One of the first things that had been cited as evidence of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu showing courage and wisdom and hitting the ground running as the 16^th President of Nigeria, has been his announcement that “fuel subsidy is gone”. In his inaugural speech on May 29, 2023, he did not state how but within 24 hours, his rather speculative declaration was given effect. Oil marketers and managers at fuel stations adjusted their operations, shifting prices per litre of petrol upwards. By the following day, the NNPC Limited, the country’s sole supplier of finished product had announced a new template for petrol pricing, from N195 per litre to between N480 and N570 per litre - a more than 200% adjustment in the pump price of petrol. The given excuse is that this is in fulfilment of the All-Progressives Congress (APC) promise during the campaign season in the lead up to the 2023 General elections. The APC was not alone. Indeed, fuel subsidy removal was one of the major issues in the 2023 campaign process. Virtually every major political party promised that the subsidy would be removed. 

The IMF/World Bank in their global outlook for Africa and Nigeria had also advised against retaining fuel subsidy in Nigeria, being a source of wastage and leakage. Nigerian economists also agreed that the subsidy regime was unsustainable. It benefitted only the rich and was a ready source of arbitrage and a vehicle for the smuggling of petrol to neighbouring countries. The subject also gained a legal imprimatur with the passing of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), whose express purpose was to introduce a legal and governance framework to guide activities in the oil and gas sector. By the tenets of the PIA, the subsidy regime was meant to go by 2021. 

Citing what he called “social consequences” that may arise from such action, the Buhari administration, literally postponing the evil day, got the National Assembly to shift the implementation of that part of the law till 18 months later, to coincide with the end of his own tenure as President of Nigeria. As that administration began to wind down, the then Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed continued to remind Nigerians that Nigeria would not be able to fund fuel subsidies beyond May 29, 2023. The extension granted under the two relevant laws, the Petroleum Industry Act (2021), and the 2023 Fiscal Framework and Appropriation Act could not be stretched legally beyond May 29. To do so would be to break the law. In the weeks leading to the end of that administration, we were further told that the outgoing government had decided that the incoming administration should join the Federal Government to take a decision as to what it would do. 

In the weekend leading to the Inauguration of the new administration on Monday, May 29, the National Assembly hurriedly met: Senate first, followed by the House of Representatives to pass amendments extending the 2023 Supplementary Appropriation Act till December 2023, and another Bill amending the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, to give effect to the criminal violation of Section 38 of the Law on the approved threshold for Ways and Means. The Bill as passed moved the threshold from 5% to 15%. Till he handed over the instruments of power, there was no information that Buhari had signed either of the two Bills. He left for Daura, with a promise to cross the border to neighbouring Niger, if anyone tried to drag him into any Nigerian crisis. As he did so, he left behind a debt burden in excess of N77 trillion Naira, debts owed to the country’s major oil company, the NNPCL, totalling N2.4 trillion, a debt service to revenue ratio of over 96%, an inflation rate of 22.24%, an unemployment rate in excess of 33%, an essentially broke country, whose travails were further compounded by insecurity and hopelessness resulting in the Nigerian invention of a “Japa” phenomenon turning Nigerians into asylum and opportunity-seekers in other parts of the world. 

In an attempt to seize ownership of the narrative however, Buhari’s handlers rolled out a number of publications: about four books in which they tried to justify the legacy of the administration, including reports by the Presidential Communication Council (PCC) and the Buhari Media Council (BMC). In a flurry of speeches, the outgoing President himself reminded everyone not to look at the debt overhang that he was leaving behind, but what he did with the borrowings: infrastructure development, reforms, reduction of insecurity, repatriation of stolen loot, the ease of doing business. In more than six months after assuming office, the Buhari administration could not appoint key Ministers or get the government going. The President himself spent more than a year in UK hospitals on medical tourism. 

He began his tour of duty with an ear challenge that had to be treated in the UK. He ended it with a toothache that could only be attended to by specialists in the same UK.  But in fairness to President Buhari, he finished on a physically strong note. His last two weeks in power was characterized by a burst of youthful energy. The Federal Executive Council approved contracts and memos, in one week – 83!. Legacy projects were launched - the Second Niger Bridge, the Dangote Refinery, housing projects etc. President Buhari left behind a much stronger statement as he departed than he did when he arrived. Many have interpreted this to mean that he tried to set a trap for his successor. I don’t think so. After all, the transition that Nigeria has seen is APC to APC, it is more or less the same party remaining in power even if it is the ACN wing of the APC coalition replacing the old ANPP/CPC wing. The former headed by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu formed an alliance with others to get rid of the Jonathan government in 2015. At the risk of sounding superstitious and protean, I think the events of the past week would seem to point to one thing- retributive justice. Karma is truly a bitch. The God of Jonathan would seem to be at work. 

In the Holy Bible (1 and 2 Samuel), the story is well told of Jonathan’s faith in God. He did not ascend to the throne because of his father, Saul’s sin, and he may have died in battle at Mount Gilboa, but students of the Word will remember his valiant outreach against the Philistines. He told his armor bearer: “it may be that the Lord will work for us…”  (1 Samuel 14: 1-15). In the midst of the onslaught on members of the Jonathan administration in 2015, after the general elections of that year, the persecution was so much by the new administration that people advised President Jonathan to speak up to defend his team or pay a visit to President Buhari to protest. One evening, President Jonathan told me in his library: “Reuben there is no point… after God, it is government and government can do and undo. But what I believe is that our God will fight for us”. The reader is advised to fill in the gaps as you may deem fit, but I have chosen to use the above title, advisedly in reference to that 2015 conversation and in the limited context of the current outrage over the fuel subsidy removal debacle. Outrage is even a simple word in the context of the brewing crisis. My friend and brother, Patrick Obahiagbon, the grammarian describes the emerging situation as “supercalifragilisticcepalalidocious.” I have since given up searching for that word in the English language dictionary, simply because I have a deadline to meet to submit this piece to the editor. But Obahiagbon’s word twists the tongue in the same manner in which current events in Nigeria are twisting the mind. 

It is a known fact that in January 2012 when President Jonathan’s administration announced the deregulation of the downstream sector, otherwise known as fuel subsidy removal, the same people who opposed the government and organized protests at Ojota, Lagos, Abuja, Minna, Ilorin, and in other parts of Nigeria, even in London, are the same people who have now since returned to the same original arguments about the non-sustainability of the subsidy regime. When they wanted power, they whipped up sentiments against President Jonathan. At Ojota in Lagos, they carried coffins, they portrayed Jonathan in a derogatory manner, they danced, wore specially made T-shirts, they served designer jollof rice. They called it “Occupy Nigeria.” The Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress were involved and they had the backing of the opposition. There were casualties. The government stood its ground. Then Minister of the Economy and Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, now WTO Director-General threatened to resign if the government reversed itself. The CBN Governor at the time, HRM Sanusi Lamido Sanusi was one of the more outspoken defenders of the simple proposition that fuel subsidy was unsustainable. The Jonathan administration had proposed a 120% increase in the price of petrol. Hell was let loose. In Ojota, speeches were made by civil society leaders: Pastor Tunde Bakare, Dr. Tunji Braithwaite and a host of others. Many believed that the 2012 “Occupy Nigeria” protest was a major cause of the Jonathan administration’s early loss of goodwill. It was all politics though. But ironically, the same people who turned the matter into partisan politics, upon assumption of power in 2015, started by increasing fuel price from N87 per litre to N145, later to N195 and they met little or no resistance indicating that the crisis of 2012 was indeed stage-managed. Not too long ago, a man I respect told me that President Tinubu did not sponsor the protests of 2012. But nobody has denied an article in circulation titled “Removal of Oil Subsidy: President Jonathan breaks social contract with the people – by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu” (January 11, 2012.)

I am tempted to quote the essay in extenso, but I guess, a few excerpts would be adequate. Tinubu wrote inter alia as follows: “I am not calling President Jonathan an evil man. I do not believe he is perverse. However, the economic ideas controlling him are so misguided and that they have a perverse impact. Because he is slave to wrong-headed economics, the people will become enslaved to greater misery. This crisis will bear his name and will be his legacy. The people now pay a steep tax for voting him into office. The removal of the subsidy is the Jonathan tax. This situation shows that ideas count more than personalities. People may occupy office but how that person performs depends on the ideas that occupy his mind.”

He added: “Though someday, Nigeria will have to remove the subsidy the time to do it is not now. This subsidy removal is ill-timed and violates the condition precedent necessary before such a decision is made. First, government needs to clean up and throw away the salad of corruption in the NNPC. Then proceed to lay the foundation for a mass transit system in the railways and road network with long term bonds and fully develop the energy sector towards revitalizing Nigeria’s economy and easing the burden any subsidy removal may have on the people.”That was Tinubu on the marble. 

As a witness to history, I know that before the Jonathan administration announced any deregulation of the downstream sector, the term we used then, he had set up a verification panel to study and advise the government on the subsidy regime. The team under the auspices of the Ministry of Finance was chaired by Aig Aig-Imoukhuede. The committee reported that the subsidy regime was a big scam, the play-field of rent collectors who submit fraudulent claims to the government and that 21 firms had stolen about N383 billion subsidy money. The proposed deregulation was to check rent-collection, inefficiency, arbitrage and smuggling. For these and other reasons, it was submitted that the subsidy regime was unsustainable. Yet another committee was set up to review the submissions of the Aig-Imoukhuede committee. The same conclusions were reached. Then the government embarked on consultations with a broad spectrum of stakeholders. As the President’s spokesperson and media adviser, it was part of my job to take notes and mobilize my team to provide communications infrastructure support. Meetings were held at the main conference centre at the Villa, House 11 and sometimes at the First Lady’s Conference Room. Ahead of the announcement of the fuel subsidy removal as it became known, the Jonathan administration also set up a Subsidy Reinvestment Committee and announced palliatives. Key government officials were given time off to travel to their constituencies to explain to the people that the policy would be in the best interest of the poor.  

I have quoted Asiwaju Tinubu at length. Please has he now heeded his own advice of 2012? He was sworn in as President on May 29, and he promptly slammed fuel subsidy removal on the people. Nobody knows when and how, if any, consultation was carried out. The conversation about subsidy removal has been mainly elitist. Nobody has tried to speak to the people, or give them hope, the same hope that is said to be the original mission of the Tinubu administration. Anderson, Brady and Bullock (1978), E. Young and L. Quinn (2002) and Augustine Eneanya (2020) in their analysis of the public policy making process agree that no matter how valid a public policy may be, it is important to secure multi-stakeholder adoption of the agenda to generate a sense of ownership and easy implementation. By dictating to the people on the first day in office, without even any attempt at communication which is central to policy-making, the Tinubu administration obviously misses the theory and the strategy. Trying to intimidate organized labour, or relying on the politics of divide and rule also misses the point. Social problems are complex, they cannot be resolved with arrogance or hypocrisy as has been well-exposed. 

Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Peter Obi and Atedo Peterside have reportedly asked President Tinubu to apologize to President Jonathan. Of what use would the apology be in the circumstance? Buhari has thrown the Gordian knot into Tinubu’s laps. He should untie it. The irony is that his own hands are tied.  He won’t be able to blame Buhari for the problems of Nigeria as Buhari did to his own predecessor. Act One, Scene One: we will watch as the movie unfolds. 

The Canadian Association of African Studies (CAAS) has awarded the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award to Toyin Falola, a professor of History, University Distinguished Teaching Professor and the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at the University of Texas, Austin. CAAS is the preeminent association of Canadian scholars studying Africa. The Lifetime Achievement Award is the highest honour of CAAS. Therefore, it is rarely bestowed.

For context, no scholar received this honour in my three years on the board of CAAS as vice president, president and past president (2019-2022). The latest in Professor Falola’s constellation of global awards represents another acknowledgment of the worldwide status of the Bobapitan of Ibadanland. As a former president of CAAS, I know the painstaking process involved in the adjudication of CAAS awards. I am particularly delighted that Baba Falola, as we all call him, is recognised in this manner.

It was unusually fitting that York University, Toronto, was the venue of the conferment. Falola was a professor at York University between 1990 and 1991. He had also previously delivered keynote addresses at the CAAS signature annual gatherings and helped to organise the conference in 1991. The president of CAAS, Nduka Otiono, a professor and director of the Institute of African Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, noted that the “esteemed accolade recognises (Falola’s) exceptional contributions, unwavering dedication, and profound impact on the field of African Studies in Canada and beyond.”

 The United States took Falola from Canada but his influence is very much like he never left. The University of Texas, Austin has somehow managed to hold on to Professor Falola. I am curious about how Texas has done that since 1991.

I met Professor Falola at the 2016 Africa conference at the University of Texas, Austin. I was immediately struck by his fine magnetic personality. You immediately felt an instant connection as you would a family member. The annual conference convened by Falola is an excellent gathering and for some young scholars, their first international conference outside Africa. The conference also attracts senior scholars and university administrators across Africa and the diaspora.

Toyin Falola received his B. A. (Honours) in History in 1976 from the University of Ife (later renamed Obafemi Awolowo University). His PhD in history was awarded by the same university in 1981. Falola wrote his doctoral dissertation on “The Political Economy of Ibadan, c.1830-1900.” Always on a quest to learn and chart new grounds, Falola received his D. Litt. in African Studies from the University of Ibadan in 2020 (i.e. 42 years after his first doctorate). This is the stuff of extraordinariness.

Professor Falola has received 16 honorary doctorates from universities across the globe. The roll call includes the University of Jos; Lincoln University; Olabisi Onabanjo University; Monmouth University; Federal University, Lokoja; and Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, among others.

A Member of the Order of the Niger (MON), Falola has held fellowships, professorships and distinguished scholar status at various universities and other institutions globally. For example, he was visiting professor at the Olusegun Obasanjo Centre for African Studies, National Open University, Abuja (2019-2021) and honorary professor, Centre for African Studies, University of Cape Town, South Africa, from 2018 to 2022. Professor Falola was also Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of the South, Library of Congress in 2016; visiting professor, Pontifícia Universidade Católica De São Paulo, Brazil in 2007; and fellow at the Humanities Research Council, Australian National University in 1995. He is a life member at Clare Hall, University of Cambridge.

Traditional institutions have also bestowed high honours on Professor Falola. He is Nii Kpani Ashaabla 1, Adabraka Otukpai Palace, Accra, Ghana; the Agbakin of Kusela-Ibadan; the Bobagbimo of Ugboland; and the Mayegun of Auga,Akoko.

Being a globally recognised scholar and an excellent human being are not necessarily mutually inclusive. Falola is an iconic scholar, a mentor to generations of scholars and a humane person. His devotion to the success of others is astonishing and uncommon. Falola is intentional about creating opportunities for others. He derives great satisfaction in seeing others thrive. Falola’s accomplishments require a truly exceptional intellect, fine analytical mind, perspicacity and a strong work ethic. His long list of accomplishments speaks to a lifetime of devotion to investing in others and expecting nothing in return: World class brilliance meets humaneness. 

A Rivers State High Court in Port Harcourt has sentenced the General Overseer, Alter of Solution and Healing Assembly in Oyigbo Local Government Area (LGA)Pastor Chidiebere Okoroafor to death for killing three persons including his Choir Mistress who he impregnated.

Justice S O Benson in his judgment on the murder trial delivered Monday said the evidence and confessional statement by Pastor Okoroafor proved he murdered his Church’s Choir Mistress after getting her pregnant and also killed her friend, Chigozie Ezenwa with her daughter, Christabel Ezenwa.

Justice Benson insisted that the prosecution proved the case of murder against Pastor Okoroafor, ordering that the Pastor be killed by hanging on his neck until he is dead or be injected with a lethal injection which also kills faster.

Men of Rivers Police Command had on 17 December 2018 arrested Pastor Okoroafor following an alarm raised by the husband to the late Chigozie Ezenwa over the killing of three victims on 11 December 2018 in two different locations in a community in Oyigbo.

Precious Ordu, Prosecution Counsel from the state Ministry of Justice, and Antonia Osademe, representing the International Federation of Female Lawyers in the murder trial expressed happiness over the judgment they described as justice well served.

Innocent Ekwu, counsel to the convicted Pastor said there were reasonable grounds to appeal the judgment against his client.

House of Representatives, Monday, summoned the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emiefele for an explanation over N32. 5 billion said to have been paid to two companies, Messrs GSCL Consulting and Biz Plus without formal documentation.

Others summoned also were the Auditor General for the Federation, the Accountant General of the Federation, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Managing Directors of Exxon Mobil and Nigeria Agip Oil Company.

The summons was handed down by the chairman of the Ad-hoc committee of the House providing the alleged loss of 48 million barrels of crude oil worth over 2 billion dollars, Hon. Mark Gbillah at its resumed hearing.

Also summoned were Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) over unremitted 1.67 billion dollars just as the former Attorney General of the Federation, AGF Abubakar Malami (SAN) was also resummoned by the committee.

According to Gbillah, available records revealed that CBN paid N16.5 billion each to the two companies on the same day contrary to Malami’s earlier submission that he didn’t know about the payment.

He said: “Because of lack of response to the committee invitations, summon had to be issued by the House to the Managing Director of Nigeria Agip Oil Company, Minister of Foreign Affairs, SNEPCO and SPDC, Auditor General for the Federation, Central Bank Governor because of their lack of appearance to issues requested by the House, GSCL Consulting Limited and Bizplus with regard to payment of N16. 5 billion on the same day.

“So clerk you do a letter to AGF to avail us the detail of the approval for the engagement of the legal team and the related companies to carry out this investigation and provide us details of that legal team.

“In the letter, you request that the former AGF, former DG NIMASA also provide information on the status of this investigation and they will be invited in line with the submission of the report.”

Gbillah also expressed displeasure with the representative of Shell Petroleum Development Company who identified himself as Igo Weli for lack of proper supervision.

Responding to an earlier remark by the Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Bashir Yusuf Jamoh who appeared before the committee about a $1.7 billion judgement sum still outstanding for the Nigerian government to claim from a company that was found guilty of making false declaration about the crude oil taken away from the country, Gbillah said the money belonged to the Nigerian people.

“There exists about 9 other cases with regard to the alleged theft of Nigerian crude. This issue is not in our imagination.

“There is a formal legal judgement on this issue and there are cases still pending with regard to Nigerian crude. I call on the Tinubu administration, relevant stakeholders and the anti-graft agencies to realize that Nigerians are waiting for an explanation regarding why the $1.7 billion has not been recovered from Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept with regard to the judgement against them since 2020.

“This is money that belongs to all Nigerians and we expect that it should be appropriately accounted for”, he said.

Speaking with newsmen thereafter, the NIMASA DG further said that the agency was monitoring all the cases in court.

He said “In 2013, when the revenue profile was low, NIMASA was directed from the Attorney General’s office to coordinate two technical teams to source data on the actual lifting of crude oil and the last destination point to see if there are any discrepancies.

“We discovered some discrepancies and worked with the legal team to look into the findings. From the findings, the legal team again discovered ten companies liable of under declaration.

“We instituted cases against those companies. Most of the cases are still in court. We won one of those cases and a directive was given by the court that $ 1.7 billion dollars be paid to the government.

“NIMASA and the Attorney General’s office continued to monitor the team of lawyers and in January this year, I wrote to them requesting for an update on the cases in court. What we discovered is that some cases on appeal and for such cases, the legal team is working on that, while still following up on the ones still at the lower court.

“These cases are not instituted in Nigeria, but the destination where the criminal acts were committed.

“The straight answer is that these cases are still in court and we have those that have not reached the stage of appeal yet. It is not only NIMASA and the Attorney General’s office that is interested in this matter. The EFCC is also interested because I know that they have been going about to investigate and make sure that the companies involved are brought to book”, he said.

The National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, has replied to the suit brought against it by the Governor of Enugu State, Peter Mbah, over his controversial discharge certificate.

They submitted to the court documentary proof affirming its stand that it did not issue the certificate in Mbah’s possession.

The NYSC’s deposition at the Federal High Court, Abuja, made by its Assistant Director in the Corps Certification Department, Mrs. Rhoda Dawa, revealed that the discharge certificate that Governor Mbah claimed was issued to him did not emanate from the NYSC.

The documents submitted by the NYSC to the Court include the alleged forged certificate Mbah submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, a photocopy of the original copy of the certificate that was to be issued to Mbah, a date sheet showing where discharged corps members signed for their certificates, another data sheet with the names of unclaimed certificates, official circulars authorising the destruction of unclaimed certificates, photographs of the incineration of the unclaimed discharge certificates, samples of the NYSC discharge certificates during the period the Governor was supposed to have performed his compulsory national service, Police and Directorate of State Services letters of investigation, among others.

In his court filings, Governor Mbah claimed that he completed his national youth service and was issued a discharge certificate.

Recall that the Governor had taken the NYSC to Court, claiming N20 billion for what he described as conspiracy, deceit, and misrepresentation of facts.

Besides N20 billion damages, Mbah also wants the Court to declare that he participated in the NYSC scheme for one calendar year via a call-up letter numbered FRN/2001/800351 with the Lagos code LA/01/1532.

He also argued that the declaration must state that he was issued a certificate of national service numbered A808297 upon completing his service year in 2003.

However, the NYSC, in its deposition, insisted that the Enugu State governor did not complete his service year and that the body did not issue the certificate of discharge he paraded.

To buttress its claim, the NYSC filed as evidence, the data sheet where Mbah was to have signed and collected his discharge certificate, averring that while the certificate presented by the Enugu governor bears the serial number A808297, the one prepared for him, but which he did not collect, bore the serial number, 673517.

In what looks like forensic evidence, the NYSC referred to the calligraphic writing on Mbah’s certificate and stated that the writing style on the Governor’s certificate differed from the one on all other certificates issued to discharged corps members during his batch.

Explaining that the corps directorate hired one person for the calligraphic writings on all certificates, it insisted that there was no way Mbah’s own could be different from those of other corps members that passed out during the same period.

The NYSC also stated that contrary to Mbah’s claim that his probable date of discharge was September 15, 2002, his probable date of discharge upon completing his programme at the Nigerian Law School was September 15, 2003.

It was further averred that the NYSC did not issue Peter Mbah any discharge certificate because he did not complete his service year, even when he was mobilised for the same, and that the discharge certificate prepared for him was later returned to the NYSC headquarters, along with other unclaimed certificates, after which it was destroyed along with other unclaimed certificates, in the presence of security operatives.

“The 1” Respondent’s (NYSC) National Directorate Headquarters issued the Certificates for the Members of the Service Corps in Lagos State, including the Certificate of the Applicant, using a Certificate Issuance Register. The register indicated the basic data of the Members of the Service Corps, including their State Code, name, Call-Up Number, and Certificate Number in serial form. A copy of the relevant page of the Certificate Issuance Register at the National Directorate Headquarters, showing the Applicant in asterisks with Certificate Number 673517, is attached herewith and marked as Exhibit ‘NYSC 5’.

“Following the 1″ Respondent’s Top Management’s directive on August 18 2021, all the outdated, unused, and cancelled Certificates of National Service and Certificates of Exemption, Certificates of absconded Members of the Service Corps, including the Applicant’s Certificate Number A673517 which he was not available to collect, have been disposed of by incineration,” the NYSC said in its deposition.

Violence Marred Presidential Election In Rivers – Witness

A witness called by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the last presidential election, Atiku Abubakar, Ibrahim Hamza has told the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) that the candidate of the Labour Party (LP) did not win in Nasarawa State.

Hamza, who said he acted as PDP’s State Collation Agent (SCA) during the election, claimed that Obi would not have won his state if the election was free and fair.

The witness, who claimed to have signed the result sheet under duress, confirmed that by the scores allocated to parties by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Obi won the state.

“I am not happy with the result. I don’t want the court to accept this result. Labour Party cannot come first in Nasarawa State. That is impossible. We have the authentic result. It is with the National Collation Agent (of the PDP),” the witness said.

When asked if the said National Collation Agent was still alive, the witness said he did not know.

The witness said he signed a clean copy of the result sheet, which he claimed was later mutilated after he had signed, alleging that all the cancellations in the result sheet occurred after he had signed.

Hamza, who was testifying as the 10th petitioners’ witness (PW10) said these while being cross-examined by Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), lawyer to President Bola Tinubu.

He told the court that, although he did not know the percentage of votes that Atiku scored in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), he was satisfied that the PDP candidate met all the constitutional requirements and provisions to be returned as the winner of the presidential election.

Under cross-examination by lawyer to INEC, Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN), Hamza said he voted during the election after being duly accredited by INEC officials. He said election results were duly computed, but we’re not uploaded electronically as required.

The witness, who said his party had agents in all the polling units across the state, said: “It was at the point of uploading that the system failed. It happended, not only in my polling units, but also in others around the state.”

Under cross-examination by lawyer to the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adeniyi Akintola (SAN)

Hamza, who said he was not present at all the polling units during the election, told the court that he visited about 50 to 60 polling units in four wards.

Another witness, Abraham David (PW9), while being cross-examined by lawyer to INEC, Abdullahi Aliyu (SAN) said although Atiku scored 15percent of the votes in the FCT, he is entitled to be returned as winner, because even Tinubu who did not score 25percent in the FCT was declared the President.

David, who said he acted as PDP’s Collation Agent at the FCT, said his party had agents in all polling units who informed him about what happened in those polling units.

The witness, under cross-examination by Olujinmi, said although he claimed, in his statement, that INEC collated unlawful votes, he failed to include the figure of the votes he claimed were unlawfully collated in his statement.

David, who also claimed that INEC officials did not perform their constitutional responsibilities during the election, said he could not identify the said officials by name.

PW 8, Mohammed Madaki, who said it was the law that a candidate who did not score 25percent in the FCT cannot be declared President, noted that since Atiku did not score 25percent in the FCT he was not entitled to be declared President.

Under cross-examination by Aliyu, the witness said he did not witness all the cases of malpractices he claimed in his statement, but that his party’s agents at the polling units witnessed what transpired.

While being cross-examined by lawyer to the APC, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), Madaki said he has lived in the Abuja for about 35 years and that the FCT was the same as other states in the country.

Madaki, who claimed to have written his statement by himself was however unable tell the meaning of the word: “conscientiously,” which was used in the statement.

When asked by Fagbemi to tell the court the meaning of conscientiously, Madaki said: “I can’t remember.”

Former Minister of Transportation, Dr. Abiye Sekibo, who featured as PW 7 said he acted as PDP’s State Collation Agent in Rivers State during the election.

Sekibo said he voted after he was duly accredited, noting that although his state has over 6000 polling units, he visited about 20.

Under cross-examination by Mahmoud, the witness said although he claimed, in his statement, that people were prevented from voting in eight LGAs, he was not present at all the LGAs, but only got information from his party’s agents.

Sekibo said results were not uploaded as required in the polling units he visited and was also told that similar incident occured in other polling units across the state.

When asked to identify the alleged agents of Tinubu and the APC he claimed caused the disturbance that made it impossible for people to vote, Sekibo said he did not know them by name. He said he concluded based on the way the people acted.

Under cross-examination by Fagbemi, Sekibo admitted nit including in his statement the figure allocated to the PDP as its score for the election.

He said the agents of his party, who were assigned to all the polling units are still alive.

Further hearing in the petition has been fixed for 9 am on Tuesday.

Following the hike in transport fare, occasioned by fuel subsidy removal, the Kwara State government has reduced the working days to three days per week.

The state’s Head of Service, Mrs Susan Oluwole announced the palliative in a statement on Monday.

The statement signed by Oluwole’s press secretary, Murtala Atoyebi reads: “The Kwara State Government has taken temporary measures to ease the burden of public workers in the State following the astronomical hike in transport fare.

“The State Head of Service, Mrs Susan Modupe Oluwole announced today that the State Governor, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has directed that the work days be reduced from five days to three days per week for every worker.

“She explained that the measure was to relieve the state workers of the hardship being experienced as a result of the fuel subsidy removal announced by the Federal Government.

“Mrs Oluwole directed all Heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the State to immediately work out a format indicating the alternating work days for each worker under them.

“The Head of Service however, warned the workers not to abuse the magnanimity of the Governor, stressing that the regular monitoring of MDAs by her office would be intensified to ensure strict compliance.”