Category: News

Former Vice President and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, on Tuesday, said he was not worried that the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, would be sworn in on May 29, before the conclusion of petitions seeking to nullify his election victory.

Atiku, who is currently challenging the declaration of Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, as winner of the presidential election that held on February 25, said he was hopeful that he would reclaim his mandate in court.

Speaking through his lead counsel, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, shortly after the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, sitting in Abuja, consolidated his petition with the ones that were filed by candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi and the Allied Peoples Movement, APM, Atiku, maintained that the court, has the powers to sack Tinubu from office, even after the swearing in ceremony.

Noting that full blown hearing on the three merged petitions would commence on May 30, a day after Tinubu’s swearing in as President, the PDP candidate, through his team of f lawyers, said: “I have been asked about May 29, I want to assure people that swearing in is only a ceremony that does not in any way tie the hands of the court.

“The taking of oath binds the person who takes the oath and not the court

“The court has given you its timelines for parties to present their case. We are happy that with the development, the petitions will be expeditiously determined, ” Atiku’s lawyer, Uche, SAN, added.

It will be recalled that the Justice Haruna Tsammani-led five-member panel had during the presentation of its pre-hearing report on Tuesday, okayed Atiku’s request to be use three weeks to present evidence before the court, through 100 witnesses.

Atiku had in his joint petition with the PDP, marked: CA/PEPC/05/2023, maintained that the declaration of Tinubu as winner of the presidential election was “invalid by reason of non- compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022”.

He argued that Tinubu’s election was invalid by reason of corrupt practices.

Aside from praying the court to declare him winner of the presidential election, having secured the second highest number of votes cast, Atiku and the PDP applied for the withdrawal of the Certificate of Return that was already issued to Tinubu by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

Meanwhile, the President-elect, Tinubu, has barred his legal team from speaking to newsmen throughout the duration hearing of the petitions seeking to invalidate his election victory.

The lead counsel that appeared for the APC at the resumed proceedings on Tuesday, Chief Niyi Akintola, SAN, made the disclosure in the open court after the panel gave a hint that it may ban both lawyers and members of the public from entering the courtroom with their mobile phones and other electronic gadgets.

Justice Tsammani said the decision was based on the need to enhance security within the courtroom and to protect the sanctity of the proceedings.

Responding, Chief Akintola, SAN, said: “My lords, that is why those of us that are representing the 2nd and 3rd respondents (Tinubu and APC), are acting on strict instructions.

“We have taken a decision not to talk to the press. We have 38 SANs in our team and my lords, in fact, the penalty for anyone that goes against the instruction and speaks to the press after every proceeding, is expulsion from the team,” he added.

Vanguard

The Presidential Election Petition Court has consolidated all the petitions filed by the three petitioners, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), and the Allied Peoples’ Movement (APM), and their presidential candidates.

The Chairman of the Tribunal, Justice Haruna Tsamani, made this known on Tuesday while presenting the court pre-hearing report.

All three parties are challenging the outcome of the February 25 presidential election, in which the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Bola Tinubu, was declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

Tinubu polled 8,794,726 votes, while PDP’s Atiku Abubakar scored Abubakar 6,984,520 votes and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Peter Obi, finished with a tally of 6,101,533.

The Tribunal, in Tuesday’s proceeding at the Court of Appeal in Abuja, said the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, had three weeks to prove their case.

To ensure a speedy hearing of the Labour Party’s petition, there will be no oral examination of witnesses as what will be required is the adoption of witness statements.

For a star (or expert) witness, 30 minutes shall be used for evidence in chief while 20 minutes will be for cross-examination and 5 minutes for re-examination.

Peter Obi’s hearing is to commence on May 30 and end June 23.

Presenting the hearing report, Justice Misitura Bolaji-Yusuf said the APM is being given one day to prove its case as it had only one witness to call.

In line with Section 41(3) of the 1st Schedule of the Electoral Act, the court added that there shall be no oral examination of witnesses as witnesses will only be allowed to adopt their written statements.

APM’s hearing will begin on May 30 to end July 3 and is expected to close its evidence on June 6.

For the PDP, Atiku has three weeks to prove his case,with hearing commencing on May 30 and ending on June 20.

The First Respondent (INEC) was given two days, while the 2nd and 3rd respondents (Tinubu and APC) have five days.

Hearing for the consolidated suit is to commence on May 30 across the board while Labour Party and the PDP would close theirs on June 23.

The Tribunal is also expected to sit all week, including Saturdays.

Petitions Filed

Back in March, LP and Obi had filed a petition at the Tribunal, challenging Tinubu’s declaration as the winner of the presidential election.

The petition marked CA/PEPC/03/2023 has INEC, Tinubu, his running mate Senator Kashim Shettima, and the APC as the 1st to 4th respondents.

The petitioners are praying for the tribunal to declare Tinubu as not duly elected with a majority of the lawful votes cast. They want an order mandating INEC to retrieve the certificate of return issued to the APC candidate and issue a fresh one to Obi.

APM and the Action Alliance (AA) lodged similar petitions.

The petition by AA and its presidential candidate, Solomon Okanigbuan, was marked CA/PEPC/01/2023, that of the APM was marked CA/PEPC/04/2023.

However, the AA withdrew its case earlier this month.

Within hours, the PDP and Atiku filed their petition marked CA/PEPC/03/2023, which also has INEC, Tinubu, Shettima, and the APC as the 1st to 4th respondents.

Channels TV

Nigeria’s president-elect, Bola Tinubu, on Monday, urged the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja not to harmonise the three pending petitions challenging his victory.

Mr Tinubu’s victory at the 25 February presidential election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is being challenged in three separate petitions pending before the court.

Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, Labour Party’s Peter Obi and the Allied Peoples Democratic (APM) filed their petitions in March to challenge the outcome of the poll.

The petitions, containing largely similar complaints, accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of widespread irregularities during the conduct of the presidential election.

Atiku and Mr Obi, in their separate suits are urging the court to either declare them president or nullify Mr Tinubu’s victory and order a fresh poll.

The APM on the other hand is praying for the court to declare Atiku president.

Last week, the court asked lawyers of parties in the petitions to address it on the provisions of paragraph 50 of the Fourth Schedule of the Electoral Act, 2022, which allow the court to consolidate the petitions.

Why petitions shouldn’t be consolidated

At the resumption of the court’s pre-hearing session on Monday, Mr Tinubu’s lawyer, Akin Olujinmi, appealed to the five-member panel of the court led by Haruna Tsammani not to consolidate the petitions.

Mr Olujinmi, a former Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), argued that consolidating the suit would undermine the “interest of justice.”

“The interest of justice in these petitions should be a restraint on the power of this court in granting a consolidation of these petitions,” he said during the pre-hearing session of the APM’s petition on Monday.

While Mr Olujinmi conceded that some of the petitioners’ prayers were similar, he said “some issues are not the same”.

“The counsel representing the petitioners and respondents are different and the grounds of the petitions are different.

“It will be overreaching for the respondents if consolidation is granted. We most humbly urge my Lords not to grant consolidation,” Mr Olujinmi said.

Arguing in the same fashion, APC’s lawyer, Charles Uwensuyi-Edosomwan, said consolidating the petitions would be “unwieldy.”

“We are opposing the consolidation of the petitions. The interest of justice will not be served by a consolidation of all of these petitions,” Mr Uwensuyi-Edosomwan, a SAN, said.

He contended that “The trial of the petitions will be unwieldy, and the substance of the case will be lost.”

But INEC’s lawyer, Kemi Pinero, neither supported nor objected to the consolidation of the petitions.

Similarly, APM’s lawyer, S A T Abubakar, did not object to the consolidation of the petitions.

Similar debate is expected to come up during the hearing of the cases of the PDP and the Labour Party.

Meanwhile, the inauguration of the president-elect, Mr Tinubu, whose election is still being challenged in court, is about a week away.

The election petition hearing is expected to drag on till September. This will be followed by another lap of hearing at the Supreme Court where parties displeased with the outcome of the eventual decision of the Presidential Election Petition Court are entitled to appeal to.

Premium Times

The Presidential Election Petitions Court sitting in Abuja has rejected application for live transmission of its proceedings.

Atiku Abubakar, Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Peter Obi, Presidential Candidate of Labour Party had made the request, which was objected to by Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), winner of the February 25 presidential poll.

The Chairman of the Presidential Election Petition Court, Justice Haruna Tsammani, has dismissed the application for live coverage of court proceedings.

At the 2023 Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal (PEPT) sitting in Abuja on Monday, the justice said the application by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP) lacked merit.

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, had filed an application on May 8 for an order to allow the live coverage of the daily court proceedings on the case they brought against the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, following the February 25 election.

The Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, followed suit with a similar application asking that proceedings of the tribunal be televised.

However, a week later, Tinubu opposed the application for a live broadcast of the proceedings of the election petition, describing it as an abuse of court process.

Channels TV/Daily Trust

In a bid to prove their petitions challenging the declaration of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 presidential election, the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and  that of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, on Saturday disclosed that they would present no fewer than 150 witnesses at the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) sitting in Abuja to give evidence of the irregularities and substantial non-compliance with the electoral laws during the conduct of the election.

This is as the PEPC disclosed its intention to consolidate the three different petitions that are seeking to nullify the outcome of the 2023 presidential election.

While Atiku and the PDP listed 100 witnesses to prove their petitions, Obi and the Labour Party would present 50.

In the same vein, Tinubu on his part said he would call 39 witnesses to defend his victory at the poll.

Tinubu’s witnesses will also include those to be subpoenaed.

However, the electoral umpire on its part planned to call just two witnesses to disprove the allegations of the petitioners against the declaration of Tinubu as President-elect.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) on whose platform Tinubu won the presidential poll, also said that it would call 25 witnesses to establish the victory in addition to those to be subpoenaed.

Atiku and PDP disclosed this through their lawyer, Chief Chris Uche (SAN), at Saturday’s pre-hearing session.

Atiku requested three weeks to call 100 witnesses to prove his case against Tinubu.

According to him, the witnesses will include those already listed before the court and those to be subpoenaed.

The former vice president and his party, at the resumed proceedings before the PEPC, disclosed that among those he has lined up to testify in the matter, are expert witnesses and those he would ask the court to compel to mount the witness box.

“We may not even exhaust the three weeks because the issues are getting narrower, “Atiku’s lawyer, Uche added.

On his part, Obi said he would require seven weeks to present his case before the court.

Addressing the court through his team of lawyers led by Prof. Awa Kalu (SAN), Obi said he was constrained to demand for the seven weeks, owing to “a few hiccups” he encountered at INEC.

“My lords, we still have a few hiccups at INEC because of the order that was made by this court on March 8, directing them to allow us to carry out a forensic examination of the BVAS. They have not allowed us.

“We are also waiting for some documents we requested from them,” Kalu added.

He told the court that the parties agreed to give 30 minutes for star witnesses in the matter to present their evidence-in-chief, excluding the time for possible demonstration of any electronic evidence.

Whereas Obi’s lawyer disclosed that parties agreed to use 20 minutes each to cross-examine the witnesses, another five minutes would be used for their re-examination.

Responding to Atiku, the electoral body, through its lawyer, Abubakar Mahmood (SAN), told the court that it would only call two witnesses.

On his part, the President-elect, Tinubu, said he would only need two days to deflate Atiku’s case.

Tinubu’s lead counsel at the proceedings, Mr. Roland Otaru (SAN), further disclosed that his client would call 39 witnesses to testify before the court, not excluding other persons he may apply to be subpoenaed to appear before the court.

On its part, counsel to the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Solomon Umoh (SAN), said it would also need two days to call 39 witnesses before the court.

Also, in responding to Obi, INEC, through its lawyer, Mahmood, said it had no agreement with either Obi or the LP on time to be allocated to the witnesses.

The electoral body equally denied being aware of any hiccups being faced by the petitioners.

“I have no knowledge of such hiccups. I had earlier assured the lead counsel for the petitioners, Dr. Livy Uzoukwu (SAN), that I would be available to assist him in any way that I can, should he encounter any difficulty.

“So far, I have not received such a complaint from him”.

INEC, which is the first respondent in the matter, said it would need three days to present its two witnesses.

The President-elect, Tinubu, through his lawyer, Otaru, said he would require nine days to call a total of 21 witnesses, excluding expert witnesses, to defend his election victory.

Likewise, counsel for the APC, Mr Niyi Akintola, (SAN), said the party would call only seven witnesses, excluding those to be subpoenaed, to testify in the matter.

The APC said it would require only nine days to defend Tinubu’s election, adding that Obi and the LP only frontloaded statements of only three witnesses.

Meanwhile, all the respondents said they must be given 48 hours’ notice before any expert witness would be brought to testify in the matter.

PEPC Moves to Consolidate Atiku, Obi, APM’s petitions against Tinubu

Meanwhile, the PEPC has disclosed its intention to consolidate the three different petitions that are seeking to nullify the outcome of the 2023 presidential election.

The petitions are those filed by the presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku, the PDP; the presidential candidate of Labour Party, Obi, and LP and the Allied Peoples Movement (APM).

Consequently, the court, at its resumed proceedings yesterday, said it was empowered by Paragraph 50 of the First Schedule to the Electoral Act, to merge all the petitions and determine them together.

However, Uche (SAN), who is the lead counsel for Atiku, pleaded to the court for time to consult his client.

“My lords, we will not say that we have not looked at it, but perhaps it may require consultation with the other petitioners.

“We, therefore, ask for a stand down or an adjournment so that we can explore the modalities since this is like a marriage which is a union between two consenting adults,” Uche added.

On its part, INEC threw its weight behind the planned consolidation of the petitions.

“My lords, my personal conviction is that the provision is mandatory. It clearly stated that if there are two petitions or more that are filed to nullify the same election or return, it must be consolidated, unless the court directs otherwise.

“We are happy with the provision of the law and we are also happy with whatever position your lordships will take with respect to this matter,” INEC’s lead counsel, Mr. Abubakar Mahmood (SAN), told the court.

However, Otaru (SAN), who appeared on behalf of the President-elect, Tinubu, and the Vice President-elect, Senator Kashim Shettima, said he would need time to consult.

“My lords, I will need to consult Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), who is the lead counsel in this matter,” he pleaded.

The Justice Haruna Tsammani-led five-member panel subsequently adjourned till Monday for the parties to report the outcome of their consultations on the issue of consolidation of all the petitions.

It will be recalled that INEC had on March 1, announced Tinubu of the APC as the winner of the presidential poll, ahead of 17 other candidates that contested the election.

It declared that Tinubu scored a total of 8,794,726 votes to defeat the two major contenders, Atiku of the PDP, who came second with a total of 6,984,520 votes, and Obi of LP, who came third with a total of 6,101,533 votes.

However, dissatisfied with the outcome of the election, Atiku, Obi, and APM lodged petitions before the court.

They maintained that Tinubu was not duly elected by the maj ority of lawful votes cast at the election.

Arise News

The federal government and striking doctors have reached a truce over the ongoing industrial action.

This followed a meeting the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, held with the leadership of Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) and the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), where a Memorandum of Understanding was signed.

The meeting, which started on Friday evening and ended on Saturday, had the President of NMA, Dr Uche Ojinmah, and his counterpart from NARD, Dr Emeka Orji, among other government officials in attendance.

Giving an update on what transpired, the spokesman of the Ministry, Olajide Oshundun, told journalists that the parties – FG, NMA and NARD had reached a truce in order to halt the five-day nationwide warning strike of resident doctors.

According to him, all the eight issues raised by the striking resident doctors have been addressed, adding that the fund for the payment of the 2023 Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF) has been captured in the 2023 Appropriation and the payment would commence when the operation of the 2023 Budget begins.

He said the federal government advised striking resident doctors across the country to embrace more persuasion and social dialogue at the state levels in order to have their issues resolved.

It also said the states cannot be compelled to domesticate the Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF) and must not pay the same amount being paid by the federal government.

Daily Trust

The Presidential Election Petitions Court has adjourned till May 22 to rule on the applications for a live broadcast of proceedings and the modalities for witnesses.

A five-member panel of justices presided by Justice Haruna Tsammani Saturday also announced that the adjourned date will also be used to modify the modalities agreed by parties for the main hearing.

The parties had earlier argued their positions on the application separately made by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar and the Labour Party (LP) candidate, Peter Obi for the live broadcast of the court’s proceedings with INEC, Tinubu and APC objecting.

The parties in the matter also agreed on modalities for the testimonies of witnesses during the main hearing.

Counsel to the PDP and Atiku, Chris Uche (SAN) informed the court that they agreed to allocate more time for the main examination of star witnesses and expert witnesses for 30 minutes, cross-examination 20 minutes and any re-examination five minutes.

He informed the court that although the law permits seven weeks to present their witnesses, they would need only about three weeks to do so.

The parties in the petitions of LP also agreed to allocate 30 minutes to expert or star witnesses, while other witnesses will have 10 minutes.

Cross-examination and re-examination will be 20 and five minutes respectively.

The court adjourned for the final judgement the applications by INEC, Tinubu and APC seeking to strike out some paragraphs in Obi’s reply to their motion to strike out new issues raised in his reply over the double nomination of the APC vice-presidential candidate, Shettima.

Daily Trust

The Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier General Yusha’u Dogara Ahmed, has distanced the Scheme from the Discharge Certificate in possession of the Enugu State Governor-elect, Mr Peter Mbah.

Reacting to the DG, the PDP, Enugu State faulted the claim by the Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brig Gen Yusha’u Dogara Ahmed, that he told the Governor-elect of Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah, that his discharge certificate was not issued by the NYSC.

The party, however, said his claim was in sync with the agency’s conspiracy, deceit, and wilful misrepresentation of facts, which necessitated Mbah’s N20 Billion lawsuit against it.

It equally described as an irony a situation where the DG said he would not want to comment on the matter since it was in court, only to go ahead to not only deny knowledge of the lawsuit and consequent court order, but also to act in clear contempt of the court.

The Director of Communications and Spokesperson of the Enugu State PDP Campaign Council for the 2023 general elections, Barr. Nana Ogbodo, stated these at a press conference on Friday where he reacted to an interview by the NYSC DG on Arise News earlier in the day.

“We should have viewed with surprise the false claim by the NYSC DG, Brigadier-General Yushau’u Dogara Ahmed, on national television this morning. But he has not said anything new, as his statements were in sync with the continued conspiracy, deceit, and wilful misrepresentation of facts by the agency and its Director of Corps Certification, Mr. Ibrahim Muhammad, which necessitated Mbah’s N20 Billion lawsuit against the agency and Mr. Muhammad in the first place.

“The DG lied when he claimed that he told Mbah during a meeting in his office that the NYSC did not issue his certificate. The truth is that he told Mbah that the Director in question neither briefed nor cleared with him before issuing the letter dated February 1, 2023 disclaiming Dr. Mbah’s discharge certificate.

“He equally expressed surprise when Mbah showed him the letter by the NYSC national headquarters dated 7th May 2003 (reference number NYSC/DHQ/CM/27/20) to the State Director, Lagos, NYSC, re-mobilising him for the remaining part of his service year after a break, by the express and written permission of the agency, to complete Bar Part II (Bar Final).

“Excerpt from the re-mobilisation letter states: ‘I am directed to refer to your letter of 24th April, Reference No. LA/01/1532/T on the above subject matter and to request you to re-instate the corps member to continue his service year from where he stopped, with effect from May 2003’.

“It is noteworthy that the Directors and staff present at the meeting did not deny that the NYSC authored the letter re-mobilising Mbah, while his place of primary assignment, Udeh & Associates, Lagos, has not denied that it authored the letter reabsorbing him to complete the remaining months of his service year as well as the final clearance letter to enable him receive his NYSC discharge certificate at the end of his service.

“The DG actually told Dr. Mbah that he was barely three months in office at the time, but would resolve the matter with dispatch. But it is striking that the NYSC is yet to formally respond to Mbah’s petition since February 2, 2023. Instead, the NYSC, through its Director of Corps Certification, has continued to issue letters of disclaimer to various political interests in Enugu State, in clear contempt of a subsisting court judgment upholding the authenticity of his certificate and in relentless disparagement of his reputation”, the PDP stated.

The party wondered why Mbah would go through all the rigorous process to serve his fatherland only to end up forging a certificate, saying it was irrational to contemplate.

It underlined the fact that the final verdict on the genuineness or otherwise of Mbah’s NYSC certificate did not rest with the agency, and urged it to face the N20 Billion lawsuit in a court of law where the agency also has the right to subpoena other relevant agencies in the production and authentication of NYSC certificates to give evidence.

“NYSC discharge certificates are printed by the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company PLC. They have security features such as watermarks and serial numbers denoting the batches. We therefore challenge the NYSC to produce any other certificate in the series of Mbah’s certificate that has the same serial number as his.

“Meanwhile it is equally important to point out that the statement by the NYSC DG, Brigadier-General Ahmed is a clear contempt of a valid interim court order sequel to suit number FHC/ABJ/09/611/2023 restraining the agency and its Director of Corps Certification whether by themselves, their directors, officers, servants, legal representatives, counsel or any other person or persons howsoever described and connected, from issuing, publishing or continue to issue, publish disclaimer to the effect that Mbah’s NYSC discharge certificate was not issued by the agency pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit already filed.

“This should not be the way of a body established by law, NYSC cannot be above the law of the land”, the party concluded.

ENDS

Barr. Nana Ogbodo

Director of Communications/Spokesperson

Enugu State PDP Campaign Council

Justice Muhammad Nasir-Yunusa of the Kano Division of the Federal High Court said the candidates who participated in the 2023 general election in Abia were not parties before his court.

Justice Hamza Muazu of a High Court in Abuja, on Friday, granted an order of stay of execution on the suspension of Julius Abure as the Chairman of the Labour Party (LP) and other officials of the party. The others are the National Organising Secretary, Clement Ojukwu and National Treasurer, Oluchi Opara. The court had restrained all of them from parading themselves as LP national officials,