Nigeria’s apex court, the Supreme Court has backed the Court of Appeal in its position that the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, is like other states.

The apex court took the position at it ongoing ruling on the appeals filed by Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi challenging the decision of the presidential election petition tribunal which upheld the victory of Bola Tinubu in the last presidential election.

The presiding justice of the panel, John Okoro, asked, “Are you saying if someone scores 25% votes in 30 states but not in Abuja, he should not be president? Is that how you interpret the law?

“That is not the law. Supreme Court agrees with the Court of Appeal,” he added.

Meanwhile, the apex also ruled that the failure of the Independent National Electoral Commission to transmit the election results on the INEC Result Viewing Portal did not affect the outcome of the presidential election.

Reading the lead judgment, Okoro said, “When IReV fails, it does not stop the collation of the results. It deprives people of viewing results. The nonfunction will affect the trust of the electorates in the election.

“Unavailability of IReV cannot be a ground for the election to be nullified.

“The failure did not affect the outcome of the election. The issue is resolved against the appellants. “

[hallmarknews]

The Supreme Court on Thursday, October 26, dismissed the appeal by Atiku Abubakar and the PDP against the September 6 judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), affirming the election of President Bola Tinubu.

On the issue of President Tinubu’s CSU certificate, the apex court rejected new evidence provided by Atiku Abubakar’s legal team.

However, in a statement by one of the justices, it was explained why the deposition was not allowed.

He said that the deposition made by the Registrar of the Chicago State University (CSU), Caleb Westberg, was not authenticated.

He further argued that the deposition had no seal by the court, or signature by the consulate to affirm the authenticity of its origin.

The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the non-availability of election results on the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal is no ground for the nullification of the February 2023 presidential election.

Justice Inyang Okoro, leader of the five-panel of Supreme Court justices, gave the ruling in the appeals filed by Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), challenging the Presidential Elections Petitions Court (PEPC) which upheld Bola Tinubu’s February win.

He said the petitioner seeking to nullify an election must show noncompliance substantially affected the election.

According to him, the appellant abandoned the duty placed on them to prove noncompliance but relied solely on the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC’s) inability to electronically transmit the election results to the INEC Results Viewing (IReV) portal.

Justice Okoro said the Electoral Act empowers INEC to determine the mode of transmission of election results.

He said a court should give a holistic interpretation of the constitution. According to him, such an interpretation must be people-oriented, adding that a narrow and selfish approach should be avoided.

He says the interpretation of law must be such that it will reduce law-making to absurdity, noting that he sees merit in the issue as raised by the appellants and dismissed it.

The decision of the PEPC is unavailable, Justice Okoro says.

“The interpretation of the constitution should serve the generality of the people Let me drive this matter home,” he said.

“Are saying that if a candidate scores majority votes across the country but fails to win the election in the Federal Capital Territory. Can’t the candidate be declared president?”

says I remain loyal

The Ondo State Deputy Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, has tendered an unreserved apology to the state governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, over the embarrassment that the ongoing political crisis must have caused in the state.

Aiyedatiwa, who said the crisis was being caused or fueled by some political contenders in the state, reiterated that he remained loyal to the governor and his administration.

The deputy governor stated this while speaking with journalists in his office in Akure, the state capital.

He said, “I am deeply saddened by the embarrassment and discomfort that Mr. Governor has faced due to the barrage of negative news in the state as a result of the events of the last few months. I tender my sincere apology to Mr. Governor on this as our leader in the state.”

Details later…

..rejects Atiku’s motion to file fresh evidence

Says Scoring 25% of votes in FCT not mandatory 

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the victory of President Bola Tinubu in the February 25 presidential election.

The apex court in its ruling dismissed the appeals by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart Peter Obi.

Also, the Supreme Court has dismissed the application of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar to present fresh evidence to support his appeal at the court.

Atiku had sought the leave of the apex court to submit Tinubu’s credentials obtained from the Chicago State University to prove the president forged the documents he submitted to INEC.

The matters were, however, heard on Monday by a seven-man panel led by Justice John Okoro.

The argument for and against the admissibility of the fresh documents by Atiku dominated the proceedings.

Urging the court to admit the documents, the lead counsel for Atiku, Chris Uche, SAN described the allegation of forgery against the president as a grave constitutional matter that the apex court should look into.

But the counsel to Tinubu, Wole Olanipekun, SAN, urged the court not to admit the fresh documents, adding that INEC was not a party to it.

Reading the lead judgment on Thursday, Okoro said the application was filed after the 180 days prescribed by the law lapsed.

He said the court cannot activate section 22 of the Supreme Court Act to admit fresh evidence.

He said, ” The leave cannot be granted. We do not have the vires to grant it. There is no paragraph in the petition that indicates forgery. It would float on the appeal if it should be admitted.

“They (petitioners) were tardy and not diligent enough. This does not fit into the determination of this appeal. It is hereby refused and dismissed. “

The Supreme Court further agreed with the Court of Appeal that the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, is like other states.

The presiding justice of the panel, John Okoro, asked, “Are you saying if someone scores 25% votes in 30 states but not in Abuja, he should not be president? Is that how you interpret the law?

“That is not the law. Supreme Court agrees with the Court of Appeal,” he added.

The Federal Government will on Friday stop the salaries of any public officer whose records cannot be verified on the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System.

This was made known in a statement signed by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, and made available to journalists by her Director of Communications, Mohammed Ahmed, on Wednesday.

The PUNCH had exclusively reported that an extension was given to workers to verify their details after which their October 2023 salaries would be seized.

According to the statement, a two-week verification, which would end on Friday, was put in place as an act of magnanimity for officers who did not participate in the earlier verifications.

The statement said, “Adequate arrangements were put in place for a smooth exercise in designated areas of the FCT, however, the officers’ impatience and lack of orderliness in the first two days made the exercise rowdy. This has been duly addressed and the two-week exercise, scheduled to end on Friday, October 27, 2023, is progressing very well.

“The verification of records of all civil servants will be finalised at the end of the ongoing exercise and any officer whose record could not be verified will be delisted from the payroll of government.”

It recalled that in 2013, the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, being the repository of official records and information on all public servants, was saddled with the responsibility of cleansing the record on the payroll.

Leveraging technology, the statement added that the office opened a verification portal in April 2017 and directed all public servants to carry out online updates of their records.

The office, it added, carried out aggressive sensitisation and publicity via official, conventional, and social media.

According to the statement, an initial period of three months was given for compliance, which was extended to one year, May 2018, to enable all officers to update their records.

The statement added, “Sequel to another wide publicity accompanied by numerous pre-verification sensitisation visits by IPPIS staff to ministries, extra-ministerial Departments, and Agencies nationwide, the second phase of the exercise, the physical verification, commenced in 2018.

“In this regard, 500 staff from the OHCSF were trained and deployed, in well-communicated and coordinated phases, to the 36 states of the federation and the FCT between 2018 and 2019 to enable officers to carry out the physical verification in their states and save them to from travelling to Abuja.”

The statement maintained that some erring officers’ pleas to be given the last opportunity to comply were granted, adding that the portal was, therefore, reopened from October 3 to13, 2023, for them to update their records, and now till Friday, October 27, 2023, before action would be taken on defaulters.

Rise in government workers

The PUNCH observed that the number of workers on the Federal Government’s payroll rose from 1.14 million in June 2020 to 1.5 million in August, showing an increase of 360,000 workers in about three years.

Data obtained from the website of the IPPIS website showed that there were 696 MDAs and 1.14 million workers in 2020.

The website page read, “There are 696 MDAS on IPPIS Platform as at June, 2020. The department is responsible for processing and payment of salary to over one million (1,139,633) Federal Government employees across the 696 MDAs.

“IPPIS’ aim is to enrol into the platform, all Federal Government MDAs that draw personnel cost fund from the Consolidated Revenue Fund. Since inception of the IPPIS project in April 2007, the department have saved the Federal Government of Nigeria billions of naira by eliminating thousands of ghost workers.”

In August 2023, the Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Ben Akabueze, revealed that the Federal Government’s personnel cost was over N5tn, with 1.5 million workers on its payroll.

This increase occurred despite the identification of about 70,000 ghost workers in June 2022.

The Federal Government-backed Integration Personnel and Payroll Information System exposed and eliminated about 70,000 ghost workers in the civil service system, the Director-General, Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Dr. Dasuki Arabi, said.

He said the government had saved at least N220bn via IPPIS.

The DG also said IPPIS had led to the reduction of the Federal Civil Service personnel to 720,000.

Arabi said, “With the introduction of IPPIS, about 70,000 ghost workers have been eliminated from the payroll. We have a one-shot opportunity to look at IPPIS and say, as of today, we have 720,000 public servants working for Nigeria.

“We’ve been able to reduce more than N220bn wastage through wrong management of IPPIS on payroll by ministries, departments and agencies of government. We have reduced the budget deficits and changed the budget composition.”

The PUNCH also learnt that in July 2021, the Federal Government suspended the salaries of 300 workers across various MDAs in the federal civil service over their failure to update their records on the IPPIS.

By July 2022, it was reported that 61,446 civil servants from various MDAs had been verified on the IPPIS, while 3,657 civil servants were reported to the Independent and Corrupt Practices and Related Offenses Commission for prosecution over failure to get verified on the platform.

Personnel costs were expected to gulp about N14.87tn in three years, according to data obtained from the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper 2024-2026.

The amount budgeted for personnel costs also increased from N4.34tn spent in 2022 to N5.51tn in the proposed 2024 budget.

This showed an increase of N1.17tn or 26.96 per cent in three years, signalling a slight rise in the cost of paying salaries.

Experts and organisations have warned that the Federal Government’s personnel cost was rising at a fast pace.

According to them, this was disturbing, as the country still wallowed in increasing debts and lagged behind in the area of infrastructure.

In May 2021, the Federal Government, through the former Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, had said that it was working to reduce the high cost of governance by doing away with unnecessary expenditures, which may include salary cuts for workers.

The PUNCH earlier reported that the Federal Government planned to spend 61.63 per cent of its planned 2024 expenses on personnel and debt service costs.

The personnel and pension costs of N7.78tn (as earlier claimed by the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Abubakar Bagudu, but not in line with what was contained in the MTEF/FSP 2024-2026) and the debt service cost of N8.25tn made up N16.03tn out of the N26.01tn 2024 budget.

The PUNCH also observed that the government would spend more on debt servicing than it would spend on paying the salaries and pensions of its workers.

In the MTEF/FSP 2024-2026, the Federal Government blamed its projected N9.05tn budget deficit on the proposed salary review of federal employees and increased pension obligations, among others.

The document read, “The budget deficit is projected to be N9.05tn in 2024, down from N11.60tn budgeted in 2023. This represents about 53 per cent of total FGN revenues and 3.83 per cent of the estimated GDP.

“The high projected level of fiscal deficit in 2024 is partly attributable to the proposed salary review of Federal workers across board, increased pension obligations resulting from payments into the redemption fund, pension protection fund, an increase in pensions in line with the new minimum wage, and higher debt service cost.”

Nigeria has emerged first among a list of top twenty-nine countries with the most daily time spent on social media across the world.

Brazil and South Africa came second and third, respectively, behind Nigeria while Japan was ranked at the bottom in the ranking conducted by the World of Statistics.

The ranking platform showed that Nigeria has an average of 4 hours, and 20 minutes of time spent on social media per day. Brazil and South Africa, on the other hand, were ranked with an average of 3 hours, 44 minutes, and 3 hours, 44 minutes, respectively.

Japan which came last on the list was ranked with just an average of 49 minutes on social media daily.

Below is the full list of the ranking released on Wednesday by the World of Statistics through its official X handle.

?? Nigeria – 04:20
?? Brazil – 03:44
?? South Africa – 03:44
?? Philippines – 03:42
?? Colombia – 03:35
?? Ghana – 03:23
?? Kenya – 03:22
?? Argentina – 03:18
?? Mexico – 03:17
?? Indonesia – 03:07
?? UAE – 02:50
?? Turkey – 02:47
?? India – 02:44
?? Portugal – 02:22
?? Russia – 02:17
?? USA – 02:11
?? Sweden – 02:08
?? Ireland – 02:02
?? China – 02:01
?? Australia – 02:00
?? Canada – 01:59
?? Spain – 01:56
?? Denmark – 01:52
?? UK – 01:52
?? Germany – 01:41
Netherlands – 01:35
?? Austria – 01:30
?? South Korea – 01:11
?? Japan – 00:49

[NaijaNews]

The House of Representatives has said the Federal Government is not buoyant enough to afford free WAEC, NECO and JAMB for the 2023/2024 secondary academic session.

The House rejected the motion that sought to compel the federal government to make the 2023/2024 secondary school examination free for Nigerian students.

The lawmakers kicked against the motion by Anamero Dekeri, who called on the federal government to make WAEC, NECO and JAMB free for this academic session.

Naija News reports that this development is coming at a time when lawmakers are being criticised for a planned purchase of exotic cars worth billions of naira as official vehicles.

In the motion, Dekeri suggested that the monies the federal government saved from the removal of petroleum subsidy should be used to help families that are struggling.

The lawmaker said the Ministry of Education should make the examinations free.

Dekeri stated, “Urge the Ministry of Education to declare 2023 and 2024 WAEC, NECO and JAMB examinations registration free, to enable the common man to have a direct benefit of fuel subsidy removal palliatives.”

However, the motion was kicked against by members of the House of Representatives.

The Majority Leader, Julius Ihonvbere, moved an amendment that lawmakers should instead fund the free examination. But the amendment was countered by Ado Doguwa, who said members are already paying the fees.

After a long debate, Awaji Abiante moved a motion for the House to step it down, and it was adopted unanimously.

Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, 60, is a medical doctor and retired army captain. But he has not had a job after retirement 37 years ago. His day job since has been bandits’ advocacy. He has become so used to getting away with saying what he likes when he likes and how he likes it, he hardly knows when he needs help to extract his foot from his mouth. 

He could use such help. Not only for his own good, but perhaps for the good of those taking him seriously as well.

In a rambling no-holds-barred sermon last week, Gumi lashed out at the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, for planning to make Abuja “an extension of Tel Aviv,” where anyone with a long beard would be treated like Osama bin Laden and murdered. He criticised Muslims for supporting a Muslim-Muslim ticket in the last election, forgetting that others, including Christians, also voted for that ticket.

“Satan” at work

His most deadly venom, however, was not for Wike. It was for Tinubu, the enabler of the “Satan” called Wike, and the hundreds of smaller Southern devils of all faiths roaming the woods of the country in a murderous rampage since 1966 but who have resurged with Tinubu’s election, holding the trigger. Their poor, dispossessed Northern compatriots are left to occupy empty shells as offices. This translation is a mild version of what Gumi said.

He spoke for himself and not for millions of Muslims across the country who recognise that after an election whoever emerges president has an obligation not just to one religious group but to all citizens, whether they are believers or agnostics. 

He spoke for himself and not for exceptional clerics and Muslim leaders like the Sultan of Sokoto Sa’ad Abubakar who have spent their lives building bridges across faiths. Gumi spoke for himself, and certainly not for voters in Abuja who, for the first time ever, elected a non-indigenous woman, Ireti Kingibe, and member of the Labour Party, instead of traditional candidates of the two dominant parties, to represent them in the Senate. Gumi was speaking for himself.

Life in Abuja

Of course, he has a fanbase – a remnant of die-hards who follow him in the mistaken notion that he would not inherit some of the incendiary rhetoric of his father, Sheikh Abubakar Gumi. Perhaps there are also a few closet admirers among temporarily displaced politicians who are happy with his bitter words. But what is Gumi complaining about, really?

That Wike is suspectedly talking to the Israelis for Abuja’s security? It doesn’t matter to me. And Gumi may not understand why. Living in Abuja, as Chinua Achebe once said about Lagos, has become like living at the warfront. 

But Gumi will not understand since he goes about with police escorts, which is strange because you would expect that the exploits from his bandits’ advocacy should have set him free from all security concerns by now. 

Unfortunately, life in Abuja, especially in recent times, has been dangerous with frequent reports of deadly attacks on commuters by so-called “one-chance” drivers. If talking to Mossad or Hamas or Hezbollah will keep Abuja safe, it really doesn’t matter to me. And Gumi, a retired army captain, ought to know better.

Red herring

The US, “a country of infidels”, has some of the largest military bases in the world in Muslim countries in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia, where Gumi earned his PhD in Islamic jurisprudence, has five of such bases apart from a military defence pact with America. The UAE hosts 5,000 US military personnel at the Al Dhafra Air Base, just outside Abu Dhabi. President Donald Trump had planned to double it.

Wike talking with Mossad – which I suspect was just a Gumi red herring – does not make Abuja any more vulnerable than did military president General Ibrahim Babangida awarding Julius Berger, a German firm, the contract to build Aso Rock, where the Nigerian president resides.

But of course, that was not Gumi’s main grouse. He is offended by the “otherness” of Wike’s appointment. How can someone who is not like him, an intruder if you like, be appointed minister of the Federal Capital Territory? 

There are many things for which you can criticise Wike, not least of which is his politics, sometimes. His decisions to shuffle the FCT administration, demand overdue ground rent, and revoke hundreds of plots of undeveloped land that have in many cases become speculators’ lottery, have ruffled feathers. Yet, they can hardly be described as self-serving. 

To be fair, Gumi did not mention any of these complaints in his sermon. Even if he did, it would have been perfectly within his right to do so because public officers must be held to account. But that was not the point of his displeasure; it was not about requesting accountability, offering suggestions about a better way, if he thought there was one, or challenging the competence of the minister. 

Whose sacred ground?

His attack came from a much deeper place: resentment that Tinubu who emerged president by the grace of the North had the effrontery to bring an “intruder” into a “sacred ground,” without the approval of the Landlord. This brazen sense of entitlement dressed up as a “religious wrong,” offends decency. It’s unacceptable.

Abuja does not need to be saved from Wike. It is against people like Gumi that the capital and the country must now defend itself. The original builders of this place did not conceive of it as the Boys Quarters of one tribe, religion or ethnic group. It was precisely because of this sort of complication which Lagos presented, apart from it becoming a concrete jungle, that Abuja was conceived of as the new frontier of national unity. 

The original majority Gwari indigenes have complained, perhaps justifiably, of being marginalised; agitators from the creeks of the Niger Delta have complained, perhaps justifiably, that Abuja was built off the back of oil wealth from that polluted and forsaken region. 

What injury has Wike’s appointment caused Gumi? In Joseph Ona & another V. Diga Romani Atenda (2000), 5 NWLR (Pt. 656) 244, the Court of Appeal put to rest any special claim to Abuja by anyone or group. Abuja has no special status and therefore cannot be claimed as anyone’s special ground.

Changing demographics

If Gumi was looking, he would have seen, from the results of the last general elections that the city’s demographics, especially in the municipal areas, are changing. For the first time in its 47-year history as federal capital, neither the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) of which he is an undisguised sympathiser; nor the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), had the majority. Appointments must reflect competence and the changing demographics. 

In spite of Gumi, it’s a small step forward for unity and diversity that an APC president appointed a PDP minister in a federal capital where a woman and a non-indigene, represents Abuja in the Senate.

Gumi was right about one thing, though. That he didn’t particularly see eye-to-eye with former President Muhammadu Buhari. But it’s surprising that for eight years he didn’t see anything wrong with Abuja under former FCT minister Mohammed Bello. 

A man full of religious fervour, Bello was well on his way to pre-eminence in mullah-hood when Buhari diverted him with a ministerial appointment, which became his undoing. He lost his way and his catastrophic tenure has been largely responsible for Abuja’s current mess. 

Bello’s failure had nothing to do with religion or the fact that all seven ministers of the city in the last 24 years have all been Muslims. After all, Nasir El-Rufai, one of the two exceptional ministers in nearly 50 years, is a Muslim. 

Gumi’s followers won’t hear him say that. But the next time they listen to his hate sermon, they should ask him what matters more to him: result or religion? His extremism shames decency. He should find a job.