THE Presidential Election Petitions Court on Wednesday ruled that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was at liberty to decide the mode of transmission of election results during the presidential election on February 25, 2023. The five-man panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani said according to Sections 52 and 65 of the Electoral Act 2022, INEC was at liberty to prescribe the manner in which election results were transmitted during the poll. The Tribunal consequently dismissed the petition of the Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, which argued that the victory of President Bola Tinubu of the…
Author: Abdullahi Maitama Sani
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THE Presidential Election Petitions Court has dismissed the claim of the Labour Party (LP) and Peter Obi seeking to disqualify Bola Tinubu over the forfeiture of the sum of $460,000 in a US court. Ruling on that ground of the petition, Justice Haruna Tsammani held that the petitioners “evidently failed” to establish the case as provided in Section 137(1)(d) of the Nigerian Constitution. Justice Tsammani held that the petitioners failed to prove that the allegation at the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division wherein Tinubu was ordered to forfeit $460,000, was criminal case. He added that…
THE Presidential Election Petitions Court has ruled that the All Progressives Congress (APC) lacks the locus standi to challenge Peter Obi’s membership of the Labour Party (LP). APC and Bola Tinubu had in their petitions argued that Obi’s name was not contained in the list of LP members forwarded to INEC on April 25, 2022 and breached Section 77 of the Electoral Act, 2022. But in the lead judgment on the objections by the APC against the petitions of Obi and the LP, Justice Abba Bello Mohammed (before he handed over the ruling to Justice Haruna Tsammani) held that the…
THE Presidential Election Petitions Court has held that the Labour Pary (LP) and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, failed to prove how they scored the majority of lawful votes in the February 25 presidential election. In the lead judgment read by Justice Abba Bello Mohammed, said the LP made generic allegations of irregularities, suppression of votes and corrupt practices to rob them of their votes, especially in Rivers, Benue, Lagos, Taraba, Imo and Osun states but failed to specify the polling units affected. Justice Mohammed further held that LP also failed to prove the allegations of overvoting against the All…
THE Presidential Election Petitions Court has declared that it lacks the powers to hear the petition of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) challenging the qualification of President Bola Tinubu and Kashim Shettima. Reading the lead judgment on Wednesday, Justice Haruna Tsammani held that the issues brought before the tribunal are pre-election matters, which ought to have been at a high court. He added that the timeframe of 180 days within which to determine the issue had elapsed. “In Alhassan and others versus Ishaku and others, it was held that an election tribunal has no jurisdiction on the primary of a…
VICE President Kashim Shettima, chieftains of the Labour Party (LP), governors and chieftains of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are on the ground at the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal (PEPT) ahead of the court’s verdict. The APC governors present are those of Kogi, Yahaya Bello; Nassarawa, Abdullahi Sule; Imo, Hope Uzodimma; Ekiti, Biodun Oyebanji; Yobe’s Mai Mala Buni. APC National Chairman Abdullahi Ganduje; the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, and the chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu are also around. Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State is among the top PDP…
FOR millions of Nigerians and international observers, the wait for the judgments of the Presidential Election Petitions Court is over with the cockcrow of Wednesday (today). With bated breath, many will stay glued to their digital devices for the televised live proceedings from the Tribunal venue at the Court of Appeal in Abuja, the nation’s political capital. The curiosity mixed with anxiety are palpable from Port Harcourt in Southern Nigeria to Potiskum in faraway Northern region and from Yola to Oyo as Nigerians turn their eyes to the judiciary for its verdict on the February 25, 2023 keenly contested presidential…
THE Police in Republic of Benin, a neighbouring West African country, has detained the Editor of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), Damilola Ayeni. Ayeni was arrested by Benin authorities while on a trip to the country for the second session of a Nigeria-Benin environmental journalism report in the largest city in their northern region, according to FIJ. In a report, FIJ said it received a distress text from Ayeni but it was deleted within seconds of delivery on one of its communication channels. The text read: “I have just been arrested.” The report said no other message followed the…
A FORMER Governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi, on Tuesday, said the protest that trailed the fuel subsidy removal during the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2012 was due to political interests. Fayemi said this in his keynote address delivered at a national dialogue organised to celebrate the 60th birthday celebration of the founding National Secretary of Alliance for Democracy and Fellow, Abuja School of Social and Political Thought, Professor Udenta Udenta in Abuja. The programme was attended by Jonathan, former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili; former Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka, among others. This newspaper reports…
SOME government ministries, departments and agencies in Abuja are currently shut in solidarity with the two-day nationwide strike declared by the Nigeria Labour Congress, this newspaper observed. Our correspondent who visited the Federal Secretariat on Tuesday morning alongside other major areas such as the popular radio house which houses some agencies under the Ministry of Information and National Orientation observed that the areas were deserted as workers decided to stay back home. Banks located in the areas surveyed were also under lock and key. Our correspondent who visited one of the major commercial banks located at the Federal Secretariat was…
THE 14th Emir of Kano, Khalifa Muhammadu Sanusi II, has said the purported economic growth in Nigeria over the last eight years was nothing but a lie. Khalifa, who is a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), stated this during his regular Islamic teaching sessions over the weekend. According to leader of the Tijjaniyya Order in Nigeria, the former President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration was to be blamed for the current economic crises being experienced by Nigerians and not his successor – President Bola Tinubu. Khalifa Sanusi explained that the excessive borrowing by the Buhari government crippled Nigeria’s…
AHEAD of the Wednesday’s judgment to be delivered by the Presidential Election Petition Court, the Presidency says that President Bola Tinubu is not worried about the outcome of the court. “He (Tinubu) is not worried simply because he knows he won the election,” said presidential spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Monday monitored by News Point Nigeria. According to Ngelale, the President sees no need to threaten judicial officers, saying that the judiciary is in the best position to make independent decision based on the merits of the case before it. “The President sees no need…
THE leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has boycotted the meeting convened by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong, with a view to averting the two-day warning strike already declared by the organised labour. Our correspondent, who is currently covering the meeting, reports that only the leadership of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) by its President, Festus Osifo, showed for the meeting slated for 3pm but started at exactly 5:52pm. The meeting has currently gone into a closed-door session, with the minister appealing to the journalists to excuse the stakeholders to deliberate on critical issues. The NLC…
PRESIDENT Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Monday received briefings from service chiefs on their ongoing operations ahead of his proposed trip to India to attend the G-20 summit. The second regular routine national security council meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja was attended by Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa; Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt-General Taoreed Lagbaja; Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Hassan Abubakar, and Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla. This newspaper reports that the meeting on general security situation in the country, including review of areas where the service chiefs…
THE Department of State Services (DSS) says it has uncovered plans by some elements in parts of the country to stage violent protests in order to discredit the Federal Government and security agencies over sundry socio-economic matters. The agency’s spokesman Peter Afunanya raised the alarm in an early Monday statement but said the DSS has identified the ring leaders of the plot. “The Department of State Services (DSS) hereby informs the public that it has uncovered plans by some elements in parts of the country to stage violent protests in order to discredit the Federal Government and security agencies over…
PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu will jet to New Delhi, India, on Monday to attend the G-20 Leaders’ Summit, his spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, has said. In a statement on Sunday made available to News Point Nigeria, Ngelale said the President will be departing Abuja for the summit in India on the special invitation of Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. The President will travel to India alongside the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar; Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun; Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy Bosun Tijani; and Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment, Doris Uzoka-Anite.…
THE bickering over the Contract for Service Boat Operations Monitoring Agent in the pilotage districts of Lagos, Warri, Bonny/ Port-Harcourt and Calabar came to an end on Wednesday with the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) giving the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) a No-Objection approval to engage contractors who had been pre-qualified for the job. With the issuance of the Certificate of No-Objection dated August 30, 2023, the new firms are now due to take over the Service Boat Operations Monitoring contract previously handled for years by Intels. The new companies approved for engagement by the BPP are ICA Logistics Limited…
IN its desperate effort to avert the Nigeria Labour Congress’ warning strike scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, the Federal Government says it is ready to meet with the labour union on Monday. However, the labour union said there was no going back on the two-day warning strike, even as it affirmed that it remained open to negotiations with the government despite breaking its previous promises. Already, some state chapters of the NLC said they were ready to proceed with the strike, while some others said their executive committee would meet on Monday as a precursor to the strike. The NLC…
PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has recalled all ambassadors, both career and non-career. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, disclosed this on Saturday, September 2. Tuggar’s Adviser on Media and Communications Strategy, Alkasim Abdulkadir, in a statement, confirmed that all Nigerian ambassadors have been recalled. The statement confirming the recall of the ambassadors states: “Sequel to the inquiries on the letter recalling the Nigerian ambassador to the UK, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, has clarified that all career ambassadors and non-career ambassadors have been recalled on the instructions of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. “Ambassadors as representatives of…
KANO state Governor, Alhaji Abba Kabiru Yusuf has described Nigeria’s Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima as a gentleman of proven integrity, intellect and wisdom whose visionary and exemplary leadership has positively impacted on the lives of millions of Nigerians over the years. This was contained in a letter of felicitation signed by the Governor to the vice president as he clocks 57 years today, Saturday. Governor Yusuf expressed optimism on the capacity of Shettima to provide enormous contributions towards general development of the country as demonstrated during his two-term tenure as the Governor of Borno State. “I am very optimistic…