The court of appeal in Abuja has set aside the judgment of the national and state houses of assembly election tribunal in Asaba.

The tribunal had declared Ndudi Elumelu, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as winner of the 2023 election for Aniocha/Oshimili federal constituency, Delta state.

In a judgment on Thursday, the appellate court affirmed Ngozi Okolie, candidate of the Labour Party (LP), as the duly elected lawmaker.

Kenneth Ibe, the returning officer of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), had announced that Okolie polled 53,879 votes to defeat Elumelu, who got 33,456 votes.

However, Elumelu filed a petition before the tribunal on the grounds that Okolie was not duly sponsored by the LP since he was not a member of the party as of May 28, 2022, when the party’s primary election was held.

The three-member panel of the tribunal, headed by A.Z. Mussa, in its ruling, agreed with Elumelu and disqualified the LP candidate.

But the court of appeal faulted the tribunal for voiding Okolie’s election.

The appellate court agreed with Mahmud Magaji, counsel to LP, that contrary to the findings of the tribunal, Okolie was duly nominated and sponsored by his party.

The appeal court also stated that Okolie resigned his appointment as a senior special assistant (SSA) in the Delta state government, as required by the constitution, before the election.

[TheCable]

Edo State Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu, is  facing the worst public humiliation of his political life.  A basket is being woven around him. The daggers are out. The killers are lurking just by the corner. And the vultures are circling around him. They are waiting for his political carcass.

In the past few weeks, the youthful Shaibu has been fighting the battle for his political life. He is fighting  to remain relevant. He is fighting not to be dumped in a political dustbin. The man whose hand is directing Shaibu’s fall  is his Principal, Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki. Obaseki is a man reputed to take no prisoners in a war; a man who is comfortable in the midst of war. Check the list of those he has fearlessly “tangoed” with in the past three years. Adams Oshiomhole. Oba of Benin. Nyesom Wike. And now Shaibu.

Shaibu is a former Students Union President, and so prefixes his name with Comrade. A former political godson of “a bigger Comrade”, Oshiomhole, former President NLC, Shaibu learnt from Adams to, most times, wear ill-tailored and ill-fitting pair of khaki trousers and short-sleeved shirt of same material and colour. That is to fit the bill of a Comrade. But Shaibu quite did not learn from Oshiomhole that Obaseki is neither a respecter of Comrades nor of khaki. Obaseki knows that “khaki no be leather”. So he deals with it as what it is – an ordinary piece of cloth. That was how he dealt with Oshiomhole when Oshiomhole stabbed him. And, he is  bent on dealing same way with Shaibu.

But here is the difference.

In Oshiomhole’s case, even though the scar is still there, Oshiomhole had the luck of getting out of the gulag. He is now a Senator of the Federal Republic, and a friend of the President. That may not be Shaibu’s fate.

So, who will save Shaibu? Whose friend would he be?

A few days ago, he tried to save himself by rallying a number of very respectable people, including Clergymen, to bring him out of the dustbin of history he is about to be thrown into. They did, or so they thought, which made Shaibu walk back on his earlier decision of seeking legal action.

Suspecting, strongly, that there were plans by Governor Obaseki and the House of Assembly to impeach him, he approached a Federal High Court Abuja for protection. He got it. Obaseki chided him, and denied there were any impeachment plans against his Deputy. But not true. Proof: Thereafter, Obaseki went after Shaibu in full force.

He began by inflicting on his  Deputy of seven years a public humiliation. During a Thanksgiving Service to mark the anniversary of the creation of Edo State, Shaibu stood up from the obscure place he sat and made to access the Governor. Ordinarily, he should have sat close to the Governor, perhaps, a couple of  seats away from him. But no. Then, he made one of the greatest mistakes of his life. Shaibu decided to go and greet his boss. And Obaseki bared his fangs. In the full glare of the public, a few steps away from the Governor and his wife, a security personnel blocked Shaibu from accessing the Governor. As Shaibu suffered that humiliation, Governor Obaseki and his wife looked on. Unperturbed. I wonder if Shaibu’s wife was present to watch her husband’s belittling. Must have been tough for her.

Political watchers and those who know Obaseki agree that by the time he finishes dealing with his Deputy, Shaibu will not only be finished politically, almost, he would forget the prefix before his name – Comrade. As I write, Shaibu is not only fighting to remain relevant in a Government he is number two in hierarchy, he is, also fighting to convince Nigerians that he is not a common thief. More on this later.

What is the story? How did the elder-junior brother relationship between Obaseki and Shaibu deteriorate to the level where Shaibu no longer has access to his Principal; where a security personnel would publicly stop him from walking up to the Governor to greet him; where a door will be slammed against his face; where he will be evicted from the office of the Deputy Governor, domiciled inside Government House Benin, to an obscure building outside Government House; where he was stripped of his Media Aides?

According to reports, the story is simple. Shaibu dared say he would vie for the office of the Governor in 2024. He dared dream to succeed Obaseki on the expiration of the Governor’s term in office. He dared dream big. He dared have an ambition. Big mistake.

Shaibu was the President of the Students Union Government in his days in the University. He may have been a good SUG President But he is not a good student  of history. I may even add that he is not a good politician too. Otherwise, Shaibu should have known that by aspiring to succeed Obaseki, he has committed a cardinal sin. In Nigeria, Deputy Governors, even Vice Presidents are doomed if try to move a step further than where they are. Their “‘Ogas” see it as disrespectful. They see it as, perhaps, ”this guy wants to compete with me.”

So, they begin to find faults, throw obstacles, once their tenure is ending. Look at it. President Olusegun Obasanjo and Vice President Atiku Abubakar. President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. Even though the Vice Presidents yearned to succeed their Presidents, it stopped at that – yearning. They were not encouraged to, let me not so allowed to.

The case of Deputy Governors is even worse. They are meant to be anonymous. Their names are hardly heard or known outside their immediate environment. In deed, a number of people, even in their States, hardly know the names of the Deputy Governors. The Governors so overwhelm them that they feel small, and look small before them. They are to be seen, not heard.

Nobody has been able to explain why. But that is the norm. It is an unwritten rule. They usually prefer somebody else to succeed them. Some people  say it is, perhaps, because they think  their Deputies know too much. Or because they treated their Deputies so bad that if allowed to succeed them, they would pay them back in their own coins. So, any ambitious Deputy is dealt with immediately. He could be impeached. The Governor does not need any reason to do so. He only orders the Speaker of the House of Assembly to get “the boys” and impeach the Deputy Governor. It’s that easy. Where a Deputy Governor succeeds his boss, something must have gone wrong.

Years ago at the Protocol Lounge of the local wing of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos,  I met  Dr Rabiu Kwankwaso, just after he left office as the Governor of Kano State.  Without knowing the undercurrent, I congratulated him for allowing his Deputy, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, to succeed him in office. Big mistake on my part. When I later learnt Ganduje literally snatched it (by force)  from Kwankwaso, and left him with no choice,  l asked myself: “who send you sef”? I was lucky the man did not hiss at me in response. When Ganduje began to deal with Kwankwaso, to the extent of literally banning him from entering Kano, it was no surprise.

Perhaps, the Kwankwaso/Ganduje experience is why Governors never allow their Deputies to succeed them. It was the same with Engr. Dave Umahi, immediate past Governor of Ebonyi State, now Works Minister, and his Governor, Martin Elechi. Umahi, Elechi’s Deputy, snatched it from him. Elechi wanted somebody else – a former Minister for Health. For years, their relationship was not cordial. Elechi quit the Peoples Democratic Party because of Umahi. Now, Umahi has joined him there.

As the Governor of Lagos State, President Tinubu did away with three, or was it four Deputy Governors. I forget. As the Governor of Imo State, Senator Rochas Okorocha had three Deputy Governors impeached, and a Secretary to the State Government sacked, all because he felt each of them had the ambition to succeed him in office.

In Enugu State, then Governor Sullivan Chime had his  Deputy Governor, Sunday Onyebuchi impeaced for having a poultry within Government House  – the Deputy Governor’s own premises. When asked why, Chime, with a wave of the hand said “We just replaced a bad plug.”  And, one can go on on. These guys wake up to hear that their staff have either been withdrawn or sacked by their Principals – without the courtesy of informing them before that.

Problem is, no Deputy Governor has had the guts to quit office on his/her own over the humiliation some of them suffer in the hands of some Governors.

Otherwise, after the public humiliation of being blocked by a Security personnel from getting close to the Governor, Shaibu should have quit office. He should have known he has been stripped of every political power.

Not a few people blame the Constitution for the fate of Deputy Governors. They are of the view that the Constitution neither protected  their office, nor gave them the teeth to bite. It left them empty,  powerless, and stripped of their liver.

Every conciliatory moves made by Deputy Governor Shaibu’s to appease his boss has been like pouring water into a basket. His public statement where he said he had withdrawn the case he instituted in Court to prevent his speculated impeachment has not worked. He thanked the very highly placed individuals who helped smoothen his path again (or so he thought) with his Governor who he fondly calls his elder brother.  That has not worked. Nor has his many pledges of absolute loyalty to the Governor worked. Instead, things are getting worse. The rope around Shaibu’s neck is tightening. And the political vultures are waiting for his political carcass. He knows.

An unconfirmed report on Tuesday, September 12, said Shaibu has moved out of his official quarters. This comes days after he was moved out of the Deputy Governors office within Government House to a not-quite dignified office outside it.

Sooner than later, if Shaibu does not soak his Chaplet in holy water, he could hear his impeachment bell. And one of the reasons would be a big scandal. Here is what.

An Edo State Politician/ business man has accused Shaibu of stealing his wrist watch worth 250,000 USD. In a petition to the Inspector General of Police, Dr Kayode Egbetokun, this man said he caught Shaibu, red-handed, at a function in the USA, wearing  the wrist watch which, he claims, one of  Shaibu’s Police details siezed from him when the Deputy Governor attempted to plant a gun on him.

I don’t know if Shaibu has responded. If not, it is in his own interest to tell his own side of the story. Did he attempt to plant a gun on an innocent person? Did he steal the man’s wrist watch as he alleges? If Obaseki and the House of Assembly decide to impeach him, and add the alleged theft to one of the offences, the sh*t will finally hit the roof. And there will be no redemption. That will be bad for a young man who still has a long political future before him. Sad.

It’s not often that you meet Supreme Court justices, serving or retired. I first met retired Justice Sunday Akinola Akintan casually at a reception in Abuja, for my friend and radical lawyer, Yinka Olumide-Fusika, who had been admitted to the inner bar. Then, we met again about one year later, this time, through his book.

Years after his retirement from the Supreme Court in 2008, Justice Akintan wrote a book, entitled, “Reminiscences: My Journey Through Life,” which Olumide-Fusika, SAN, asked me to review. What struck me was one of Akintan’s motivations for writing the book. It was an answer to T.O.S Benson’s advice not to be buried without writing a book, which would be a waste of a life’s worth of library. 

If his lordship decided to write just to remember the road he travelled and to share his odyssey, it would still have been a good book. But it was even better because in a profession where the burden of office elevates discretion almost to the oeuvre of a cult, his desire to shed light is a valuable gift. 

There are a couple of rare insights in the book. One of them, which has assumed significant monstrosity over the years, is how the judiciary could not see that getting more and more involved in deciding electoral outcomes would drag it in the mud. 

Or maybe the judiciary saw it but decided, with a helping hand from the inner bar, to take Oscar Wilde’s advice to overcome the problem by yielding to it. And now, it’s beyond entanglement; the Bench is enmeshed!

Over 10 hours of studiously reading a judgment which five judges of the Court of Appeal must have thought was their utmost to deliver justice still left behind a trail of disenchantment, suspicion and criticisms. Not a few, rather sadly and regrettably, still believe it was the judicial equivalent of a grudge match.

As it was…

The judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) last week in the case involving the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar; Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP); and the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) in which the panel dismissed the petitions against the February 25 election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has once again put the judiciary in the spotlight.

In the midst of the outrage that followed the judgment, especially among the supporters of Abubakar and Obi, I turned, once again, to Justice Akintan’s book for help to find my way through the maelstrom. And he should know. He’s seen election petitions since 1979.

It’s a measure of how we have learnt to forget that the account of the retired justice of the Supreme Court of what happened 20 years ago reads like excerpts from today’s newspapers. If we had paid any heed then, it’s unlikely that the country would be in a place today where the outcome of virtually every election depends not on who voters choose at the ballot, but on who the courts decide.

In Reminiscences, Akintan writes that one of the two most significant things that happened to him when he returned to the Port Harcourt division on a rare second tour of duty as Presiding Judge of the Court of Appeal, was dealing with matters arising from the 2003 general elections. 

There was something about the 2003 election that set his hair on edge and raked his conscience over the coals of the sacred pledge he had made to himself and his family at the beginning of his career not to stain his name. Post-election litigations up and down the country were fierce and bitter. 

But the one between ANPP’s presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari and candidate of the PDP, Olusegun Obasanjo, after the 2003 election was so bitter and so fierce that Buhari called for nationwide protests, because he said the judiciary had been compromised.

Clear, present danger

That was only a foreshadow of what was to come. As the years went by the judiciary came under increasing strain. The stakes, for politicians, got even higher. “They exposed the judges and the entire staff of the judiciary to contacts with the politicians,” Akintan writes, “with the attendant possibility of exposing them to corruption.” What was then a possibility is now a consuming danger.

Akintan was assigned 52 petitions in Port Harcourt alone. On top of that, the President of the Court of Appeal told him he had to go to Jos for eight pending governorship election petitions, which the president of the court obviously needed a trustworthy judge to handle.

To avoid contact with litigants and their lawyers, never mind the felicity of some determined folks even thinking of sending him Sallah ram directly or by proxy as we heard in a recent case in Kano, Akintan moved his base from Port Harcourt to his home town, Idanre, Ondo State.

In spite of the severe scarcity of petrol at the time, it was from Idanre that he commuted weekly to Jos through Abuja. Even in Jos, he still could not trust his driver would not be used to get him.

“Once we arrived in the court in Jos,” he recalls, “I used to collect the car ignition key from my driver to ensure there was no breach of the car being taken into town for any reason.”

According to Akintan, by the time he retired from the Supreme Court in 2008, the system had almost been overwhelmed with politicians working hand-in-gloves with lawyers to suborn elections. Trust and confidence had become casualties.

“The position grew so wild after the 2015 elections,” he writes, “that the number of election petitions far outstripped all other cases filed in all the courts in the country. Many of the senior lawyers who had cornered the very lucrative briefs from the election petitions amassed stupendous wealth.” 

Unfortunately, and in spite of the valiant efforts by a few conscientious judges still on the Bench, the cloud of suspicion has, regrettably, thickened. 

Abuja special status

Apart from Akintan’s personal decision to be different, there was something else in Reminiscences that caught my attention: the judgment in Joseph Ona & another V. Diga Romani Atenda (2000), in which he played a leading role. This judgment by the Court of Appeal, in my view, addressed one of the vexatious points in Obi’s petition that a candidate must have 25 percent of the votes cast in Abuja or else cannot be declared validly elected. 

Until I read the summary judgment in the book, I was under the impression that Abuja residents had two heads; that apart from having a special political status, the dichotomy between “settlers” and “indigenes” was also real.

But in the judgment in the case under reference – a case of trespass, harassment, humiliation and defamation in a land dispute – which was, in fact, referred from the High Court to the Court of Appeal for determination, the court made it clear residents of the Federal Capital Territory are by no means special.

In the words of Akintan, “It is (therefore) totally illegal for any of them to claim any special right over any other Nigerian occupier of the territory.”

Conclusion of the matter

If there is no dichotomy in the status of residents, and they have no exclusive proprietary right over and above citizens anywhere in the country, how can they claim a casting vote that holds the country to ransom at elections? It would be interesting to see how the Supreme Court answers this and other questions that would come before it in the Abubakar-Obi appeal. 

What I hear former Supreme Court Justice Akintan say, clearly in Reminiscences, is that the fewer court-imposed candidates we have – and one might add, the less crooked the political parties, the election management body and the media – the better for the electoral system and the judiciary.

The Labour Party, LP, has emerged as one of the biggest casualties of the ongoing State and National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal.

Tribunals sitting in different states of the country have sacked many of the elected members of the party in Edo, Abia, Enugu, among others, over the discrepancy surrounding their membership of the party and their mode of nomination.

Rising as one of the main opposition political parties in the 2023 general elections, the LP was able to claim some House of Representatives and Senatorial seats in some states.

The milestone of the LP in the general elections was unprecedented considering that the party came from obscurity to gain popularity.

Many saw this as a revolutionary movement that captured the heart of the youths at a time Nigerians yearned for a change.

Before 2023, the Labour Party had existed for over 20 years as a pro-workers political organisation.

But it made inroads into mainstream politics within just eight months.

The party rode on the fame and acceptance of Peter Obi, its flagbearer during the general elections, by an overwhelming youth majority known as ‘Obidients’.

Obi lost the presidential election after having won 12 states, including Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

He shocked many after challenging the two previously dominant parties, the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to win a total of 6,101,533 votes.

APC’s Bola Tinubu won the contest with 8,794,726 votes, while Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP came second, securing 6,984,520 votes.

The Labour Party, however, was able to win one governorship seat, with Alex Otti emerging victorious in Abia State.

The Party clinched eight senatorial seats and 34 seats in the House of Representatives.

With this number, the Peter Obi-led political party became the third most popular party in the National Assembly.

APC won 57 Senate seats; PDP, 29; LP, eight; Social Democratic Party (SDP) two; NNPP two; YPP and APGA got one each.

In the House of Representatives, the APC had 162 seats; PDP, 102; LP, 34; NNPP, 18; APGA, four; ADC, two; SDP, two; YPP, one.

The Labour Party was successful in states such as Enugu, Abia, Imo, Delta, Anambra, Plateau and even Benue.

However, as the National Assembly Election Petition Tribunals sitting in several states end their proceedings this week, the LP has been on the receiving end.

About 552 election petitions were filed by aggrieved candidates, and while over 150 of the cases have been decided, some of the cases were withdrawn by the petitioners.

The tribunals, across the country, will end their sittings on Saturday, September 16, 2023.

One of the three House of Reps members whose elections were nullified by the tribunal in Enugu State was Hon. Engr. Chijioke Stanislaus Okereke, representing Awgu/Aninri/Oji River Federal Constituency.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, declared that Okereke won the election but the Tribunal sacked him, declaring Chief Onwuegbu Anayo of the PDP as winner.

The second person is Hon Prof. Paul Sunday Nnamchi elected to represent Enugu East/Isi-Uzo Federal Constituency.

The tribunal declared Prince Cornelius Nnaji of the PDP as winner.

Also in Enugu, the Tribunal has nullified the election of Rt Hon Barr Sunday Cyriacus Umeha representing Udi/Ezeagu Federal Constituency.

The court said that he failed to properly resign his membership of the PDP before picking the ticket of the LP. It declared PDP candidate, Festus Uzor as the winner.

In Abia State three House of Representatives members, elected on the platform of the Labour Party, Ibe Okwara Osonwa, Emeka Nnamani and Munachim Alozie, have been sacked from the tribunal sitting in Umuahia.

A panel of the tribunal led by Justice Adeyinka Aderebgbe sacked the member representing Arochukwu/Ohafia federal constituency, Osonwa, for non-compliance with the Electoral Act 2022

The petition was filed by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the election, Chief Daniel Okeke.

In Lagos State, the Tribunal declared the election that produced Thaddeus Attah as the representative of the Eti-Osa Federal Constituency of Lagos as inconclusive.

Attah, Babajide Obanikoro of the APC and singer turned politician Bankole Wellington also known as Banky W of the PDP contested to represent the Eti-Osa constituency in the House of Representatives during the February 25 election.

It was, however, a different scenario in Plateau State, where the LP recorded a win as the Tribunal declared Hon. Dandereng Gideon winner of the Jos South/Jos East Federal Constituency.

The Tribunal sitting in Jos sacked Bagos of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

Also in Edo State, the Tribunal sitting in Benin City, on Thursday, dismissed two petitions challenging the victory of two LP candidates for lacking in merit.

Meanwhile, the Labour Party has expressed worries over how its members were being sacked by the National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal in many states across the country.

Reacting to the trend, the party, in a statement issued by its National Chairman, Barr. Julius Abure, opined that the issue of “membership is an internal affair of the party beyond the jurisdiction of courts.”

Labour Party’s National Publicity Secretary, Dr. Aliyu Danko said that the party would do everything within the law to prove that its House of Reps members actually won their elections.

According to him, “We have seen the trend and interestingly at the Presidential Election Petition Court, we presented issues.

“But the same issues which were dealt with as pre-election matters are being used to discard some of our Reps members and we find it very appalling and unacceptable.

“At the moment, most of our members are resorting to going to the Appeal Court to challenge this particular ruling which we find erroneously unacceptable.

“Interestingly, these issues they accuse some of our Reps members of, we can say authoritatively that we have proof that these primaries were conducted and our candidates actually won their elections.

“But then, if there are orchestrated plans to reduce the number of our members at the National Assembly, it won’t work because we’ll challenge it with proven documents that we won our elections.”

Asked if there is the feeling among party members that there is a plot to weaken the party, he added, “exactly. That is what I’m alluding to.”

Governors whose victory in the March 18, 2023 election are being challenged in court are nervously waiting to know their fate from next week, findings by LEADERSHIP have revealed.

Sources indicate the governorship petition tribunals sitting in most of the states are putting finishing touches to their judgements.

Although no specific dates had been stated, checks by LEADERSHIP show that judgements would begin to come in from tribunals next week.

While the declarations of the judges will vary from state to state, what is certain is that all judgements will be delivered before the end of September.

According to the constitution, the governorship tribunals have 180 days (six months) to hear cases and pass judgement. Governorship petitions however terminate at the court of appeal.

Recall that the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) last week gave its judgement. Similarly, tribunals hearing petitions on the National Assembly elections have been churning out judgements since last week.

Meanwhile, there is anxiety within the ranks of the major political parties, All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Labour Party, New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and Social Democratic Party (SDP) ahead of the tribunal judgements.

The anxiety follows the uncertainty surrounding how the tribunal might rule based on the evidence and counter evidence presented by the parties in the suits, which could lead to the election being annulled, upturned or upheld.

This is more so that the outcome of the tribunal would begin a possible reshaping of the political map with regards to party dominance.

After the heated governorship race in 28 states, NNPP won Kano State. The ruling APC however won in 15 states, including seven re-elections for Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq (Kwara), Inuwa Yahaya (Gombe), Mai Mala Muni (Yobe), Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa), Babagana Zulum (Borno).

On the other hand, the party secured wins for eight new candidates. They are Umar Namadi (Jigawa), Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto (Sokoto), Dikko Radda (Katsina), Uba Sani (Kaduna), Bassey Otu (Cross River), Mohammed Bago (Niger), Hyacinth Alia (Benue), and Francis Nwifuru (Ebonyi).

For PDP, there were eight victories, including two returning governors: Seyi Makinde (Oyo) and Bala Mohammed (Bauchi).

Six first-term governors were also elected on the platform of the opposition party, with the emergence of Umo Eno (Akwa Ibom), Siminialayi Fubara (Rivers), Kefas Agbu (Taraba), Caleb Mutfwang (Plateau), and Sheriff Oborevwori (Delta).

In stunning upset, Dauda Lawal of the PDP unseated Zamfara State Governor Bello Matawalle (APC), while Labour Party’s Alex Otti defeated the PDP which has ruled the state since 1999.

States to watch at the Tribunals

Enugu

The major contenders in the last governorship election held in Enugu State are PDP’s Peter Mbah; the Labour Party’s Chidioke Edeoga, APC’s Uche Nnaji, and former Information Minister, Frank Nweke Jnr of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA).

Out of the four contenders, only Edeoga is still at the tribunal, Nweke withdrew his petition at the tribunal while Nnaji’s petition was struck out at the tribunal.

Mbah won the election with 160,895 votes to defeat his closest challenger, the Labour Party (LP) candidate, Edeoga, who scored 157,552 votes.

The candidate of APGA, Frank Nweke Jr, garnered 17,983 votes to come a distant third, while the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Uche Nnaji, placed fourth, with 14,575 votes.

Edeoga approached the tribunal, asking it to declare him winner on the allegation that Mbah forged his NYSC discharge certificate and that Mbah did not win the election.

The judgment of the tribunal is likely to be delivered before next Saturday.

Kano

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced Abba Kabir Yusuf of NNPP as winner. The APC challenged the INEC declaration saying it was wrongly done.

Yusuf polled 1,019,602 votes against his major contender and APC candidate, Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna who polled 890, 705. Gawuna had congratulated Abba but the APC challenged the declaration and directed its legal team to seek redress.

In a five-volume petition filed on April 9, the APC alleged that Kabir-Yusuf was not qualified to contest the election on the grounds that his name was not on the party’s register submitted to INEC. The APC also submitted that the NNPP did not score the majority of lawful votes in the election.

APC further stated that the Kano resident electoral commissioner (REC) was wrong in declaring Kabir-Yusuf the winner, adding that the margin of lead was not higher than the number of votes cancelled. The party is praying the tribunal to declare that NNPP had no candidate in the election.

Meanwhile, the tribunal is yet to announce the date to deliver judgement on the case, even after a mild drama in which the judges alleged attempts by politicians to bribe them.

Ogun

The Ogun State Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Isabo area of Abeokuta metropolis, the Ogun State, capital on Monday 11th September, 2023, announced that it was reserving, indefinitely, the judgement day on the petition filed before it by the PDP governorship candidate, Hon. Ladi Adebutu, against the candidate of APC and the incumbent governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun.

Announcing that both the petitioners and respondents would be notified of a date to be fixed for it, the Tribunal under the chairmanship of Hon. Justice Hamidu Kunaza further stated that it had adopted the written addresses of the disputing parties in the March 18 governorship election won by the incumbent governor, Abiodun according to the results declared by INEC.

INEC had declared Abiodun, who was standing a second term of office, as having polled 276, 298 votes to defeat his closest rival and PDP candidate, Hon. Adebutu, who scored a total of 262, 383 votes.

They were however, trailed behind by candidate of the Africa Democratic Party (ADP), Barrister Biyi Otegbeye who polled a total of 94, 754 votes.

Dissatisfied with the development, the PDP’s Adebutu approached the state’s Election Petition Tribunal which began sitting on June 5, 2023, alleging that the electoral victory that brought Abiodun into office for a second time was riddled with violence, irregularities and rigging.

Adebutu, in his petition marked EPT/OG/GOV/03/2023, accused INEC of non-compliance to the Electoral Act and corrupt practices during the election.

Adebutu’s other prayers through his counsel, Chris Uche (SAN), included the disqualification of Abiodun as a candidate in election; declaring him as winner of the poll on the ground that the process was sabotaged by thugs who allegedly deployed violence in over 99 polling units to disenfranchise over 40, 000 voters.

But countering in his written address through his counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), Abiodun urged the Tribunal to dismiss the petition filed by Adebutu on the ground that the allegations of corrupt practices, non-compliance, multiple thumb printing of ballot papers, ballot stuffing, and forgery as alleged by Adebutu and his party, were not proved beyond any reasonable doubt.

Olanipekun submitted that the soul of the petition was not duly signed or stamped and, therefore, lacked merit to be adopted.

Urging the Tribunal to strike out the petition, Olanipekun alleged that “the document is not signed, not dated, no heading, no title, no identity, no signature, no stamp. The CTC has no signature”.

Also, in their separate submissions, the INEC’s Remi Olatubora (SAN) and that of the APC, Tayo Oyetibo (SAN) specifically asked the tribunal to dismiss Adebutu’s petition on the ground that it was absolutely lacking in merit and being a waste of the tribunal’s precious time.

Kaduna

Kaduna State Governor, Senator Uba Sani of the ruling APC) and his major contender in the governorship election, Rt.Hon. Isah Ashiru Kudan of the PDP are the contenders at the Governorship Election Tribunal sitting in Kaduna.

In the final results declared by INEC, Senator Sani of the APC scored a total of 730,002 votes to beat his closest challenger, PDP’s Ashiru, who polled 719,196 votes to place second in the election.

Not satisfied with the declaration of Senator Uba Sani as winner, the candidate of the PDP approached the tribunal challenging the results and declaration and prayed the tribunal, among others, to declare him as winner

The PDP candidate alleged discrepancies in the results announced and those uploaded in the IREV Porter and inconsistencies arising from some polling units and local governments.

Chairman of the three-member governorship election petitions panel Justice Victor Oviawie has reserved for judgment on a date to be communicated to the parties involved in the matter.

LEADERSHIP findings reveal that the judgement might come up some time next week.

Sokoto

With a margin of 49,029, Alhaji Ahmed Aliyu of the APC, who scored 453,661, was declared winner of Sokoto State Governorship election against his major challenger, Alhaji Sa’idu Umar of the PDP, who scored 404,632 votes.

Not satisfied with the outcome, Umar and PDP approached the tribunal, demanding the nullification of the election, claiming that the election was flawed and did not comply with electoral laws.

The petitioner argued that the respondents were not qualified to contest the election and prayed that by that virtue of the non-qualification, votes were wrongfully attributed to them.

At its last sitting, the Sokoto Governorship Election Petition three-member tribunal led by Haruna Mshelia reserved judgment after hearing and adopting their respective final written addresses, adding that a date would be communicated to the parties this September.

Adamawa

Adamawa governorship election for 2023 was contested between PDP’s Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri who won the election by 430,861 votes to defeat Senator Aishatu Dahiru Binani of APC who scored 398,738 votes.

The election was postponed from its original date for supplementary and held three weeks after the presidential election and National Assembly elections.

Incumbent Governor Fintiri (PDP) was re-elected by a 3.75% margin over first runner-up and APC nominee — Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed.

The election was considered controversial with INEC failing to declare the results by 20 March due to delays in counting due to logistical problems and attempted electoral interference.

Later on 20 March, INEC declared the election inconclusive; Fintiri and the PDP rejected the declaration, having already alleged a plot to rig the election in favour of Ahmed Binani.

The commission set the supplementary election on 15 April, along with other supplementary elections nationwide.

As collation was still in progress on the early morning of 16 April, INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Hudu Ari, controversially declared Binani the victor.

In response, the national INEC called Ari’s declaration “null, void and of no effect” before summoning him to the INEC headquarters in Abuja and barring him from office.

On 17 April, returning officer Mohammed Mele declared the genuine results: in total, Fintiri obtained nearly 431,000 votes and 50% of the vote, with Binani receiving almost 399,000 votes and 47% of the vote.

At election tribunal, Sen. Binani prayed INEC to review the election results of the 18th March and cancel the election results in Fufore, the last LGA announced before the exercise was declared inconclusive.

Sources at the tribunal said judgement is likely to be delivered next week.

Nasarawa

The main contenders in the ongoing governorship election petition tribunal sitting in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital, include Dr David Ombugadu and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who are referred to as the petitioners in the case and the incumbent governor, Abdullahi Sule of the APC.

INEC had declared Gov Sule winner of the poll, having polled 347,209 votes against Ombugadu’s 283,016

Dr Ombugadu and PDP had approached the tribunal, challenging the declaration of Governor Sule as the winner of the March 18 governorship election in the state.

The development had triggered protests from Ombugadu’s camp alleging that the poll outcomes for Nasarawa, Keffi, Awe and Lafia local government areas, were doctored to give the incumbent victory.

The petitioners had alleged that the declaration of Sule as the winner was done in error, accusing INEC officials of connivance.

At the last adjourned date of August 30, 2023, the chairman of the Tribunal, Justice Ezekiel Ajayi slated September 14, 2023 for all the counsel to adopt their final written addresses after which a tentative date would be announced for the judgement.

Delta

In Delta state, three governorship candidates are challenging the election of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori.

They are the candidates of the Labour Party, (LP), Mr Ken Pela, All Progressives Congress, (APC), Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, and Barr Kenneth Gbagi, of Social Democratic Party, (SDP).

In the case of Ovie Omo-Agege, the tribunal dismissed an application for the counting of ballot papers used for the March 18 gubernatorial election which were tendered as evidence.

Counsel to INEC, Prof. Joe Abugu had said that the commission stood by the result and figures in the declaration of Oborevwori as winner of the election.

Oborevwori’s counsel, Damian Dodo, (SAN), had objected to the application, saying that nowhere in the body of the petition did the petitioner seek a relief for a recount of ballot papers.

The three-man tribunal panel headed by Justice C.O Ahuchaogu, in its ruling said such discretion cannot be done in an oral application.

“There is no merit in this oral application for recount and it is hereby dismissed”, Ahuchaogu said.

However, tribunal reserved judgement in Barr Kenneth Gbagi’s petition seeking to disqualify Oborevwori from the contest.

Gbagi, the flag bearer of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), is equally seeking the disqualification of the gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ovie Omo-Agege, candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Great Ogboru and Labour Party (LP), Ken Pela and their deputies.

Counsel to Gbagi, Mr. Mato Magaji Ibrahim, (SAN), urged the tribunal in his 79 page petition to disqualify Oborevwori on grounds of falsification of documents, electoral malpractices, non-compliance with the Nigerian constitution and the Electoral Act.

After all the counsels adopted their final written addresses, Justice H. C. Ahuchaogu, who led the three-member panel of the tribunal, said a date for judgement in the suit would be communicated to the parties.

On the part of Labour Party suit, the Appeal Court in Abuja recently ordered a rehearing of the petition.

The Federal Government has directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to hold a quarterly reconciliation meeting with carriers to resolve foreign exchange scarcity, which is crippling the opera­tions of most indigenous airlines.

The government said that the quar­terly meeting would enable it to get an update on the forex challenge in the country and would also lead to resolving the lingering issues associated with forex in the aviation industry.

Festus Keyamo, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja during his welcome address at the sev­enth edition of the Aviation Africa Sum­mit and Exhibition 2023.

This is as the International Air Transportation Association (IATA) has identified two Nigerian airports, Abuja and Lagos, as the most expensive in terms of charges in the world.

Keyamo also apologised to affected foreign airlines for their trapped funds in the country, promising that the government would resolve the issue soonest.

“The current administration is aware that one of the setbacks entrepreneurs have suffered in Nigeria in recent years is the fluc­tuation of foreign exchange and its availability.

“This administration is com­mitted to ensuring that forex is readily available to entrepre­neurs and the government has directed that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) holds quarter­ly reconciliation meetings with airlines with a view to resolving this issue”, he said.
Keyamo also unveiled three roadmaps for the Nigerian avia­tion industry, mentioning aero­tropolis; maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities, and aircraft leasing company (ALC).

He said these were parts of the priorities of the current admin­istration, emphasising that the three are critical for the develop­ment of the aviation industry in Nigeria and in West Africa.

He lamented that it was a shame for the entire West Afri­can countries not to have a world class MRO facilities, but assured that the country would take the lead in this.

“The government is already looking at the aircraft leasing company, aircraft maintenance organisation, forex availability and tax holidays to improve the aviation business in Nigeria.

“This includes upgrading of the Cat3 landing system, at major airports, construction of the second runway in Abuja, air­port improvement programmes through concession and govern­ment willingness to partner with companies to turn major airports into aerotropolis.

“The government welcomes major players in aircraft leasing and head lessors to invest in Ni­geria airlines to provide state of the art aircraft,” he said.

Keyamo said the government would ensure enforcement of contract agreements, rights of investors and indeed all parties were protected as Nigeria being a signatory to the Cape Town Con­vention to uphold international obligations.

The minister said main­tenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility was another crit­ical component that could make the Nigerian aviation industry a hub on the continent.

“With the shortage of qual­ified engineers, the current ad­ministration is willing to provide all the necessary support for the establishment of a world class MROs and training organisation.

He further explained that the current administration was open to providing tax holidays to encourage existing and new entrants into the Nigerian avia­tion sector.

“I wish to reiterate that my administration will continue to sustain the support being given to the industry.

“I firmly believe that as key players and decision makers, this summit will provide the required atmosphere for you to discuss, and identify recovery strategies that would attract private inves­tors to support the funding of infrastructure projects.

“By building a transparent, stable and predictable investment climate, as well as include avia­tion in the continent’s national development plans.

“Nigeria is honoured to have these distinguished captains of aviation industry and industry stakeholders, from all over the world who are participating in this event,” he said.

According to him, air trans­port remains an essential com­ponent of the global transporta­tion system as a crucial driver of economic, social and cultural development worldwide.

He said air transport generat­ed economic growth and develop­ment, provides jobs and fosters a range of socio-economic benefits.

Keyamo said the continued promotion of collaboration, knowledge sharing, and busi­ness development within the African aviation community would address all the significant and structural challenges.

“Having this unique and im­portant event for the seventh time demonstrates the organiser’s de­termination and interest to sup­port the sustainable development of air transport in Africa.

“I therefore wish to take this opportunity to appreciate Times Aerospace Limited, which has been the champion of the Avi­ation Africa Summit as well as making Nigeria the first country to host this noble event in West Africa.

“The recent global events further exposed the immense contribution and importance of air transportation as a catalyst for economic development, vital engine of global socio-economic growth”, he said.

Meanwhile, International Air Transport Association (IATA) has berated the Nigerian gov­ernment for stiffing airline op­erations with heavy and sundry taxes and charges.

At least, there are about 27 charges imposed on airlines by the Nigerian government, IATA said.

READ ALSO: Bayelsa, Delta Ijaw Urges Buhari To Inaugurate NDDC Board
Kamil Al Alwadi, the Vice President, IATA, Africa and Mid­dle East, said research shows that Nigeria ranks highest in airport charges in Africa, saying Abuja airport is the most expensive air­port in Africa, closely followed by Lagos airport.

He lamented the stunted growth in the region, especially Nigeria, calling on Nigerian gov­ernment to create a conducive en­vironment for airlines to thrive.

“In a recent research conduct­ed, web discovered that the most expensive airport in Africa is Abuja airport, followed by Lagos airport. With all these exorbitant charges, Nigerian airlines can’t compete with their foreign coun­terparts.

“Africa has put itself in a place where it cannot help its own, expensive fuel, excessive charges, leasing and insurance through the roof, the airlines need to be financially viable too. The airlines contribute to the country’s GDP but Nigeria needs to decide what to do for them to survive”, he said.

According to him, carriers based in Africa are expected to generate a moderate combined loss of around $484 million in 2023 because the continent remains a difficult market in which to op­erate an airline, with economic, infrastructure and connectivity challenges impacting the indus­try performance.

“However, despite the chal­lenges, the industry continues to move towards profitability following the COVID disruption and could be in the black as soon as next year. Underpinning this is the robust demand for air travel. As we saw in the second quarter of 2023 – and for two consecutive quarters – African carriers had one of the world’s highest annu­al passenger traffic growth rates, second only to Asia Pacific.”

Nigeria must not despair because of her current democratic challenges. We were in the wilderness for almost 30 years after the collapse of our first democratic experiment which lasted for barely five years. This was because most of institutions democracy that the new imported value system needed to function were absent or at rudimentary stage. Our independent legislature and judiciary easily caved in with the pressure of the executive shortly after independence. The press owned by politicians and tribal groups in fact contributed to the outbreak of the civil war. The abysmal performance of the press during our recently concluded elections only confirmed the usual aphorism that ‘the medium is the news’. Of course we saw how ethnic based civil society groups and their foreign sponsored counterparts openly quarrelled over contents of their reports.

 More than this, sore losers who shopped for political platform to contest elections and their unthinking ‘Obidients’ can hardly be regarded as people with faith in democracy or its ethos, described by Aristotle as ‘balance between passion and caution” of political actors. For democracy to thrive, according to him, political actors must be committed to a set of ideals if democracy is to be anything other than the tyranny of the majority.

 We must therefore congratulate ourselves for the giant strides we have made in the last 23 years in spite of the ongoing shenanigans in Edo State. Democracy is a difficult process as America recently discovered after over 200 years. In fact when democracy first became an idea some 300 years ago, philosopher Michel de Montaigne according to James Kloppenburg’s ‘Toward Democracy’, rejected democracy saying he did not believe ordinary people were capable of the self-restraint democracy required.

In 2016, Adams Oshiomhole, the  then outgoing governor of Edo State, using power of incumbency, imposed Godwin Obaseki  at the expense of other APC stalwarts such as Chris Ogiemwonyi (former minister of state for works) former army general Gen. Charles Arihiavbare and former deputy governor, Dr. Pius Odubu as his successor. Asked by reporters on October 24, 2016 the reason for his blind faith in Obaseki, Oshiomhole had said Obaseki was “more competent than him and would bring more development to Edo”.

Little did he realize that Obaseki like many other military-baked new-breed politicians is a man without character. At the centre of the struggle with his benefactor was the control of Edo State House of Assembly where their ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) controlled all the 24 members in the state Assembly.

 To prevent Oshiomhole’s loyalists from taking control of the state legislature, the Clerk of Edo House of Assembly, Yahaya Omogbai, was said to have ushered nine members in a house of 24 lawmakers-elect into the chamber at midnight and read out Obaseki’s letter of proclamation with which Honourable Frank Okiye the governor’s anointed candidate for speaker was elected.

Hon. Osifo and the 13 others went to court to file a case against the speaker and the eight others. While the case was in court, the seats of the 14 Oshiomhole loyalists were declared vacant by the minority factional speaker and was about to conduct election to fill the positions before he was stopped by the court. All efforts to find amicable settlement by the party, the National Assembly and the president were frustrated by Obaseki’s minority that was bent on holding on to what it illegally seized.

From then on Obaseki won all the battles. First Obaseki sought and got a relief from Justice Kolawole Omotosho’s Federal High Court Abuja to frustrate the Senate and the House of Representatives resolutions on the findings of committees led by Senator Sabiu Aliyu Abdullahi and Honourable Abdulrazak Namdas for the respective chambers to invoke section 11, subsection 4 of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria viz: “In the event that a new proclamation is not issued as recommended within the period of three weeks”,  the National Assembly was told “it could not compel Obaseki to issue another proclamation within the lifespan of an existing proclamation”. The court also ruled “NASS lacked the power to take over the functions of Edo Assembly or any other state House of Assembly in the country”.

Obaseki who had earlier attributed the underdevelopment of Edo until 2006 to “non-state actors empowered by political class, collecting revenues as an alternative government and constituted themselves into an army that were used for political activities”, decided to partner with the same non-state actors as 2020 drew near.

He then made peace with Chief Gabriel Igbinedion, the Esama of Bénin Kingdom and a chieftain of PDP  who was fought to a standstill by Oshiomhole for allegedly confiscating land and other resources of the state and whose son, Lucky Igbinedion, a two-term governor was indicted for financial crimes against Edo State. He also made peace with Chief Tom Ikimi, a former PDP stalwart, who retraced his way back after a short sojourn in APC. Igbinedion and Tom Ikimi, PDP stalwarts became Obaseki new godfathers.

PDP withdrew its accusation through its publicity secretary, Chris Nehikhare that Obaseki was responsible for the “growing level of poverty, insecurity and unemployment”.  The party also swallowed its allegations that “commissioned” Five-star specialist hospital is still home to reptiles; Tayo Akpata University of Education, an unfulfilled political Greek gift, College of Agriculture Ogierieki, a victim of policy lip-service, the Gelegele sea port project is still a mirage and the industrial park is still at the MOU level”.

Obaseki, a blind fighter went on to win his re-election bid on the platform of PDP but not before engineering the removal of his estranged godfather as APC chairman. Obaseki defeated his former godfather with the active support of Shuaibu who ensured that the 14 elected members of Edo State house were shut out of the house for four years.

Now Obaseki, the blind fighter has stripped Shuaibu, his deputy of his official responsibilities including monitoring and reporting the collection of internally generated revenue and supervision of the sports ministry. He did not stop there; he sacked media aides attached to his office and relocated his deputy’s office to Siberia, all because Shuaibu expressed interest in succeeding him.

What goes around comes around. Shuaibu has also been told by Senator Oshiomhole, that “APC has no room for internally displaced politicians (IDP) in search of a rehabilitation camp”. Obaseki like Shuaibu and their other military baked new-breed military baked politicians, are all men without character

But we must not weep for Edo alone. Over 50% of governors elected on PDP platform in 1998 and 2003 were declared men without character by the courts that found them guilty of tampering with the resources of their various states. The first set of senators after the 1998 elections spoke openly about their desire to recoup their expenses on the election. Within three months they had come out with schemes through which fuel import licenses were allocated to over 100 companies fronting for them. A house probe was to later confirm the theft of about N1.7t through the fuel subsidy regime

PDP and APC are no party of saints. Bukola Saraki damaged the fortune of his party by moving from PDP to APC. In APC, he admitted trading off the victory of his party to secure the senate presidency and when he fell out with APC, he again moved back to PDP. In his group were Tambuwal and Rotimi Amaechi, Tony Anenih among others.

PDP, described as “a club of elites for sharing of oil rents and political spoils’ while APC its twin brother formed not on the basis of shared ideas, shared values, shared commitment, have left the nation with only military baked ‘new-breed’ politicians that lack character.

Prevail on universities to reverse fee increase, PTA tells Tinubu, fears mass dropout

Lecturers slam FG over poor funding

As tertiary institutions across the country begin a new session next week, the Academic Staff Union of Universities, parents and students started protests as more varsities continue to hike their fees amid a worsening economy.

ASUU as well as the associations of parents and students warned about the likelihood of mass dropouts of students following the hikes in fees by the universities across the country.

The union was worried about the development just as apprehensive parents expressed concerns over the implication of the fee hike for their children and wards in public tertiary institutions.

The National President, ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, frowned on the fee increases, noting that the university is not a profit-making commercial centre.

The management of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, announced a new school fee regime on Wednesday.

The decision, according to a communiqué released by the university’s Public Relations Officer, Abiodun Olarewaju, was taken by the school’s Senate at its emergency meeting held on Tuesday.

The statement disclosed that fresh students in the Faculties of Arts, Law and Humanities would pay N151, 200, while returning students of the same faculties would pay N89,200.

Checks by The PUNCH indicated that returning students in Faculties of Arts, Law and Humanities as of the last academic session paid N20,100.

According to the management, new students being admitted into the College of Health Sciences and the Faculty of Pharmacy are to pay N190, 200 while returning students, who paid N28,100 in the last academic session, will cough out N128, 200.

The statement read partly, “For those in the Faculties of Arts, Law and Humanities, the fresh students will pay N151, 200 while returning students of the same faculties will pay N89,200.

“For those in the Faculties of Technology and Science, the new students will pay N163, 200 and the returning students of the same faculties are to pay N101, 200.

“In addition, the new students being admitted into the Faculties in the College of Health Sciences, and the Faculty of Pharmacy are to pay N190, 200 ( new students) and N128, 200 ( returning students), respectively.”

The same scenario was observed at the University of Benin where new fees had been introduced by the management for full-time undergraduate courses for the 2022/2023 academic session.

Before the increment, science students who used to pay N73, 000, are now required to pay N190, 000. Non-science students who used to pay N69, 000, are now mandated to part with N170, 000.

A breakdown of the increment for new science students included exam and lab fees of N30, 000; library N15, 000; sports N5, 000; ICT N5,000; counselling N1,000; utility N20,000; medical charge/life insurance N5,000 and accreditation N24,000.

Other levies included sanitation N7,000; bank/portal charges N5,500; development levy N20,000; students union dues N2,500; orientation brochure N5,000; certificate screening N5,000; academic gown N5,000 and ID card N5,000.

Non-science student are to pay N10, 000 for the laboratory while other fees are the same.

However, after a meeting between the Students Union Government and the school management, the fee was reduced to N105,000 for non-science students and N115,000 for science students.

Subsequently, the non-science students will pay N85, 000 while the science students will pay N95, 000.

Several federal universities began the implementation of increment in fees following the suspension of the industrial action by the ASUU in October 2022.

The varsities which hiked their fees included the Federal University of Health Sciences, Azare; University of Maiduguri; Federal University, Dutse; Federal University, Lafia; University of Uyo; Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, among others.

The universities in separate memos attributed the development to the rising cost of learning materials and the need to adequately fund activities in their respective institutions.

So far in 2023, the Bayero University, Kano; University of Lagos, Akoka; University of Jos; and the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife had also announced fee increment.

The University of Nigeria Nsukka similarly increased fees payable by undergraduates by 100 per cent across all levels.

A breakdown of the fees structure indicated that the first-year students of the Faculties of Social Sciences, Agriculture Sciences, Education and Arts would pay N110,000; N85,000 for 200 and 300 levels students while final year students will pay N83,000.

This was contained in a statement signed by the Registrar, Dr Christopher Igbokwe and published on the UNN’s website last December.

For the Faculties of Business Administration and Environmental Science, 100 Level students will now pay N114,000, while 200 and 300 levels students will pay N85,000; final year students will pay N83,000.

The statement read in part, “Faculties of Physical Sciences and Biological Sciences will now pay N112,000, N85,000, N83,000.

“The Faculty of Engineering will now pay N116,000 N85,000 and N83,000 for year one, others and final year students, respectively.

“Faculties of Law and Veterinary Medicine will now pay N119,000; N95,000 and N92,000.

“Faculties of Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Health sciences and Basic Medical Sciences will now pay N120,000; N95,000 and 92,000.”

The hostel fee was also increased to N35,000 annually.

Students’ protests

In response to the situation, some UNILAG students again on Wednesday took to the streets to express their dissatisfaction with the decision of their school authorities.

This marked the second protest by the aggrieved students who were joined by their peers from other universities.

The protesters , who were accompanied by the police and other security personnel, called on the school authorities to lower the fees.

Earlier on Tuesday, the students of the University of Jos, Plateau State, blocked the roads leading to their campus in protest and demanded a reversal of the increase in fees and other levies imposed by the university.

The Secretary General, Great Ife Students Union, Opeyemi Akinboni, said the body had opposed the fee increment at different meetings held with the management.

Akinboni, however, said the leaders of various faculties and departments would meet and decide the next line of action.

He further said, “In my faculty, as of last session, we paid N28,100; students in Faculties of Science and Agric also paid the same amount. The increment is shocking. The students’ union body had several meetings with the management on the issue and we have always made it known to them that OAU is an indigent school.

“Majority of the students on OAU campus are striving to make both ends meet. With this increment now, most returning students will not even return. We have some faculties where students pay N20, 000 and they have now increased it to N89,000.

‘’Currently, we are reaching out to faculty, departmental presidents. We want to reach out to them and then discuss the next line of action.”

Condemning the decision by the school authorities, Osodeke said the Nigerian constitution prescribed free education but the parents, he noted, were paying for it.

He warned that the nation was not funding the education sector adequately, arguing that no nation could survive high students’ drop-outs.

The don stated, “The university is not a commercial centre where you break even or not. The constitution says education should be free but parents are already paying for the fee increment.

‘’Why is Nigeria not doing what other African countries are doing? The West African average says budgetary allocation for education should be between 15 and 20 per cent but here in Nigeria. We got just 3.8 per cent last year.

‘’No educational system will survive with this and a lot of our students will drop out. We should not allow our children to become nuisances on the streets, the government should handle education the way it was done in the 70s and 80s.’’

The ASUU leader counselled the Federal Government to give priority attention to education, adding that the universities were poorly funded.

‘’The N11m that the government gives the UNILAG for one month is not even enough to cover its electricity bill for that month, whereas senators earn more than this.

The government should give priority to education at primary, secondary, and university levels. Go around and you’ll see children roaming around; this is going to be a problem for our country in the future, while the children of the rich are paying millions to get an education outside the country,’’ the Professor of Soil Science noted.

SSANU reacts

The National President, Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, Mr Ibrahim Mohammed, observed that it might be hard to run the public universities without government funding.

According to him, the public universities do not receive sufficient funds to cover their overheads, insisting that no tertiary institution can survive under the current dispensation if they did not hike their fees.

The SSANU leader said, ‘’Government should prioritise its needs and let us know if they want to have universities or close them down. If they don’t want universities to charge fees, they should fund them or close them down.

‘’The VCs are not happy to increase the fees but they are forced to do so. The government should go back to the drawing board. The minister promised to hit the ground running, but till now nothing has been done by the ministry, instead, they are trying to hit the heads of universities’ management against that of their students. The government should give universities funding.’’

The immediate past chairman, Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities, Prof. Samuel Edoumiekumo, clarified that the universities have the power to impose fees as approved by their governing councils.

He added, ‘’The government does not provide overheads for universities. In a month, they provide N10mn for a university that cannot even pay for electricity bills and other running costs are still there.

‘’Most of these costs will now be covered by the students and this was what ASUU was fighting against but Nigerians will not want to listen to ASUU because of the strike. Lab requirement for students in sciences is now very expensive; the fees will not be the same across the board.’’

The Vice-President, National Association of Nigerian Students, Afeez Akinteye, declared that the students would protest the hikes.

“We will protest against the fee hike being announced in various universities. We are having a meeting tomorrow (today) to discuss this and we will express our opinion publicly after the meeting.

‘’If the VCs are complaining that they are not being funded, they should say this out and meet with the government. President Tinubu has already said there should be no increment; he said it,’’ the student leader submitted.

Reacting, the National Parents Teachers Association of Nigeria cautioned federal universities across the country against the fee hike.

The National President of the association, Haruna Danjuma in an interview with our correspondent in Abuja noted that the failure of the institutions to revert to the old fees would force many students out of the school.

This, he added, would lead to an increase in crime rate across the country.

Danjuma also called on President Bola Tinubu to finance the education sector with the money saved from the removal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit popularly known as petrol.

He said, “We are still waiting for what will be the outcome of Mr President’s directive on the increment in fees. Recall that even before the president’s directive, the National Assembly called for a halt in the increment of fees across federal universities.

‘’I’m however surprised that some of these universities are still increasing their fees. What we know is that before a university can announce a hike, they will get permission from the National Universities Commission and also the Federal Ministry of Education.

“The hike is a threat to students and we as a body of parents are very much concerned. Our children are complaining. We have students that are also self- sponsored and are scared of dropping out of school.

‘’Further hikes and failure to reverse the current hike will force more students out of school and this will lead to students turning to crimes such as ‘yahoo yahoo,’ kidnapping, among others.

“The government must do all it takes to address this matter. The money from the fuel subsidy should be used to finance education, attend to the needs of institutions and their staff. We also call on parents across states to continue to hold dialogues with these schools on the way forward.”

Speaking on the state of affairs, Mrs Grace Oluwagbotemi, whose daughter is a student at the OAU, complained about the sudden fee hike from N21,000 to N89,000.

She said, “I am a single mother and her siblings are still in secondary school. Already, I have told her to combine her schooling with her hair-making skills to sustain her in school; if not, there is no way I would pull through.

“Who knows what will happen next year? Even those who can’t afford (the fee) will definitely withdraw their children from universities nationwide. It is obvious, students are already protesting because they know their parents cannot afford the fees.”

Also, a former police officer, Mr Samuel Oladunni, who decried the increase in the fee, stated, “My son is a fresher in OAU and the fee is over N190,000 for pharmacy department, and I am a retired police officer.

‘’My wife is a secondary school teacher. How much is my pension? In fact, my friend has put his son’s education on hold because he can’t afford it. There is no doubt many parents will have to put their children’s education on hold because of the economy. The government needs to consider us, especially now that the prices of things have increased with the subsidy removal.”

Another concerned parent, Chigozie Okpara, expressed his frustration regarding the recent increase in school fees.

He said, “The truth of the matter is that the government is increasing school fees in federal institutions without considering the economic capacity of parents. At a time when we are experiencing numerous price hikes in various aspects of life, increasing school fees seems unfair for both parents and students.”

Okpara highlighted the potential consequences of such an increase, adding that ‘’Many people will not be able to afford it, so it’s like sentencing people to become beggars, constantly relying on friends, uncles, and aunties for financial assistance. This would not be the case if the fees were reasonable and parents could afford them.’’l do think it would lead to mass withdrawal of students since there is no better alternative. “

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regu­latory Commission (NUPRC) on Wednes­day announced the outcome of the bid­ding exercise and issuance of letters of award to 42 companies/entities deemed successful in the bid for 49 flare sites put forward during the 2022 Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme (NGFCP) auction process.

In a statement made available to news­men in Abuja, NUPRC noted that 38 of the companies/entities have been award­ed 40 flare sites for standalone single flare site development, while four are awarded nine sites to be developed as clusters. ­

Reserved bidders’ status has also been accorded some compa­nies for the corresponding flare sites in case the preferred bidders failed to meet the terms and con­ditions stipulated in the RFP.

The management of NUPRC indicated on Tuesday, Septem­ber 12, 2023, that award letters are already being transmitted to the respective successful entities through the appropriate chan­nels.

“In furtherance of its man­date in Section 7 (e) and Section 105 (2) of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), 2021, the commission, in the third quarter of 2022, re­structured the NGFCP and re-launched the programme to align with the provisions of the PIA, as well as reflect prevailing econom­ic and operational realities.

“The commission notes that the significant success recorded in the NGFCP bid process was due to a series of focused engage­ments with relevant stakehold­ers including domestic inves­tors, international development agencies, oil and gas producers, technology providers and finan­cial institutions during the inter­vening months.

“The engagements by the commission were to galvanise and sustain interest in the pro­gramme, attract investments and stimulate participation by local and foreign entities.
“In response to the request for qualification (RFQ) issued in the fourth quarter of 2022, three hun­dred companies/entities indicat­ed interest in either revalidating their prequalification status as ex­isting participants or submitting statement of qualification (SOQ) as new participants.

“Following the evaluation of SOQs, a total of one hundred and thirty-nine applicants were deemed successful and awarded the qualified applicant status.

“Subsequently, in the first quarter of 2023, the commission issued the request for proposal (RFP) to enable qualified appli­cants to put together their re­spective proposals for any of the forty-nine flare sites on offer.

“Eighty-eight entities, com­prising individual companies and consortiums responded to the RFP and submitted a total of one hundred and thirty-seven proposals, each containing tech­nical, commercial and financial documentation for one or more of the forty-nine flare sites for either standalone or cluster de­velopment.

“The proposals were duly evaluated by the commission and approval secured to an­nounce 38 companies/entities as successful bidders for forty sites for standalone single flare site developments and four compa­nies/entities for nine sites to be developed as clusters; while some companies were also awarded reserved bidders status for the corresponding flare sites in case the preferred bidders failed to meet the terms and conditions contained in the RFP.

“At this stage, the preferred bidders would individually pro­ceed to execute the suite of com­mercial agreements with rele­vant parties and effect payment of the prescribed award fees to enable the grant of permit to ac­cess flare gas by the commission.

“KPMG, a global network of professional firms, has been ap­proved to partner with the com­mission in the implementation of the award to ensure successful outcome of the gas flare-out com­mercialisation process.

“The management congratu­lates the successful bidders and enjoins them to follow through with the final stages of the pro­gramme towards becoming per­mit holders and executors of vi­able projects that would harness flare gas for value creation”, read the statement in parts.