Day: 6 September 2023

The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal has declared that the Federal Capital Territory does not hold a higher status than other states in the country. Justice Haruna Tsammani, the lead judge of the five-man panel declared this during the tribunal’s sitting on Wednesday in Abuja. According to him, Section 134 (1) and (2) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended) stipulates that a presidential candidate must attain or score a majority of votes cast in a presidential election, where two or more candidates are involved, and at least 25% in…

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The Nigeria Labour Congress, on Wednesday, asked workers under its affiliate unions to return to work on Thursday (tomorrow). This is coming after the end of the union’s two-day warning strike, which it claimed was meant to draw the attention of the government to the hardship being faced by Nigerians as a result of the petrol subsidy removal. The directive was contained in a letter dated September 6, 2023, with the title, ‘The Two-Day Nationwide Warning Strike: Nigerian Workers have spoken’. In the letter signed by the NLC President, Comrade…

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The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal, on Wednesday, upheld the election of President Bola Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 presidential election. The five-man panel of the Tribunal was led by Justice Haruna Tsammani. This development followed petitions filed by the Peoples Democratic Party and its presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar; the Labour Party and its candidate, Peter Obi, challenging the victory of Tinubu as the winner of the presidential election announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission on March 1. Tinubu scored a total of 8,794,726 votes to defeat…

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Social media users have started reacting to trending video photos and video clips of some prominent Nigerians and lawyers who were captured on TV sleeping during the proceedings of the presidential election petitions Tribunal Wednesday. Those seen dozing off some hours into the court session include the former Kano governor and national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Umar Ganduje; Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo; Bauchi state governor, Bala Mohammed, lawyers and some journalists. The judgment is on three cases challenging the outcome of the February 25…

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The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal has affirmed the Independent National Electoral Commission’s discretion to determine the mode of election result transmission for the presidential election held on February 25, 2023. The five-member panel, led by Justice Haruna Tsammani, referred to Sections 52 and 65 of the Electoral Act 2022, which granted INEC the freedom to prescribe the method of transmitting election results during the poll. The Tribunal dismissed the petition filed by the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, which sought to annul the victory of President Bola…

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The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal has struck out some aspects of the petitions presented by the People Democratic Party’s presidential candidate in the February polls, Atiku Abubakar. ⁣ ⁣ The struck out portions include those in which the PDP claimed that Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress was unqualified to contest the last presidential election.⁣ ⁣ In the judgment on some motion by the respondents, the court held that while the petitioners claimed that Tinubu did not meet the constitutional threshold to enable him to contest the election, they…

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The Julius Abure led faction of the Labour Party (LP) has rejected the judgments of the Presidential Election Petitions Court in the party’s petitions challenging the electoral victory of President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the February 25, 2023 poll just as the other faction of the party led by Lamidi Apapa accepted the judgement declaring that the party’s standard flag bearer, Peter Obi went on a goose chase. In a statement after the verdict of the Tribunal on Wednesday, LP’s National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh,…

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The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal, on Wednesday afternoon, dismissed the petition of the ruling All Progressives Congress challenging the eligibility of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, to contest the 2023 general election. The APC had challenged Obi’s membership of LP, declaring it incompetent. Justice Abba Mohammed, a member of the five-member panel that read the lead judgment, said membership in a political party is an internal affair. President Bola Tinubu and Vice-President Kashim Shettima had contended that they had the locus standi to institute the petition…

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The Kogi State Election Petitions Tribunal has declared Natasha Akpoti-Uduagan of the Peoples Democratic Party as the winner of the Kogi Central Senatorial election held in February. It also invalidated the victory of Senator Abubakar Ohere of the All Progressives Congress. The Tribunal Chairman, Justice K. A. Orjiako, delivered the unanimous judgment of the three-man panel, revealing that Sen. Ohere’s results were inflated in nine polling units in the Ajaokuta Local Government Area. He added that the Independent National Electoral Commission reduced Natasha’s results in those areas and omitted the…

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The Presidential Election Petitions Court on Wednesday said the presidential candidate of the Labour Pary (LP) Peter Obi failed to specify how they scored the majority of lawful votes in the February 25 presidential election. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Bola Tinubu as the winner of the 2023 presidential election, defeating Obi, Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and other candidates. In his petition, Obi and the Labour Party said they won the election and should be declared winner. At the ongoing Presidential Election Petition…

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The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal said it rejected 10 out of 13 witnesses presented by the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi. Justice Haruna Tsammani, who took over to deliver judgment on the substantive petition filed by Obi and LP, said this on Wednesday. Tsammani said Obi called 13 witnesses, who testified as PW1 to PW13, noting that of the 13 witnesses, only three witnesses whose statements are on oath, were filed along with the petition. The remaining 10 witnesses, the Justice said, were subpoenaed and their witness…

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The Presidential Election Petition Court has struck out the Allied Peoples Movement petitions against President Bola Tinubu and his Vice President, Kashim Shettima, for lack of merit. The PEPC dismissed and described APM’s case filed to nullify Tinubu’s election as “incompetent”. The court held that issues raised by the APM in its petition contained pre-election matters that could only be determined by the Federal High Court. Chairman of the panel, Justice Haruna Tsammani, read the ruling. The tribunal also dismissed the APM petition against the Independent National Electoral Commission and…

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The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal has struck out about 17 paragraphs from the petition brought before it by Peter Obi and the Labour Party. The court struck out the paragraphs for containing “vague and generic allegations”. A member of the tribunal’s five-member panel, Justice Abba Mohammed, read the lead judgment. Obi and LP are complainants in the petition marked CA/PEPC/03/2023, challenging the election which brought Tinubu to power on May 29. The petitioners made allegations of irregularities and said they would rely on spreadsheets, inspection reports and forensic analysis filed…

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Edo State Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu, has withdrawn the lawsuit he filed at the Federal High Court aimed at thwarting alleged efforts by Governor Godwin Obaseki to unseat him from office, citing reconciliatory efforts of party elders in the state. Shaibu, in a circular dated September 5, 2023, referred to the lawsuit with Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1027/2023, which listed the Inspector General of Police, State Security Service, the Governor of Edo State, and the Chief Judge of Edo State as defendants. He clarified that his decision to retract the lawsuit stemmed…

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