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  • PEPC steps down Obi’s petition over poor scheduling of documents

    PEPC steps down Obi’s petition over poor scheduling of documents

    The Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) for the third time this week, has been forced to step down hearing the petition filed by Mr Peter Obi and the Labour Party due to poor scheduling of documents.

    Obi and his party are before the election petition court challenging the election of President Bola Tinubu and the Vice-President, Mr. Kashim Shettima.

    The Chairman of the court, Justice Haruna Tsammani, at the resumed hearing on Thursday, had to step the petition down.

    This was on account of the poor scheduling of documents the petitioners sought to tender to prove their allegation of electoral malpractices during the Feb. 25 presidential election.

    At Thursday’s proceedings, the court observed that the documents were not properly scheduled as it had ordered counsel to do.

    There was some confusion as a lot of discrepancies were noticed as Mr Emeka Okpko, SAN from the Obi legal team attempted to tender
    documents from the 23 local government areas of Benue.

    All efforts to reconcile the discrepancies and reschedule the documents were futile forcing the judges to rise for about 15 minutes to allow the petitioners to rectify the confusion.

    The court asked Okpoko to rather file a different schedule of documents he had prepared which the court said was easier to understand than the earlier filed schedule.

    The five Justices then retired to their chambers to await the time the legal team would put its house in order.

    All this confusion happened right in the presence of  Obi, his running mate, Mr Datti Baba-Ahmed, the suspended Chairman of the party, Mr. Julius Abure, and other Labour Party members.

  • Counsel staff mebers’ ill health stalls hearing in Obi, LP petition at PEPC

    Counsel staff mebers’ ill health stalls hearing in Obi, LP petition at PEPC

    Hearing in the election petition of the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi was stalled at the Presidential Election Petition Court, (PEPC) on Wednesday in Abuja.

    At the resumed hearing, counsel to the petitioners, Prof. Awa Kalu, SAN told the court that he was constrained to ask for an adjournment due to unforseen circumstances.

    “My lords, our plan was to continue our case but we had an unexpected development at the secretariat.

    “The unexpected development has to do with the  Illness of two of our key staff members for which reason I am constrained to pray for an adjournment until tomorrow.”

    When the presiding judge, Justice Haruna Tsammani asked for the response of Mr. Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, counsel to the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) he said he was not opposing the application.

    “My lords I thought learned counsel would have given us heads up on this, however, in the circumstance,  I am constrained not to object and this will count as a day out of their three weeks.”

    Counsel to the All Progressives Congress, (APC) Mr. Lateef Fagbemi, SAN and that of President Bola Tinubu and Vice-President Kashim Shettima also did not object to the application.

    Justice Tsammani then adjourned the matter until Thursday saying today would be counted as a day within the petitioners’ three weeks.

    Speaking to newsmen, Kalu said that the set back would not affect his client’s case.

    He said that his team would use the remaining days to prove his client’s case.

    Having told the PEPC that they would need three weeks to prove their case, the petitioners now have 19 days to go.

  • Peter Obi’s mandate is divine and can never be truncated – IPOB

    Peter Obi’s mandate is divine and can never be truncated – IPOB

    The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has warned those linking the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Peter Obi, to the recent attack at the US convoy in Anambra State to desist from the allegation.

    Spokesperson of the group Emma Powerful, in a statement described it as mere demonization by those that does not want Obi to succeed.

    According to the statement, Obi’s mandate is divine and can never be truncated by anyone.

    Speaking on the report that his members were part of the attack as alleged by the Nigeria security, Powerful said “It is important to note that those accusing IPOB of being behind the attack on the US Embassy convoy are the real masterminders.

    He alleged that those behind it were also responsible for killing most of its innocent members in the South East.

    “Their quest to blackmail IPOB globally has led them into assassinating innocent people in Biafra Land. For instance, these government agents assassinated Gulak in Owerri, and they assassinated an army couple in an undisclosed location in Biafra.

    “They assassinated Dr. Akunyili in Anambra (late Dora Akunyili’s husband). In all these and many more of the state-sponsored murder cases, IPOB was accused, and to date, police never investigated any of them.”

    Powerful also argued that its intelligence unit saved ex-British High Commissioner Catriona Laing in 2022 from being killed when she proposed visiting the country.

    “If not for the Intel from IPOB M-Branch on the plans to assassinate ex-British High Commissioner, Catriona Laing, in 2022 and the warning from IPOB leadership for her not to visit South East, they would have assassinated her too.

    “This recent attack on the US Embassy convoy is likely another state-sponsored attack to discredit the peaceful IPOB movement and to make South East more unsafe for investors to continue coming to Biafra to invest. Again, they are late because our call for investors has already started yielding fruit.

    And warning those linking Obi to the US envoy attack, Powerful said: “Those linking Peter Obi to these attacks on US Embassy Convoy are the ones that fingers are pointing to regarding the crisis happening in the south East region.

    “There is no way they can link innocent Peter Obi to it because he is from Anambra State. Does that mean that all the attacks happening in Adamawa State and Katsina State were caused by Atiku Abubakar and the Buhari in Aso Rock, respectively?

    “No matter how ESN security work is, it can never be deemed good or right by the Nigerian government and its security agents. What is the justification to link Peter Obi to the criminalities going on in the Southeast?

    “Can it also be said that all the banditry and terrorism happening in Northern Nigeria is masterminded by their criminal politicians whose evidence shows that they aid and abet terrorists?

    “We are aware that several terrorist and bandit groups in the North are sponsored by the unscrupulous elements around them there. We should be asking, why are they mentioning Peter Obi?

    “Is it because he summoned up the courage to contest their selection process called an election and won by a landslide? They are now robbing him of the mandate given to him by the people of Nigeria because he is an Igbo man.”

     

  • Obi, LP to call 50 witnesses to prove petition against Tinubu’s election

    Obi, LP to call 50 witnesses to prove petition against Tinubu’s election

    The Labour Party (LP) and its Presidential Candidate Mr Peter Obi have told the Presidential Election Petition Court, (PEPC) that they will call no fewer than 50 witnesses to testify in their petition.

    LP and Obi are challenging the election of Sen. Bola Tinubu.

    Counsel to the petitioners, Prof. Awa Kalu (SAN) said this on Saturday in Abuja at the resumed proceedings of the pre-hearing phase before the five justices of the court.

    “We still have a few hiccups at the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) because of the order of this court made on March 8, directing the commission to allow us carry out forensic investigation of BVAs which we have not been able to do.”

    To this end, Kalu said that his clients would require seven weeks within which to present their petition in court.

    The senior lawyer told the court that with regards to timing, his team was suggesting that 30 minutes be allotted to the witnesses classified as “star witnesses” to demonstrate any electronic evidence.

    He, however, said that the 30 minutes excluded the time that would be used to demonstrate video evidence or any other electronic evidence.

    “For this class of witnesses, they will be cross-examined for 30 minutes by each respondent and re-examination will be for five minutes.

    “In respect of other witnesses, we suggest 10 minutes for evidence-in-chief, 10 minutes for cross-examination by each respondent, and five minutes for re-examination.

    “For the respondents, we suggest 20 minutes for the evidence-in-chief of their star witnesses, 30 minutes for cross-examination, and five minutes for re-examination.

    “For their other witnesses, we suggest 20 minutes for evidence-in-chief, 15 minutes for cross examination and five minutes for re- examination.

    He also suggested that where a respondent called a witness and other respondents wanted to cross examine such a witness, they would have to do so first before the petitioners take their turn.

    Counsel to INEC,  Mr Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, said his client who conducted the disputed election planned to call five witnesses to defend the election of Tinubu.

    Mahmoud told the court that his team would require seven days to argue the case of their client.

    He said that the commission was proposing 30 minutes for its star witness to give the evidence-in-chief, 15 minutes for cross examination and five minutes for re- examination.

    “For the regular witnesses, we propose 10 minutes for evidence-in-chief, 15 minutes for cross examination and five minutes for re-examination.”

    He opposed the suggestion by the petitioners that a separate time be given to their expert witnesses for demonstration.

    He also said that he was not aware of any hiccups between the petitioner and the commission as was alleged by the counsel to the petitioner.

    Mr Roland Otaru, SAN, arguing for Tinubu and Shettima  said that  he would call 21 witnesses to defend his clients challenged victory  excluding expert witnesses.

    He requested that all expert reports be front loaded to the respondents within 48 hours.

    On timing, he suggested that 20 minutes be allotted to expert witnesses for their evidence-in-chief, 30 minutes for cross examination and five minutes for re-examination.

    “For regular witnesses, we suggest 10 minutes for evidence-in-chief, 15 minutes for cross examination and five minutes for re-examination.

    Otaru prayed the court to make an order that the schedule of documents to be tendered should be exchanged between parties before the hearing.

    For his part, Mr Adeniyi Akintola, SAN, counsel to the All Progressives Congress (APC) said that his client needed only nine days to call its seven witnesses excluding subpoenaed witnesses.

    He agreed with  the report of Otaru with regards to timing for each witness.

    He, however, said that the petitioners had front loaded only three witness statements and wondered why they would need 49 days to call three witness from only three polling units.

    The Chairman of the court, Justice Haruna Tsammani, having heard all arguments urged counsels to meet and reach an agreement on the issue of consolidating the petition.

    He adjourned the matter until May 22 for continuation of pre-hearing.

    Earlier, counsel to INEC had amongst others, moved an application for the court to strike out ground two of the petition.

    Two of the petition states that the election of the Tinubu is invalid by reason of corrupt practices or non compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.

    Counsel to the petitioners prayed the court to dismiss the application for lacking in merit.

  • BREAKING: Court lifts suspension order on Abure, other, LP officers

    BREAKING: Court lifts suspension order on Abure, other, LP officers

    Justice Hamza Muazu of a High Court in Abuja, on Friday granted an order of stay execution on the suspension of Julius Abure, Chairman of the Labour Party (LP) and others.

    Others are the National Organizing Secretary, Mr Clement Ojukwu, and National Treasurer, Oluchi Opara, from parading themselves as LP national officials,

    The plaintiffs in the case are Martins Esikpali John; Lucky Shaibu; Isah Zekeri; Omogbai Frank; Abokhaiu Aliu; Ayohkaire Lateef; John Elomah and Dr Ayobami Arabambi.

    They had in an ex-parte motion, marked M/7082/2023, sought the removal of Abure and the three other national officers of the party which the judge granted order of suspension

    The judge after listening to arguments from parties granted the order for stay execution pending the determination of the appeal filed by the defendants.

    Justice Muazu had on April 5 issued an interim injunction stopping Abure, Ibrahim, and the party’s National Organizing Secretary, Mr Clement Ojukwu, and National Treasurer, Oluchi Opara, from parading themselves as national officers of LP.

    This was contained in an ex-parte motion, marked M/7082/2023, brought before the court by the eight plaintiffs.

    At the sitting today, the defendants told the court that they have a notice of appeal pending at the court, of appeal. .

    After much arguments from parties, the judge granted order for a stay on the suspension.

    Following the April 5 ex-parte injunction made by Justice Muazu, stopping Abure, Ibrahim and two other national officials of the party, Alex Ejesieme, SAN had on April 20 argued that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter.

    The senior advocate had submitted that the matter before the court bordered on the internal affairs of the Labour Party, adding that criminal allegations made by the plaintiffs in the case, could not be ventilated in an origination summon.

    He added that the eight plaintiffs that brought the case before the court were not members of the National Executive Council of the party and as such lacked the locus standi to institute the case.

    According to Ejesieme, “Our contention is very clear that those criminal allegations cannot be ventilated in an origination summon.

    “The issue of locus standi is there. When you referred to LP’s constitution, the claimants are not members of NEC or the party.

    They have a duty to present their membership cards to the court which they didn’t.”

    While objecting to the preliminary objection raised by the counsel for Abure, counsel for the plaintiffs, Mr. George Ibrahim, urged the court to dismiss same.

    According to him, the first to fourth defendants had yet to obey the April 5 order of the court as they were still parading themselves as national officers of the LP.

    With the ruling of the court on having jurisdiction to hear the case, its order of April 5 subsists.

    The judge then adjourned until today to hear the substantive case.

    Earlier, the plaintiffs had informed the court, through their counsel, Ogwu Onoja SAN, that Abure and the three other national officials allegedly forged several documents of the FCT High Court, including receipts, seal, and affidavits, to carry out unlawful substitutions in the last general election.

    Onoja argued that following their indictment by police investigation, the four people are to be arraigned in court, adding that warrants for their arrest have already been obtained.

  • Obi supports illegality of Abure as LP chairman – Adeyanju

    Obi supports illegality of Abure as LP chairman – Adeyanju

    A socio-political activist, Deji Adeyanju has criticised the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, for supprting Julius Abure as the National Chairman of the party despite a restraining order from the court.

    Labour Party is currently in crisis following an order of the Abuja High Court restraining Abure from parading himself as the head of the party’s National Working Committee, NWC.

    Speaking in a post on Thursday, Adeyanju slammed Obi for supporting the illegality of Abure as LP chairman

    He said: “The court has restrained Abure from parading himself as Chairman of the Labour Party, but Obi continues to endorse his illegality, and he even proceeded to conduct Imo primaries after the decision of the court. That is how much they love illegality. PDP obeyed a similar court decision.”

  • LP factional chairman, Apapa says my visiting Tinubu must be collectively agreed upon

    LP factional chairman, Apapa says my visiting Tinubu must be collectively agreed upon

    The factional chairman of the Labour Party, Lamidi Apapa, has said he will not pay a visit to the president-elect, Bola Tinubu only if his party approved it.

    Apapa, while answering questions on Arise TV on Thursday noted that meeting with Tinubu must be collectively agreed upon.

    “Before I honour him, I will consult the executive of the party, so if they ask me to go ahead, I will do so. If the executive says go ahead, it becomes our position.

    “It’s not going to be my position. If they say go and see him or we are going to see him, it becomes the position of the party, not the position of Alhaji Bashiru Lamidi Apapa.

    “All of us will collectively go and see him. That is, if we have the mandate of the house, that we are going to see him,” he said.

    The leadership crisis rocking the Labour Party took a fresh twist on Wednesday as the factions loyal to Apapa and Julius Abure engaged in a fight at the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja.

  • LP members fight in court: Keyamo mocks Obi, says ‘miracle do de tire Jesus’

    LP members fight in court: Keyamo mocks Obi, says ‘miracle do de tire Jesus’

    Apparently mocking Labour Party’s Lamidi Apapa’s show of shame in court last Wednesday, Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, SAN describes the action ‘miracle do dey tire Jesus’.

    Describing it as a miracle, Keyamo claimed it was God that set the confusion amongst those planning to thwart the May 29 swearing-in.

    Taking to his verified tweeter handle, Keyamo said: “God has set confusion in the midst of those who were planning to disrupt the swearing-in of @officialABAT on May 29th. They are now fighting publicly amongst themselves and disrupting their own affairs to the extent that the court did not even recognise any of them. Miracle do dey tire Jesus?.”

  • We’re determined to change governance in Enugu State – LP

    We’re determined to change governance in Enugu State – LP

    The Labour Party (LP) in Enugu State says it is determined to usher in a different governance structure in the state.

    The state Chairman of LP, Mr Casmir Agbo, said this on Friday during a one-day retreat organised by the party for the 14 LP members-elect to the State House of Assembly.

    Agbo said that as the majority in the assembly, the party stood the chance to chart a new course for the state.

    “With you as the majority in the house, you must show example. You must show why our people trusted us and gave us the mandate.

    “Do not fight anybody but you must take your rightful positions and lead my example,” he said.

    Mr. Chijioke Edeoga, the governorship candidate of the party in the state, said the retreat was organised to chart the way forward for the new legislators.

    He said, though the party was sure of reclaiming its victory at the tribunal, there was need for the party to put the legislators on the right part.

    He advised them to shun greed and respect the wishes of the electorate who toiled to vote them into office.

    “You are there because someone paid the price. You are there because someone sacrificed for you to be there.

    “So, you must make the difference, so that people will not see you as the same, and our victory will be blown away in a jiffy,” he said.

    Edeoga said that when LP reclaimed its mandate in the state, he would invite technocrats, who are ready to work to form the government.

    A guest Lecturer, Prof. Jude Udenta of the Department of Political Science and Administration, Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), advised the members-elect to have unity of purpose.

    He said that for the legislators to succeed in the house, they should unite and take over all the legislative positions to make it easier for them to achieve their objectives.

    Labour party won 14 out of 24 assembly seats while PDP won 10 seats.

  • I’m unable to relate to something known as ‘Obidient’ – Soyinka

    I’m unable to relate to something known as ‘Obidient’ – Soyinka

    Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka has reacted to reports of reconciliation with Obidients after Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi’s visit to his house in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

    Soyinka said that there was no issue to reconcile between him and Obi, but refuted any acknowledgement of or relationship with the “Obidient” or “Obidient Family” as Obi’s supporters are known.

    The Obidients verbally attacked the Nobel laureate for describing the LP flag bearer’s running mate Datti Baba-Ahmed’s comment on Channels Television, TV, as fascist.

    Soyinka reacted to media reports which followed Obi’s visit in a statement titled “A visitation, and the allure of ‘reconciliation’”.

    “However, I do not know, and am unable to relate to something known as the ‘Obidient’ or ‘Obidient Family,’ he noted.

    The statement further reads: “Before it gains traction and embarks on a life of its own, I wish to state clearly that the word ‘reconciliation’, inserted into some reports of Peter Obi’s visit to me yesterday, Sunday, May 7, is a most inappropriate, and diversionary invocation.

    “Let me clarify: I know the entity known as Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party. I can relate to him. I know and can relate to the Labour Party on whose platform he contested elections. There are simply no issues to reconcile between those two entities and myself.

    “However, I do not know, and am unable to relate to something known as the ‘Obidient’ or ‘Obidient Family’.

    “Thus, albeit in a different vein, any notion of reconciliation, or even relations – positive, negative or indifferent – with such a spectral emanation is simply grasping at empty air.

    “During that meeting, attended by two other individuals only, the word ‘reconciliation’ was never bruited, neither in itself nor in any other form. It simply did not arise.

    “By contrast, there were expressions of ‘burden of leadership’ ‘responsibility’, ‘apology’, ‘pleading’, ‘formal dissociation from the untenable’, all the way to the ‘tragic ascendancy of ethnic cleavage’, especially under such ironic, untenable circumstances.

    “Discussions were frank and creative. The notion of reconciliation was clearly N/A – Non Applicable. It was never raised.

    “The following should be understood but never underestimated. What remains ineradicable from that weekend of orgiastic rave in social media was the opening up of the dark, putrid recesses in the national psyche that we like to pretend do not exist.

    “It invited – into minds seeking a grasp on reality- gruesome variations on images from Dante’s Purgatorio.

    “A fathomless pit was exposed, at the bottom of which one glimpsed a throng of the damned, writhing in competitive lust for the largest of the gangrenous ladles in a diabolical broth.

    “To peek over the edge of that pit for a prolonged spell was to turn giddy, with a risk of falling into the tureen of inhuman pus.

    “To attempt to navigate one’s way, however gingerly, along a mat spread across the infernal abyss, is an invitation to moral suicide.”

    “For the serious-minded, I call attention to essays I have offered on the theme of Reconciliation based on Truth and the ethical imperative of Restitution.

    “There will be further elaborations forthcoming in DEMOCRACY PRIMER III – Bookcraft’s INTERVENTION series, now brought forward for publication on June 12, the watershed extorted from the current regime as the nation’s Democracy Day,

    “If, from here on, I now comply with entreaties from several valued, genuinely concerned directions, and ignore new provocations, however vile, it is only because I also approve of Mohammed Ali’s strategy of Rope-a-Dope, where blind menace is left flailing hopelessly at the disdainful manifest of Truth.”