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Tag: Tribunal

  • Lagos guber: Owolabis Salis, Awamaridi challenge Sanwo-Olu’s victory at Tribunal

    Lagos guber: Owolabis Salis, Awamaridi challenge Sanwo-Olu’s victory at Tribunal

    Mr Owolabi Salis, Lagos state governorship candidate of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), has approached the state Election Petitions Tribunal to challenge the victory of Mr Babajide Sanwo-olu of the APC.

    The AD Chairman, Mr Kolawole Ajayi, disclosed this in Lagos on Monday at a joint news conference with the governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr Fagbemi Awamaridi.

    Ajayi, while making the position of the party known on the March 9 governorship election, said the summary prayer before the tribunal was that Sanwo-Olu was not fit and proper to contest the 2019 governorship election.

    “A declaration that the pronouncement of Babajide Sanwo-Olu of APC as the winner of the Governorship election is null and void and such pronouncement be set aside, because of the gross electoral fraud and/or gross electoral misconduct.

    “A declaration that the law-abiding winner of the 2019 Lagos Governorship election is Owolabi Salis of the AD and should be sworn in immediately.

    “The court shall make further order and or declaration as it deems just and proper to promote legality of elections, justice and advance the political and social economic interests of the people,” Ajayi said.

    He alleged that the election was marred with voter intimidation, vote-buying and multiple voting.

    “Multiple voting was done by APC, using PVCs of other registered voters. The sources of most of the PVCs are those that are not collected, stolen or non available.

    “Many PVCs were cloned by the ruling party, APC, and such cards were used to vote ahead of the genuine PVC card holders, contrary to the electoral laws.

    “The materials released by the CBN to the INEC Lagos in the presence of other parties agents were incomplete before the commencement of the election.

    “The incomplete materials, which include ballot papers and results sheets, were released to the ruling party, APC, outside the normal distribution system.”

    Ajayi added that there was none use of card readers in many polling units, alleging that APC, in collusion with INEC, claimed card readers were broken down.

    This, he said, denied votes for other parties, particularly AD, but allowed votes for APC.

    He said the party had gathered overwhelming evidence of the electoral fraud and had decided to take legal action through the tribunal.

    Also, Awamaridi, of the LP, said he had approached the tribunal, seeking for the outright cancellation of the election.

    He said the election was marred with fraudulent practices and irregularities.

    “The Labour Party and the Alliance for Democracy right now are in the tribunal with petitions in various forms and we have decided to announce to the world that the electoral process in Lagos State is still subsisting and we are on.

    “In most of the polling units, our agents were not given result sheets,” he claimed.

  • 2019 presidential poll: Tribunal orders PDM to serve Buhari petition through APC

    2019 presidential poll: Tribunal orders PDM to serve Buhari petition through APC

    The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal has permitted the candidate of the People’s Democratic Movement (PDM), Mr Aminchi Habu to serve his petition on President Muhammadu Buhari through his party, the All Progressives Congress, (APC).

    Habu is challenging the declaration of Buhari as the winner of the Feb. 23 presidential on the grounds that the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) excluded the name of his party from the ballot paper.

    Justice Abdul Aboki, who headed the three-man panel of justices of the Court of Appeal of the Tribunal made the order allowing substituted service in a ruling on an exparte application brought by the petitioners.

    Counsel to the petitioners, Mr Aliyu Lemu said the ex parte application arose due to his inability to effect personal service of the petition and other processes on the president because of security and protocol surrounding his office.

    The petition has the president, INEC and the APC as respondents.

    Habu and his party want the tribunal to, among other prayers, declare the victory of Buhari and the APC at the Feb. 23 presidential election null and void.

    He said this was based on the grounds that the name of his party and logo were unlawfully omitted from the ballot papers by INEC thereby denying him the opportunity of contesting in the election.

    He claimed that he and his party had spent a lot of money on campaigns and they felt cheated by INEC.

    He prayed the court to declare that he was validly nominated by his party but unlawfully excluded by INEC from the election into the office of president.

    In his statement on oath, Habu said that he purchased the presidential form of PDM at the rate of N5 million after which he visited the 36 states of the federation to seek the support of party members.

    He said after he emerged winner of the primaries, PDM forwarded his name to INEC, adding that INEC without any lawful cause wrongfully excluded his name, his party and logo from the ballot paper.

    He said they were also excluded from all other electoral materials and documents used for the Feb. 23 presidential election.

    He claimed that by unlawfully and wrongfully excluding them, INEC caused immeasurable losses in resources and electoral fortunes.

    Justice Aboki, in his ruling, said that the panel had carefully considered the ex parte application and had resolved that it would be in the interest of justice if the application was granted.

    He consequently ordered that the petition and other processes be served on Buhari through the office of the National Legal Adviser of the APC at it’s National Headquarters, 40 Blantyre Street, Off Adetokunbo Ademola Street, Wuse II, Abuja.

  • 2019 elections: Tribunal receives 736 petitions from aggrieved politicians nationwide

    2019 elections: Tribunal receives 736 petitions from aggrieved politicians nationwide

    Aggrieved politicians have so far filed a total of 736 petitions before the various election tribunals established over outcomes of the last general elections.

    A breakdown of the number, made public on Thursday by the election petitions coordinating office at the Court of Appeal, revealed that four petitions have so far been filed in respect of the presidential election.

    The office, headed by Mrs. Rabi Abdulazeez, also revealed that 43 petitions have so far been filed in relation to the governorship elections.

    Court of Appeal’s spokesperson, Sa’adatu Musa Kachalla, revealed that 207 petition have been filed in relation to the Senate elections.

    A total of 101 petitions are pending in relation to the House of Representatives polls while 381 have been filed in respect of the state Houses of Assembly election.

    As regards the presidential election, the first was filed by Hope Democratic Party (HDP) and Ambrose Owuru, who claimed to be the party’s presidential candidate.

    The petition marked: CA/PEPC/001/2019 was filed on March 7 this year.

    The second was filed on March 8 by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar. It is marked: CA/PEPC/002/2019.

    The third marked: CA/PEPC/003/2019 was filed by the Coalition for Change (C4C) and Geff Ojinika, who claimed to be the party’s presidential candidate.

    The core contention of the authors of the third petition is that the election, held on February 23 this year, “was vitiated by substantial non-compliance with mandatory statutory provisions, which irregularity substantially affected the election, such that the 1st respondent (Buhari) was not entitled to be returned as the winner of the presidential election.”

    The fourth petition, marked: CA/PEPC/004/2019, was filed on March 19 this year by the People’s Democratic Movement (PDM) and Pastor Aminchi Habu, listed as the party’s presidential candidate.

  • Imo guber: Tribunal orders substituted service on Ihedioha, PDP

    Imo guber: Tribunal orders substituted service on Ihedioha, PDP

    The Imo State governorship and House of Assembly Petitions Tribunal, Thursday granted the application filed by the Counsel to the governorship candidate of the Action Alliance (AA), Okey Amechi for substituted service on the governor-elect, Emeka Ihedioha and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

    Chairman of the Panel, Justice M.O Adewara, granted the leave to serve the 2nd and 3rd respondents on the wall of their buildings or by delivering same to an agent at the PDP office situated at No 98 Okigwe Road, Owerri.

    The AA governorship candidate, Uche Nwosu, had petitioned the Election Tribunal to quash the March 9 governorship election which was won by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Ihedioha.

    Nwosu had prayed the Tribunal to among other things “determine and thus declare that Ihedioha did not satisfy the requirement of Section 179(2)(b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) having failed to poll not less than one-quarter of all the votes cast in at least two-thirds of the Local Government Areas in Imo State at the governorship election held on 9th March, 2019.

    “An order directing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a run-off election between the Petitioners and the 2nd & 3rd Respondents into the office of Governor of Imo State forthwith as prescribed under Section 179 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended)”.

  • Ogun gov’rshp poll: Tribunal directs INEC to grant Akinlade, APM access to election materials

    Ogun gov’rshp poll: Tribunal directs INEC to grant Akinlade, APM access to election materials

    The Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital, on Monday directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to grant the candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Adekunle Akinlade and the party, access to the documents used for conduct of March 9 gubernatorial election in the state.

    Justice Chinwe Onyeabor-led three man panel gave the directive at its inaugural sitting, following a motion ex parte brought before it by Akinlade and APM.

    The governorship candidate and APM are challenging the victory of Prince Dapo Abiodun and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), designated as second and third respondents in the Petition marked EPT/OG/GOV/ 01/2019.

    In arguing the application, Counsel for the Petitioners, Mamman Osuman, SAN, who appeared with Ahmed Raji, SAN, told the tribunal that the order being sought was necessary to allow the applicants access to the electoral documents used during the election “with a view to maintaining the petition already filed before the tribunal.”

    Osuman argued further that the application was filed pursuant to section 151, sub-section 1 and 2 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).

    Among other prayers sought were, “An order directing the 1st Respondent to forthwith grant access to the Petitioners/Applicants and their Solicitors, agents, experts and other staff to inspect, photocopy, scan, pay for and obtain certified copies of all documents used by the 1st Respondent for the conduct of the Ogun State Governorship Election held on 9th of March, 2019, for the purpose of instituting and maintaining Election Petition; the said documents being the ones contained in the schedule attached to the Supporting Affidavit to this application;

    “An order allowing/permitting the Petitioners/Applicants (for the purpose of instituting and maintaining an Election Petition) to inspect, scan, photocopy, pay for and obtain certified copies of the electoral documents contained in the schedule attached to the Application, same being the documents that are in the custody of and were used by the 1st Respondent in the conduct of the Governorship Election that took place in Ogun State on 9th March, 2019.

    “An order directing the 1st Respondent to promptly abide by the orders of this court, made in the terms of the Ex parte application.”

    Justice Onyeabor held that the prayers were granted “strictly in compliance to section 151 sub-section 1 and 2 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) and adjourned the case till April 9 for confirmation of service

  • Presidential poll dispute: Tribunal grants Atiku, PDP permission to serve petition on Buhari through APC

    The presidential election petition tribunal has granted a request by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, to serve President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress with copies of the petition challenging the February 23 elections through substituted means.

    A three-member panel of the tribunal, led by Appeal Court justice, Abdul Aboki, granted the request on Wednesday, following an application by the PDP through its lead counsel, Chris Uche.

    Mr Uche and his team of lawyers had approached the tribunal with their petition after analysing the items used by the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) to reach the conclusions announced following the February 23 election.

    Mr Abubakar had rejected the results and asked the tribunal for permission to access the items used for collation of the same by INEC.

    After the request to analyse the election materials was granted, Mr Abubakar said his team of lawyers found that he had defeated Mr Buhari with over 1.6 million votes.

    In the fresh ex-parte application on Wednesday, Mr Uche said they had written in a petition filed at the tribunal on March 25, a request to allow the PDP serve Mr Buhari and his party through substituted means.

    Mr Uche said the reason for their application was because the petitioner has not been able to serve the respondents with their petition.

    According to the application, the PDP also asked for permission to serve the APC through any of its senior officers at the secretariat of the party, located off Ademola Adetokumbo crescent, Abuja.

    Mr Aboki ruled that it was in the interest of justice for the application to be granted.

     

  • Osun Govt files appeal against tribunal’s verdict declaring Adeleke as governor

    The Osun State Government on Thursday filed an appeal against the judgement of the state Election Petition Tribunal on the 2018 state governorship poll declaring the People’s Democratic Party’s candidate, Ademola Adeleke, the winner of the election.

    The state government charged the residents of the state to remain calm and go about their lawful activities following the tribunal judgment in the governorship election petition.

    It reassured the people of their safety and security of properties because “the Government of the State is still the only legitimate Government having the authority to govern the State.”

    A statement by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) Mr. Wole Oyebamiji, said: “The Government of the State of Osun wishes to appreciate the teeming support of the majority of the people in all things essential for mutual progress.

    “As it is, the administration of His Excellency, Mr. Adegboyega Oyetola, Governor, State of Osun, wishes to assure the people that the judgment of the Election Tribunal has been put on appeal.

    “This is to further assure all the residents of the State of adequate security of lives and properties, as the Government of the State is still the only legitimate Government having the authority to govern the State.

    “We assure all our people that justice will prevail at last, and the law enforcement agencies have been instructed to maintain law and order across the State. We therefore urge all the residents of the State to go about their lawful duties without any hindrance.”

  • JUST IN: Tribunal orders INEC to issue PDP’s Adeleke Certificate of Return as duly elected Osun gov

    JUST IN: Tribunal orders INEC to issue PDP’s Adeleke Certificate of Return as duly elected Osun gov

    The Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue Certificate of Return as duly elected governor to Senator Ademola Adeleke, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2018 election.

    The three-man tribunal upheld the petitions filed by Adeleke and the PDP, challenging the victory of the All Progressives Congress and Gboyega Oyetola at the September 2018 governorship election.

    The tribunal had earlier dismissed the objections of the APC and Oyetola, insisting that Adeleke’s petition had merit.

    The tribunal also declared the rerun election as illegal.

    TNG reports that the PDP and Adeleke had filed a petition asking the tribunal to declare that Adeleke polled the highest lawful votes and should be declared the winner.

    But Oyetola, APC and INEC had filed their notices of preliminary objection, contending, among others, that the petition was incompetent and that the court lacked jurisdiction.

    The tribunal also held that the supplementary election held by INEC in seven cancelled units on September 22, 2018, was null and void.

    The tribunal ruled that the Returning Officer who cancelled the results had no power to do so.

  • Osun guber: APC speaks on next move after Tribunal sacked Oyetola, declared Adeleke winner

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun says it will appeal the tribunal judgment that declared Sen. Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winner of the September 2018 re-run governorship election in Osun.

    Mr Kunle Oyatomi, the APC Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy, said in a statement on Friday in Osogbo that the verdict would not stand superior legal scrutiny.

    ” We are going to appeal the judgment.

    “The verdict cannot stand superior legal scrutiny. Therefore we will appeal against it,’’ Oyatomi said.

    The PDP in the state, however, commended the judiciary on what it called a landmark judgment.

    Mr Soji Adagunodo, the Osun PDP Chairman, in his reaction, said the victory was for the people of the state.

    Adagunodo said the judgment shows that “ we still have men of impeccable character in the judiciary.’’

    ” Kudos to the Nigerian judiciary and this shows that we still have men of impeccable character in the judiciary.

    “Truly, the judiciary is the last hope of common man,’’ Adagunodo said.

    Adagunodo said since the APC had decided to appeal the judgment, PDP would await the outcome at the appellate court.

  • Osun guber: Atiku reacts as Tribunal sacks APC’s Oyetola, declares PDP’s Adeleke as governor

    Osun guber: Atiku reacts as Tribunal sacks APC’s Oyetola, declares PDP’s Adeleke as governor

    The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has reacted the ruling of the Osun State Governorship Election Tribunal, declaring Ademola Adeleke of the PDP, as the winner of the controversial state election.

    The tribunal also declared the September 27 rerun election in the state illegal.

    The three-man panel of the Tribunal gave the judgement on Friday following the petition filed by the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Senator Ademola Adeleka against the All Progressives Congress, APC and its candidate, Gboyega Oyetola.

    The Tribunal also ruled that PDP and Adeleke proved that it was the state Returning Officer who cancelled the results in 7 Polling Units, adding that the petitioners also proved that the Returning Officer has no power to cancel election results of a polling unit.

    The Tribunal deducted 2,029 votes from APC scores and 1,246 votes from PDP votes in 17 polling units where there was non compliance.

    Atiku tweeted: “Truly, the judiciary is the last hope of the common man and the defender of our democracy. Congratulations Sen. Ademola Adeleke, @IsiakaAdeleke1”.