Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi was at the pre-hearing of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal in Abuja on Monday.
Also present in court was the governor of Plateau State, Mr Simon Lalong, who was also present to observe the proceedings of the day.
The tribunal will be hearing petitions challenging the outcome of the February 25 presidential election.
According to the Independent National Electoral Commission, Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress polled 8,794,726 votes to win the election. While Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party came second with 6,984,520 votes, and Peter Obi was third with 6,101,533 votes.
Osun Election: Supreme Court Fixes Tuesday For Judgement
Not satisfied with the outcome, Atiku and Obi approached the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to annul Tinubu’s victory.
Channels Television observed that security around the court premises is almost impervious as men of the Nigerian Police Force cordoned off the road leading to the court.
From the Cause list, the unveiling of the tribunal, the first case to be adjudicated, is the Action Alliance (AA) and its Presidential Candidate in the election, Solomon David Okanigbuan notifying the tribunal of their intentions to withdraw their petition against the declaration of Tinubu as Nigeria’s President-elect after the unveiling of the tribunal.
Besides Tinubu, others listed as respondents in AA’s petition are the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), All Progressives Congress APC and Hamza Al Mustapha.
Other petitions slated for the pre-hearing session are those of the Action People’s Party (APP) which has Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as three respondents.
It would be followed by that of Peter Obi and the Labour Party (LP) marked CA/PEPC/03/2023 with INEC, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Senator Kashim Shetima and APC as four respondents.
The Allied People’s Movement (APM) would proceed next against Tinubu.
Defendants in APM’s petition are INEC, APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Kashim Shetima and one Kabir Masari.
Atiku Abubakar and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) marked CA/ PEPC/05/2023, would be treated last and has INEC, Tinubu Bola Ahmed and the APC as three respondents.
The court pre-hearing resumed at about 9:15 am with an opening remark by the Presiding Justice Haruna Tsammani, who leads a five-man panel of Justices.
Other members of the panel include Justice Stephen Adah, Justice Misitura Bolaji-Yusuf, Justice Boloukuoromo Moses Ugo and Justice Abbah Mohammed
Justice Tsammani maintained the panel will do justice to the case and advised the lawyers against making sensational comments.
He also asked for their cooperation since the case is time bound and they should be wary of bringing unnecessary applications that will waste the time of the court.
The Federal Government says the agitation for more wages by workers is not peculiar to Nigeria, noting that it is a global issue.
Minister of Labour and Employment Chris Ngige said this on Saturday after receiving the Business Day “Excellence in Public Service Award” in Abuja.
“The other day that I passed through Bailey, they said airport workers were on strike, only for four days. When I passed through London, the railway workers were on strike, only for three days. They are all demanding for more pay,” the ministry’s spokesman Olajide Oshundun quoted him as saying in a statement on Saturday.
“Workers’ demand for more pay is not peculiar to Nigeria but the problem everywhere in the world today as a result of global economic crunch, occasioned by COVID-19, the war in Ukraine and other things that make it look like everybody will die today.
“We will not die today. We only have to adjust both as individuals and as a country in order to survive the crunch,” he said.
But to tackle the tide of strikes in Nigeria, the minister recommended social dialogue, as recognised by the International Labour Organization (ILO).
This for him, will handle several labour issues whether it is the demand for more wages or better conditions of service.
But he described that in Nigeria, certain people disobey the law instead of doing the right thing.
“In Nigeria, the man who implements the law is a very wicked and stingy man. He is seen as a man who does not understand what the law says. It is even worse in government,” Ngige added.
He warned that if Nigeria must make progress, people should not be made to look odd because they obey the laws of the land.
On Monday, the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja commenced pre-hearing into the case of some aggrieved parties challenging the outcome of the February 25 presidential election.
This followed the declaration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Bola Tinubu as the winner of the keenly contested poll by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). His rivals – Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) rejected the result and are challenging the outcome in court.
Channels Television reports the names of the Justices who will be presiding over the various petitions: the Chief Registrar of the Court of Appeal, Haruna Tsammani and Justice Stephen Adah of the Court of Appeal Asaba division.
Others include Justice Misitura Bolaji-Yusuf, Court of Appeal also of Asaba Division; Justice Boloukuoromo Ugoh of Kano Division and Justice Abba Mohammed of Ibadan Court of Appeal.
On his part, the head of the five-man panel of justices, Justice Haruna Tsammani assured all parties involved that justice will be served.
In attendance at Monday’s pre-hearing are lawyers to the petitioners, journalist, Governor Simon Lalong of the APC and Mr Obi of the LP.
In their separate response, counsels to the President-Elect, Wole Olanikpekun; Atiku Abubakar, Chris Uche and Peter Obi, and Livy Uzoukwu, assured the court of their full cooperation and support in ensuring speedy hearing and determination of the petitions.
Meanwhile, the Action Alliance has withdrawn its petition against the President-Elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
No reason was however given for the withdrawal.
[#ICYMI]
No fewer than 50 police officers have surrounded the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal Court sitting in Abuja where all pre-hearing sessions are commencing ahead of full hearing on respective applications challenging the outcome of the 2023 presidential election.
Lawyers to respective parties are also in their numbers standing outside the courtroom which is still locked as of the time of this report.
THE WHISTLER reported that the presidential flag bearers of the Labour Party and Peoples Democratic Party, Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar, have replied to all the preliminary objections filed against their petitions challenging Bola Tinubu’s declaration as winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
But Obi’s team in a letter to the Secretary of, Presidential Election Court, dated April 21, asked for the “issuance of pre-hearing notice” in respect of his petition.
The letter was approved by the court, paving way for pre-hearing sitting.
As seen in the pre-hearing form filled by Obi’s legal team, they seek “Applications for subpoena, objections, enforcement of order of court not obeyed by INEC and other applications arising in the course of the hearing.”
Other pre-hearing responses and applications entered by all the petitioners and respondents will be heard.
Recall that Obi had in his petition, accused Tinubu and INEC of alleged corrupt practices or non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.
Obi argued that the electoral umpire altered election results in about 18,000 polling units against him while refusing to use the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System machine mandatory to accredit voters and upload results in real-time in line with the Electoral Act.
But INEC, Tinubu, and his political party, the All Progressives Congress, had countered Obi and Atiku, asking the tribunal to dismiss Obi’s petition for abuse of the court process.
Atiku had stated that Tinubu was constitutionally disabled from contesting in the election on grounds of his alleged dual citizenship, among others.
Mr Bayo Onanuga, a spokesperson for Bola Tinubu (President-elect), has warned the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the Labour Party, LP, to stop blackmailing the judiciary.
Onanuga claimed that both parties and their surrogates, including lawyers, clerics, and some ethnic groups, had “mounted a desperate campaign for the postponement of the President-elect’s inauguration on May 29.”
He insisted that the 2023 election would be the best, freest, fairest, and most transparent since the Second Republic.
In a statement issued on Monday via his Twitter handle, Onanuga slammed the emeritus Catholic Bishop of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, for his claim that the election was rigged, calling the claim a lie and malicious propaganda spread repeatedly by opposition parties and supporters.
His statement is coming on the heels of the commencement of sitting by the presidential election petition tribunal on Monday.
The spokesman claimed that the introduction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, made a significant difference in the 2023 elections, which he described as the best since the return to democracy in 1999.
Onanuga said those criticizing the electoral commission on account of the non-transmission of the results recorded at the polling units were being mischievous.
He insisted it was because “the outcome of the election, especially the presidential election did not match their expectation.”
Part of his statement read: “PDP and LP must stop the blackmail against the judiciary
“I have witnessed many elections since 1979 and I can say without any equivocation that the 2023 election was the best, the most free and fair, the most transparent.
“Those who are pillorying the election and INEC, the electoral umpire are simply saying so because the outcome of the election, especially the presidential election did not match their expectation.
“The Labour Party and the PDP and their surrogates, some of them lawyers, clerics and some ethnic groups have also mounted desperate campaigns for the postponement of the inauguration of the President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu on 29 May.
“As the tribunal begins sitting today, let Labour and its senior partner, the PDP stop further blackmail of the judiciary. Enough is Enough.”
PDP and LP must stop the blackmail against the judiciary
— Bayo onanuga (@aonanuga1956) May 8, 2023
I have witnessed many elections since 1979 and I can say without any equivocation that the 2023 election was the best, the most free and fair, the most transparent.
Those who are pillorying the election and INEC, the… pic.twitter.com/FvDOTOHa3H
Ibe Osonwa, a Labour Party (LP) member elected to the 10th House of Representatives, has declared his intention to run for speaker of the 10th Assembly.
Osonwa, who was elected to represent Abia’s Arochukwu/Ohafia Federal Constituency in the 10th assembly, stated this on Friday during a courtesy visit to Abuja by the South-East Young Professionals, a pressure group from his region.
According to the lawmakers-elect, there is a chance that he will run for speaker.
He said:
We are taking everything into consideration while speaking to the leadership of the House and the South-East caucus.
This is a moving sand. No positions have been taken. We do not get to elect the speaker until June 13.
While the Constitution does not recognise ranking members but the House Standing Rules does, we will consult to know what our issues are.
We are going to embark on a mission of national integration. Diversity should not be our weak point but our strength and we must harness it.
The Abia legislator promised to introduce bills and motions centred on security, emphasizing the importance of protecting people and property.
He also stated that if Nigeria developed technologically, the possibilities were limitless.
Before Ike Ekweremadu’s organ trafficking case became public, Mathew Page, a Nigerian expert at the US State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research, reportedly alerted the UK’s national crime agency (NCA) to the former Senate President’s activities.
Recall that on May 5th, an Old Bailey court sentenced Ekweremadu to nine years and eight months in prison, while his wife, Beatrice, received a sentence of four years and six months for the same offense. The two were found guilty of attempting to persuade medical professionals at the Royal Free hospital to perform an £80,000 kidney transplant on the donor, who was represented as their daughter Sonia’s cousin.
According to the UK Guardian, Page, an associate fellow at Chatham House, alerted UK authorities to investigate Ekweremadu’s illicit affairs before he was imprisoned.
Page claimed that if the authorities had acted quickly on his warnings about Ekweremadu, the UK could have avoided the historical case of organ trafficking.
Page, in collaboration with the UK’s Department for International Development, investigated how Nigerian politicians, including Ekweremadu, used unexplained wealth to purchase properties in the UK worth millions of pounds.
He also looked into how such politicians used funds amassed over time to fund expensive private education for their children.
The report said:
He found that in a 12-year period, Ekweremadu would have made about £339,000 as a political office holder, including his stint as deputy president of the Nigerian senate.
But in that period, he bought three properties – two in London and one in Cambridge – worth £4.2m. The Old Bailey heard that Ekweremadu had an international property portfolio worth more than £6m.
Page supplied the NCA with a dossier of information about how Ekweremadu had used unexplained wealth to fund his UK activities.
Despite the warnings and financial red flags raised in the dossier, Ekweremadu’s organ trafficking plot went undetected until a young street trader from Lagos whom he had brought over fled to Staines police station in Surrey in May 2022 in fear for his life.
Nigeria’s largest airline, Air Peace has bemoaned the recent activities of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, on its business.
A development which grounded their daily operations, thus creating massive flight disruption and ultimately denying the airline over N700 million in one day.
The incident has further created serious upset to many Nigerians who wondered about the rationality behind Air Peace’s involvement and why the unions would engage in such activity on a day when the airline voluntarily airlifted stranded Nigerians in war-torn Sudan.
Vanguard Aviation World had reported that Air Peace airlifted 277 evacuees from war-torn Sudan to the Abuja airport with its Boeing 777 aircraft at no cost.
However, stakeholders have faulted the organized unions’ action, thus calling on the airline to sue NLC and TUC, stressing they are not above the law.
Also, the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, directed the unions to stay away from the aviation industry, stressing that their actions are inimical to air safety.
It would be recalled that the unions’ official last Wednesday, stormed the Lagos Airport and took over Air Peace, check-in counters, disrupting operations due to an alleged misunderstanding they had with the Governor of Imo State Hope Uzodinma.
The group held that no flights should be operated into Owerri airport because Uzodinma had disrupted their May Day activities earlier in the week.
The protesters barged into the airport destroying and causing havoc at the airport while the security officials did nothing.
In the wake of the development, the management of Air Peace raised alarm over the deliberate massive disruption of their operation by the unions.
However, as a reaction to the development, the Federal Government through the FAAN, has directed the unions’ to desist from engaging in union activities in the industry.
According to the Managing Director, FAAN, Captain Rabiu Yadudu, “The action of the organized labour is unacceptable and a deliberate plan to undermine aviation and other workers.
“We have written to the minister of aviation telling him the government needs to protect the sector from the action of the NLC, the airports are not places for anybody to come and exercise violent behaviour or mob action.
“We will not take it, What happened to Air Peace was very regrettable and just a sign of ego massage and I think that has no place in aviation. NLC should stay away from aviation, I think picketing needs to evolve. Nobody pickets in modern society now.”
Meanwhile, the development has raised much concerns, as stakeholders insisted that it is an abuse of power and that the airline should set up a legal team to address the issue judiciary as a way of forestalling it in the future.
According to the President, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association of Nigeria, and former Chief Executive Officer of Associated Airlines, Alex Nwuba, “We need to engage NLC under the leadership of Comrade Joe Ajaero to separate aviation from labour issues with the State government
“Aviation must speak one voice, enough of contradictory voices. If he continues to channel his energy in the wrong place, he will be put on the aviation no-fly list as an industry treat.”
Similarly, former military commandant, Murtala Mohammed Airport, Group Captain John Ojikutu, said: “The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, needs regulations to come hard on the union, in the same manner, the disruptive passengers are dealt with. These irresponsible acts of the unions that may bring us to disrepute in the aviation international community should be stopped now.
“Any disruption in the airport operational area of airport security restricted area must be considered as acts of unlawful interference that need to be legally sanctioned. What has been happening to the industry from the unions are acts of unlawful interference too many.”
Also, former presidential aide and broadcaster, Reuben Abati, stated that if he is the owner of the airline, he will feel discouraged to help Nigeria again.
He noted that the Air Peace boss had in the past spent his money, and resources in an effort to evacuate Nigerians from South Africa during the xenophobic attack.
In his words: “Air Peace should seek redress in a court of law and NLC cannot say that they are above the law of Nigeria.”
As the Presidential Election Petition Court, starts hearing today, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, have filed an application for an order to allow live coverage of day-to-day proceedings on the case they brought against the President-elect, Bola Tinubu.
Atiku, who came second in the presidential election held on February 25, in the motion through his team of lawyers led by Chris Uche, SAN, specifically applied for “An order, directing the Court’s Registry and the parties on modalities for admission of Media Practitioners and their Equipment into the courtroom.”
The PDP candidate and former Vice President contended that the petition he lodged against the President-elect, was “a matter of national concern and public interest.”
He argued that the case involved citizens and the electorate in the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, who he said voted and participated in the presidential poll.
He drew the attention of the court to the fact that the International Community was equally interested in issues pertaining to Nigeria’s electoral process.
Atiku and PDP in the motion argued that their case against Tinubu, being a unique electoral dispute with a peculiar constitutional dimension, was a matter of public interest in which millions of Nigerian citizens and voters, who are stakeholders, with the constitutional right to be part of the proceedings.
They are contending that, “With the huge and tremendous technological advances and developments in Nigeria and beyond, including the current trend by this court towards embracing electronic procedures, virtual hearing and electronic filing, a departure from the rules to allow a regulated televising of the proceedings in this matter is in consonance with the maxim that justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done.
“Televising court proceedings is not alien to this court, and will enhance public confidence”, the petitioners added.
Atiku in his joint petition with the PDP, prayed the court to withdraw the Certificate of Return issued to Tinubu by the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
He maintained that the declaration of Tinubu as the winner of the presidential election was “invalid by reason of non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.”
However, in a reply through his team of lawyers led by Wole Olanipekun, SAN, Tinubu, queried the legal competence of petitions seeking to invalidate his election victory.
In a preliminary objection he entered before the court, Tinubu, described Atiku as a consistent serial loser that had since 1993, crisscrossed different political parties, in search of power.
It will be recalled that INEC had on March 1, announced Tinubu 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 Atiku who polled a total of 6,984,520 votes and Obi who came third with a total of 6,101,533 votes.
Aside from Atiku and the PDP, the Labour Party, LP, and its candidate, Mr Peter Obi, who came third in the election, are equal before the court to nullify Tinubu’s election.
A three-member panel of the PEPC which will conduct its proceedings at the Court of Appeal in Abuja, will today, commence a pre-hearing session on all the petitions that were brought before it by aggrieved presidential candidates and their political parties.
The leader of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Primate Elijah Ayodele, on Sunday, advised presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, to restrain from going to court.
According to him, only God can stop the inauguration ceremony of the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on May 29.
Primate Ayodele said nobody would be able to stop the inauguration even though “the Muslim-Muslim combination doesn’t correlate with God’s plan for Nigeria, and will lead to hard times for the country”.
The clergyman, in a statement by his media aide, Oluwatosin Osho, said he warned Obi before the election and told him some things he needed to do if he wanted to win the presidential election, but “he didn’t do any, which was responsible for his loss at the polls”.
“Nobody can stop Tinubu from being inaugurated as the President of Nigeria on May 29, only God can stop him. I am not in support of the Muslim-Muslim ticket, God has never approved the combination for Nigeria.
“There are consequences the country will face as a result of that. Nigeria will face hard times with Muslim-Muslim ticket.
“Peter Obi didn’t win the election, he can’t be president. Going to court for Obi is now a waste of money, time, and energy. He didn’t win the election and even if he goes around the world, he still will not be declared winner.
“I remember saying Obi is only making noise, and I said if Igbo loses 2023, they will not smell presidency in the next 30 years; this is what has happened now. I warned Obi that he isn’t ready for the election, I told him some of the things that will give him victory but he didn’t do anything. Why is he crying now?”
Speaking further on court cases, Primate Ayodele stated that only a few states in the country could experience a turnaround.
He stated that election results would not be upturned in most States.
Meanwhile, Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal (PEPT) will kick start pre-hearing sessions tomorrow, Monday, May 8, in the five petitions challenging the declaration of Tinubu as winner of the February 25, 2023 election.
More...
• 1,471 arrive from Sudan, FG insists no citizen will be left behind
• Dangote, MTN donate packages to returnees
The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), yesterday, disclosed that 1,471 evacuees from Sudan had arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.
In an update on its official Twitter handle, NiDCOM gave breakdown of the number of evacuees, batches and flights as follows: “First batch (C13 military jet), 99 people; second batch (AirPeace), 277; third batch (Tarco Air), 130; fourth batch (Tarco Air), 131; fifth batch (MaxAir), 410; sixth batch (Tarco Air), 102 and seventh batch (Azman Air), 322.
One of the returnees, Zainab Da’u, a medical student, said she was happy to have made it out alive from Sudan. She recalled the crisis, describing it as very frightening. According to her, she was forced to sleep on the floor for fear of bullets killing people on their beds, even while they seemingly waited endlessly to be rescued from the crisis-torn country.
The Commission said it was awaiting “the arrival of AirPeace flight tomorrow (today) to convey everyone remaining in Port Sudan,” adding that no Nigerian life had been lost, so far, in the ongoing crisis in Sudan.
Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Dr. Nasir Gwarzo, also maintained that no life was lost.
He told the returnees: “All of you are back home safe. We have received everybody that went through the Egyptian border back in Nigeria. And the good news is that of all the batches we were able to rescue and remove from Khartoum to safety, nobody, not a single Nigerian, lost his or her life.”
Gwarzo, alongside officials of the Humanitarian Affairs and Foreign Affairs Ministries, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), and others, were at the airport to receive the returnees, which comprised a large number of students.
The Permanent Secretary said more stranded Nigerians would be back into the country in few days.
He said delay in the release of some of the returnees’ luggage in Wadi Halfa, Sudan, had been settled and the luggage came in with the evacuees on their flights.
He added that sick ones were taken to clinics for proper check-up, before releasing them to go to their respective homes.
According to him, a mop-up session has been put in place to bring back more stranded Nigerians in Sudan. “If you know any of your colleagues that was left behind, kindly let us know,” he said.
The Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF) supported each returnee with a relief package of N100,000 and “dignity packs.”
One of the returnees and a beneficiary of the donation, Mr. Yusuf Bulama, said: “I want to thank Allah for bringing us back home safely. I also want to thank Alhaji Aliko Dangote for this huge intervention, through the ADF. I pray Allah continues to help him and support his numerous businesses.”
Also, Gwarzo explained that the returnees received a mobile phone SIM card from MTN, containing N25,000 worth of airtime and 1.5 gigabyte data.
Meanwhile, a final year medical student in one of the universities in Sudan, Muhammad Nura-Bello, appealed to the Federal Government to provide schooling alternatives to returnee students to ensure their education continues.
[Guardian]
•Asset declaration ongoing in 36 states, no swearing-in without form submission – CCB
•Bureau says defaulters risk removal from office, 40 Ogun politicians obtain forms
Twenty-two days before the presidential inauguration, the Code of Conduct Bureau has said the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; the Vice President-elect, Kashim Shettima and 28 incoming governors must declare their assets before May 29.
Other officials, including senators-elect and Reps-elect, are expected to declare their assets before June 5 when they would be sworn in.
The CCB spokesperson, Mrs Veronica Kato, told The PUNCH in Abuja that asset declaration was an integral part of the swearing-in ceremony, according to the law.
She disclosed that several elected officials had started picking their assets declaration forms at the CCB state offices nationwide and that they were expected to submit the filled copies to the bureau before the inauguration day.
The outgoing officials, including presidential aides, 28 state governors and their cabinet members, National Assembly and state assembly members and local government chairmen will equally obtain the assets declaration forms from the CCB and submit the same in line with the 1999 constitution.
The PUNCH could not immediately confirm if the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.); his deputy, Prof Yemi Osinbajo and other public officials had declared their assets preparatory to leaving office in compliance with the requirements of the law.
The constitution stipulates that all public officers shall declare their assets and liabilities on the assumption of office and at the end of their tenure of office.
The affected officials are required to provide detailed information including but not limited to the number, types, address, and value of properties so declared and the date of acquisition as well as income derivable from the properties where appropriate.
The declarations are subject to verification by the CCB officers.
Failure to declare their assets as required under the provisions of paragraph 11 of the 5th Schedule of the Federal Constitution attracts on conviction removal from office, disqualification from holding any public office and forfeiture to the state of any property acquired in abuse of office or dishonesty.
Responding to inquiries from The PUNCH on the number of elected officials who had obtained the assets forms, Kato said, “We have earlier revealed that the assets declaration is an ongoing process. Currently, they are already obtaining their forms as they are coming in.
“However, I can’t specifically state the total number of elected officials that have collected their assets declaration forms or their names because they are getting the forms from our various offices nationwide.
“The development is going on in the 36 other offices as we are doing it at the head office here in the Federal Capital Territory. Hence, until we are done receiving their filled forms, and have collated the figures, we cannot specifically tell the total number of persons that have picked up or submitted their forms.’’
CCB warns officials
The CCB spokesperson warned that any defaulting officials would not be sworn in, stressing that assets declaration was part of the inauguration process.
“But one thing is sure; no public official will be sworn into office without filling their assets declaration form. That is what is contained in our law. Before the oath of office would be conferred on any elected public officials, they must submit their assets declaration forms. It is part of the requirements for the swearing-in ceremony,’’ Kato stated.
She further revealed that outgoing public officials had also begun to pick the assets declaration forms as part of the requirements for exiting the office.
Kato added, “The outgoing public officials have also started picking up their assets declaration forms. Many of them have started picking up the forms this week because officials are required to fill the forms and declare their assets both at the beginning and at the end of their tenure.”
In Ogun State, no fewer than 40 incoming public officials have reportedly obtained the assets declaration forms ahead of the May 29 swearing-in ceremony.
The officials were said to have obtained the forms from the Abeokuta office of the CCB.
An official of the CCB in the state, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, because he was not permitted to comment on the matter, disclosed this to our correspondent.
It was gathered that apart from the incoming officials, those who lost elections had also obtained the forms.
The source said the state governor, deputy governor, nine members of the House of Representatives, three Senators and 26 members of the state House of Assembly had obtained the assets declaration forms.
He said, “All of them have come to obtain the forms. Even, those who were not returned (to office) have also come to obtain the forms.”
On the deadline for submission, the source said, “Some have submitted; they must submit before May 29.”
On how the CCB verifies the assets declared by the affected officials, the source said the Bank Verification Numbers would expose their bank account details.
The state Director of the bureau, Olusegun Rabiu, could not be reached for comment as he was unavailable.
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Augustine Alegeh, said assets declaration was usually “part of the taking over processes.”
“Before swearing-in, there are protocols that are supposed to be sealed and signed. It is submitted and the high court signs before swearing in alongside other documents like the certificate of return,’’ he explained.
Adam Osikwe, SAN, said the elected officials must declare their assets before taking the oath of office as enshrined in the constitution.
He said, “The constitution says before they take their oath of office and oath of allegiance; before they assume the function of that office. The focus should be that an elected official is expected to declare his assets upon assumption and after four years.’’
Osikwe observed that there were some loopholes in the CCB framework, noting that the public officials could acquire properties, while in office and sell them without declaring them.
On his part, a prominent lawyer, Jiti Ogunye, noted that it was a stipulation of the law for public officials to declare their assets before they assumed office and when exiting.
“Before they are sworn into office, they are expected to declare their assets. And it is logical. Apart from the fact that it is the stipulation of the law, it goes both ways. When they are leaving office, they also declare their assets so that the assets they have acquired in the intervening period between the time they went into the office and the time they left can be compared.”
“But invariably, it is after they have taken office that the CCB is then supposed to go around to check the assets to ensure that what is declared is in tandem with what is owned,” the lawyer stated.
He, however, expressed doubts about CCB’s capacity to verify the assets in record time.
“But part of the problem has been whether the CCB has the requisite capacity to conduct such investigations in record time, particularly given the diversity of Nigeria, and how far-flung property and assets declared could be,” he concluded.
‘Make assets public’
Meanwhile, civil society groups and political parties have asked Tinubu and Shettima to declare their assets publicly in demonstration of the president-elect’s vow to tackle corruption and enshrine transparency in the public sector.
Recall that in 2015, President Buhari publicly declared his assets and urged other officials to do so too.
Following the example of his principal, Osinbajo declared $1.4m, a four-bedroom residence, a three-bedroom flat, a two-bedroom flat and a two-bedroom mortgaged property in Bedford, United Kingdom.
But Buhari did not declare his assets in 2019 when he won a second term as his media handlers insisted that public declaration of assets was voluntary.
Chairman of the Transition Monitoring Group, Auwal Rafsanjani, urged the President-elect to urgently declare his assets in the interest of accountability and transparency in governance.
He added that the public declaration of assets by Tinubu and his deputy would compel other public officials and appointees of the incoming administration to do the same.
Similarly, the Executive Director of the Centre for Democracy and Development, Idayat Hassan, urged the President-elect to make a public declaration of his assets “for probity reasons”, noting that a public declaration would help to build trust with Nigerians.
She added, “Though Buhari promised to make a public declaration of his assets, he never published it. He published a summary after so much back and forth. But it will be good and at the CDD, we will insist that for probity reasons, to build trust with Nigeria, the incoming President should ensure that he makes a public declaration of his assets, so that Nigerians can have an idea, can know what exactly he owns, and by the time he leaves, they can judge him based on that. It is part of the transparency and accountability process.’’
The Executive Director of YouthHub Africa, Rotimi Olawale, said although the declaration of assets was a norm for public officials, it was important for the incoming administration to do so publicly.
A leading member of the PDP legal team in the Presidential Election Petition Court, Mike Ozekhome, SAN, asked the ex-Lagos State governor to lead by example, saying “Tinubu should declare his assets publicly to assure Nigerians that he has no skeletons in his cupboard.”
On his part, the National Publicity Secretary of the Young Progressives Party, Egbeola Wale-Martins, said, “As a matter of morality, we admonish the President-elect to make his asset declaration public. When this is done, it will be one of several steps that will help to firm up the confidence of Nigerians in his administration’s seriousness to ensure transparency and probity in governance.
“However, if he decides not to make it public, it is within his rights and the YPP may or may not challenge him to do so as the only thing that is important to us as a party is how to hold his government accountable to ensure dividends of democracy and see how the country can be rescued from the current socio-economic quagmire.”
In his contribution, the National Publicity Secretary of the Social Democratic Party, Rufus Aiyenigba, also enjoined the President-elect to let Nigerians know his worth by making his assets declaration forms public.
“The law requires public officers to declare their assets but the incoming president can take a step further by doing so publicly. This will help deepen transparency in the public sector,’’ he argued.
The National Chairman of the African Action Alliance, Omoyele Sowore, told The PUNCH that unless asset declaration was made public and part of the Electoral Act, nothing good would come from the current system.
“Declaration, as it is done today, is a hoax because the Code of Conduct Bureau is not a reliable organisation. The way to declare assets is to make those declarations public so that they can allow and survive public scrutiny. Assets declaration should have been part of the electoral contest,” he said.
APC backs CCB
The Director of Publicity for APC, Bala Ibrahim, didn’t see anything strange in whether the President-elect and his deputy declared their assets publicly.
According to him, the two former governors are not ‘newcomers’ to laws and issues related to governance.
He said, “The President-elect and the VP-elect were two-term governors. Of course, they know the statutory requirement for taking the oath of office. The two know they have to comply and declare their assets.
“They are not newcomers. They have to account for what they have since it is mandatory. They will do it at the Code of Conduct Bureau. I am assuring you they must have prepared for it. After all, they didn’t win the election by fluke.”
When asked if Tinubu would make his declared assets public as Buhari did, a former Director of Media and Publicity for the dissolved Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign Council, Bayo Onanuga, simply asked, “Why not? It is a tradition. We will go by it. Asiwaju will declare his assets. There is nothing wrong with that. Don’t forget there is a Code of Conduct form where you have to fill in your assets and declare whatever you have before you assume office. So we will comply with the law.”
On his part, the Legal Director of the dissolved Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign Council, Babatunde Ogala, confirmed that the President-elect would do the needful in line with the law.
He said, “We will do everything in compliance with the provision of the law.”
When asked if the President-elect would equally be willing to declare his assets publicly, Ogala asked, “Does the law say so? We will comply with the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I can assure you that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu will do everything in compliance with the extant provisions of the law as it stands today,” he stated.
[Punch]
A 26-year-old Nigerian national has been arrested by the police in Delhi, India for allegedly duping a woman of over N1.4m after befriending her on Facebook.
According to the Cyber wing of the Kerala police, the accused was arrested on Saturday, May 6, 2023.
The police said, the Nigerian national, using a fake name on Facebook, befriended the woman in early 2021 and on August 15 of the same year, told her that a gift worth ₹30 crore has been sent to her as their Independence Day gift.
Later, the woman received a call claiming to be from a diplomatic officer from Mumbai Customs and asked her to deposit ₹22,000 to a bank account as Customs Duty.
Police said the woman was threatened to deposit more money in the following days and in July 2022, she approached the police with a complaint.
The cyber cell traced the accused to Delhi and arrested him.
Nigerian socialite, Pascal Okechukwu Chibuike, popularly known as Cubana ChiefPriest, has hinted at experiencing difficult times.
Naija News reports that this comes a few days after the celebrity barman and Nigerian singer, Davido, made headlines over an alleged rift and also unfollowed each other on the photo and video-sharing app, Instagram.
Cubana ChiefPriest took to his Instagram page to share a video of himself smoking while bragging about his outfits worth N2.5 million.
Reacting to the post, a concerned fan in the comment section questioned if all is well with the socialite, stressing he has been smoking lately.
The fan wrote: “This one you are smoking every time are you going through a lot ??”
Responding, Cubana ChiefPriest said he would be lying if he claims everything is fine with him.
He wrote: “@yung_blessediyke if I tell you say e easy na wash”
Cubana Chiefpriest Reacts As Man Claims To Be His Biological Son
Meanwhile, Cubana Chiefpriest has responded to a 19-year-old Nigerian man who claimed to be his biological son.
The young boy in the video trending online alleged that the popular socialite is his father stressing they share a striking semblance.
According to him, some people have also confirmed the claim that he looks like Cubana Chiefpriest adding he is willing to undergo a DNA test since his mother has denied telling him the truth about his paternity.
Reacting via his Instagram page, the celebrity Barman laughed over the issue and questioned the boy on his parent’s reaction to the video.
[NaijaNews]