Hundreds of women demonstrated on Friday outside the All Progressives Congress offices in Abuja, calling on Dr. Mary Alile-Idele, the National Women Leader, to step down.

During a visit to the party secretariat, Alile-Idele was charged with carelessness, pursuing personal interests, and allegedly diverting some of the 24,000 wrappers presented by Oluremi Tinubu, the First Lady, and her group.

Singing songs of unity and flying many banners that said, “Enough is Enough!” The offended women pleaded with the First Lady and National Chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, to remove Mary Alile for persistently undermining female party members, chanting, “Mary Alile Resign Now” and “APC Women Leader Must Go.”

Alile-Idele became the substantive national women leader after her predecessor, Dr. Betta Edu, was appointed Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (now suspended) by President Bola Tinubu.

The agitation for her removal comes barely two weeks ago when the First Lady, who was represented by Hajia Nana, the wife of Vice President Kashim Shettima, presented bales of wrappers to Alile and her state women leaders following their outcry the previous week that they had been abandoned by the president despite their contribution to his election victory.

After the donation, Ganduje warned that the women leaders should distribute the fabrics judiciously.

But the protesters led by the Coordinator of ‘Concerned APC Women’, Rebecca Sheneni, told journalists on Friday that it was as if the APC national chairman had a premonition of what would happen, alleging that only 9,000 of the 24,000 fabrics were shared.

The North Central APC member also alleged that rather than pursue a common cause for their benefit, the national women leader has been junketing all over the country promoting the agenda of a pet project in her non-governmental organisation.

She said, “We, the Concerned APC Women Group, an umbrella body for all female members of the governing APC, deem it necessary and imperative to demand the immediate resignation of Mrs Mary Alile-Idele, the National Women Leader of our party.

“We are concerned that since assuming office, Mrs Mary Alile-Idele has displayed incompetence in her role. She appears to be more focused on promoting her Non-Governmental Organisation rather than the party. This is evident in her recent travels to various states to inaugurate her NGO’s executives, instead of promoting the agenda and manifesto of our party to Nigerian women.

“Furthermore, Her Excellency the First Lady provided her with over 24,000 wrappers to distribute to Women leaders and party members, but she only distributed less than 9,000. Where are the rest? We wonder how a UK-based person with no political experience and no record of membership in our party could be considered for this exalted position.

“She prioritises her personal interests over those of the APC, leading to the nomination of her husband for appointment as a member of the University of Port Harcourt Governing Council and various party assignments.

“Considering her numerous misdeeds and misconduct, we call for her immediate removal from the position of the APC. She has demonstrated a high level of incompetence and we have had enough.”

Efforts to get the APC national women leader to react to the allegations proved abortive.

As of the time of filing this story, she has not picked up calls or responded to the SMS and WhatsApp messages sent for clarification.

However, the women leader for Imo State, Mrs Patricia Okuebor-Benson, rose to her defence, saying the allegations were not true.

According to her, virtually all their members across the various states have received their fabrics.

She said, “I am just hearing of this now because nobody told me before. As I speak, the 36 state women leaders and the FCT are in Abuja having a meeting and nobody has accused anybody of anything.

“We don’t know where these women are getting their stories from. I believe every state has received its fabrics. I really don’t know what they are talking about. I think somebody is sponsoring them.

When contacted, a former lawmaker and women leader in Lagos, Jumoke Okoya-Thomas, declined comment, saying she wasn’t aware of the development and couldn’t speak for any of her principals.

“As you can see, I am not in Abuja. I am in Lagos because there is a very important programme that I have to attend. So there is nothing I can say about it,” she pleaded.

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has apologised for the glitch on its results viewing portal.

The results page had gone blank early Friday morning but was later restored after roughly two hours.

At the time of the glitch, the IEC said local offices continued to capture results while its technicians were working on restoring services.

The commission did not state a reason for the disruption but assured that results have not been compromised.

“All services have since been restored and the leaderboard is working normally. Result processing continues unaffected,” the IEC said in a statement.

When the portal returned, results had come in from 54.9 percent of polling stations, giving the ruling African National Congress (ANC) 41.86 percent of votes cast.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) had 23.67 percent while the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) secured 19.98 percent.

A final result near the current preliminary 42 percent would be a steep tumble for the ANC which achieved its lowest victory margin of 57.5 percent in the 2019 elections.

It would also coerce incumbent President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is seeking re-election, to begin negotiations for a coalition government, stoking political uncertainty that could bleed into the country’s shaky economic prospects.

Olusegun Obasanjo, the former president, was criticised by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for how the present administration was handling pending reforms and the coup in the Niger Republic.

It was earlier reported that President Bola Tinubu’s implementation of eliminating petroleum product subsidies and floating the naira was criticised by Obasanjo.

Following the Tinubu government’s removal of the gasoline subsidy and floating of the naira, the populace have been complaining about inflation and the growing cost of food products over the past few months.

In a statement provided the media on Sunday, Obasanjo stated that while Tinubu’s ideas were essential, they were carried out incorrectly.

This was confirmed by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Akinyemi.

The ex-President, according to the statement, spoke in Abuja at the weekend at a colloquium tagged: “Nigeria’s Development: Navigating the Way Out of the Current Economic Crisis and Insecurity.”

“Today, the government has taken three decisions, two of which are necessary but wrongly implemented and have led to the impoverisation of the economy and of Nigerians. These are the removal of subsidy, closing the gap between the black market and official rates of exchange and the third is dealing with a military coup in Niger Republic,” Obasanjo said.

It was the first time he would be openly criticising Tinubu, whom he did not support to become President.

But reacting on Monday,  the APC National Director, Bala Ibrahim, faulted Obasanjo, whom he described as a serial critic.

According to The Punch, Ibrahim said that he feared the former President might be manifesting signs of old age.

He said, “As a Nigerian and someone who respects Obasanjo, I think senility is beginning to come in. Obasanjo is beginning to manifest the symptoms.

“Ever since he lost the bid to have a third term in office, he has consistently attacked every regime that comes after him. He sees himself as the only one who meant well for Nigeria from independence to date. He thinks he is the best and every other leader is bad. And this is not good for a statesman. Nobody has monopoly on knowledge or style of leadership.

“Obasanjo has been consistent in his criticisms of people in leadership positions apart from himself. So, this is not an isolated case. President Bola Tinubu is not the first to be attacked by Obasanjo. Buhari and Jonathan were also victims of his criticisms. He himself did not fare better when he was the leader. In fact, Obasanjo superintended the balkanisation of the Nigerian economy.

“How can he say someone who is trying to put the economy on a better pedestal is not doing the right thing? I am not a spokesman for Tinubu. Even though the party has discussed him to my knowledge, I practically feel Obasanjo has erred as he has always been doing.”