Labour Party’s vice presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, has said that the Supreme Court did not affirm the victory of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, contrary to the general belief

According to the former federal lawmaker, the apex court merely upheld what he described as the illegality declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Datti Baba-Ahmed stated this when he appeared as a guest on Arise TV on Monday evening, hours after his boss, Peter Obi, addressed the press on the outcome of the judicial process in the aftermath of the election.

He said they had rejected the Supreme Court judgement and did not accept it as a valid ruling.

Peter Obi had gone to the apex court to challenge the ruling of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, which upheld INEC’s declaration of Tinubu as the winner of the election.

The apex court, in its ruling, stood by the PEPT’s decision, affirming Tinubu as the duly elected president.

“Please quote me on this: the Appeal and Supreme Courts did not affirm Tinubu’s presidency. They merely upheld the illegality of INEC’s declaration,” Datti Baba-Ahmed said on Arise TV.

“We accepted the judgment because it was the last step for HE Peter Obi and I to take; we rejected and did not accept it as a valid judgment.”

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, has canvassed a single five-year term for Nigeria’s President.

Obi said that the proposal formed part of his campaign during the electioneering period, adding that he would have moved for the amendment of the Constitution to allow the President stay only five years in office.

He spoke during a press conference in Abuja on Monday, where he addressed issues arising from the recent ruling of the Supreme Court that upheld the victory of President Bola Tinubu in the last election.

“On the issue of a single term, we campaigned on the issue of restructuring and reform and that would have included an amendment to make this Constitution be a workable and functional Constitution that would be productive for Nigerians. I included in that would have been the issue of single tenure.

“I would go for a five-year tenure which would go for thirty years rotational.”

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, on Monday, failed to produce in court former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emeifele, as directed by the court.

The Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja had on Thursday ordered the commission to either release Emefiele unconditionally or produce him in court on Monday for the hearing of a motion on his bail.

At the court proceedings on Monday, the former CBN governor was absent.

Emefiele’s lawyer, Mathew Burkaa, accused the EFCC of disobeying the court order.

He said, “They have flouted both orders as today marks the 149th day of the applicant being in custody.

“The applicant is still in the custody of the 3rd and 4th respondents, up till this moment that we speak.”

But in his response, the EFCC’s counsel, Mr Farouk Abdullahi, said although the order was served on the commission, not obeying was not a deliberate act.

According to him, certain exhibits referred to by the applicant, particularly Exhibit E, were not attached to the order.

The presiding judge, Justice Olusegun Adeniyi, adjourned the matter till November 8, restating his order that the EFCC should either release Emefiele unconditionally or in the alternative, produce him in court on the next adjourned date to be admitted to bail.

President Bola Tinubu is expected to present the 2024 Appropriation Bill to a joint session of the National Assembly in the third week of November 2023, The PUNCH learnt on Monday.

Senior sources within the Presidency, who confirmed this to our correspondent, said the President will present the document to lawmakers in the week beginning November 20, 2023, to, among other things, maintain the January-December budget implementation cycle.

“It would be three weeks away. The President is expected to be in Berlin for Germany’s Compact-with-Africa initiative for investment.

“It is a continuation of the visit of the German Chancellor to Nigeria last week. And he has invited the President to be there.

“It’s a one-day event holding on Monday, November 20 and he is expected back in Abuja the next day. So, we expect him to present the budget any day from that time,” a source said.

Another source, who confirmed this, said the 2024 appropriation, the largest so far, reflects the administration’s ambitions to finance the budget through a mix of savings from petroleum subsidy, which was scrapped in late May.

“He (President Tinubu) will present it around that same time. This budget is significantly larger than the others. It is ambitious yet realistic and we hope to accommodate it through subsidy savings, tax revenues and new borrowings,” said the source.

President Tinubu, who leaves for Saudi Arabia this Thursday, will be in Germany later this month for the compact event.

The Federal Executive Council had on October 16 projected N26.01tn as expenses for the 2024 fiscal year.

This is as it approved the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework for 2024 – 2026.

The FG affirmed that the administration would maintain the January – December budget implementation cycle, saying the President would soon present the 2024 appropriation bill to the National Assembly to ensure its ratification before December 31, 2023.

“The aggregate expenditure is estimated at N26.01tn for the 2024 budget, which includes statutory transfers of N1.3tn non-debt recurrent expenditure of N10.26tn. Debt service is estimated at N8.25tn, as well as N7.78tn being provided for personnel pension cost,” the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Abubakar Bagudu, explained.

Presidential candidate of Labour Party, Peter Obi, on Monday, slammed the Supreme Court judgment that affirmed President Bola Tinubu’s victory, saying he found the verdict contradictory and disappointing.

But in a swift response, the Presidency slammed Obi, describing him as “a copycat” who “tried, in vain, to gaslight Nigerians with false claims and innuendos.”

Obi, at a press conference in Abuja, on Monday, formally reacted to the October 26 judgment of the Supreme Court, saying he was disappointed that despite the plethora of evidence placed before the apex court, the justices chose to focus on technicality rather than substance, thereby breaching the confidence of Nigerians in the judiciary.

He said, “Setting legal issues aside, the Supreme Court exhibited a disturbing aversion to public opinion just as it abandoned its responsibility as a court of law and policy. It is, therefore, with great dismay I observe that the court’s decision contradicts the overwhelming evidence of election rigging, false claim of a technical glitch, substantial non-compliance with rules set by INEC itself as well as matters of perjury, identity theft, and forgery that have been brought to light in the course of this election matter.

“These were hefty allegations that should not be treated with levity. More appalling, the Supreme Court judgment willfully condoned breaches of the constitution relative to established qualifications and parameters for candidates in presidential elections. With this counter-intuitive judgment, the Supreme Court has transferred a heavy moral burden from the courtrooms to our national conscience. Our young democracy is ultimately the main victim and casualty of the courtroom drama.

“Without equivocation, this judgment amounts to a total breach of the confidence the Nigerian people have in our judiciary. To that extent, it is a show of unreasonable force against the very Nigerian people from whom the power of the Constitution derives. This Supreme Court ruling may represent the state of the law in 2023 but not the present demand for substantive justice.

The judgment mixed principles and precepts. Indeed, the rationale and premise of the Supreme Court judgment, have become clearer in the light of the deep revealing and troubling valedictory remarks by Hon. Justice Musa Dattijo Muhammad, on Friday 27th October 2023.”

He said with the outcome of the legal battle “going forward, we in the Labour Party and the Obidient Movement are now effectively in the opposition. We are glad that the nation has heard us loud and clear. We shall now expand the confines of our message of hope to the rest of the country. We shall meet the people in the places where they feel pain and answer their needs for hope. At marketplaces, motor parks, town halls, board rooms, and university and college campuses; we all carry and deliver the message of a new Nigeria.”

“As stakeholders and elected Labour Party officials, we shall remain loyal to our manifesto. We will continue to canvas for good governance and focus on issues that promote national interest, unity, and cohesion. We will continue to give primacy to our constitution, the rule of law, and the protection of ordered liberties. We will offer the checks and balances required in a functional democracy and vie robustly in forthcoming elections to elect those who share our vision of a new Nigeria.”

But reacting, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said, “We are at a loss as to how the copy-cat Obi and his faction of Labour Party convinced themselves they won an election in which they came a distant third.

“At the press conference where he tried, in vain, to gaslight Nigerians with false claims and innuendos, Mr. Obi contradicted himself. Here was a beneficiary of judicial pronouncements in the past but now he is castigating the same court because its judgment did not go his way. We expected the Labour Party candidate to know that the Supreme Court or any other court does not give judgment based on public opinion and mob sentiments. Judicial pronouncements are based on evidence, precedents and the rule of law.”

Onanuga said having admitted that the Supreme Court ruling brought an end to litigation “Obi should have congratulated President Tinubu for his victory and pledged his support, in the spirit of statesmanship. Instead, he brought up extraneous matters that he thought the apex court should have considered to declare him the winner.

“Obi’s antecedents as Governor of Anambra for eight years didn’t inspire any confidence as someone capable of running a country like Nigeria. No tangible records of achievement in the state he governed recommended him for the Presidency of Nigeria. If Mr. Peter Obi truly believes in Nigeria, the time to prove it is now when all men and women of goodwill are rallying support for President Tinubu in his determination to lead a new era of prosperity, inclusive governance and economic growth in Nigeria.

“Finally, we welcome Obi and his party to play the role of the opposition and start preparing for another shot at the presidency in 2027. We hope by then he will campaign on issues and not whip up religious and ethnic sentiments as he did in the last campaign. Our admonition to Mr. Peter Obi is to find another worthwhile vocation to engage his time henceforth, having been rejected by the majority of Nigerians who didn’t consider him qualified to lead our country.”

The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Monday, awarded N5m damages against the National Youth Service Corps for alleging that the discharge certificate held by Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah, was fake.

Justice Inyang Ekwo, in a judgment, held that the Director General of the NYSC and the corps, who were defendants in the suit, were guilty of misrepresentation of material facts.

The judge held that the certificate presented to the Independent National Electoral Commission by Mbah was authentic and validly issued by the NYSC.

Justice Ekwo further held that the evidence before the court showed that the governor though was mobilised for service in 2001, completed his service in 2003.

According to the court, Mbah, midway into his service, sought and received permission from NYSC to attend the Nigerian Law School.

Besides, the judge said that while the evidence that Mbah served in the law firm of one Udeh was not challenged by the NYSC, he berated the corps for not charging the governor with forgery if they actually believed that they didn’t issue the said NYSC certificate to him.

He concluded that the NYSC was mischievous and acted in bad faith by denying Mbah’s NYSC certificate.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Mbah sued the NYSC and its Director, Corps Certification, Mr Ibrahim Muhammad, for publishing a disclaimer, denying the issuance of a discharge certificate issued to him on January 6, 2003.

Justice Ekwo, on May 15, restrained the NYSC, Muhammad and any of their agents from, henceforth, engaging in such publication pending the hearing and determination of the substantive matter.

Following passengers’ outcry over the reversal of the 50 per cent rebate on the fares of Lagos State-regulated Bus Rapid Transit and rail transport, the Lagos State Government, on Monday, announced the implementation of 25 per cent discount effective Tuesday (today), November 7, 2023.

Passengers on Monday had lamented the hike in transport fares as the state government ended the 50 per cent palliative on transportation in the state.

The Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority had announced at the weekend plans to end the 50 per cent rebate in the state-regulated transport system announced by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu as a palliative measure to cushion the effects of the fuel subsidy removal on residents of the state.

The 50 per cent discount on state-owned/regulated transport systems came into effect on August 2, 2023.

However, LAMATA, in a statement, announced that the 50 per cent rebate has now been discontinued and all fares have now been reversed to what they were pre-August 2.

“The 50% rebate in transport fare in the regulated transport system in Lagos ends on Sunday,” LAMATA announced, adding, “The public is hereby informed that from Monday, 6th November 2023, transport fare will return to the pre-2nd August 2023 rate.”

Our correspondent, who visited the Ikorodu BRT Terminal, however, observed that the new fares being charged on passengers’ Cowry Cards were higher than the pre-palliative rates.

“It removed N500 from my card,” a passenger going to Maryland exclaimed in shock as a LAMATA ground officer maintained that the new fare to Maryland from Ikorodu is N500 as against the N400 pre-August 2 rate.

Passengers going to Yaba, Tafawa Balewa Square, among others, whose fare was N600 before the palliative, now pay N700 post-palliative.

Our correspondent observed that some passengers walked away from the terminal following the development, while others, who eventually boarded the buses, lamented that such a hike was wrongly timed.

“Is this the right time to do this?” a passenger, who gave his name as Ade, said.

“We have an insensitive government. How can they increase transport fare through the back door despite the hardship in the land?” another passenger, who did not disclose her name, said.

In a telephone chat with The PUNCH over the development, the Managing Director of LAMATA, Mrs Abimbola Akinajo, said, “I will have a conversation with my team and get back to you. I think Mr Governor is also looking at it, and we will put out a press statement soon.”

LAMATA, in a statement released late Monday after the telephone conversation with The PUNCH, announced that the governor has directed the implementation of 25 per cent discount.

“Responding to calls for the reinstatement of the 50% rebate on fare for regulated bus and rail transport, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has directed the implementation of 25 per cent discount beginning Tuesday, 7th November 2023.

“Governor Sanwo-Olu had on 2nd August 2023 announced a 50% discount in fare on regulated transport bus and rail transport which ended on Sunday.

“Following appeals to the Governor, he has extended the passenger fare reduction by 25% across the regulated bus and rail transport services until another review is announced.

“Within the three months period of the rebate, the pump price of diesel jumped from N867 in August to N1,300 in November,” LAMATA said.

Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, on Monday, approved the payment of N25,000 for workers and N15,000 for pensioners as wage award in the state for the next six months.

The PUNCH reports that workers had in October threatened to embark on an indefinite strike should the government fail to meet their demands for a wage increase, following the announcement of N35,000 by the Federal Government as a wage award.

Makinde, who made this announcement while addressing workers who besieged Agodi Governor’s Office in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, further assured them of receiving payment alerts from their respective banks before the week ends.

He disclosed that the amount announced as a wage award for both workers and pensioners would add N2.2 billion to the state government’s wage bill for each month.

Makinde insisted that the N2.2 billion would have a direct impact on the state’s finances, expressing determination to make his promise to the workers come to fruition.

“We all understand that it is a challenging period for us as a nation and as a state, you have to look at your pocket to see what we can do. So, for every pensioner in the state, we will give them N15,000 monthly for the next six months, and I guarantee it starts in October. And for workers, we are doing N25,000 to cushion the effects of this economic challenge that we are all going through,” he explained.

While calling on the workers to show more understanding, the governor said he understood that the economy was biting hard on household finances due to fuel subsidy removal and the naira-dollar exchange rate.

The governor said, “The current economic situation calls for deeper partnership and cooperation between government and workers rather than having the ‘we against them’ disposition. The present economic situation would pass with collective efforts.”

Earlier, the state Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Kayode Martins, said the governor’s gesture should put to an end all agitations for wage award.

The Independent National Electoral Commission has released an amended list of candidates for Bayelsa State governorship election.

According to the amended list uploaded on the commission’s website on Monday, the names of Timipre Sylva and his running mate, Joshua Maciver of the All Progressives Congress made the list.

The list was signed by the Secretary to the Commission, Rose Oriaran-Anthony.

The Federal High Court, Abuja, on October 10, disqualified Sylva from participating in the state governorship election.

Justice Donatus Okorowo, in the judgment, ruled that Sylva having been sworn in twice and ruled for five years as governor of the state, would breach the 1999 Constitution as amended if allowed to contest again.

The judge also declared that Sylva was not qualified to run in the poll because if he won and was sworn in, he would spend more than eight years in office as governor of the state.

Not satisfied with the judgment, Sylva approached the Court of Appeal, through his lawyer, Dr Ahmed Raji, to challenge the decision of the court.

While the appeal was pending, INEC on October 25 released a list of candidates for the election without the former governor’s name.

Meanwhile, Oriaran-Anthony, in the amended document, explained that the action of the commission was in obedience to court orders on the lists served on the commission.

She explained, “It may be recalled that the final list of candidates for the 2023 Bayelsa State Governorship Election was amended on October 16, 2023, according to the Order of the Federal High Court in Suit No-FHC/ABJ/CS/821/2023 in respect of the nomination of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, for the 2023 Bayelsa State Governorship Election.

“The Court of Appeal in a judgment delivered on October 31 2023 in Appeal No CA/ABI/CV/1060/2023 set aside the judgment of the lower court cited above.

“By virtue of the provision of Section 287 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), the commission is bound to enforce the orders of the court on the nomination of candidates by political parties in the state.

“The list of candidates in respect of the 2023 Bayelsa State Governorship election is hereby amended in Amendment No 2 pursuant to the judgment of the Court of Appeal.”

The devaluation of the naira has increased Nigeria’s debt profile by N20.6trn trillion in five months.

A data analysis by Daily Trust indicates that the new borrowing plans by the federal government will see the total debt level hit N89.2 trillion before the end of the year.

If shared to Nigeria’s 213 million people, each citizen will be owing N418,779 to the outside world.

The country’s total debt, both domestic and external, was $113.4 billion or N87.4 trillion as of June 30, according to a data sourced from the website of the Debt Management Office (DMO).

The amount is three times the size of the country’s debt in 2005 when the Paris Club forgave $18bn of that amount.

Central Bank of Nigeria’s official exchange rate of US$1 to N770.38 as of June 30 was used in converting the external debt to naira by the DMO.

The domestic debt includes the N22.7 trillion Ways and Means Advances at the CBN for which the approval of the National Assembly (NASS) to securitize it was received in May 2023.

Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Wale Edun, had, last month, at the World Bank/International Monetary Fund (IMF) annual meetings in Marrakech, Morroco, announced a plan by the government to obtain $1.5 billion in budget support from the World Bank.

This would, if granted, push the country’s debt stock to $114.9bn or N89.2trn, using the official exchange rate of N776.4/dollar.

This excludes the new plan to borrow $7.8bn and €100m which the president on Wednesday requested the Senate to approve as part of the 2022 – 2024

A ‘what if’ analysis of the debt profile indicates that if the exchange rate had remained at N461 to $1, according to the Nigerian Exchange Rate Archive by the CBN on May 30,  Nigeria’s debt stock would have been only N57.6 trillion.

Following the devaluation of the portion of the debt owed to external creditors which is denominated in United States dollars, the total debt stock increased by N20.6 trillion as a result of the depreciation of about N315 per dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market  (NAFEM) window from May 30th to date.

Analysis of debt

As of June, Nigeria’s external debt was $43.1bn; and domestic debt, $70.3 bn.

A total of $20.7bn is owed to multi-lateral organisations; $5.5bn is bilateral; $15.6bn is commercial (Euro bonds); $931m is a promissory note (non-interest notes issued to settle arrears of federal contractors) and $300m, syndicated loans.

The federal government’s portion of the external debt of $43.1bn is $38.8bn, accounting for 90 percent of the debt; while the 36 states and the FCT account for $4.3bn accounting for 10 percent of the debt stock.

The most indebted state, from the breakdown of the $4.3bn debt stock, is Lagos with $1.2bn followed by Kaduna ($569m), Edo ($258m), Bauchi ($170m) and Cross River ($153m).

The least indebted states in the index are Borno ($18m), Taraba and Yobe with $21m each, Jigawa ($26m), Benue ($29m) and Plateau ($31m).

New debt stock a threat-DMO

The Debt Management Office (DMO), in its recent report, titled, ‘Market Access Country-Debt Sustainability Analysis (MAC-DSA)’ for 2022, said  Nigeria’s debt service-to-revenue ratio in 2023 was 73.5 percent, describing it as unsustainable and a threat.

The MAC-DSA is a template used to analyse debt levels to determine future debt sustainability.

The DMO said the results of last year’s MAC-DSA showed that the total public debt-to-GDP ratio was projected to jump to 37.1 percent in 2023, relative to 23.4 percent as of September 2022.

Also in a recent report, KPMG said Nigeria’s debt service to revenue ratio might exceed 100 percent in 2023.

In its macroeconomic snapshot, the professional services firm raised concerns over Nigeria’s risk of sliding into critical debt servicing problems unless urgent actions were explored to significantly raise revenue. In 2022, Nigeria’s debt service-to-revenue ratio was 80.6 percent — a figure far above World Bank’s suggested 22.5 percent for low-income countries like Nigeria.

‘With FGN revenue to GDP ratio of 4.49% as of December 2022, Nigeria’s debt service to revenue ratio may surpass 100% in 2023, which will limit the fiscal space and the government’s ability to pay for its operations and functions, unless urgent measures are taken to build revenue,” KPMG said.

It advised the government to establish well-thought-out guidelines and frameworks for borrowing, focusing on sustainable debt management and giving investments that produce long-term economic returns top priority.

Meanwhile, last Thursday, the CBN began clearing the backlog of foreign exchange obligations estimated at about $7bn.

This intervention had seen the naira appreciate at the parallel on Friday evening as the dollar exchanged for below N950 from the N1,150 it was earlier in the morning same day.