COVER
Presidential Poll: APC Asks Tribunal to Dismiss LP, Obi’s Petition
By Jude Opara, Johnson Eyiangho & Idris Umar, Abuja
The All Progressive Congress (APC) has asked the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja to dismiss the petition brought against Bola Ahmed Tinubu by the Labour Party LP and its presidential candidate, Mr Peter Gregory Obi for being incompetent and lacking in locus standi.
APC cited an alleged breach of the mandatory provision of section 77(3) of the Electoral Act, 2022 by Peter Obi and his party.
In a defence filed in response to Obi’s petition, APC submitted that Obi was not validly sponsored by the Labour Party as prescribed by the mandatory provision of the Electoral Act and therefore could not rightly and lawfully commence or sustain his petition, seeking to void its victory at the presidential polls.
APC’s position was contained in its 4th respondent’s reply to Obi and LP’s petition filed on Monday, 10th of April 2023 by his legal team led by Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) and 28 other Senior Advocates including Chief Charles Edosomwan and Chief Adeniyi Akintola, wherein he contended that the non-compliance to the said provision of the Electoral Act was fatal to the survival of the petitioner’s quest to nullify his victory.
Dissatisfied with the outcome of the Presidential election, Obi and Labour Party (1st and 2nd petitioners) had approached the tribunal, insisting that the APC with its standard bearer, Bola Ahmed Tibubu was unlawfully declared winner of the election and prayed it to nullify the said declaration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The duo named Independent National Electoral Commission, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Senator Shettima Kashim and All Progressives Congress as the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th respondents.
However, in the reply brief, APC contended that Obi and LP’s petition was incompetent and not sustainable and prayed the tribunal to dismiss it outrightly.
Two major grounds cited to back the request for dismissal of the petition are that Obi was not a member of the Labour Party 30 days before the conduct of the Party’s presidential primary election and that Obi was a full member of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP until May 24, 2022, thereby not lawfully sponsored by LP.
Other grounds are that the 1st Petitioner (Obi) was screened as a presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party in April 2022; “1st Petitioner participated and was cleared to contest the presidential election while being a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP);
“1st Petitioner purportedly resigned his membership of Peoples Democratic Party on 24th May 2022 to join the 2nd Petitioner (Labour Party) on 27th May 2022.
“2nd Petitioner (Labour Party) conducted its presidential primary on 30th May 2022 which purportedly produced 1st Petitioner as its candidate, which time contravened section 77(3) of the Electoral Act for him to contest the primary election as a member of the 2nd Petitioner;
“The 1st Petitioner was not a member of the 2nd Petitioner as at the time of his alleged sponsorship.
“Whereas, by the mandatory provisions of Section 77 (1) (2) and (3) of the Electoral Act 2022, a political party shall maintain a register and shall make such register available to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not later than 30 (thirty) days before the date fixed for the party primaries, congresses and convention.
“All the Presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were screened on 29th April 2022, an exercise in which the 1st Petitioner (Obi) herein participated and was cleared to contest while being a member of the Party.
“The 1st Petitioner herein resigned his membership of the PDP on Thursday 26th May 2022 and joined the Labour Party the following day 27th May 2022.
“The 2nd Petitioner herein conducted its Presidential Primary on 30th May 2022 which produced the 1st Petitioner as the candidate it intended to sponsor in the General Election.
“By section 77(3) of the Electoral Act, 2022, the 2nd Petitioner is mandated to have submitted its comprehensive register of members to the 1st Respondent 30 days before its presidential primary. That is to say, the said register of members must have been submitted to the 1st Respondent on or before 30th April 2022.
“The 1st Petitioner as of 30th April 2022 was still a member of the PDP and his name was not and could not have been in the register of members submitted by the 2nd Petitioner to 1st Respondent INEC.
The APC, therefore, submitted that the Petition is incompetent as the 1st Petitioner is not a member of the 2nd Petitioner since the 1st Petitioner’s name is not, and could not have been listed in the list of the register made available by the 2nd Petitioner to the 1st Respondent, same having been made available before the 1st Petitioner joined the 2nd Petitioner.”
The party further submitted that “the 1st Petitioner lacks the locus standi to challenge the outcome of the Presidential Election held on 27th February 2023 as the 2nd Petitioner did not present a valid candidate for that election.”
APC also argued that Obi and LP’s petition was improperly constituted because it failed to join Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who are necessary parties as the reliefs sought shall affect them one way or the other.
This leg of the objection is predicated on the following argument:
By paragraph 17 of the Petition, the Petitioner on their own stated that Atiku Abubakar came second in the Presidential election with 6,984,520 votes as against the petitioners who came third with 6,101,533 votes; In paragraph 102 (iii) of the Petition, the Petitioner urged the Tribunal to determine that the 1st Petitioner scored the majority of lawful votes without joining Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in the Petition; For the Tribunal to grant prayer (iii) of the Petitioners, the Tribunal must have set aside the scores and election of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar; Alhaji Atiku Abubakar must be heard before his votes can be discountenanced by the Tribunal; the petition is incompetent for failure to join as a party to the petition the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar the 1st runner up and his political party- Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as a Respondent whose right would be affected by the reliefs sought in the petition.
The Petition as presently constituted is challenging the votes cast at the election, seeking inter alia, the nullification of the entire election, thereby challenging the votes attributed not only to himself but also those votes attributed to the 2nd Respondent who emerged winner, and those attributed to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the person who emerged 2nd at the election.
In further answer to paragraph 14 of the petition, the Respondent avers that the 3rd Respondent was validly sponsored and nominated by the 2nd and Respondents and qualified to be nominated by the 2nd Respondent as a vice presidential candidate and validly contested on a joint ticket with the 2nd Respondent and was validly returned as the vice president, having won a majority of the lawful votes cast at the said election.
In response to paragraph 15 of the petition, the Respondent duly sponsored the 2nd Respondent who participated in the election and won with a majority of lawful votes cast and was consequently validly declared the winner of the election by the 1st Respondent.
The Respondent shall at the hearing of this petition contend that the grounds of the petition which lumped complaint of corrupt practices with non-compliance upon which this petition is predicated are grossly incompetent, frivolous and an abuse of court process.
The Respondent states further that there are no facts in support of complaints of corrupt practices and the facts in support of allegations of non-compliance cannot be relied on or adopted to support missing facts of corrupt practices.
The Respondent states in reaction to paragraph 21 of the petition that the nomination of the 3rd Respondent by the 2nd Respondent as the vice-presidential candidate was done lawfully and in compliance with the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and the Electoral Act, 2022.
The Respondent denies paragraphs 22 and 23 of the petition and puts the petitioners to the strictest proof thereof and further avers as follows:
The 3rd Respondent withdrew as the Respondent’s candidate for the Borno Central Senatorial district election on the 6th day of July 2022. The Respondent shall at the hearing of this petition, rely on the 3rd Respondent’s letter of voluntary withdrawal written to the Respondent, dated 6th day of July 2022; As of the 14th day of July 2022, when he was nominated as the vice-presidential candidate of the Respondent, the 3rd Respondent was no longer the Respondent’s Senatorial candidate for the Borno Central Senatorial election; the Form EC11C (Notice of withdrawal) signed by the 3rd Respondent on 6th July 2022 was merely conveyed by the officials of the Respondent on the 15th day of July 2022 to the 1st Respondent to enable Respondent present 3rd Respondent to INEC as its Vice-Presidential candidate; that the date on the said Form EC11C (15th July 2022) is not at all the date the 3rd Respondent withdrew from contesting as a senatorial candidate of the Respondent for the Borno Central Senatorial Election; the emergence of the 3rd Respondent as the vice-presidential candidate of the Respondent was in compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022;
The Respondent avers that there is no such constituency like or known as “Borno Central Constituency” as pleaded by the petitioners as the same does not exist and that what actually exists is Borno Central Senatorial District which is not the same thing as “Borno Central Constituency”; the 3rd Respondent is not obliged to and did not participate in any Presidential primary election; and Conduct of a party primary election is not a prerequisite to be nominated as a vice presidential candidate.
Consequently, APC prayed the tribunal to dismiss the petition for lacking in substance and merit.
Obi’s Prayers Not Grantable, INEC Tells Tribunal
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has asked the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) to dismiss a petition filed by Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, saying the reliefs sought are not grantable.
INEC, the 1st respondent, stated this in its reply filed on Monday night at the PEPC’s Secretariat by its lawyer, Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, in Abuja.
The commission prayed the court to either “dismiss or strike out the petition for being grossly incompetent, abusive, vague, nebulous, generic, general, non-specific, ambiguous, equivocal, hypothetical and academic.”
Obi, the 1st petitioner, and LP, the 2nd petitioner, had sued INEC, Sen. Bola Tinubu, Sen. Kashim Shettima and All Progressives Congress (APC) as 1st to 4th respondents respectively.
The petitioners are seeking the nullification of the election victory of Tinubu and Shettima in the Feb 25 presidential poll.
Tinubu, who defeated 17 other candidates who took part in the election, scored a total of 8,794,726 votes, the highest of all the candidates.
While former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) came second with 6,984,520 votes in the poll; Obi came third with 6,101,533 votes.
Abubakar and PDP are also challenging the outcome of the poll in a separate petition.
However, in the petition marked: CA/PEPC/03/2023 filed by Obi and LP’s lead counsel, Livy Ozoukwu, they contended that Tinubu “was not duly elected by majority of the lawful votes cast at the time of the election.”
The petitioners claimed there was rigging in 11 states, adding that they would demonstrate this in the declaration of results based on the uploaded results.
They said INEC violated its own regulations when it announced the result despite the fact that at the time of the announcement, the totality of the polling unit results had yet to be fully scanned, uploaded and transmitted electronically as required by the Electoral Act, among others.
In its notice of preliminary objection, INEC argued that the grounds on which the petition was based were defective, having regard to the vague and imprecise averments supporting the said grounds.
It said that the ground of the petitioners bordering on non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022 and corrupt practices did not disclose a reasonable cause of action for failure to plead specific particulars and figures as to how the alleged non-compliance complained of substantially affected the results of the election.
It said in view of the above argument, “Prayers 3, 5(i) and 5(11) of the petition predicated on the ground of non-compliance in Paragraph 20(11) of the petition are ungrantable.”
It further said that the ground of the petition that Tinubu was not elected by majority of lawful votes cast as contained in Paragraph 20(iii) of the petition was defective for failure to plead the alleged unlawful votes to be deducted and/or lawful votes to be credited to the petitioners.
INEC argued that the petitioners’ prayer to declare that Obi scored majority of lawful votes cast at the election and be declared winner was defective for failure to join necessary parties and for lack of requisite particulars and pleading to support same.
The commission said that though Obi was a candidate at the election, it however disagreed that denies that he has a right to be returned as elected, “not having polled majority of the lawful votes cast at the election and /or secured one quarter of the votes cast at the election in each of at least two-thirds of all states in the federation and the FCT.”
The commission said all political parties intending to sponsor candidates in the election were required to submit lists of their agents and they were expected to observe the election process at their units, sign and collect result sheets on behalf of their political parties at the close of polls.
It argued that some of the political party agents whose names were on the list submitted to it were however absent at their polling units while some others who were present neglected to participate in the election process.
According to INEC, the petitioners (Obi and LP) did not have polling agents in all the polling units across Nigeria as they only submitted a list of 134, 874 polling agents which is 41, 972 short of the 176, 846 polling units across Nigeria.
It disagreed with the petitioners, insisting that they were not represented in many or some of the polling units in the country.
The commission argued that while Shettima, the vice president-elect, was duly nominated and sponsored to contest the election, it also said that Tinubu and Shettima were duly declared and returned as elected and issued Certificates of Return having fulfilled the requirements of the constitution to be declared winners and returned.
By Laide Akinboade, Abuja
As part of efforts to reposition the newspaper for optimum corporate performance, the management of Asset Newspapers Limited, Publishers of DAILY ASSET, has announced the appointment of David Torough as the Editor of the Abuja-based national daily.
A statement by the management said the appointments were part of the company’s new strategy to further penetrate the various states in the country and raise its readership and patronage.
“DAILY ASSET is widely acceptable across the country and to maintain our leadership position, we need to increase management presence, hence the need to create new Bureau offices in some locations outside Abuja and Lagos,” the statement quoted the Publisher/ Editor-in-Chief, Dr Cletus Akwaya to have said.
In a statement yesterday, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the fast-growing daily, Dr. Cletus Akwaya said the appointment was part of the new strategy to properly situate the paper for better productivity.
“DAILY ASSET has a commitment with the Nigerian people. We are determined to weather the storm and give Nigerian readers a Newspaper that satisfies their yearnings and reading pleasure and we can only do that with the right set of professionals,” the statement said.
Akwaya, a former Commissioner of Information from Benue State said the difficult times being faced by Nigerians posed a great challenge to the media as the people deserved credible information with which to make choices.
“We have a bond with the people, to offer credible information at all times in the best tradition of the Nigerian Press and on this scale of objectivity, truth and fairness, we pledge to remain steadfast no matter the challenges,” Akwaya was quoted to have said.
He said the newspaper will maiantin its daily print run and circulation to all states of the federation and urged advertisers to take advantage of the deep penetration of the Daily Asset brand to send their messages.
Torough, the new Editor has had a steady rise in the Newspaper in the last five years.
A graduate of Mass communication of the Benue State University, Makurdi, Torough joined the company in 2022 as Benue State Correspondent. He was spotted for his brilliance and redeployed to Abuja the following year and promoted to Deputy News Editor. He was subswuently named Deputy Editor of the paper, a position he held until the recent appointment.
Torough has attended several journalistic workshops and trainings to properly equip himself for the task ahead.
The statement also said the Management named Eze Okechukwu as Deputy Editor.
Before his elevation as Deputy Editor, Eze has been Deputy Politics Editor and DAILY ASSET Newspaper correspondent covering the Senate, having joined the organization in 2021.
Born on March 10, 1975, Eze holds a Masters Degree in Mass Communication from the Enugu State University of Science and Technology.
Eze began his journalism career with Daily Star, Enugu and later worked with Daily Trust Newspaper, Abuja as sports reporter.
Aside from his journalistic excellence, he has a great deal of passion for sports.
From Ngutor Dekera, Kaduna and Aliyu Askira, Kano
Northern governors and traditional rulers yesterday called for the suspension of mining activities across the region for six months, blaming illegal mining for worsening insecurity in many states.
The resolution was contained in a communiqué issued after a joint meeting of the Northern States Governors’ Forum and the Northern Traditional Rulers’ Council held at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim House, Kaduna. The meeting, chaired by the Gombe State Governor and NSGF Chairman, Muhammadu Yahaya, had in attendance the 19 northern governors and chairmen of the 19 states’ traditional councils.The Forum expressed concern over the escalating violence in parts of the North, including the killings and abductions recently recorded in Kebbi, Kwara, Kogi, Niger, Sokoto, Jigawa and Kano states, as well as renewed Boko Haram attacks in Borno and Yobe.“The Forum extends its deepest condolences and solidarity to the governments and good people of the affected states,” the communiqué said, noting that the attacks on schoolchildren and other citizens had become “unacceptable tragedies” that required urgent collective action.It commended President Bola Tinubu for what it described as the Federal Government’s “firm response” to recent abductions and insurgency threats, especially the rescue of some abducted pupils.The governors also saluted security agencies for their sacrifices on the frontlines.“We resolved to renew our support for every step taken by the President and Commander-in-Chief to take the fight to insurgents’ enclaves in order to end the criminality,” the Forum stated.A major highlight of the meeting was the North’s renewed push for the establishment of state police, with governors and traditional rulers insisting that decentralised policing had become inevitable.“The Forum reaffirms its wholehearted support and commitment to the establishment of state police,” the communiqué added, urging federal and state lawmakers from the region to “expedite action for its actualisation.”On illegal mining, the governors said criminal mining networks were fuelling violence and providing resources for armed groups.As a corrective measure, they asked Tinubu to direct the Minister of Solid Minerals to impose a six-month suspension of mining activities in order to allow for a full audit and revalidation of licences.“The Forum observed that illegal mining has become a major contributory factor to the security crises in Northern Nigeria. “We strongly recommend a suspension of mining exploration for six months to allow proper audit and to arrest the menace of artisanal illegal mining,” it said.To strengthen the fight against insecurity, the governors also announced the creation of a regional Security Trust Fund.Under the proposed arrangement, each state and its local governments will contribute ₦1bn monthly, to be deducted at source under an agreed framework.They said the fund would help provide sustainable financing for joint operations, intelligence-driven interventions and coordinated security responses across the region.At the end of the meeting, the Forum reaffirmed its commitment to unity and collective responsibility.“Only through unity, peer review and cooperation can we overcome the pressing challenges before us,” it declared.The Forum agreed to reconvene on a date to be announced.Meanwhile, Nigeria’s worsening security crisis took a grim turn on Monday as bandits launched fresh attacks in Kano State, abducting 25 villagers, even as the Federal Government raced to secure the release of more than 300 Catholic school children kidnapped in Niger State.In the early hours of Monday, armed bandits invaded Unguwar Tsamiya—popularly called Dabawa—in Shanono Local Government Area of Kano State, whisking away nine men and two women after shooting into the air and assaulting residents. The attackers also rustled two cows.A resident lamented the community’s helplessness: “We cannot do otherwise; most of us cannot leave because we have nowhere to go. This is our place, our land and everything is here.”The assault came less than 24 hours after a similar attack on Yan Kamaye in Tsanyawa LGA, a community along the volatile Katsina border.In Niger State, National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu has assured distraught families of St. Mary’s Co-Education School, Kontagora that the more than 300 students and staff abducted on November 21 will return home “soon.” Ribadu, who led a high-level federal delegation to the school on Monday, said the abductees are safe, though he offered no specifics on their location or the status of rescue operations.According to Daniel Atori, spokesman for the Catholic bishop overseeing the school, the NSA reassured officials: “The children are where they are and will come back safely.”The St. Mary’s attack is part of a worrying resurgence of mass kidnappings reminiscent of the 2014 Chibok schoolgirls’ abduction. Security analysts warn that banditry has evolved into a “structured, profit-seeking industry,” with hundreds of Nigerians abducted in November alone.The Kontagora school abduction occurred the same week 25 girls were kidnapped in Kebbi State—victims who authorities say have since been rescued through “non-kinetic” means. About 50 of the St. Mary’s hostages have also managed to escape.Ribadu’s delegation, which included the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), reaffirmed the government’s commitment to securing the freedom of all abducted citizens.As communities from Kano to Niger continue to bear the brunt of these violent incursions, the escalating spate of kidnappings underscores the urgent national demand for a more decisive and coordinated security response.
By David Torough, Abuja
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said former Attorney‑General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, will face a team of interrogators at its office daily throughout December.
A credible source in the EFCC said on Monday that the daily appearance was part of an ongoing investigation into the whereabouts of an alleged 490 million dollars Abacha loot secured through a Mutual Legal Assistance (MLAT) request. The source said that Malami, who was summoned for interrogation by the EFCC on Saturday, was barred from leaving Nigeria for the next one month.According to the source, one of the conditions for his release on Saturday was that he should report daily to the EFCC Headquarters in Abuja for further interrogation.The source said Malami would have to appear daily at the anti-graft office due to the volume of the investigation and the seriousness of the charges against him.”We seized his passport, it is the normal routine during investigation, but he has to report at the EFCC headquarters in Abuja every day for the next month.”He will be reporting for further investigation throughout December.”He will be reporting every day, starting from Dec. 1st to Dec. 31st.He will appear before the team of investigators for the entire month of December.”He will be reporting to EFCC for investigation for the period because of the volume of the investigation and the seriousness of the charges against him,” the source added.According to the source, a fact sheet on the former minister revealed that Malami had several issues to clarify with the EFCC within the coming weeks.“We have asked him to explain the whereabouts of the $490 million Abacha loot secured through MLAT.“We didn’t say he stole money, but he should account for the loot. This is one of the issues he will clarify to our investigators.”The commission cited the large volume of documents he must review and the need for extensive interviews as reasons for seizing his passport.The source said EFCC would not engage in a war of words but would release its findings after a thorough investigation.Malami, in a statement by his media aide, Mohammed Doka, on Monday in Abuja, however, described the EFCC investigation as a political witch‑hunt.He confirmed he honored an EFCC invitation on Nov. 28, describing the engagement as fruitful and expressing confidence that the probe would vindicate him.Malami described the EFCC’s allegations as baseless, illogical and devoid of substance, insisting they collapse under factual scrutiny.
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