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Platrau: APC Begs Supporters  to Maintain  Peace after Mutfwang’s Sack

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–Appeal Court Verdict Temporary Setback – Gov

By David Torough

Plateau chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has begged its members to celebrate the Court of Appeal governorship judgment with modesty and decorum and avoid actions that could puncture peace in the volatile state.

The party’s sate chairman, Rufus Bature, gave the advice in a statement signed by the State Publicity Secretary, Mr Sylvanus Namang.

The statement read, “We appeal to members and supporters of the APC in Plateau to remain calm and refrain from provocative acts that could hurt the peace.

The chairman advised that the acrimony and disaffection that prevailed in the wake of appeal should be put behind as Plateau State had become a laughing stock.

He called on security agencies to be at alert to avert any act capable of causing a breakdown of law and order.

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Sunday nullified the election of Governor Caleb Muftwang and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise Nentawe Goshwe of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the March 18 Plateau State governorship election.

The three-member panel, in a unanimous decision held that Muftwang was not validly sponsored by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as provided by Section 285(2) of the Nigerian Constitution.

Justice Elfrieda Williams-Dawodu, who led the panel while delivering the lead judgment, cited Section 177 of the Constitution, noting that the PDP did not validly sponsor Manasseh for the governorship election.

The panel held that the party violated the court order that a valid congress be conducted in the 17 local government areas of the state by conducting congress in only five local government areas and as such, it is a nullity.

The court while dismissing the decision of the Plateau State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal held that the issue of qualification is both a pre-election and a post-election matter, contrary to the findings of the tribunal, which held that the appellant lacked the legal right to contest the validity of the respondent.

The court noted that under Section 134 of the Electoral Act, it is the sole right of a political party to sponsor its candidate having met the necessary requirements to do so.

While evoking Section 136 of the Electoral Act, the court ordered INEC to retrieve the certificate of return issued to Governor Mutfwang and issue a fresh one to Goshwe.

INEC had declared Mutfwang the winner of the March 18 governorship election after he scored 525,299 votes to defeat 17 other candidates, including Goshwe, who polled 481,370.

Goshwe challenged Mutfwang’s election at the tribunal, claiming that the governor was not validly nominated and sponsored by PDP and that PDP had no structure to sponsor any candidate for the governorship election.

He alleged that Mutfwang’s election was not conducted in compliance with the Electoral Act, adding that the PDP candidate did not win the majority of lawful votes cast during the election.

The tribunal headed by Justice R. Irele-Ifijeh dismissed the petition for lacking merit.

Not satisfied with the judgment of the tribunal, the APC candidate approached the Court of Appeal, praying it to declare him winner on grounds that the governor was not qualified to have stood election because he was not validly sponsored and nominated by his party.

The APC candidate told the court in his Notice of Appeal that there was over-voting and non-compliance with the 2022 Electoral Act during the election.

Last week, lead counsel to the appellants, Prof. Goke Olagoke (SAN) urged the court to set aside the judgment of the tribunal and declare his client winner.

He told the court that the appellants’ case is that Governor Mutfwang was not qualified to be in the race because of lack of valid sponsorship by a political party, contrary to section 177 (C) of the 1999 Constitution.

Olagoke said his submission was predicated on various court judgments, including the Court of Appeal’s decisions, adding that the court is bound to abide by the decisions for consistency.

In a motion dated October 30 but filed on November 2, 2023, the governor, through his legal team led by a former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF), Godwin Kanu Agabi (SAN), urged the court to strike out some grounds of the appeal for being incompetent.

He equally filed a notice of preliminary objection challenging the jurisdiction of the court to adjudicate on the appeal.

Agabi drew the court’s attention to the fact that the nomination and sponsorship of a candidate for election is purely an internal affair of a political party, which the court has no jurisdiction to entertain.

He submitted that the word qualification used by the petitioner is misleading as the issue raised by the petition bordered on nomination and sponsorship.

The court finally entered judgment in favour of the appellant.

Meanwhile, Mutfwang has described the verdict of the court as a temporary setback.

A statement by the governor’s Director of Press and Public Affairs (DOPPA), Mr Gyang Bere last night maintained that the judgment would not deter Mutfwang’s plans of repositioning the state toward steady growth and development.

Mutfwang expressed strong optimism that his mandate would be restored.

He said, “I want to assure the people of Plateau that the mandate they overwhelmingly gave me will be restored; I have instructed my legal team to file an appeal at the Supreme Court.

“I hereby admonish citizens of the state and supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to remain calm, for as long as God remains on the throne, the mandate of the people will not be tampered with.

“I want to also reiterate my commitment to the rule of law and assure you all that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

”I have unwavering faith in the judiciary and the Constitution of Nigeria.”

He appealed to the citizens of the state to be law abiding, adding that the judgment is a temporary setback.

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281 Inmates Missing from Custodial Centre after Borno Flood

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By David Torough, Abuja

Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) has declared 281 inmates missing from the Medium Security Custodial Centre, Maiduguri, Borno State.

NCoS said this followed an evacuation after the flood that engulfed the state capital.

A statement onby the Service Public Relations Officer (SPRO), Mr Abubakar Umar yesterday in Abuja said seven other inmates had been recaptured.

Umar said that the service was in custody of the details of the missing inmates, including their biometrics.

“The flood brought down the walls of the correctional facilities, including the medium security custodial centre Maiduguri (MSCC) as well as the staff quarters in the city.

“Upon the evacuation of inmates by officers of the service with support from sister security agencies to a safe and secure facility, 281 inmates were observed to be missing.

“However, it is important to note that the service is in custody of their details, including their biometrics, which is being made available to the public.

“The service is working in synergy with other security agencies as both covert and overt deployments have been activated to look out for them.

“Presently, a total of seven (7) inmates have been recaptured and returned to custody, while efforts are on ground to track down the rest and bring them back to safe custody.“While this effort is on, the public is assured that the incident does not impede or affect public safety,” he said.

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NNPCL Lifts Petrol from Dangote at N898 Per Litre

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By Tony Obiechina, Abuja

After controversies, trucks from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) yesterday lifted petrol from the Dangote Refinery.

NNPCL revealed that Dangote Refinery sold the fuel at N898 per litre.

The national oil company began loading yesterday after moving about 300 trucks to the 650,000 capacity refinery Dangote Refinery located in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos State.

Its spokesman, Olufemi Soneye was quoted as saying, “We successfully loaded PMS at the Dangote Refinery today [Sunday].

“The claim that we purchased it at N760 per liter is incorrect.

“For this initial loading, the price from the refinery was N898 per liter.

At least, over 70 trucks had loaded at the time of this report.

This marks an end to the month-long debate over the quality and sale of the Dangote petrol.

Speaking to newsmen at the refinery, the Vice President of Oil and Gas at Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), Devakumar Edwin described the commencement of the petrol lifting moment of pride to every Nigerian.

He said, “My President has been showing presentations that 52 years ago, we were trying to see how to solve the problem of PMS supply and the queues. Now, after 52 years, we have a solution.

“And the solution is local production of PMS and it is from a Nigerian oil company. And as EPC contractor, it was constructed by a Nigerian company.

“So, it’s a matter of pride that a Nigerian oil company, constructed by a Nigerian-owned company, is able to generate PMS from the local crude and daily will not only to meet the entire requirement of Nigeria, but can also have surplus to export. So, it is a time and moment of great pride to every Nigerian.”

Edwin said 44 percent of the PMS production from the Dangote refinery can meet the requirement of the entire country.

“If you look at the refinery as a whole, PMS alone, every day, 650,000 barrels of crude if we’re processing, we can generate more than 54 million litres of PMS.

“And, of course, the refinery has the capacity to produce various other products too. 44% of the production can meet the entire requirement of the country, 56% of the production has to be exported. “So, it is a huge refinery. So, it is not only going to be doing import substitution, but it is also going to make Forex generation through export revenue.

“The gantries are actually 86 and they can load 86 trucks at a go,” he said.

Last Friday, in Abuja, a member of the Presidential Committee on the Sale of Crude Oil and Refined Product and Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zacch Adedeji confirmed that the NNPCL remains the sole buyer of petrol from the Dangote refinery while willing off-takers are free to lift diesel and other products from the refinery.

According to Adedeji, the NNPCL would further distribute to other independent marketers after lifting from the refinery.

He said the nation’s oil company will commence the sale of crude oil to the Dangote refinery in naira from October 1.

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CBN Issues 30-day Deadline to Payment Service Providers on PoS Transactions

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By Tony Obiechina, Abuja

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has issued a new directive to Payment Service Providers (PSPs), requiring them to comply with enhanced routing guidelines for Point of Sale (PoS) transactions.This move is aimed at strengthening the monitoring of electronic transactions across Nigeria.

The directive issued on Wednesday aims at strengthening the monitoring of electronic transactions across Nigeria following CBN’s initiative to diversify the Payment Terminal Service Aggregator (PTSA) structure, which previously operated through a single aggregator.
In a circular signed by Oladimeji Yisa Taiwo on behalf of the CBN Payments System Management Department, the apex bank mandates that all PoS transactions from merchant and agent locations—whether physical or electronic—must now be routed through any CBN-licensed PTSA.
The directive is part of efforts to decentralize PoS transaction routing and address concerns over the centralization of such transactions under a single entity.In Aug. 2011, the CBN initially granted a PTSA license to the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) Plc to serve as the sole aggregator of PoS transactions.However, to promote competition and enhance service delivery, the CBN awarded a second PTSA license to Unified Payment Services Limited (UPSL) on April 19.This development aims to reduce the dependence on a single aggregator for the management of PoS transactions, promoting transparency and operational efficiency in Nigeria’s growing electronic payments landscape.

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