab leak hypothesis, according to the report. Several people who have read the report said the Department’s judgment was made with “low confidence,” the Journal reported.

Responding to the report on Sunday, White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan told CNN that the intelligence community does not have a “definitive answer” on the matter at this point.

Republican lawmakers have been vocal about the theory that the virus leaked from the Wuhan laboratory soon after the onset of the pandemic in 2020. Initially, some health professionals and legacy media outlets dismissed the theory, labeling the theory’s proponents as racist and conspiracy theorists.

Fauci

Some lawmakers also accused Anthony Fauci, former head of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), of colluding with big tech companies, such as Facebook and Twitter, and censoring stories about the lab leak theory via what these companies describe as a crackdown on “misinformation.”

“Fauci knew this immediately but dismissed it because of funding for the Wuhan lab,” Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) wrote in another post. “We know what happened next — when Fauci spoke Big Tech censored. I exposed this collusion as AG and I’ll work to ensure this type of censorship never happens again.”

“Americans knew this from Day One,” Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) wrote on Twitter on Sunday. “Unfortunately, Big Tech and Big Government silenced them.”

Republicans and critics of Fauci have raised concerns about the NIAID’s funding of the Wuhan Institute of Virology via the non-governmental organization EcoHealth Alliance, including for research described by experts as gain-of-function. The NIAID issued about 3.4 million in grants to EcoHealth.

Gain-of-function research makes the virus more deadly by enhancing its pathogenicity, its ability to cause disease and harm the host, or transmissibility, how easily it spreads.

The NIH has denied that the grants were for gain-of-function research, while Fauci has defended the decision to issue the grants to EcoHealth.

“More evidence continues to mount that COVID came from the Wuhan lab. We’ve uncovered emails showing Dr. Fauci was warned that the virus looked man-made & came from a lab, but he may have acted to cover it up. Why? We need answers & accountability,” wrote the official Twitter account of the House Oversight Republican Committee.

Republicans on the committee previously disclosed internal NIH emails that showed Fauci was informed by senior scientists early in the pandemic that the theory that COVID-19 had a natural origin was “highly unlikely,” even while Fauci was publicly promoting the natural origin theory.

Additional Responses

Republican lawmakers such as Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) took issue with what he described as a lack of transparency in government investigations related to the origins of COVID-19.

“The American people deserve the full truth about #covid origins. No more whitewash. I will again introduce legislation to make the US government’s intelligence reports on covid open to the people,” Hawley wrote.

Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) echoed Hawley’s view.

“The elites and academics owe everyone who had legitimate questions and concerns about the origins of COVID an apology,” Buck wrote in a Twitter post. “The American people deserve to see all the information concerning the Chinese lab leak and the origins of COVID. This won’t be forgotten.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) says the United States should focus on the further implications of the report, namely, the need for the U.S. government to act to hold the Chinese regime accountable for the pandemic.

“Re. China’s lab leak, being proven right doesn’t matter,” Cotton wrote in a Twitter post. “What matters is holding the Chinese Communist Party accountable so this doesn’t happen again.”

The Epoch Times contacted the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Energy for comment.

From The Epoch Times

THERE'S AN ELECTION SOON
In an abrupt about-face, Erdoğan seeks forgiveness for earthquake response

ByTurkish Minute
February 27, 2023

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who until Monday had been defiant in the wake of widespread criticism of his government’s handling of an earthquake disaster, has asked for forgiveness for rescue delays in one of the provinces hit hardest by the earthquake, Agence France-Presse and Turkish media outlets reported.

Erdoğan, who is seeking another term as president after two decades in power, has received strong criticism from earthquake survivors, especially those in Adıyaman in the southeast.

In the last election in 2018, Erdoğan handily beat his secular opposition rival in that province.

“Due to the devastating effect of the earthquakes and the bad weather, we were not able to work the way we wanted in Adıyaman for the first few days. I apologize for this,” Erdoğan said.

The Feb. 6 quakes killed more than 44,000 people in Turkey and thousands more in neighboring Syria.

AFP reported on the locals’ anger with the government from Adıyaman on Feb. 10.

“I did not see anyone until 2:00 p.m. on the second day after the earthquake,” Adıyaman resident Mehmet Yıldırım told AFP at the time.

“No government, no state, no police, no soldiers. Shame on you! You left us on our own.”

Erdoğan’s apology has come in the wake of recent calls for his government’s resignation for failing to prepare the country against earthquakes given the fact that it lies on major fault lines and is frequently struck by deadly temblors.

The fans of two major İstanbul football clubs, Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş, over the weekend called Erdoğan’s government to resign, shouting slogans during their matches and putting responsibility for the tragedy on its shoulders.

The catastrophe struck just as Erdoğan was gaining momentum and starting to lift his approval numbers from a low suffered during a dire economic crisis that exploded last year.

Erdoğan’s government has come under growing pressure on social media for what his critics view as a slow response to Turkey’s biggest earthquake in nearly a century.

The government is mainly accused of failing to mobilize enough people for relief efforts and a lack of coordination among the teams, which resulted in civilians in some regions trying to pull their loved ones from under the rubble themselves and finding them frozen to death although they sustained no critical injuries in the collapse.

The government is also criticized for failing to provide safe shelter to the earthquake survivors and meeting their basic needs although there is an ongoing massive relief effort in Turkey and overseas for the earthquake survivors.

Although Erdoğan admitted at the beginning that there were some shortcomings in the search and rescue efforts, he was mostly defiant until adopting an apologetic tone on Monday.

Last week, he used harsh language against people who were criticizing his government for failing to distribute a sufficient number of tents to earthquake victims, referring to people asking about tents from Kızılay (Turkish Red Crescent) as “dishonest, immoral and vile.”

Erdoğan’s handling of the biggest natural disaster in his two-decade rule could prove crucial ahead of tightly contested parliamentary and presidential elections, which were to be held on May 14 but could be postponed to June due to the earthquakes.
Opposition not forgiving

Meanwhile, the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) launched a hashtag on Twitter following Erdoğan’s remarks, saying they are not forgiving him for a number of reasons.

The party said it is not forgiving people who collected taxes for earthquake readiness but used them for other purposes, transferred millions of lira to the construction sector, caused thousands of people under the rubble to freeze to death, treated the Turkish Red Crescent and state disaster agency as their own backyard and issued construction amnesties to contractors violating the country’s building code.

In a similar move, opposition Deva Party leader Ali Babacan said Erdoğan cannot absolve himself of responsibility merely by asking for forgiveness.

“How many people lost their lives due to the delays in the first 48 hours [after the earthquakes],” Babacan asked.

Global Medical and Human Rights Groups Call on Türkiye to End Persecution of Doctors

February 27, 2023 

Persecution of Health Workers, Turkey

In a letter issued today, four international medical and human rights organisations call on Turkish authorities to drop the baseless charges against the leadership of the Turkish Medical Association (TMA) at a time when doctors are urgently needed to tend to victims of the 6 February earthquake that have caused over 50,000 deaths in Türkiye and Syria.

On 28 February, the 11 members of the TMA’s Central Council will come before the 31st Civil Court of Law in the capital, Ankara. They risk being dismissed from their elective functions under law no. 6023 on the TMA. With over 110,000 members nationwide, the TMA is the country’s largest association of physicians.

The court case against the TMA leadership, who constitute some of Türkiye’s most eminent medical practitioners, is the latest in a series of attacks on independent medical and other professions, the independence of which the government sees as a potential threat. Since at least 2014, the TMA has been subjected to judicial harassment, politically motivated trials, office searches, threats, and imprisonment.

The charges follow the politically motivated conviction on 11 January of one of those members, Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı, in a separate trial. After being held in pre-trial detention for almost three months, she was sentenced to almost three years of imprisonment on spurious charges of “making terrorist propaganda” for voicing a medical opinion that called for an independent investigation into the possible use of chemical weapons in the region. She was released on January 11 pending appeal.

“Charging our Turkish colleagues with conducting activities promoting the use of violence is not only incongruous, but also unfounded and dishonest,” said Dr. Frank Ulrich Montgomery, chair of council at the World Medical Association “We witness the integrity and loyalty of TMA and its representatives and consider that these allegations are an insult to the entire medical profession.”

“European doctors call on the Turkish authorities to unconditionally safeguard the autonomy and independence of the Turkish Medical Association,” said Dr. Christiaan Keijzer, president of the Standing Committee of European Doctors (CPME). “The medical profession is vital for society, and the trial of its leaders is a direct threat to patients, the health care system, and the population as a whole.”

“The medical profession is under attack in Türkiye,” said Dr. Michele Heisler, medical director at Physicians for Human Rights. “Our close colleagues are being unlawfully arrested, threatened with lengthy prison sentences, and harassed simply for standing up for medical ethics, the ability to provide quality health care for their patients, and human rights. This persecution of physicians just for seeking to fulfill their professional obligations must stop now.”

“It is shocking that prosecutors are trying to hamper doctors from doing their work at a time of national emergency. After this devastating earthquake, doctors are more essential than ever and must be protected from government interference,” said Erika Dailey, PHR’s director of Advocacy and Policy.

The CPME, Physicians for Human Rights, Redress, and the World Medical Association call for the charges against the members of the Central Council of the TMA to be dropped and for all forms of harassment of them to cease immediately.

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is a New York-based advocacy organization that uses science and medicine to prevent mass atrocities and severe human rights violations.

Learn more here.

Atheism Is Not Religion: It Is A State Of Responsible Living – OpEd

The author Sabahudin Hadžialić, Lecture “Art is about Communication” Faculty of Creative Industries of VGTU university, Vilnius, Lithuania, on 19.3.2019.

February 27, 2023 
By Prof. Dr. Sabahudin Hadzialic

Let’s take for an example the latest earthquakes in Turkey and Syria which killed more than 50.000 people (more to come, unfortunately, so far). Why? Just to show the irresponsibility of believers. The majority (more than 90%) of the construction entrepreneurs who built poor buildings as major graveyards of the humans were: 1. Believers in God, and 2. Members of the Turkish, God devoted, ruling party Justice and Development Party (AKP).

So, how can hypocrites who believe in God — On the one hand, devoted for the loving of human being, and on the other hand building, to save some corrupted money, houses that killed so many people. Of course, earthquakes were the initiation, but the major cause was poorly built buildings.

Looks like that while loving God, builders hate people. Contradictio in adiecto.

Responsible living means living with to respect for others, having in kind the future of the community as the whole.

Not, the community as the fake atheistic, communistic way, but as the community within which the creative innovation will lead. In a sense that critical observation of reality will always have question marks — like I do every time whenever I enter the University class anywhere in the World: “I would like you to prove to me that I am wrong.”

Namely, God is not the guilty one, or the Devil, for all the bad things that happen, because we live in non-responsible societies — and that is why wrong things happen to good people. If we are responsible societies where right=responsibility; responsibility=empathy and empathy=equality and vice versa, we will meet a goal of a “first communist ever”, Jesus Christ. Religion killed God, not vice versa.

Through the fear of others and of those who are different, of unknown, of unwanted.

With the development of media literacy and creation of critical thinking we will see that everything is explainable as the science is used.

“As I mentioned in my essay, back in August 31, 2022: “Realism is the system where everybody will have equal chances, but without mediators such as: lobbyists, party members, religious leaders, party leaders. Realism where independent commission will do the revision of all privatization processes since the war(s) in ex-SFRJ. Realism where all the suspects for war crimes should be arrested and prosecuted regardless to which religion, nation, rase or gender belongs. Realism where the work of all bodies of the power are transparent (from the municipal up to state level). Realism where all higher educational diplomas (undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate level) achieved since 1990. Realism where three times more inspectors for the control of the economy sector are employed and to stimulate ther work with percentage of the found gray money, hidden money, put away money from the taxation. Realism where we have one army under one command (in BiH) and not as it is now – one army under three ethnic commands. Realism where there is a need (under must) to develop educational and scientific sector with the increase of the salaries for the teachers and professors. Realism where, by using of the force, collect all the taxation debts. Realism where the strategic development of the country is made based on a existing resources and not on the wishful resources. Realism where non-governmental sector is helped to be developed as a part of “critical mind” focused on correction of the work of the government.“

Yes, but the main precondition for that will be that society is developed in a sense of open minded and critical thinking, question asking and joint decision making.

One more thing: Have you noticed that in every war God is “on our side“? How is that possible? “If there is only one God, but we call him by different names).

Or, how it is possible that every religion nowadays supports the Internet, while the Internet did not exist in a time of the creation of Holy Books? In that case they have to support everything new that is related to the society development. But, we have a problem here because, not God, but the people within the religion (Churches, Temples, and Mosques) decide what is good or not. Who are they to decide what is good or wrong in modern responsible society. It is much better to deal with their own problems.

The Religions would like to be untouchable and at the same time to do, within their own, closed religion society, whatever they want. That’s not acceptable

As Richard Dawkins wrote in his book “The God Delusion” from 2006 (pg. 83):

“Another philosopher, the Australian Douglas Gasking, made the point with his ironic ‘proof that God does not exist (Anselm’s contemporary Gaunilo had suggested a somewhat similar reductio).

1. The creation of the world is the most marvellous achievement imaginable.

2. The merit of an achievement is the product of (a) its intrinsic quality, and (b) the ability of its creator.

3. The greater the disability (or handicap) of the creator, the more impressive the achievement.

4. The most formidable handicap for a creator would be nonexistence.

5. Therefore if we suppose that the universe is the product of an existent creator we can conceive a greater being – namely, one who created everything while not existing.

6. An existing God therefore would not be a being greater than which a greater cannot be conceived because an even more formidable and incredible creator would be a God which did not exist.

Ergo:

7. God does not exist.“

Wrong. And even Dawkins underlined that. “God does not exist” because it is a creation of human mind and there is no proof otherwise.

Remark: Although if there is a methodological proof of visiting of the aliens in the past which reflected on illiterate people as God(s), we can discuss it, but on a point of view that there are other living beings in the Universe. Not God(s).

Prof. Dr. Sabahudin Hadzialic was born in 1960, in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since 1964 he lives in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He is a professor (two doctoral degrees), scientist, writer & poet (distinguished artist by state), journalist, and editor. He wrote 26 books (textbooks for the Universities in BiH and abroad, books of poetry, prose, essays as well as) and his art and scientific work is translated in 25 world languages. He published books in BiH, Serbia, France, Switzerland, USA and Italy. He wrote more than 100 scientific papers. He is certified peer-reviewer (his citations appear in books and papers of scientists from all continents) for several European scientific journals. He participates within EU project funds and he is a member of scientific boards of Journals in Poland, India and the USA. He is a member of the Board of directors of IFSPD (www.ifspd.org). Also, he is a regular columnists & essayist and member of the Editorial board, since 2014, of Eurasia Review, think tank and journal of news & analysis from the USA. Since 2009 he is co-owner and Editor in chief of DIOGEN pro culture - magazine for culture, art, education and science from the USA. He is a member of major associations of writers in BiH, Serbia and Montenegro as well as Foundations (scientific and non-governmental) Associations worldwide. As professor he was/is teaching at the Universities in BiH, Italy, Lithuania, Poland and India. Detailed info: http://sabihadzi.weebly.com.

Aid Diplomacy after earthquake


EU Commissioner for Economy Paolo Gentiloni

 [Dursun Aydemir - Anadolu Agency]


Elif Selin Calik
February 27, 2023

While the world is dealing with the first anniversary of the deadly war in Ukraine, the solidarity shown towards Turkish society after its devastating earthquake is one of the best examples of "aid diplomacy" in modern history. Even though Turkiye was against Sweden's and Finland's membership of NATO, less than 24 hours after the two massive earthquakes hit southern Turkiye, the well-oiled wheels of humanitarian assistance started turning in Sweden and Finland.

The Swedes have given €3.3 million in humanitarian support, and sent more than 50 search and rescue experts, search dogs and medical teams to Turkiye. Finland also sent 1 million Euros in humanitarian assistance to Turkiye and Syria through the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. So, could 'earthquake diplomacy' soften Turkiye's stance towards the new NATO applicants?

"The core support that Sweden is already contributing, makes a big difference on the ground in Turkiye and Syria," said Sweden's Minister for International Development Cooperation, Johan Forssell.

READ: UAE minister calls for more earthquake support during visit to Turkey

EU Donor Conference

On a broader European level an EU donor conference to help earthquake victims in Turkiye and Syria will take place on 16 March, the Swedish Foreign Minister announced last week. By organising this conference, the EU aims to raise additional support for the affected people in Turkiye and Syria and try to do as much as possible to alleviate the terrible consequences of this earthquake.

In addition, the EU wants to strengthen border controls along its land and sea frontier with Turkiye amid expectations of a new wave of arrivals of people displaced in the earthquakes. On 24 February, the EU announced that "it is anticipated some of the people made homeless by the 6 February earthquakes – a disaster that has left more than 50,000 dead – will start heading towards Europe in the spring if humanitarian assistance does not arrive."

Greek Migration Minister, Notis Mitarachi, said the EU would assist in the reconstruction of cities destroyed by the 6 February earthquake, which has killed more than 46,000 people. He also insisted that the "mass movement of millions of people is not a solution" and that humanitarian assistance should be sent to Turkiye and Syria "before this happens".

Because Turkiye has a well-established record of providing assistance to refugees, many countries have hastened to offer help, following the earthquakes. According to the UN, Turkiye shelters over 3.6 million Syrians and is the world's largest refugee-hosting country. Under a geographical limitation that Turkiye has applied to its accession to the UN Refugee Convention, Syrians and others coming from countries to the south and east of Turkiye's borders are not granted full refugee status. Syrian refugees are registered under a "temporary protection" regulation, which the Turkish authorities say automatically applies to all Syrians seeking asylum. Therefore, the fact that Turkiye has been at the forefront of state-led humanitarian diplomacy has triggered other countries' desire to help the earthquake areas in this country.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan shows solidarity on 'energy diplomacy' by suppling rescue vehicles with free fuel in Turkiye's earthquake region. In addition, according to SOCAR Turkiye, a subsidiary of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), 316,000 Euros in essential goods were handed over to AFAD, donated 172,000 Euros, and provided materials worth 27,000 Euros to be delivered to the region under the instructions of the Directorate of Migration Management.

READ: EU will mobilise intl community to support Turkiye, Syria

On the other hand, relations between long-standing regional rivals, Greece and Turkiye, have improved since the quakes. On 12 February, Greek Foreign Minister, Nikos Dendias, paid a visit to the earthquake-stricken Hatay province, becoming the first high-ranking official from a European Union member state to do so.

To conclude, as there is $10.4 billion in economic loss, on top of $70 billion in housing losses, now is the time for Turkiye to coordinate with donor countries and agencies to effectively manage the aid and re-build the 12 devastated cities. Perhaps, out of this disaster there may emerge much good through the growing phenomenon of 'aid diplomacy'.

READ: We stick together always: Bella Hadid delivers aid for Turkiye quake victims

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

New Deadly Quake Hits Turkey, Toppling More Buildings

Officials say a magnitude 5.6 earthquake in southern Turkey killed at least one person, just weeks after a catastrophic temblor devastated the region.

Feb 27, 2023

A magnitude 5.6 earthquake shook southern Turkey on Monday, Feb. 27, 2023, just three weeks after a catastrophic temblor devastated the region.


ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A magnitude 5.6 earthquake shook southern Turkey on Monday, three weeks after a catastrophic temblor devastated the region, causing some already damaged buildings to collapse and killing at least one person, authorities said.

More than 100 people were injured as a result of Monday’s quake which was centered in the town of Yesilyurt in Malatya province, Yunus Sezer, the chief of the country’s disaster management agency, AFAD, told reporters. More than two dozen buildings collapsed.

A father and daughter who were trapped beneath the ruins of a four-story building in Yesilyurt were rescued with injuries. They had entered the damaged building to collect belongings.

Elsewhere in Malatya, search-and-rescue teams were sifting through the rubble of two damaged buildings that toppled on some parked cars, HaberTurk reported. It was not clear if anyone was trapped under the debris.

Malatya was among 11 Turkish provinces hit by the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that devastated parts of southern Turkey and northern Syria on Feb. 6.

That quake led to more than 48,000 deaths in both countries as well as the collapse or serious damage of 185,000 buildings in Turkey.

AFAD’s chief urged people not to enter damaged buildings, saying strong aftershocks continue to pose a risk. More than 10,000 aftershocks have hit the region since Feb. 6.

The World Bank said Monday it estimates that the massive earthquake caused $34.2 billion in “direct damages” — an equivalent of 4% of the country’s GDP in 2021.

The recovery and reconstruction cost could be potentially twice as large, the World Bank said, adding that GDP losses would also add to the earthquake’s cost.

The World Bank also estimated that 1.25 million people had been left temporarily homeless.

Meanwhile, fans of Turkish soccer team Besiktas threw stuffed toys on the field during a match on Sunday to support children affected by the earthquake. Toys and winter clothing were thrown on the stadium’s grounds to be donated to children in the earthquake-hit regions.

Legal age rises to 18 in England and Wales to crack down on forced marriage

• Chandrashekar Bhat
 
• 27 February, 2023

It is now an offence to cause a child under the age of 18 to enter a marriage in any circumstances in England and Wales

By: Chandrashekar Bhat

A NEW law raising the legal age for marriage in England and Wales to 18 years came into force on Monday (27), aimed at protecting vulnerable young people from being forced into weddings against their will.

Until now, those aged 16 or 17 could get married with parental consent as there was no law against ceremonies for younger children not registered as vulnerable with their local councils.

“This law will better protect vulnerable young people, by cracking down on forced marriage in our society,” said deputy prime minister and justice secretary, Dominic Raab.

“Those who act to manipulate children into marrying under-age will now rightly face the full force of the law.”

Those found guilty of arranging child marriages face sentences of up to seven years in prison. So called “traditional” and non-legally binding ceremonies – viewed as marriages by the parties and their families conducted within some minority communities – will also be covered under the new legislation.

Ministers said the age of 18 is widely recognised as the age at which one becomes an adult and gains full citizenship rights.

Forced marriage was previously an offence only if the person used a type of coercion, for example threats, to cause someone to marry.

It is now an offence to cause a child under the age of 18 to enter a marriage in any circumstances, without the need to prove that a form of coercion was used.

British Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary Dominic Raab (REUTERS/Toby Melville//File Photo)

Charities campaigning against forced marriages welcomed the new law.

“The change to legislation on child marriage is a huge victory for survivors. It is a huge leap forward to tackling this usually hidden abuse and will provide a greater degree of protection to those at risk,” said Natasha Rattu, director of the Karma Nirvana charity, which supports forced marriage victims.

“Last year, the national Honour Based Abuse helpline supported 64 cases of child marriage, representing only a small picture of a much bigger problem. We hope the new law will help to increase identification and reporting, affording greater protection to children at risk,” she added.

Child marriage is often associated with domestic abuse towards girls, who may leave education early, have limited career opportunities and suffer from physical and mental health problems.

The government said the legal change honours its commitment to the pledge made to the United Nations to end child marriage by 2030.

The new Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act 2022, which gained Royal Assent in April last year and comes into force this week, was the result of a Private Member’s Bill brought to Parliament by Conservative Party MP Pauline Latham.

It was supported by campaign organisations within the Girls Not Brides Coalition, which work to end child marriage and so-called honour-based abuse.

“This is a landmark day for the campaigners who have worked relentlessly for over five years to ban child marriage in this country. Child marriage destroys lives and through this legislation we will protect millions of boys and girls over the coming years from this scourge,” said Latham.

Minister for safeguarding, Sarah Dines, added: “Forced marriage is an abuse of human rights, which denies vulnerable children the freedom to learn, grow and thrive. Like all other forms of abuse, I’m committed to stamping out this exploitative practice.

“In addition, we are continuing to provide training and guidance to equip the police, social workers and other frontline professionals to support and safeguard victims.”

According to official data from 2021, the government’s Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) provided advice or support in 118 cases involving victims below 18 years of age.

The courts have also issued 3,343 Forced Marriage Protection Orders between their introduction in 2008 and September 2022, which prevent someone from using threats, violence or emotional abuse as a way to force a person into marriage.

The new Act does not change the age of marriage in Scotland or Northern Ireland as marriage is a devolved matter.

It is hoped that raising the legal age to 18 in England and Wales may eventually be replicated in other parts of the UK.

(PTI)

Peter Obi takes Lagos in Nigeria's closest ever presidential election

Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos, has lost his home state to the 61-year-old ex-banker. Overall, the votes to determine who will be president are still being counted.

Yousra Elbagir
Africa correspondent @YousraElbagir
Monday 27 February 2023 

Officials work at vote counting centre in Lagos

Votes are still being counted in the closest run presidential election in Nigeria's history.

The jury may still be out on who will be the next president of Africa's most populous country and biggest economy, but the vote is in for its economic centre, Lagos.

Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the ruling APC party's candidate and former governor of Lagos has lost his home state to 61-year-old former banker Peter Obi, who is running for the newer Labour Party.

Nigeria election: All you need to know

In what is proving to be the most exciting display of democracy in the country's political history, Mr Obi beat Mr Tinubu in Lagos State by around 10,000 individual votes.

There have been incidences of voter disenchantment and suppressions with cases of armed violence at polling stations in Lagos and across the country.

Peter Obi, arrives at a polling unit in his hometown in Agulu

Some polling units never arrived at their designated stations, leaving residents unable to cast their ballot.

Despite the discontent, young people who have been mobilising since the Lekki Tollgate massacre are incredibly satisfied by this result.

They see Tinubu, owner of Lekki's tollgate, as responsible for the loss of life at the #EndSars demonstration protesting against police brutality in October 2020 and have been pushing forward Mr Obi's campaign.

Bola Ahmed Tinubu with his wife Oluremi Tinubu

21-year-old photographer and activist Bishop Duke told us that the youth have been organising over the last two years.

Nigerians under 35 make up three quarters of all newly registered voters and nearly 40% of all registered voters.

1:45
Play Video - Nigeria: 'We've been disenfranchised'

Nigerians are yearning for new leadership

"It's a cause for celebration, because, for the longest, Lagos has been to be owned by one politician," says Bishop, referring to the "Godfather of Lagos" Mr Tinubu.

"There's definitely been a lot of rigging when it comes to Lagos for a very long time. But there was a big push and this is the genuine vote."

According to a Reuters tally of provisional results announced by electoral officials in 10 of Nigeria's 36 states at midday on Monday, Mr Tinubu leads with about 3.29 million votes, compared to 2.28 million for main opposition party candidate Atiku Abubakar and 818,000 for Mr Obi.

The winner is not expected to be announced until Tuesday at the earliest.

Nigeria's Peter Obi wins Lagos state

 Nigeria's Labour Party's Presidential Candidate Peter Obi

Copyright © africanews

Sunday Alamba/Copyright 2023

 The AP. with AFP

The Nigerian presidential outsider Peter Obi has won the most votes in the key state of Lagos, narrowly beating the ruling party's candidate in his stronghold, according to provisional results released Monday by the Electoral Commission (Inec).

The economic capital of Africa's most populous country is one of the biggest vote-getters in this hotly contested presidential race between three front-runners, with state-by-state results only just being announced. Peter Obi, the Labour Party (LP) candidate, won 582,454 votes (nearly 43% of the votes cast in Lagos).

More than 87 million voters cast their ballots on Saturday to choose from 18 candidates the person who will have the tough task of turning around Nigeria for four years, plagued by a sluggish economy, recurrent violence by armed groups and bandits, and widespread impoverishment of the population.


The bustling economic capital has the largest number of registered voters in the country, more than seven million, and is the stronghold of APC candidate Bola Tinubu, 70, whom he governed from 1999 to 2007.

With 46% of the vote in Lagos, according to the provisional results of the National Electoral Commission (Inec), Mr. Obi has a narrow lead of less than 10,000 votes over his main opponent.

The "godfather", as Tinubu is known because of his political influence, admitted defeat in a statement, calling for calm after violence broke out in Lagos on Monday: "Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. We must allow the process to continue unhindered in the country.

For Mr Obi, "this is an important victory, because Tinubu is at home in Lagos, he is considered the owner," commented Idayat Hassan, director of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) in Abuja. "The 2023 election is redefining the political machine in Nigeria," she said.

The Labour Party (LP) candidate, who is very popular with a section of the youth, has managed to establish himself as a credible challenger to the two parties (APC and PDP) that have governed Nigeria for over 20 years.

And for the first time since the return to democracy in 1999, the country could experience a two-round presidential election.

- Community voting -

This election is crucial: Nigeria - with 216 million inhabitants - is expected to become the third most populous country in the world by 2050, while West Africa is threatened by a sharp decline in democracy and the spread of jihadist violence.

The continent's largest economy has become a global cultural powerhouse, thanks in particular to Afrobeats, a musical genre that is setting the world alight with stars like Burna Boy.

But faced with immense daily hardship, compounded by recent shortages, many Nigerians are calling for "change", disgusted by decades of poor governance and an ageing elite with a reputation for corruption.

For Obi, a 61-year-old Christian former governor of Anambra in the southeast, the game is far from over. Especially in the densely populated north of the country, where turnout is traditionally higher and both Bola Tinubu and PDP candidate Atiku Abubakar, a Muslim, have a large base.

The community vote is important in Nigeria, which has more than 250 ethnic groups, polarised between a predominantly Muslim north and a predominantly Christian south.

However, to be elected in the first round, the winner must obtain, in addition to a majority of the votes cast, at least 25% of the votes in two-thirds of the 36 states of the federation plus the territory of Abuja. If not, a second round should be held within 21 days.

The announcement of the full results will take time: as of midday Monday, the National Electoral Commission (Inec) in Abuja had given official figures for only four states: Ekiti (APC), Osun (PDP), Ondo (APC), and Kwara (APC).

- Accusations of fraud -

Saturday's vote went off peacefully, despite some security incidents and logistical hitches, which caused delays: counting sometimes went on late into the night, with many voters staying behind to "protect" their votes.

But the electoral process was complicated by the electronic transfer of results, which was tested for the first time at national level: most of the agents, who were supposed to upload the results from the 176,000 polling stations to a platform of the Inec, failed to do so.

The new system was introduced to improve the transparency of the election and restore voter confidence in a country where past elections have all been marred by accusations of fraud.

Only 30% of the results were uploaded to the Inec platform, which acknowledged "technical problems" but assured that the results were "safe" and could not be "falsified".

But already accusations of manipulation and attacks on the collection centres have been flying.

Nigeria election results 2023: Opposition PDP and Labour Party accuse APC and Inec

Nduka Orjinmo - BBC News, Abuja
Mon, February 27, 2023 

Dino Meleye from the opposition PDP said the electoral commission had been compromised

Opposition parties have walked out of the venue where results from Nigeria's tightly contested presidential elections are being announced.

The main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party have claimed there is a lack of transparency with the new electronic voter system.

This is the first national election where an electronic device has been used to accredit voters.

The election commission has denied the opposition parties' complaints.

Inec chairman Mahmood Yakubu said the announcement of results would continue.

The PDP representative at the election centre in Abuja described the process as fraudulent, while the Labour Party asked for the announcements to be suspended or for the election to be cancelled and rerun.

However, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), whose candidate Bola Tinubu has established an early lead from results announced so far, said those dissatisfied with the results should go to court, and that the parties should first let the process run its course.

Live coverage as the results come in


Full results of the presidential and parliamentary elections


Why the Labour Party was not on some ballot papers

With about a third of the 36 states officially declared, Mr Tinubu has a strong lead over Mr Abubakar, with Mr Obi in third place. Most of those states are from the south-west - Mr Tinubu's stronghold - so it is still too early to predict who will win.

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the PDP have dominated Nigeria since the end of military rule in 1999 but this time, Mr Obi from the previously little known Labour Party is expected to mount a strong challenge to the two-party system. He has the support of many young people, who make up a third of registered voters. There are 15 other candidates.

A candidate needs to have the most votes and a quarter of ballots cast in 25 of the 36 states plus Abuja to be declared the winner.

Otherwise, there will be a run-off within 21 days - a first in Nigeria's history.

Mr Obi has caused a major upset by winning in Nigeria's biggest city, Lagos, narrowly defeating Mr Tinubu in his heartland.

Mr Tinubu is a former governor of Lagos state and hopes to use his record there as the basis of his presidential bid.

The ruling party candidate has accepted defeat in Lagos and said that as a democrat, he was bound to accept the outcome of any election.

"People have a right to vote for the candidate of their choice," he said in a statement released by his campaign team.

He also appealed for calm from his supporters after his loss, following reports of violence in parts of Lagos against traders from the Igbo community, like Mr Obi.

Mr Obi's victory in Lagos, though a major breakthrough for a third-party candidate, is not necessarily a huge surprise. The city is home to many young, educated people, as well as a large Igbo population - all groups widely seen as backing his campaign.

He has also won in his heartland eastern Enugu state.
What is the problem with electronic system?

The Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) had assured Nigerians that the electronic voting system, known as Bvas, would enable it to transmit election results direct from polling stations to improve transparency.

However, there were complaints on Saturday from many voters that electoral officials refused to upload the results at the polling stations as they are supposed to.

Officials complained of a lack of internet in some places to upload the results, but voters have shared videos and images shared where Inec officials refused to upload the results.

Inec chairman Mr Yakubu has apologised for the inability of the commission to upload most of the results as promised, saying that a surge in traffic caused glitches.

Nigeria election graphic

ATIKU ABUBAKAR: The man who wants Nigerians to look back to go forward


PETER OBI: The frugal businessman capturing young Nigerian hearts


BOLA TINUBU: Lagos 'godfather' sets sights on conquering Nigeria


BASIC GUIDE: What you need to know about Nigeria's elections


FULL COVERAGE: Nigeria Elections 2023

Nigeria election graphic