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Tag: atiku

  • Election Petition: Why I withdrew my motion on material inspection – Atiku

    Election Petition: Why I withdrew my motion on material inspection – Atiku

    Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar has said he withdrew a motion before the Appeal Court over a request to inspect electoral materials because the issue had been overtaken by events.

    In a statement, Abubakar, said that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had already granted him access to inspect the material hence his withdrawal of the motion.

    He said the clarification was important following insinuations and mischievous reporting of the withdrawal of the application for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to grant access to his legal team and the PDP on the inspection of the documents related to the Feb. 25 Presidential Election.

    The appelate court had granted the request of PDP and Abubakar to be granted unfettered access to the INEC documents used for the presidential election.

    “On the March 10, 2023, we filed a motion (number 12M) ex parte and affidavit of urgency to ensure the implementation of the court order.

    “The court, however, asked that we put the president-elect, Sen. Bola Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the INEC on notice.

    “Consequently, we filed a motion on notice (number 13M) and motion ex parte (number 13MA) for substituted service on Tinubu,” he said.

    On Tuesday at a conference meeting between lawyers of the PDP,  LP,  APC, and INEC, access was eventually granted to the legal team of PDP by INEC,” he said.

    Abubakar said when the matter came up for hearing on Wednesday, the legal team withdrew the two motions.

    He said the motions were withdrawn because access had already been granted on Tuesday to Abubakar and PDP.

  • Presidential Poll: PDP, Atiku withdraw fresh application against INEC

    Presidential Poll: PDP, Atiku withdraw fresh application against INEC

    The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, on Wednesday, withdrew a fresh application they filed to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to allow their agents to participate in the process of sorting out ballot papers that were used for the presidential election that held on February 25.

    Both PDP and Atiku, who are separately challenging the outcome of the election that was declared in favour of the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Tinubu, told the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, sitting at the Court of Appeal in Abuja, that they were no longer interested in the application.

    When the motion ex-parte, marked: CA/PEC/10M/2023, was called up for hearing on Wednesday, Atiku, through his team of lawyers led by Mr. Joe Kyari Gadzama, SAN, told the court that he filed a notice of discontinuance.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) gathered that the decision of Atiku who came second at the presidential election, to withdraw the application, was a fallout of a meeting his legal team held with the leadership of the electoral body on Tuesday.

    “We filed the application owing to challenges and administrative bottlenecks we encountered at the INEC office when we went for access to the election materials as ordered by the court.

    “However, before the application dated March 13 could be slated for hearing, INEC, on its own, called our legal team for a meeting.

    “It was at that meeting which held yesterday (Tuesday) that all the grey areas were sorted out, with INEC, pledging to allow our agents to observe the process of sorting out some of the electoral materials we requested for, especially the ballot papers.

    “Since that was primarily our prayer in the fresh application we filed, we felt that it would not be necessary to proceed with the hearing. So, to save judicial time, we filed a notice of discontinuance which was accordingly granted”, a member of Atiku’s legal team, who did not want his name mentioned because he was not authorized to speak on the matter, told Vanguard.

    Meanwhile, following the withdrawal of the application, Justice Joseph Ikyegh-led three-member panel struck it out.

    Specifically, Atiku had in the withdrawn application, which he predicated on 11 grounds, maintained that it was necessary for agents of his party to be present during the sorting out of the electoral materials he would need to prepare a petition he intends to lodge against the outcome of the presidential election.

    He said there was need for his agents to observe/participate in the sorting of materials he requested in all the offices of INEC nationwide, in line with the ex-parte order the court made on March 3.

    The tribunal had in the said order, directed INEC to allow the Applicants, Atiku and PDP, to inspect, scan, and carry out forensic examination and analysis of the ballot papers, data form, BVAS/and or card readers, including photocopying of the ballot papers, information stored in the computer server/IREV.

    Atiku argued that allowing the agents of his party to be on the ground while the materials are sorted out, would ensure transparency in the process and guarantee that the ballot papers would not be tampered with.

    It will be recalled that though the court ordered INEC to grant both Atiku and his counterpart in the Labour Party, LP, Peter Obi, who came third in the election, access to the electoral materials, however, in a subsequent order it made on March 8, the panel gave the electoral body the nod to reconfigure the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, machines it used for the presidential election.

    The court held that stopping INEC from reconfiguring the BVAS would adversely affect the conduct of Governorship and State Assembly elections billed for Saturday.

    It dismissed objections that the LP and its candidate, Obi, raised against INEC’s move to reconfigure all the BVAS devices that were used for the presidential poll.

    According to the court, allowing the objections by Obi and his party would amount to “tying the hands of the Respondent, INEC”.

    It noted that INEC depositions in an affidavit, that accreditation data contained in the BVAS could not be tampered with or lost, as same would be stored and easily retrieved from its back-end server, was not controverted.

    Besides, the court directed INEC to allow the President-elect, Tinubu of the APC, to also inspect and obtain copies of the electoral material, to enable him to prepare his defence against petitions that may be lodged to overturn his election victory.

    It held that both Tinubu and his party were entitled to have access to the electoral materials.

    INEC had declared Tinubu of the APC as winner of the presidential poll, ahead of 17 other candidates that contested the election.

    According to INEC, Tinubu, scored a total of 8,794,726 votes to defeat Atiku who polled a total of 6,984,520 votes and Obi of the LP who came third with a total of 6,101,533 votes.

    Both PDP and LP had since rejected the outcome of the election and vowed to challenge it in court.

    Under the Electoral Act 2022, any candidate dissatisfied with the return made by the INEC, shall within 21 days after the date of the declaration of the result of the election, file a petition before the tribunal.

    An election tribunal shall deliver its judgement in writing within 180 days from the date the petition was filed.

  • Wike abandons official duties on Monday to drink whiskey – Atiku’s aide

    Wike abandons official duties on Monday to drink whiskey – Atiku’s aide

    A spokesperson for Atiku Abubakar has chided Rivers State Governor Nysesom Wike for abandoning his official duty on Monday morning to drink alcohol.

    Wike who spoke at an event in Emohua Local Government Area last week said he was drinking alcohol while watching Atiku, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the party national chairman, Iyorchai Ayu, and other party members on a protest to the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

    “I called some of my friends and opened the 40-year-old whisky as they were protesting,” Wike told the gathering.

    In a statement on Sunday, Phrank Shaibu advised Wike to stay off alcohol which he said had “affected his voice and demeanour”.

    Shaibu recalled that on March 6, Atiku, party members, and supporters demonstrated against “the stealing of the mandate of the Nigerian people.”

    “The protest occurred around 11:30 am. Governor Wike says he was drinking whiskey during the protest at 11:30 am on a Monday.

    “This reveals the sort of man he is – a dipsomaniac who abandons his official duties on Monday morning to binge on whiskey, “he stated.

    Noting that it was unfortunate that Wike steers the wheel of governance in Rivers with such a habit, Shaibu insisted the governor’s “vituperations and wailings” had nothing to do with ensuring that the South produces the next president.

    Wike, according to him, is “a sore loser who had gone on to deceive other members of his G5 who are now battling for political survival. ”

    Shaibu said Wike has been wailing because he lost the PDP ticket “in a fair contest” and “deceived four other governors to join his futile campaign.”

    The aide further mocked the three G5 governors who “failed woefully at their senatorial elections,” despite being in office for years.

    Shaibu added that the re-election of Oyo Governor Seyi Makinde “is hanging by a thread after his misadventure cost the PDP to lose all three senatorial elections”.

    The statement observed the Rivers helmsman has not held a meeting with his colleagues “having dumped them since their defeat.”

    It hailed Nigerians that have signed a petition demanding that the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union impose a visa ban on Wike.

  • Get lawyers to plead your case in court – APC to Atiku

    Get lawyers to plead your case in court – APC to Atiku

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has advised Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate to get his lawyers to plead his case in court rather than leading a street protest.

    Mr Bayo Onanuga, Director, Media and Publicity, APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), gave the advice in a statement on Monday in Abuja.

    The statement was the APC PCC’s reaction to an Atiku-led protest organised by PDP members against the outcome of the Feb. 25 Presidential and National Assembly election.

    Onanuga also advised Abubakar to respect his age and the high office of the Vice-Presidency of Nigeria he once occupied.

    “When the defeated Atiku Abubakar told the whole world last week that he would seek redress in court over the outcome of election, little did we know that he did not plan to be guided by his own promise.

    “Going by his political antecedents, it was rather not surprising that Atiku, days later, led a band of protesters, nay jesters in Abuja, to the Headquarters of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    “What was on display today by Alhaji Atiku and his motley crowd was a new low from the perennial election loser.

    “With Atiku staging a theatre of the absurd, we fail to see how a march to INEC by a scanty crowd will provide any victory window for him and his fragmented PDP,” Onanuga said.

    He added that the only recourse open to Atiku after the electoral umpire declared Sen. Bola Tinubu, a former two-term Governor of Lagos State as President-elect, was the Election Petition Tribunal.

    Onanuga further added that instead of Atiku and his party to wisely spend their time to gather the so-called evidences they hope to present before the courts,  they were busy dancing on the streets.

    He said they were also causing traffic nuisance to residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)who were going to work on a Monday morning.

    Onanuga added that the APC PCC does not expect a former Vice-President of Nigeria, a statesman and a presidential candidate to be so jobless as to have time to disturb public peace.

    This, he said, was especially over an electoral outcome he had already said he would challenge in court.

    “We want to admonish Alhaji Atiku to respect his age and the high office of the Vice-Presidency of Nigeria he once occupied.

    “He should  stop being teleguided by Dino Melaye, who disclosed scandalously that N400 billion was wasted on the election, which was clear at the outset that Atiku was bound to lose.

    “Atiku should avoid being  misdirected by other court jesters in his party, who continued to campaign after the election, still spewing their inanities against the President-elect,” Onanuga said.

    He described such persons as mere comic characters in a travelling theatre group, saying that INEC headquarters was not a court where the prayers of Atiku could be answered.

    Onanuga stressed that no amount of theatrical display would give Atiku and his party succour, adding that the honourable and lawful path to take was for him to get his lawyers to plead his case in court.

    “He should stop throwing tantrums like a baby whose candy was taken away over an election he clearly lost due to his own poor judgment.

    “Mismanagement of his own party and violation of power rotational arrangement between the North and the South.

    “The PDP presidential candidate dug his own grave, in his last election and, absurdly, he is trying to rewrite the script of his own utter failure,” Onanuga said.

    He wondered how Atiku and his party hoped to win, when he had admitted that Peter Obi, the Labour Party President candidate, his running mate in 2019, ran away  with traditional PDP votes from the South-East and South-South.

    The APC PCC Director of Media and Publicity said it was preposterous that while Atiku was disturbing public peace, chanting phantom electoral victory, Obi was making same claim.

    “We think both men have embarrassed themselves enough and it is high time they both resolved who between them is the supposed winner that will challenge our party’s victory in court.

    “We advise Atiku to retire honourably from politics and move to his abode in Dubai. At 77 in November, Atiku does not have age on his side again.

    “He had participated in his last election and hopefully, he had learnt worthy lessons, never to place his selfish interest above party and established principles in his party and the polity,” Onanuga said

  • Atiku, Ayu, Okowa lead PDP protest at INEC office + Photos

    Atiku, Ayu, Okowa lead PDP protest at INEC office + Photos

    The presidential candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, PDP National Chairman, Sen. Iyorchia Ayu, and the party’s vice-presidential candidate and Delta State Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, apparently trying to right the wrongs of INEC are marching to headquarters of electoral body in Abuja.

    are currently leading a protest to the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Abuja.

    The party had, in a statement on Sunday, announced that its leaders will on Monday, March 6, 2023, protest at the INEC headquarters over the outcome of the February 25 presidential election.

    This is not the first time the PDP will be protesting the outcome of a presidential election.

    The opposition party protested at the INEC headquarters in 2019 against the re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari.

    See photos below:

  • INEC urges tribunal to vary inspection order granted Obi, Atiku

    INEC urges tribunal to vary inspection order granted Obi, Atiku

    The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has asked the Presidential Election Petition Court to vary the orders to inspect materials used for the last presidential election, granted to Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and Peter Obi of Labour Party.

    INEC, in a motion on notice filed on March 4, is praying the court to vary the order which restrained it from tampering with materials used for the election.

    The commission said it needed to reconfigure the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System for the next round of elections.

    Recall that last Friday, Obi secured leave of the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja to have access to all the sensitive materials the INEC, deployed for the conduct of the presidential election held on February 25.

    The appellate court, which will sit as the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, equally ordered the electoral body to also grant the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar access to the election materials.

    A panel of the appellate court led by Justice Joseph Ikyegh made the orders after it heard two separate ex parte applications the two aggrieved presidential candidates filed alongside their political parties.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports that cited as respondents in the matter were INEC, the acclaimed winner of the presidential election, Bola Tinubu, as well as his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC.

    Both applications were predicated on Section146 (1) of the Electoral Act 2022, Paragraph 47 (1, 2 &3) of the First Schedule of the Electoral Act of 2022, as well as under the inherent jurisdiction of the Court as referenced by Section 6 (6) A & B of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.

    While Obi, in his application that was moved by his team of lawyers led by Mr Alex Ejesieme(SAN), sought six principal reliefs, Atiku’s lawyer, Mr Adedamola Faloku, sought seven prayers from the tribunal.

    Specifically, the applicants urged the court to compel INEC to allow them to obtain documents in its custody that were used for the presidential election.

    They maintained that the requested documents would aid their petition against the outcome of the presidential contest that was declared in favour of the candidate of the APC, Tinubu.

    It will be recalled that INEC had declared Tinubu of the APC as the winner of the presidential poll, ahead of 17 other candidates that contested the election.

    According to INEC, Tinubu scored a total of 8,794,726 votes to defeat Atiku who polled a total of 6,984,520 votes and Obi of the LP, who came third with a total of 6,101,533 votes.

    Both PDP and LP had since rejected the outcome of the election and vowed to challenge it in court.

  • Accept defeat and retire peacefully to Dubai – Fayose tells Atiku

    Accept defeat and retire peacefully to Dubai – Fayose tells Atiku

    Former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose has urged the Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to accept defeat in the ongoing collation of Saturday’s presidential election.

    The Ekiti ex-Governor disclosed this in a tweet he posted on his verified Twitter handle on Monday evening.

    The tweet read, “Our candidate, H.E. Atiku Abubakar (aka ‘Atiku is coming’) should accept defeat in maturity and retire peacefully to Dubai. At this juncture, may I say good night and good bye to all you represent.”

     

  • PDP presidential candidate, Atiku defeats Tinubu in Kebbi

    PDP presidential candidate, Atiku defeats Tinubu in Kebbi

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has emerged winner of Saturday’s presidential election in Kebbi with 285,175 votes.

    The State Collation Officer, Prof. Usman Saidu, while presenting the result in Birnin Kebbi said the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Sen. Bola Tinubu, polled 248,088 votes.

    Saidu said the Labour Party (LP) Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi, also scored 10,682 votes while the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), scored 5,038 votes.

    He gave the state total registered voters as 1,983,985, number of accredited voters as 599,201;  total votes cast- 591,475; total valid votes-559,522 while 31,953 votes were rejected.

    Speaking with newsmen shortly after the declaration the result, the Director-General, PDP Presidential Campaign Council, Kebbi State and party agent, Alhaji Bala Dole expressed appreciation for it.

    He claimed that if not for some ”little hitches” his party would have gotten more votes.

    Also, the All Progressives Congress (APC) Agent, Alhaji Ja’afar Ahmed, said there were issues with the result, insisting that the exercise was characterised by violence, late arrival of election materials, malfunctioning of BIVAS as well as inducement in different forms.

    Responding, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the State, Alhaji Ahmed Bello-Mahmud expressed appreciation that the elections were conducted peacefully, fairly, credibly and conclusively collated devoid of any rancour.

    He appealed to the electorate to maintain the tempo in the forthcoming elections for the good of all.

  • Obi defeats Atiku, TInubu in Cross River

    Obi defeats Atiku, TInubu in Cross River

    Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) has won the presidential election in Cross River State.

    The win sees Obi, widely considered to be the underdog of the election, defeat his fellow contenders of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu; Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar; and New Nigeria Peoples Pary (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso.

    The final results, which were announced at the presidential election collation centre in Cross River early Tuesday morning, indicated that Obi polled 179,917, besting Tinubu’s 130,520, Atiku’s 95,425, and Kwankwaso’s 1,644.

    This makes Obi’s fourth state win after Nasarawa, Enugu, and Lagos.

    Triumph for the former Anambra State governor in the Cross River is significant for a number of reasons.

    In Cross River, the presidential poll recorded 1,691,642 registered voters.

    There were 416,968 valid votes, while 24,608 were rejected, adding up to 441,576 total votes.

  • Presidential election: Atiku wins in Sokoto State with 288,679 votes

    Presidential election: Atiku wins in Sokoto State with 288,679 votes

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)  Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar has emerged winner of  Saturday’s  Presidential election in Sokoto State with 288,679 votes.

    The State Collation Officer and Vice-chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Prof. Kabiru Bala, who presented the results in Sokoto on Tuesday said the All Progressives Congress (APC) polled 285,444 votes.

    Bala said that  Labour Party’s (LP) Presidential Candidate also scored 6,568 votes, while that of NNPP got 1,300 votes.

    Also, the Presidential Candidates of Accord Party (A) scored 115 votes, Action Alliance (AA) got 110 votes, AAC 128 votes, ADC 486 votes, ADB 1,105 votes and APGA 808 votes.

    Others are: APM 273 votes, APP 219 votes, BP 126 votes, NRM 681 votes, PRP 324 votes, SDP 120 votes, YPP 175 votes and ZLP 208 votes.

    He gave the state’s total registered voters as 2,037,024, number of accredited voters as 619,492 voters, total votes cast 607,890, valid votes as 586,815, while 21,015 votes were rejected.

    Bala further said 133 registration areas were cancelled during the process, which affected 271 polling units, involving 254,902 voter cards collected out of 301, 299 registered voters.