The Nation Newspaper

Tag: AA

  • Akwa Ibom poll: Gov. Eno defeats AA, AP guber candidates in Appeal Court

    Akwa Ibom poll: Gov. Eno defeats AA, AP guber candidates in Appeal Court

    The Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal has rejected two distinct appeals challenging the victory of Governor Umo Eno in Akwa Ibom state.

    The appellants, Akpan Jeremiah of the Action Alliance and Emem Coffie of the Accord Party sought to overturn the election results.

    In a unanimous decision of the three-man panel, the Appellate Court held that the case lacked merit and that Pastor Umo Eno remains the validly elected Governor of Akwa Ibom State.

    The governorship candidate of the Accord Party, Emem Coffie had approached the Appeal Court, seeking that the judgement of the lower trial tribunal be upturned in his favour.

    The AP candidate and his party who were represented by their counsel, Chidi Nwachukwu argued that his client deserved to be declared the Governor as other candidates in the election, were not qualified to contest the election.

    Coffie maintained that the respondents did not present any witness, and as such their petition ought to have been upheld.

    Read Also; God’s healing power changed my life forever – Tems

    In his brief of argument, Counsel to Governor Umo Eno, Paul Usoro, SAN, Counsel to INEC, Kolapo Kolade, SAN and Mofesomo Oyetibo faulted the claims by the appellants that 800 polling units recorded infractions, saying no effort was made by the petitioners to identify the 800 units, neither was there any attempt to bring witnesses from any of the said polling units.

    The respondents also told the court that the only witness the appellants brought, was the Governorship candidate, Emem Coffie who admitted that he was only in his polling unit and after voting on the said date, went to his house.

    “Every evidence they gave, amounted to hearsay and that is why the lower court dismissed the case,” Mofesomo Oyetibo, Counsel to the PDP told the Court.

    In the appeal filed by Akpan Abraham of the Action Alliance against the 15th September judgment of the Governorship Election Tribunal, he and his party had appealed against what they described as unlawful exclusion by INEC, but the respondents in their separate briefs urged the court to discountenance the appeal by AA as abuse of court process.

    The respondents argued that the suit constitutes a pre-election matter bothering on internal party disputes, which the party itself failed to resolve before the elections.

    Delivering judgement on Friday, the Appellate Court in Lagos upheld the arguments of the respondents and dismissed the case as lacking in merit.

    Meanwhile, the Appeal Court also heard the appeal brought before it by the Candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Mr Akanimo Udofia, and the candidate of the New Nigerian Peoples Party, Sen John Akpanudoedehe.

    The duo are challenging Pastor Umo Eno’s election on the premises that he was ineligible to contest in the 2023 elections.

    Judgment on the two additional appeals by APC and NNPP are also reserved for a later date by the Appellate court.

  • AA seeks prosecution of Imo Returning Officer

    The Action Alliance (AA) in Imo State has called for the arrest and prosecution of the Returning Officer of the governorship election, Prof. Francis Otunta.

    Otunta declared candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Emeka Ihedioha, winner of the governorship election.

    Director-General of AA’s campaign organisation, Chidi Ibe, who addressed a news conference yesterday, said: “Despite the fact that the PDP’s candidate, Emeka Ihedioha, did not meet the constitutional requirements, the Returning Officer declared him the governor-elect.

    Read also: The fury of the demos and the task ahead

    “The governor-elect did not make the constitutional required two-third in at least 18 out of the 27 local government areas. Ihedioha’s declaration as winner of the election was a mockery of our democracy.

    “I call on the anti-graft agencies to investigate this returning officer who came to Imo State to undermine the law. The PDP candidate only made two-third in 12 councils while our candidate, Uche Nwosu, made two-third in 21 councils. The law is clear on this. There ought to be a rerun between the two leading candidates.”

  • AA disowns Abayomi, others

    The leadership of Action Alliance (AA) yesterday said that Dr. Tunji Abayomi is not member of the party in Ondo State.

    In a statement, the party said: The Executive Council of the Action Alliance (AA), led by the National  Vice-Chairman (South-West), Hon. Adewole Joshua, wishes to inform the people of Ondo State that our dear party does not recognize the people parading themselves as our party’s candidates.

    “The public should note that Mr Olatunji Adeoye Felder, Mr Tunji Abayomi, Hon. Friday Olemija, Dr. Segun Ategbole and others are not candidates of our party in Ondo State.

    “We are aware the impostors parading themselves as candidates of our party have the backing of the Governor of Ondo State, Mr Oluwarotimi Akeredolu.

    “However, the truth of the matter is that the governor has no power to interfere with the internal affairs of our party, AA. Nobody can impose candidates on the AA. For this reason and others, the impostors are merely wasting their time.

    It added: “As you are aware, the impostors are not products of any primary election that was conducted by the Action Alliance in Ondo State.

    “In fact, Mr Tunji Abayomi, Mr Olatunji Adeoye Felder, Hon. Friday Olemija, Dr, Segun Ategbole and others are not bona fide members of Action Alliance. Nobody can come into our party through the backdoor. It is not acceptable. The AA shall not accept it.

    “Therefore, if you are not a member of AA, you cannot emerge as candidate of AA for the general election. We warn the impostors to stop parading themselves as candidates of our party forthwith.  The Action Alliance wishes to inform the general public that the authentic candidates of our party for the 2019 general elections are Mrs Risikat Adenike Bolarinwa as senatorial candidate of Action Alliance for Ondo South Senatorial District and Mr Vincent Kayode Adurewa as senatorial candidate of Action Alliance for Ondo North Senatorial District.

    “The authentic candidates emerged through adoption method on the 2nd of October, 2018 at the level of the State Think-Thank Committee in accordance with the provisions of the our party’s constitution.”

     

     

     

     

  • Poll shit: our support for Buhari intact- Nwosu

    …appeals for calm

     

    The governorship candidate of the Action Alliance (AA), Uche Nwosu, on Tuesday, reassured that the party will deliver President Muhammadu Buhari in the rescheduled Presidential election.

    Nwosu, who briefed journalists in Owerri, noted that the postponement of the Presidential and National Assembly election has not dampened his zeal and that of his supporters, adding that they will come and enmasse to cast their votes for the President.

    According to him, even though the postponement came at a great cost to Nigerians, it would have been more costly if at the end of the day the election was discovered to have been compromised.

    In his words, “we are prepared to deliver President Muhammadu Buhari on February 23, there is no going back on that. We are still committed to our promise to deliver one million votes to President Muhammadu Buhari and not even the shock and disappointment of the postponement can alter our resolve”.

    Read Also: Buhari, govs, service chiefs meet in Aso Rock

    He continued that, “on the day that the election was scheduled to hold, we had already mobilized massively and we were sure of victory for the President before the election was postponed but we are back to the trenches and we are seriously mobilizing our members across the state ahead the February 23 Presidential and National Assembly elections”.

    Nwosu, however, enjoined members of the party, as well as all his supporters across party lines to remain calm and rise above the pains and disappointment of the election postponement and focus on the job at hand, “we should not despair, we should remain resolute in our support for President Muhammadu Buhari and make that we come out and vote on the new date”.

  • ‘Why corruption still remains an issue for Buhari govt’

    ‘Why corruption still remains an issue for Buhari govt’

    Leadership of 19 registered political parties Wednesday gave reason why corruption is still a primary issue for the Muhammad Buhari’s administration.

    According to the political parties, previous attempt have not been as successful as they should be.

    The noted that the anti-graft war is crucial to the survival of the country.

    The political parties include Labour Party, LP, Action Alliance, AA, National Conscience Party, NCP, Democratic People’s Party, DPP, African Democratic Congress, ADC, Democratic Party of Nigeria, DPN, and MPPP amongst others.

    Briefing newsmen in Abuja Wednesday, the National Chairman of the Labour Party, LP, Alhaji Abdulkadir Abdulsalam, who read the text of the media briefing on behalf of the parties, said.

    “We want to put on record that we are solidly behind President Muhammad Buhari’s fight against corruption; a fight that we believe is crucial to the survival of our country.

    “In fact, the reason corruption is still a primary issue for the Buhari administration is that previous attempts have not been as successful as they should be.”

    They however noted that the way and manner the anti-graft agencies are carrying out the fight might scuttle the president’s noble intention.

    He said; “We however wish to note that this is not the first time that a president of this country would be declaring a war against corruption. We aver that one of the major obstacles in the fight against political corruption in Nigeria over the years is the way and manner it has been fought so as to give the impression that the fight is selective and targeted only at perceived enemies of government.”

    The political parties warned that “once an anti-corruption is perceived as politically motivated, then the entire war against corruption easily gets reduced to a means of settling political scores rather than genuine commitment to fighting corruption. We are afraid that if care is not taken, the President Buhari’s avowed commitment to fighting corruption may end up in the ways of his predecessors.”

    Citing the recent clearance of the Chairman of Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, Justice Danladi Umar by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) of allegation of misconduct, the political parties noted that the commission’s posture was a wrong signal arguing that it is only the law court that can do so.

    The parties therefore called on President Muhammadu Buhari to direct an immediate investigation to unravel the circumstances which led to the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFFC, issuing the letter of clearance to Justice Danladi Umar over his alleged involvement in N10 million bribery scandal.

    On the ongoing trial of the Senate President, Abdulsalam said the political parties were not against his trail, stressing that “President Buhari needs to act now, not to stop Saraki’s trial but to ensure that the process of fighting corruption does not end up being even more corrupt than the corruption it seeks to eliminate.”

    The political parties however kicked against Justice Umar’s presiding over the trial.

    According to them, “We recall that the Chairman of the Tribunal has himself been under investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on allegations of bribery and corruption.

    “We observe however that the preponderance of evidence that has been deployed so far against Dr. Saraki, including the Principal Prosecution Witness in the matter, were supplied by the EFCC.

    “What that means is that the Chairman of the Tribunal, Mr. Danladi Umar, is not only beholden to, but also under the control of the prosecution. Invariably, since Mr. Danladi Umar has the prosecutors ‘axe dangling on his neck, his ability to do justice to the defendant would be naturally impaired.

    “To make the matter worse, we noted how the EFCC, in an unprecedented act of desperation, hurriedly issued a memo re-activating a report to the AGF and SGF dated 5th March, 2015, which it now attempts to present as a clearance letter to Umar.

    “If this act alone does not confirm the grand collusion between the EFCC and the Chairman of the Tribunal to tilt the scale of justice against Dr. Saraki, then nothing would. However, if this case is about strengthening probity and accountability in public office, we fully support it; even as we insist that justice must not only be done, but be seen by all to have been done to all.”

     

  • Violence, material theft, marred Rivers guber poll – DSS

    Violence, material theft, marred Rivers guber poll – DSS

    Two senior officials of the Department of State Services (DSS) and a member of the Action Alliance (AA) party said Saturday that the last governorship election in Rivers State was marred by violence, intimidation shooting and killings.

    The DSS officials, Benson Chukwuma and Godwin Mbah, who said they each led a team of DSS officials to monitor and provide security at the election, said although things began well at the inception of accreditation on April 11 , the electoral process was disrupted by hired hoodlums midway, thereby preventing proper voting and compilation of results.

    Kamuzu Omiete Blankson, who said he acted as the Collation Agent for his party (the AA), said the election was marred by violent sporadic shooting, burning of election materials and intimidation.

    The three gave evidence, upon being subpoenaed, at the hearing of the petition by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate in the election, Dakuku Peterside before the Rivers State governorship election petition tribunal sitting in Abuja.

    They gave evidence in relation to the conduct of the election in Ogu-Bolu, Andoni and Asari-Toru Local Governments of the state.

    Respondents to the petitone are the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate at the election, Nyesom Wike.

    Chukwuma, who testified as the petitioners’ 43rd witness and monitored in Ogu-Bolu LG, said the election was disrupted at a point following attack on election officials by hoodlums.

    “In ward 10, units 1, 3 and 5, they (hoodlums) removed original result sheets. It gradually spread to all the other wards. There was serious confusion in the place.

    “The police was helpless because the thugs were not afraid of them. I quickly contacted the military to come to the scene. At the sight of the military officers, the people (thugs) started retreating.”