Ola Olukoyede, the newly confirmed Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has vowed to prosecute corrupt politicians irrespective of their party affiliations.
Olukayode stated this during his screening alongside Muhammad Hammajoda who was also confirmed as the Secretary of the anti-graft agency.
The confirmation came about one week after their appointment by President Bola Tinubu.
During his screening, Olukoyede said the EFCC under his watch will be impartial and relentless in the fight against corruption.
He said whether an individual is affiliated with the ruling party or not, they will be investigated if linked with financial crimes.
Olukoyede further explained what the agency’s approach will look like under him.
“In this issue of investigating political opponents, there are two salient questions that must be answered. Number one, has the person committed financial crimes? If he has, then I have cause to investigate him.
“If you are in the ruling party, and you dip your hands into what you are not supposed to, you will be called to question.
“If you are in the opposition and you swallow sandpaper that did not digest, you will also be called to question,” he said.
President Tinubu had on June 14 suspended Abdulrasheed Bawa, the then EFCC boss, to pave the way for investigation into allegations of abuse of office levelled against him.
After Bawa’s suspension, the President directed Abdulkarim Chukkol, the Director of Operations at the Commission, to assume the role of acting EFCC chair, while the Department of State Services (DSS) took Bawa into custody as part of the investigation process.
Meanwhile, the Senate also confirmed the appointment of Halima Shehu as the Chief Executive Officer of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA) during Wednesday’s plenary.
The Senate, on Wednesday, appointed the All Progressives Congress (APC) Senator representing Kwara South, Oyelola Yisa Ashiru, as the new Deputy Leader of the Red Chamber.
Naija News reports that the Upper Legislature also appointed the Senator representing Ebonyi North Senatorial District, Nwebonyi Peter Onyeka, as the new Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate. Senator Onyeka is a member of the ruling APC.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio announced the new appointments during Wednesday’s plenary on the floor of the Senate.
Ashiru, who was the former Deputy Chief Whip, was elevated to the position of Deputy Senate Leader, which became vacant following the appointment of Senator Dave Umahi as the Minister of Works by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
More to come…
[Naijanews]
Nigeria's President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has vowed to grow Nigeria’s economy from $450 million Gross Domestic Product to $1 trillion in eight years.
This was disclosed by Temitope Ajayi, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity.
Ajayi said Tinubu revealed this at Monday’s Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja.
According to him, the country targets GDP growth of 7 per cent from 3.5 per cent.
He noted that Tinubu’s government had initiated a roadmap to stimulate industrial growth, especially with Small and Medium Enterprises.
“With this new commitment to the real sector, the economy is expected to see a boost in job creation and a general increase in economic indices, especially GDP growth rates, projected to move from above 3.5 per cent from 2024 to 7 per cent.
“The ambition of President Tinubu is to grow our economy from the current $ 450 billion GDP to $ 1 trillion in the next eight years.
“To actualize this, the government devised a roadmap to stimulate industrial growth, especially catalyzing SMEs growth and reviving up the entire industrial sector”, He stated.
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, during plenary on Wednesday announced that the 10th Senate has chosen Senator Lola Ashiru, from Kwara State as the new Deputy Senate Leader.
Senator Ashiru representing Kwara North Senatorial District was chosen to replace Senator Dave Umahi, who represented Ebonyi South Senatorial District before he was appointed as the Minister of Works by President Bola Tinubu.
Senator Ashiru who was the Deputy Whip of the Senate has been replaced with Senator Onyekachi Nwebonyi, representing Ebonyi North Senatorial District.
SaharaReporters earlier reported that at the ongoing plenary, the senators are also screening Ola Olukoyede and Muhammad Hammajoda appointed by President Bola Tinubu on October 12 to serve as chairman and secretary of the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), respectively.
The duo are in the Senate to be screened and confirmed.
The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, CACOL, has asked President Bola Tinubu's administration not to sell Nigeria's future through debt.
Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, earlier stated that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had approved an application to secure a budget support loan worth $1.5 billion and an additional $80 million from the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB) respectively.
The minister said the funds would be utilised for various projects in crucial sectors of the nation’s economy, adding that Nigeria qualified for the “relatively cheap” loans given its “macro-economic moves” in the past couple of months since President Bola Tinubu assumed office.
Edun, while speaking with State House correspondents, noted that the government would receive $1.5 billion as a whole before the end of the year, provided it fulfilled its end of the deal.
According to the minister, the funding will be provided through the International Development Association, known for its virtually interest-free loans.
On the $80 million financing from the African Development Bank, the minister said the financing was designated for the Ekiti Knowledge Zone Project (EKZ) in Ekiti State. He said EKZ aims to empower young individuals by facilitating their engagement in the knowledge economy and the technology sector.
Edun said the project would enable training, employment opportunities, and participation in the ever-growing technological landscape in Nigeria.
The report further stated that so far, Nigeria had secured a total of $1.95 billion in loans from the World Bank in the first four months of President Tinubu’s administration. The first was the $750 million approved on June 9, 2023, to boost Nigeria’s power sector.
The second was $500 million to help the country’s drive for women’s empowerment and was approved on June 22, 2023. The third was a $700 million loan to enhance adolescent girls’ learning and empowerment, which was approved on September 21, 2023.
However, in a release issued and signed by CACOL’s Director of Administration and Programmes, Tola Oresanwo on behalf of the organisation’s Chairman, Mr. Debo Adeniran, the organisation cautioned the federal government on the huge debt burden being imposed on the country.
It said, “The decision of the federal government to continue borrowing amidst the rising debt burden already imposed on the country by the past administrations and the seemingly unsustainable nature of the loans has made us to break the silence of the day on this serious issue.
"We want to emphatically say that we expect this administration to dare to be different from past administrations; we expect the president and his cabinet members to think out of the box in finding solutions to the myriads of problems confronting the nation.
“If a country that can afford Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs), allegedly worth N130 million to its lawmakers but still goes cap in hand begging Bretton Woods organisations for funds needed to finance its budget, then something is wrong somewhere.
"If the government must borrow at all, it should not be for servicing recurrent expenditures but must be targeted on capital projects that would later generate income or grow our gross domestic product (GDP) sporadically.
“We hope the President and his advisers know the implications of these incessant borrowings on our economy, the value of the naira, the enormity of the debt service burden, the current size of our debt, and our very limited capacity to service both domestic and external debts.
"Those giving us loans also have their stringent conditions attached to it which must be met by the government and most often, some of these conditions are not made public, hence imposing the burden on even unborn generations.
“We would like to call on the President and his cabinet members to try as much as possible to cut down on our excessive borrowings as a country, they must also strive to reduce the cost of governance and the amount of forex that we send out to other nations through the imports of petroleum products, brand new cars or SUVs, etc.
"The challenges being faced in the oil and gas sector which had impacted negatively on the country’s earnings should be permanently tackled so that government revenue from that sector can be fully maximized.”
"Other sources of revenue should also be explored like the blue economy, bringing more rich people into the tax net, exploration and exportation of more mineral resources which nature has richly blessed us with, empowering more people to practice mechanized farming which has the potential of not only ensuring food security within the country but also earning foreign currencies through exportation, etc.,” it added.
he House of Representatives has directed the Committee on Public Account to look into claims of improper handling of COVID-19 intervention funding.
The order came from a motion moved on Tuesday, during plenary by Nyampa Zakari, a PDP member from Adamawa State.
Zakari claimed in his motion that numerous ministries and organisations misused the COVID-19 intervention monies during the pandemic.
According to PUNCH, the parliamentarian said that the federal budget had earmarked more than N183.9 billion for the intervention money, adding that money was donated to the coffers by other international donors.
“The disruption of economic activity made it necessary to implement several programmes, laws, and interventions to help families, small enterprises, and public corporations and to strengthen their economies.
“To battle the COVID-19 pandemic on the populace, the Federal Government of Nigeria launched several initiatives, including financial provisions and money from international donor organisations.
“A sum of N83.9 billion was appropriated for the COVID-19 response in the 2020 Appropriation Act, as well as another sum of over N100 billion as intervention funds through the supplementary budget and international donor agencies,” the lawmaker added.
The alleged mishandling, according to Mr. Zakari, was detailed in one of the Auditor General’s reports.
He said that the poor handling would discourage future donations to Nigeria from donor organisations.
“Auditor-General’s report and other sources reveal that significant funds for COVID-19 palliatives and international donations were diverted and unaccounted for by various Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government.
“Lack of proper accountability of funds allocated for COVID-19 intervention by the federal government and global donor agencies could potentially lead to negative economic ratings and loss of opportunities for Nigeria,” he said.
Speaking on the motion, Borno APC member Ahmed Jaha stated that the probe was essential because the House has already been charged with receiving benefits from the COVID-19 intervention money.
Imagine how many schools would have been built if each constituency received N500 million, Mr. Jaha said.
As a result, the House instructed the committee to look into the COVID-19 intervention funds distributed to federal ministries, departments, and agencies between 2020 and 2022 and provide a report within four weeks for additional legislative action.
Israeli Army To Release Evidence Of Misfired Rocket That killed hundreds At Gaza hospital blast
Admin
The Israeli army said that it has credible evidence to prove that Hamas terrorists were responsible for the hospital blast that killed hundreds.
This was disclosed by the army military spokesman, Daniel Hagari, who addressed a press conference in Tel Aviv on Wednesday.
“The evidence — which we are sharing with you all — confirms that the explosion at the hospital in Gaza was caused by an Islamic Jihad rocket that misfired,” Hagari was as quoted saying.
The remarks come after an explosion at a Gaza hospital facility on Tuesday evening killed at least 200 people, according to health officials in the war-torn territory, igniting demonstrations and widespread outrage across the Middle East.
“There was no IDF (Israeli army) fire by land, sea or air that hit the hospital,” Hagari said.
“Our radar system tracked missiles fired by terrorists in Gaza at the time of the explosion and the trajectory analysis of the rockets shows the rockets were fired in close proximity to the hospital.”
Following the blast, the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which runs the territory, pinned the blame on Israel.
The war of words continued on Wednesday with Hamas firing back at Israel’s latest comments about the strike, saying “Its outrageous lies do not deceive anyone”.
Israel “is directly responsible for this horrific massacre which was carried out… with American weapons only the occupation possesses”, Hamas said in a statement.
For more than a week, Israel has carried out a withering bombardment of Gaza – retaliation for the killing of 1,400 people who were shot, mutilated or burnt to death in shock cross-border attacks launched by Hamas on October 7.
The Bakoura Faction of the Boko Haram have reportedly blocked the waterways in the LCB in an efforts to annihilate its rival faction.
Zagazola had reported how the Boko Haram faction successfully uprooted the Boko Haram in dozens of their hideouts within the Lake Chad tumbuns of Marte and Abadam.
20-year-old UNILORIN student commits suicide after lending ‘online lover’ N500,000 — Management
AdminA 20-year-old student of the University of Ilorin, Sanni Hameedat, reportedly committed suicide after lending a boy she met on the social media platform, Snapchat, the sum of N500,000.
According to Rubiks, the private hostel management she resided in before her demise, in a statement made available to PUNCH Online on Wednesday, Hameedat was undergoing her SIWES programme before the incident happened.
The management asserted that the cause of her death was not unrelated to the pressure from the app agents, who were demanding fast repayment, coupled with her brother’s inability to assist her financially, which led to depression.
“The cause of Suicide was traced to financial misappropriation. She was entrusted with a significant sum of money by her mother. She crossed paths with a guy on Snapchat and developed a friendship.
“When the boy claimed that his mother was battling breast cancer and urgently needed N500,000, the compassionate and emotional lady decided to help him by lending him half of the N1 million she held for her mother. And the boy promised to repay the borrowed money.
“However, when her mother needed the money back, the boy abruptly cut off all up all contact, blocking her. This left her deeply troubled and in order for her to make up the missing N500,000, she resorted to borrowing money from various apps.”
Hameedat, therefore, managed to gather N450,000 from the loan apps, adding her savings of N50,000 to make up the borrowed N500,000.
The management further maintained that she was reported to have ingested a bottle of pesticide popularly known as Sniper the previous night, and her roommate (name withheld), who had retired to bed early, woke up in the middle of the night to discover her in distress while she was foaming from her mouth and also vomiting.
“Alarmed, the roommate sought help, and she was rushed to UITH before being declared dead,” the statement concluded.
Meanwhile, both the Dean, Student Affairs Unit, Prof M.T. Yakubu, and the Head, Corporate Affairs, Kunle Akogun of the institution, could not comment on the issue in terse messages sent to them as they both claimed to be partaking in the 37th and 38th combined convocation ceremony which kickstarted on Monday, October 16, 2023.
But when our correspondent contacted the Student Union President, Ologundudu Adesunkanmi, popularly called Royal Prince, he confirmed the incident, corroborating the narration of the hostel management.
He said, “The Vice-Chancellor, Dean of Student Affairs are very much aware of the issue, and they have reported to the appropriate authority to begin a full-length investigation into the matter. It is sad that the university community lost her in such a devastating manner.”
Details later…
[Punch]
The Israeli army said Wednesday it had “evidence” that militants were responsible for the blast that killed hundreds at a Gaza hospital, saying a review proved others were at fault.
“The evidence — which we are sharing with you all — confirms that the explosion at the hospital in Gaza was caused by an Islamic Jihad rocket that misfired,” military spokesman Daniel Hagari told a press conference in Tel Aviv.
The comments came after an explosion at a Gaza hospital compound on Tuesday evening killed at least 200 people, according to health officials in the war-torn enclave, sparking protests across the Middle East and wide-ranging condemnation.
“There was no IDF (Israeli army) fire by land, sea or air that hit the hospital,” Hagari said.
“Our radar system tracked missiles fired by terrorists in Gaza at the time of the explosion and the trajectory analysis of the rockets shows the rockets were fired in close proximity to the hospital.”
Following the blast, the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which runs the territory, pinned the blame on Israel.
The war of words continued on Wednesday with Hamas firing back at Israel’s latest comments about the strike, saying “Its outrageous lies do not deceive anyone”.
Israel “is directly responsible for this horrific massacre which was carried out… with American weapons only the occupation possesses”, Hamas said in a statement.
For more than a week, Israel has carried out a withering bombardment of Gaza – retaliation for the killing of 1,400 people who were shot, mutilated or burnt to death in shock cross-border attacks launched by Hamas on October 7.
[DailyTrust]
• 1,209 out of 1,280 elective offices to be decided by court verdict
• Free, fair, credible elections held in only 71 polls, representing 5.55%
• 24 out of 28 guber cases for court validation
• Umpire earmarked N3 billion to defend decisions in court
• Electorates blame INEC, politicians, lawyers for flawed democracy
• We had 600 pre-election cases in several courts, Yakubu says
Outcomes of the last general elections and unprecedented flurry of election petitions have heightened credibility doubts of the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) ability to conduct a free, fair and credible election.
Although the trend of ‘election by court order’ has continued since the return of civil rule in 1999, disputed election outcomes waiting for judicial resolution in this year’s polls are alarming.
For instance, a total of 1,280 political offices were contested in 2023, comprising the office of the presidency, 109 members of the Senate, 360 seats for the Federal House of Representatives, 782 House of Assembly seats across 28 states of the federation and 28 governorship positions.
Out of the total figure, 1,209 petitions are before the judiciary for adjudication, according to the President of the Court of Appeal (PCA), Justice Monica Dongban-mensem during the ceremony to commence the 2023/2024 legal year in Abuja, representing a whopping 94.453 per cent of the positions where votes were cast.
The implication is that the electorate have less say about who becomes their leader, as that responsibility has substantially been shifted to the judiciary.
As it is, only 71 offices are truly decided by the citizens, representing a paltry 5.547 per cent of the offices contested.
According to the human rights lawyer, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, these statistics confirm that the 2023 elections rival that of 2007 in infamy, despite the amendments to the Electoral Act and promises by the electoral umpire to improve the process.
“By contrast, 2015 was the first time that Nigeria’s presidential election did not end up in court, reflecting the consensus that the elections of that year were relatively well organised with results that largely reflected the will of the people.
“It was also the first time that the proportion of elections ending up in courts was less than 50 per cent (663 petitions or 44.32 per cent). The 2019 elections produced 766 petitions (51.2 per cent), roughly the same number as the 769 (51.4 per cent) seen in 2011,” he pointed out.
Considering the clogged dockets of the judiciary in Nigeria, Justice Dongban-Mensem stated that the court delivered 7,295 judgments and 3,665 motions in the 2022/2023 legal year, adding that it could have done more, but for the electoral dispute interregnum.
She added that 98 panels were constituted to hear the 1,209 election petitions nationwide.
Five of them, she said, were filed and concluded at the Presidential Election Petition Court, while 147 filed at the senatorial election tribunal have been delivered and 417 petitions from the House of Representatives are being attended to.
The PCA also said 557 petitions associated with State Houses of Assembly and 83 gubernatorial complaints are being disposed of, adding that 28 states participated in the governorship elections, with petitions filed in 24 of them.
The figures excluded the pre-election disputes, which most of them terminated at the apex court.
Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, during the new legal year speech, acknowledged the pressure political cases are mounting on the judiciary due to the timeline attached to their determination.
He said: “I want to specifically appreciate and acknowledge my brother Justices who have delivered 272 judgments in the normal civil, criminal and election related Appeals under immense pressure.
Last November, the chairman of INEC, Mahmood Yakubu, lamented that the Commission was handling over 600 pre-election cases in several courts across the federation during a capacity-building workshop for over 300 judges that would handle election disputes.
He revealed that the cases pending against the electoral body relate to the conduct of primaries by political parties, meaning that now that the elections are over, the cases have risen, such that INEC will be contending with about 1,209 cases, since litigants usually join the Commission in their petitions.
Aware of the litigious culture, INEC in its Election Project Plan for the 2023 general election earmarked N3 billion of tax-payers money to defend election-related disputes in court.
However, stakeholders are blaming INEC, lawyers and the politicians for subletting the right to choose political leadership to the judiciary, warning that if the trend is not checked, it will get to a point where there will be no need to organise any election.
Lagos lawyer, Bankole Kayode, believes that politicians are majorly to be blamed.
According to him, politicians are afraid to lose elections because the consequences of their electoral defeat are quite heavy.
“They instantly become abandoned and deserted by their supporters in addition to the loss of the heavy money and resources they deploy to the failed election venture, therefore, they become worse than someone infected with leprosy.
“The next thing they resort to, to avoid being deserted is to give false hope to their supporters that the courts will restore to them their ‘stolen mandate’ and hence the high rate of litigation we see all over,” he said, adding that many lawyers who ought to discourage frivolous litigations by appropriately advising their clients will rather cash in on the situation to make a fortune out of the desperate losers of the elections by rushing to courts in spite of the poor chances of success.
“I think lawyers should act more circumspectly by giving good advice to the politicians as to their chances in court after they have lost elections,” he advised.
Kayode also blamed top INEC officials who come to the public space to mislead the people about the true state of our electoral laws and their capacity to deliver.
During the preparation for the last election, he noted, a top INEC official was all over the media misleading the politicians and the electorates that Irev and other electronic devices would be compulsorily deployed as ‘prescribed by the electoral laws and guidelines’.
“He was singing it all over that INEC result viewing (Irev) portal was ‘the game changer’ which will eliminate all electoral malpractices, whereas, though a lawyer himself, he was talking in crass ignorance of the provisions of the electoral laws when compared with the subsequent court decisions.
“So, INEC officials should engage law experts to enlighten them on the provisions of our electoral laws so that they in turn will correctly enlighten the politicians and the electorates about the true state of the electoral laws, because nothing is wrong with the electoral laws,” he declared.
Also, Stephen Azubuike, lawyer and author, said a bigger portion of the blame pie goes to INEC.
His words: “When elections are fraught with much evidence of procedural and process anomalies, the candidates will be too aggrieved to let go.
“Of course, Nigerian politicians see elections as a do-or-die affair and will do everything possible until it is considered over. This means that so long as the courts are there, politicians consider the courtrooms as an extension of the polling units where they hope to make another attempt to win.
“Therefore, I don’t see the courts being let alone any time soon even if INEC performs at its best. Interestingly, electoral law can hardly be used to deny any candidate access to courts. It may be viewed as a denial of fundamental rights.”
He called for further reforms, starting with INEC.
Blaming politicians for being bad sportsmen, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Yomi Alliyu lamented that they are sometimes deceived by the rented crowd and the money they spent on adverts.
He regretted that few men and women on the bench get to decide who occupies political office for the electorate.
Alliyu said: “It is unfortunate that at times the wishes of the people are decided by 13 people or at most 17 if you consider three judges of the Tribunal, five for the Court of Appeal and five at the Supreme Court. It is 17 for presidential election petitions comprising five at the Court of Appeal and seven at the Supreme Court!
“However, there is nothing anybody can do about this since it is what ‘we the people’ agreed to in our Constitution. We have submitted our adjudicatory power to those arbiters, and they are deemed to be the voice of all of us. This is far better than anarchy.”
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Legalpedia, Emeka Albert, fingered INEC as the problem.
“The body is far from being independent and lacks a sense of responsibility or accountability. When the umpire is confused, there are no rules and the game becomes a huge joke,” he quipped.
For law teacher and advocate, Prof Ernest Ojukwu (SAN), Nigeria has imbibed the culture of dishonesty as a way of life, which impacts on the people and institutions.
According to him, the blame goes to the Nigerian in INEC, the Nigerian in politicians and the Nigerian in our leaders, as well as the Nigerian in the electorate, who have all accepted the culture of dishonesty.
“We cannot forestall the trend of massive electoral disputes when our elections are mainly based on dishonesty. Most electoral disputes happen because we do not trust the process and the result of our elections, and we do not trust the umpire who largely takes sides in this culture of dishonesty.
“Until we begin to focus on the character of the Nigerian, and raise a new army of humans with integrity, our elections will never be free and fair,” he declared.
Human rights lawyer, Festus Ogun believes INEC shares the bigger part of the blame. The election, he insisted, was poorly conducted.
According to him, it was not credible. “With that, even those who clearly lost the election would believe they should be declared winner because of the inefficiency of INEC.
“And they are right because what INEC declared as valid votes sometimes get nullified as invalid votes by the Tribunals. So, because people generally lack faith in the electoral system, which is justified, their last hope is the Tribunal,” he said, suggesting that the solution would be to have a truly independent, efficient and effective electoral system.
Efforts to know how INEC feels about the barrage of litigations and their implication for the electoral process, were unsuccessful as its National Commissioner & Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun did not pick calls placed on his phone or respond to messages as at press time.
[Guardian]
More...
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has voiced its concern about the consistently litigious nature of elections held in Nigeria since the advent of the present democratic era in 1999.
INEC also decried incessant conflicting judgments by the courts which have become a recurring decimal in the jurisprudence of election in Nigeria and is inimical to the electoral process.
The twin-issues were attributed to the prevailing political culture in the nation.
At a two-day workshop for members of the INEC Press Corps in Akwanga, Nasarawa State, INEC director of Legal Drafting and Contacts, Barr. Toyin Babalola stressed the need for political parties to uphold the principles of internal democracy by ensuring that the selection of candidates accurately represents the will of their party members during primary elections.
Babalola argued that by adhering strictly to the principles of internal democracy and ensuring candidate nominations align with their members’ preferences, political parties could contribute significantly to reducing the frequency of pre-election disputes and their adverse impact on the electoral process.
According to her, “Elections conducted since the inception of democracy have been litigious, owing to our political culture.
“It is important that political parties strictly preserve the tenets of internal democracy by ensuring that nomination of candidates reflects the will of their members at party primaries, to reduce the spate of pre-election matters and its impact on preparation for elections”, she said.
The INEC director stated that it is pertinent to note that election challenges are a crucial part of the electoral processes of constitutional democracies, the world over.
She said, “In Nigeria, like other representative democracies, the electoral laws provide for resolution of electoral disputes through the mechanism of legal proceedings referred to as pre–election and post-election (Election Petitions) cases.
“The challenges associated with litigation are not limited to pre-election cases.
“The following challenges have been identified as relating to pre-election matters: Lack of internal party democracy: This is one of the major bases for pre-election matters.
“Non-adherence to party Constitution and Guidelines, arbitral replacement of candidates from persons that emerged from validly conducted primaries, nomination of placeholders, etc are factors that impact on preparations for elections.”
“Conflicting judgments by the Courts which have become a re-current decimal in the jurisprudence of election in Nigeria and is inimical to the electoral process.”
She said the concerns of the Commission are in respect of the trend which has portrayed partial departure from the time honoured doctrine of stare decisis resulting in conflicting decisions on the same set of facts and subject matter.
She said, “This has resulted in uncertainty, loss of confidence in the system with the attendant negative consequences on the electoral process.
[Leadership]
…Ndume kicks against Akpabio’s alleged procedural errors, storms out of session
The brewing crisis in the Senate came to a head, yesterday, as the Chief Whip, Senator Ali Ndume, stormed out during plenary to protest the refusal of the Senate president, Godswill Akpabio, to address alleged procedural errors.
To prevent the situation from degenerating, Akpabio requested that his colleagues meet behind closed doors for further discussion.
How it began
Trouble started minutes after the commencement of the day’s session when Senator Ali Ndume (APC, Borno South), raised a point of order to draw the Senate President’s attention to alleged procedural errors committed by him which were yet to be corrected.
Specifically, Ndume referenced a motion on the need for re-opening of Nigeria-Niger border, which was moved by Senator Sumaila Kawu (NNPP, Kano South), which Akpabio allowed to be debated without first having the official title of the motion read as the normal procedure.
Ndume, relying on Order 51 of the Senate Standing Rules, requested that the Senate President should allow for the correction of any error made or observed during plenary.
He said: “This is the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria guided by laws, rules and procedures. If in the course of proceedings at any session errors are observed, they must be corrected before forging ahead with such proceedings.
“Mr. President, there are some things we do in this chamber that are against the rules. Sir, nobody is too big to learn.”
Akpabio had hardly allowed Ndume to end his speech when he ruled him out of order, saying since he had ruled on issues raised, it could not be revisited.
Undaunted, another senator, Sunday Karimi (APC, Kogi West), rose in defence of Ndume’s point of order by raising another point of order. He was equally ruled out of order by the Senate president.
In an attempt to douse the tension, which was reaching feverish pitch, Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau, quickly raised Order 16, which requires a substantive motion to be moved by any senator seeking to correct or review an earlier decision taken.
Akpabio sustained this order and this infuriated Ndume, who equally raised another point of order, specifically, Order 54 to seek correction of the perceived error.
Again, Akpabio ruled him out of order without allowing him to exhaust his line of argument.
Ndume storms out
At this point, Ndume had had enough, he picked up his documents and a few other belongings and stormed out of the Senate chamber.
His action, which was obviously unexpected, led the Senate to dissolve into a closed session.
Incidentally, Ndume was Akpabio’s campaign manager during the race for the Senate presidency in June.
This is happening at a time senators are preparing to leave for Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, for a retreat that will begin today (Wednesday).
Building tension
Tension had been building up long before the Senate resumed from its long vacation in September.
There were speculations about moves to impeach the Senate President and effect a change in the leadership over Akapbio’s alleged insensitivity to the demands of senators, sidelining of some ranking senators in the headship of committees, kowtowing to President Tinubu and unsavoury role during the screening and confirmation of ministerial nominees in August.
This prompted the Senate President’s media office to issue a statement dismissing the speculation as a figment of the imagination of the authors.
However, Senator Elisha Abbo, who was, on Monday, sacked by the Appeal Court, issued a statement on behalf of the powerful northern senators accusing Akpabio’s office of trying to pit them against President Bola Tinubu.
Akpabio bears no ill-will against his colleagues – Aide
Meanwhile, Mr Eseme Eyiboh, Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Senate President, said yesterday that Akpabio harboured no ill-will towards any of his colleagues.
He also rejected claims by Senator Elisha Abbo that the Senate president influenced the judgment of the Court of Appeal that sacked him from the Senate.
Eyiboh in a statement, expressed shock at the assertions of the former Adamawa North senator, describing his claims as “delinquent, provocative and unbecoming of a distinguished senator.”
His words: “It is only a diseased and uninformed mind that will not believe that the outcome of any court proceeding is a function of the evaluation of facts and evidence within the province of the rule of law. “It is uncharitable for Senator Abbo to pour his frustrations on Senator Akpabio or anyone else and his action betrays the bile he has for Senator Akpabio.
“Democracy is founded on the rule of law, so for anybody to accuse one of the strong agents of democracy and governance in the mould of Senator Akpabio, such an individual must be a monument of self-pity and his swansong a discordant escape from reality.”
“Senator Akpabio, for emphasis, has no ill will towards any of his distinguished colleagues and as he has said in the past, the embers of the leadership election have been buried and replaced by the fraternal bond of nation-building he shares with the overwhelming majority of senators.”
[Vanguard]
Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, emerged from his hibernation slinging incoherent aspersions on the person of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and the exalted office he occupies.
After a long hiatus leaking his wounds from the monumental electoral loss of his candidate in the last presidential election, Mr. Lawal unabashedly is out again, peddling gibberish, rather than learn from his political misadventure with equanimity.
Clearly, the defeat of his principal, Peter Obi, at the poll has done incalculable damage to Mr. Lawal’s psyche and his capacity for rational thought as evident in his analysis based entirely on the figment of his warped imagination rather than on hard facts and figures. A clear sign of his disconnect from reality was his reference to election held in May 2023, rather than February.
We challenge Babachir Lawal to give a detailed breakdown of his so-called "aggregated facts sourced from independent sources," which he claimed proved that Obi won the election or forever keep mute. That he did not provide these facts to help Obi prove his case before the Presidential Elections Petitions Court is a massive disservice if not betrayal of his political principal.
Babachir Lawal ought to have known that running a jaundiced commentary on a matter before the Supreme Court is the height of irresponsibility. But he is still nursing bitterness and vindictiveness over his failed dream of running on a joint ticket with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Indeed, Babachir Lawal is in dire need of professional counseling and deserves our collective pity. It is obvious he may never get over the pain of being tossed into the dustbin of political ignominy by President Bola Tinubu who, against all odds, defeated Mr Peter Obi that exploited our religious and ethnic fault lines in his campaign for the nation's highest office.
Thankfully, Nigerians across all ethnic and religious divides, saw through Babachir Lawal's and Peter Obi's shenanigans and voted for the best candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
Furthermore, it is very uncharitable for Mr. Babachir Lawal to call to question the professional competence of President Tinubu's appointees, some of whom he cannot hold a candle to their political and professional accomplishments.
Babachir Lawal is one lightweight politician who thinks himself a heavyweight. He failed spectacularly as a politician in his State of Adamawa where in three election circles he could not deliver his ward and local government in his Hong Local Government.
Despite his legendary failure as a politician, former President Muhammadu Buhari in deference to diversity appointed him to the high office of SGF where he was unceremoniously sacked on account of very poor performance and dishonourable conduct. A man like Babachir Lawal is in no position to offer an opinion on the competence of President Tinubu's appointees.
We are convinced that these appointees would justify the confidence reposed in them by the President by delivering on the promises of the Renewed Hope Agenda of this administration.
And while they are it, we would admonish Babachir Lawal to concentrate on managing his farm and stop constituting himself into a needless distraction unbefitting of his age and status.
Signed:
Felix Morka, Esq.
National Publicity Secretary
All Progressives Congress (APC)
The candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the last presidential election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, said the 26.72 per cent inflation rate underscores the incompetence and cluelessness of the Bola Tinubu administration.
Atiku in a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communication Phrank Shaibu blamed the rising inflation figure on the removal of fuel subsidies, shoddy exchange rate unification policy, and uninformed introduction of value-added tax (VAT) on diesel.
The former vice president said Tinubu’s declaration of a state of emergency on food security was nothing but mere rhetoric, noting that food prices had continued to rise due to a hike in the cost of transportation and dilapidated federal roads that had made interstate travel unbearable.
Atiku observed that while food prices in several parts of the world are dropping, “they are increasing in Nigeria because the country is being governed by an economic Lilliputian whose only bragging right is increasing the revenue of Lagos State through multiple taxation and the institutionalisation of extortion.”
He argued that the administration knows nothing about exchange rates, monetary policy, or how to run a multi-ethnic and largely agrarian country like Nigeria.
“This was a man who said last year that the only way to solve unemployment was to employ 50 million youths into the army and feed them with ‘Agbado (corn), cassava and ewa (beans)’. How can such a man have the answers to Nigeria’s problems?” he asked.
Atiku described Tinubu’s administration as prodigal, noting that at a time he was calling for belt-tightening, he inaugurated the largest cabinet in Nigeria’s history and is set to plunge Nigeria deeper into more debt.
“He declared an emergency in food security, ordered the release of grains, and reviewed his earlier palliative plan, but 100 days since the so-called declaration of a state of emergency, Nigerians are hungrier and poorer.
“It is obvious that it was all a ruse to deceive the feeble-minded, just like his announcement on the lifting of the UAE visa ban,” the PDP candidate said.
He called on Nigerians to tarry a bit longer while the Supreme Court tried to rectify the electoral disaster of February 25 and expressed worry that should the Tinubu administration last a year, Nigerians would be poorer than ever.