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Tag: PDP

  • Former Sports Minister Adedoja, dumps PDP for APC

    A former Minister of Sports and Special Duties, Prof. Taoheed Adedoja, has dumped the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and joined the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    While addressing newsmen on Friday in his Ikolaba residence in Ibadan, Adedoja said he had submitted his letter of resignation from PDP to the party’s National Chairman, Uche Secondus.

    Adedoja explained that his aligning with the APC at this period of Nigeria’s political dispensation was to contribute his best to the needed unity of Nigeria, having built bridges of unity among various socio-political groups in the country.

    “I want to align with the Federal government of Nigeria to contribute to the good governance the country deserves for our people and for my followers across the country,’’ he said.

    Read Also: PDP, APC all square in Sokoto House of Assembly

    When asked what his relationship with the Oyo State Governor-elect, Seyi Makinde is, Adedoja described Makinde as his brother whom he maintains cordial relationship with.

    He said that he had congratulated Makinde to wish him God’s guidance in the newly-onerous task of governing Oyo State.

    Adedoja thanked his well-wishers, friends and colleagues across the country, who in the course of his academic, professional and political life in different parts of the country had provided him the needed support and encouragement.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Adedoja was the governorship candidate of Action Congress (AC) in the 2007 Governorship election in Oyo State.

    NAN reports that Adedoja, a former Pro-Chancellor of the Federal University, Dutse, Jigawa State, also contested for the post of National Chairman of the PDP at the National Convention of the party in 2017.

  • Breaking: INEC declares Fintiri winner of Adamawa guber election

    Rt Hon Umaru Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been declared winner of the Adamawa State governorship election.

    This followed the conclusion of collation of results of the supplementary governorship election which was conducted in 44 polling units in 14 local government areas of the state on Thursday.

    Fintiri polled a total of 376,552 from the I main election on March 9 and the supplementary election of March 28 to beat his closest rival, Governor Mohammed Jibrilla Bindow of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who got a total of 336,386 from both elections.

    Read also: Adamawa supplementary election result collation shifts to 8pm — REC

    Sen Abdulaziz Nyako of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) came third with 113,237 and was followed by Chief Emmanuel Bello of to the Social Democratic Party (SDP) who polled 29,792 votes. Rev Abel Behora of the Alliance for New Nigeria came next with 2,545 votes.

    Making the final declaration over the election in the early hours of Friday, the returning officer, Prof Andrew Haruna, said Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, having polled the highest votes and satisfied other requirements, “is hereby declared winner and returned elected.”

  • Appeal Court okays Fayemi’s election

    THE Court of Appeal in Abuja has upheld the victory of Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the last governorship election.

    A three-man panel of the court, in a unanimous judgment yesterday evening, dismissed the appeal by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the election, Kolapo Olusola, for lacking in merit.

    The court upheld the January 28, 2019 judgment of the Ekiti State Elections Tribunal, which sat in Abuja owing to problem of insecurity in Ekiti State.

    The tribunal had, in its judgment, upheld Fayemi’s victory and dismissed the petition by PDP and Olusola on the grounds that they failed to prove their allegations, among which was that the election was marred by irregularities.

    Justice Stephen Adah, who read the lead judgment, resolved the seven issues identified for determination in favour of the respondents – Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), APC and Fayemi.

    Justice Adah, at the commencement of proceedings, at about 7.05pm, noted that the day was fast spent and elected to read a summary of the lead judgment.

    Read also: Breaking: Osinbajo, Fayemi, Yari meet in Aso Rock

    After announcing that the seven issues were resolved against the appellants, Justice Adah proceeded to uphold the earlier judgment of the tribunal.

    He subsequently dismissed the appeal for lacking in merit.

    Other members of the panel, Justices Tinuade Akomolafe Wilson and Emmanuel Agim, agreed with the lead judgment.

    The proceedings lasted less than 30 minutes.

  • How Tinubu led ACN to reclaim lost states in 2007, by Osinbajo

    VICE President Yemi Osinbanjo went down the memory lane yesterday to relive the role played by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in reclaiming states lost by the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after the 2007 elections.

    Osinbajo, who represented President Muhammadu Buhari as Chairman of the 11th Bola Tinubu Colloquium, told the gathering how the APC stalwart hired 63 fingerprint experts from the United Kingdom (UK) police to help prove cases of over voting in the 2007 elections.

    He said with the help of the experts who worked hard for six months, it was discovered that while it takes an average voter about five minutes to conclude his voting process, it took the PDP agents less than five seconds to thump print the ballot that were counted in their favour in 2007.

    The vice president said it was the political dexterity of the former Lagos state governor that ensured that the ACN reclaimed Edo, Ekiti, Osun and Ondo states, adding that the last to be won through that process was Osun.

    He praised the role played by the APC leader in the success of APC in this year’s elections, adding that the choice of the phrase “Next Level” as a campaign slogan was simply to tell Nigerians that the country was moving to the next phase of development.

    He said: “We celebrate a man who has spent the last 30 years of his life in creative and catalytic public service. He is not a lawyer as many of us know, but there are few Nigerians who have provoked so many legal controversies and constitutional challenges resulting in several landmark judicial pronouncements, especially in the area of federalism and what today is loosely described as restructuring.

    “Many of us know that he is not an engineer, but a lot of his vision is what is responsible for what we see today in Lagos – the BRT, the Lekki Free Trade Zone, even the Eko Atlantic Project and, of course, the reform in the tax system of Lagos State. Today, Lagos, as we know, earns more revenue, more IGR, than 31 states of Nigeria put together. That began in 2001.”

    Speaking on the Next Level campaign slogan, Osinbajo said: “As you know, the expression Next Level, itself, is our political campaign slogan in this last election.  And what we were saying was simply that there was a next phase to what our country has seen.

    “There are many who will say that there are many things that were promised in 2015 which have not yet been realized.  I think the best way of putting it is to say that our country, for the first time, is witnessing the type of leadership that is bound to lead us to where it is that we are proposed ourselves as a government.

    “In my view, the honest leadership, leadership with integrity of our president, President Muhammadu Buhari, is a very important component of getting anywhere at all in all of our development plans.  I said before at the last colloquium that Nigeria’s main problem is not the lack of ideas, it is not the lack of projects and programmes.

    “It was most of the time, especially the leadership in the past, and corruption in particular, was the reason why we were finding it difficult to make progress.

    “I explained that that’s why we earned $383 billion in four years, the highest ever in the history of our country, and yet Lagos-Ibadan Expressway was not done.  The Lagos-Kano railway – and all that is being done today – was not done then.  We cannot point to a single major infrastructure project that was completed in the 10-year period, despite the high earnings, including power.

    “So, a government coming after so many years of waste must be a government, first that emphasises fiscal prudence, a government that emphasises integrity in public finance so that it would manage the little resources to achieve the maximum that can be achieved.  And that is what President Muhammadu Buhari set out to do.  As I keep saying, the President has never claimed to be an orator.  He just gets things done.

    “It was under President Muhammadu Buhari that three of the four refineries that we have today were built, when he was Minister of Petroleum.   About 3500km of pipelines were built by him as Minister of Petroleum in a three-year period.

    ”So, there is a track record not of talking, but of just getting things done.  And this is what we have seen in the past four years. That is why we were able to set aside money for the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.  And that is going on at present.  That is why we opened up the first phase of the Lagos-Kano Railway that was commissioned a couple of weeks ago, the Lagos-Abeokuta-Ibadan phase of that project.

    “The Itakpe-Warri Railway, now completed after 35 years of being on the books.  The Light Rail project here in Abuja started in 2005, budget after budget, never completed was completed also at the end of 2017.  We now have that light rail from the airport to Idu.  Same as several other infrastructural projects. Mambila Hydro has been on the cards for 40 years.  We have just put together resources to begin that project and we will complete that project.

    “For us, infrastructure is critical at the Next Level.  You cannot have the situation where you have the kind of power situation we have today and expect transformative progress.  That is why we are focused on power and other infrastructure.

    “We are focused on fixing the infrastructure in the country and we believe that if we fix the infrastructure, the roads and the rail, and especially power, we will be able to make significant progress.

    “Today, our rail project starts from the Apapa Port so that we are able to clear the congestion in that port because the Lagos to Kano railway starts from the Apapa port.  And we can start taking out cargo from the Apapa port using rail as an alternative means.

    “The same is true of agriculture; and we just heard our partners from Brazil talking about the next phase of our agricultural development and we are committed to that project because we believe that is what will transform the agro-industrial phase of our planning and that is what will transform agriculture in this country and create additional jobs.

    “It is enough to have farmers everywhere; we need the refining capacity; we need the processing capacity and that is what our partnership with the Brazilians will provide for us.

    “On the reforms we are making in education and healthcare, today the emphasis is on digital literacy; the emphasis on training our teachers to be able to train the next generation of children in school.

    “And we are focused on doing so using some of the methods we have described very comprehensively not just in the ERGP but in our next level document.

    “So, we are focusing on STEAM, not STEM; we are focusing on training young people on digital skills, critical thinking and some other skills that are necessary for the kind of jobs that the 21st century will provide. Our focus on healthcare is on National Health Insurance because we cannot finance healthcare by the budget alone.

    “Again, at the Next Level, we will expand our social investment programme; at the moment, the programme is the biggest of its kind anywhere in the African continent.”

    The Managing Director, Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), U.G. Mohammed, who spoke on using the power sector to propel industrial growth, said that the power sector privatisation in the country was an ambitious venture embarked upon by Nigeria, saying the mistakes made through the exercise must be acknowledged and corrected.

    Mohammed also said the country still does not have the capacity to distribute all the power currently being generated, adding that his agency has stopped connecting generating companies to the national grid to avoid damaging the system.

    He also disclosed that the country has not been able to complete many projects in the sector because such contracts were not awarded to be executed

    The TCN managing director said that since his assumption of office as the head of TCN, he has stopped such award, and ensured that projects awarded were completed.

    Read also: Buhari not an orator but action man, says Osinbajo

    According to him, when he came on board, the TCN had over 800 containers at the port, many of which had been there for over 15 years. The company has so far recovered over 730 of such containers.

    Mohammed advocated the recapitalisation of the Distribution Companies (DisCos) with government providing 40 percent of the equity. Such capitalization, he said, will ensure a good tariff regime, which will not be expensive.

    In his welcome address, Lagos State Governor and the chief host of the event, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode praised Tinubu for spear-heading the party’s victory in the general election.

    Ambode described Tinubu as “a man of high political dexterity, a dogged leader and a man of undaunted courage and expressed confidence that the APC was spreading its progressive tentacles further into the country while Nigerians are looking forward to moving to the next level.”

    He said the theme of the colloquium:  ”Next Level: Work for the People”, was chosen to coincide with the times when the country was on the threshold of greatness.

    Those who attended the colloquium include: Prof  Osinbajo and his wife Dolapo; APC National Chairman Adams Oshiomhole; Governors Abdullahi Umar Ganduje (Kano); Mohammed Abubakar (Bauchi); Simon Lalong (Plateau); Ambode’s wife Abimbola; Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo); Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti); Rotimi Akeredolu (Ondo); Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara); Gboyega Oyetola (Osun); Edo State Deputy Governor Phillip Shuaibu, former Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola and former APC Interim National Chairman Chief Bisi Akande.

    Also there were: ministers Musa Mohammed (FCT); Senator Chris Ngige (Labour & Employment); Okechukwu Enelama (Trade & Investment) and Lai Mohammed (Information & Culture).

    Others include: Senate Leader Ahmed Lawan; former Sokoto State Governor Aliyu Wammako; Lagos State Governor-elect Babatunde Sanwo-Olu and his deputy Obafemi Hamzat; Senator Shehu Sani; former APC Deputy National Chairman, (South) Segun Oni; Voice of Nigeria Director-General Osita Okechukwu and Senator Smart Adeyemi, former Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio, former President of the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN) Samaila Isa Funtua; Vanguard Publisher Sam Amuka-Pemu; Senator Khariat Gwadabe, Senator Gbenga Ashafa; former Lagos State Information and Strategy Commissioner Dele Alade and Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hamid Ali.

    The roll call also includes the Ooni of Ife Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, who led other royal fathers to grace the occasion; National Assembly members and members of the APC National Working Committee (NWC) as well as members of the diplomatic corps.

     

  • Majority power

    With 65 senators-elect, the All Progressives Congress (APC) is clearly the majority party in the Senate.  The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has 42 and the Young Progressive Party (YPP) has one. The APC is also the majority party in the House of Representatives with 223 seats. The PDP has 190 and other parties have 10.

    So there should be no confusion about which party should get the leadership positions in the upper and lower chambers of the Ninth National Assembly. Specifically, the President and Deputy President of the Senate, as well as the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, should be APC legislators.

    It is curious that there are those who think this clear situation is not so clear, or not clear enough. For instance, PDP spokesman Kola  Ologbondiyan said in a statement: “The PDP… does not only have a constitutional say in the process of the emergence of the leadership of the Ninth National Assembly, but will, as a matter of constitutional right, field candidates into presiding offices of both chambers, if need be.”

    Also, a former President of the Senate and PDP member, Senator David Mark, said to journalists at his residence in Otukpo, Benue State: “The election of the President of the Senate also translates to the selection of the chairman of the National Assembly because the person who emerges as the President of the Senate automatically becomes the chairman of the National Assembly. Nobody should interfere in the selection of President of the Senate. The senators should choose amongst themselves who should be their leader not based on number of political parties that won elections into the chamber.”

    That was Mark’s response to the question whether the Senate President should come from the ruling party, or the party that is the majority party in the Red Chamber. Mark, a retired Nigerian Army Brigadier General, was President of the Senate from 2007 to 2015 when his party was in power and the majority party in the Senate.  Now he thinks numerical strength does not matter, but it did when he was at the helm of the Senate.

    The outgoing Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, had created an abnormal situation with Saraki, then an APC member, and Ekweremadu of PDP controversially combining to lead the Senate.

    Surely, that era of political absurdity is gone, and only absurd politicians would imagine minority party members in leadership positions in the Ninth National Assembly.

  • PDP, APC all square in Sokoto House of Assembly

    The Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress almost shared equally the 30 seats available in the Sokoto State House of Assembly, a reflection of the tight race for the governorship seat.

    However, the APC has an edge with 16 members. PDP has 14 members.

    In the governorship election held the same day with Assembly elections, the PDP candidate, incumbent Aminu Tambuwal defeated the candidate of the APC, Ahmed Aliyu by a margin of 342 votes.

    Read also: Sokoto APC alleges attack on supporters by PDP

    Here is a list of the members:

    1) Aminu Magaji (APC- Dange/Shuni)

    2) Mustapha Abdullahi (APC- Sokoto South 1)

    3)Malami Ahmed (PDP- Sokoto South II)

    4) Suke Romo (PDP- Tambuwal West)

    5) Mode Ladan (PDP Tambuwal East)

    6)Musa Miko (PDP- Tangaza)

    7) Murtala Maigona (APC- Wamakko)

    8) Aminu Achida (APC-Wurno)

    9) Shehu Yabo (APC- Yabo)

    10) Haliru Buhari (PDP- Sokoto North 1)

    11) Ibrahim Arzika (PDP- Sokoto North II)

    12) Abdullahi Randa (PDP- Tureta)

    13) Umaru Sahabi (PDP- Binji)

    14) Abubakar Magaji (PDP- Bodinga North)

    15) Bala Tukur (APC- Bodinga South)

    16) Altine Kyadawa (APC- Gada West)

    17) Kabiru Dauda (APC- Bada East)

    18) Mustapha Balle (PDP- Gudu)

    19) Bello Idris (APC- Gwadabawa South)

    20) Abdullahi Garba (APC- Gwadabawa North)

    21) Bello Ambarura (APC- Illela)

    22) Habibu Modachi (PDP- Isa)

    23) Abdullahi Mahmud (PDP- Kware)

    24) Abdullahi Zakari (APC- Rabah)

    25) Almustapha Aminu (PDP- Sabon Birni North)

    26) Saidu Ibrahim (APC- Sabon Birni South)

    27) Alhaji Maidawa (APC- Shagari)

    28) Atiku Liman (PDP- Silame)

    29) Isa Harisu (APC- Kebbe)

    30) Faruku Amadu (APC- Goronyo)
    (NAN)

  • UPDATED Osun gov, Oyetola asks Appeal Court to reverse tribunal’s decision

    Osun State Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, who contested the last governorship election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has asked the Court of Appeal in Abuja to reverse the majority judgment given on March 22 by the Osun State election tribunal.

    The tribunal had, by a majority judgment given by two of its three members, voided the election of Oyetola, pronounced Ademola Adeleke of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) winner.

    It then asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC to issue him a certificate of return.

    In a 39-ground notice of appeal filed on March 26, 2019 by his team of lawyers, led by Wole Olanipekun (SAN), Oyetola faulted the majority judgment, given by Justices Peter Obiora and Anyinla Gbolagunte, on the grounds that it was perverse, replete with contradictions and not supported by evidence led by the petitioners.

    Oyetola wants the Court of Appeal to uphold his appeal, set aside the majority judgment and dismiss the October 16, 2018 petition by PDP and Adeleke.

    The governor said his complaint, in the appeal, was against the entire majority judgment, except where the tribunal held that it lacked jurisdiction to set aside INEC Guidelines; that the allegation of over voting was not proved; that the petitioners did not prove voided votes and other parts of the judgment where the tribunal agreed with their arguments.

    Oyetola is contending, in his first ground of appeal, that the entire of the majority judgment is a nullity because it was written and delivered by Justice Obiora “who did not participate in all the proceedings of the tribunal and who was not present when all the witnesses gave evidence.”

    He noted that Justice Obiora was absent on February 6 when the respondents witnesses (RWs) 12 and 13 – Ayoola Soji and Oladejo Kazeem – testified and tendered exhibits, which the tribunal admitted in evidence.

    The appellant argued that, having not attended the tribunal’s siting on February 6, 2019, Justice Obiora could not see the two witnesses and was unable to examine their demeanour, as required, and therefore, unlawful for the judge to have authored a judgment in which he reviewed the evidence given by the witnesses.

    He said: “The writing of and or the participation of the Honourable Justice P. C. Obiora in the writing of the judgment of the lower tribunal of 22nd March 2019 and delivery of same, vitiates the entire judgment.”

    Oyetola also argued the tribunal, in its majority judgment, erred in law and acted without jurisdiction when it accepted the petitioners’ complained of non-compliance with the provisions of Electoral Act in relation to the September 22, 2018 governorship election in Osun State and on that basis proceeded to nullify the victory of Oyetola and APC.

    It was equally the appellant’s contention the tribunal acted without jurisdiction by basing its decision to uphold the petition and set aside the return of the appellants on the basis of allegation of non-compliance with the Electoral Act, in relation to the September 22 governorship election.

    The appellant noted that, nowhere in the entire petition, did Adeleke and the PDP complained about non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act in relation to the September 22, 2018 election.

    He added that the only ground, in the petition, alleging non-compliance with the provision of the Electoral Act was in relation to the rerun election held on September 27, 2018.

    Oyetola noted the tribunal contradicted itself in its conclusion, in page 191 of the majority judgment, to the effect that the information omitted by the election officers in the Forms EC8A in the 17 polling units, where the tribunal voided results, were essential to proving over-voting.

    He argued that, having earlier found that accreditation is not done on Form EC8A and that same (accreditation) cannot be proved without voters’ register, the tribunal was without jurisdiction to overrule itself.

    The appellant further argued that the tribunal erred in law when it cancelled elections in 17 polling units on the mere allegation of improper ballot accounting and accreditation details.

    Read Also : Oyetola reopens three tertiary institutions

    He argued that since all the witnesses called by Adeleke and the PDP admitted that the voting process was regular; that votes scored by each party were publicly announced after counting and that the announced scores of parties were truly reflected on Forms EC8A tendered by petitioners, the tribunal was wrong to have proceeded to cancel results.

    Oyetola said: “All petitioners’ witnesses testified and admitted that petitioners were not short-changed regarding the scores recorded for them in each Form EC8A tendered, and that no addition of votes was reflected in favour of the appellants.

    “The lower tribunal had rightly found that there was no over-voting; there was no voiding of valid votes; that accreditation can only be done through voters’ register; that no single ballot paper was tended before it.

    “By cancelling of elections in 17 poling units the lower tribunal acted without jurisdiction. By deciding as aforesaid, the lower tribunal discountenanced Section 139(1) of the Electoral Act.”

  • Sokoto APC alleges attack on supporters by PDP

    IRKED and threatened by the wanton and unprovoked attacks on its supporters across the state, the Sokoto state chapter of the All Progressives Congress has called on the security agencies to take necessary steps to instantly halt the heinous attacks and bring perpetrators to justice to serve as deterrent.

    ” Unless the security agencies do the needful, they will be putting public confidence in them to jeopardy”, it pointed out.

    In the same vein, the opposition APC in the state also said it had chosen to seek redress for the injustices meted the party in the rerun governorship polls through democratic and legal means.

    While it was watching and expecting that culprits and perpetrators of the attacks were unravelled and made to the full wrath of the law, the party said:” We are aware that security agencies have made some arrests in Tambuwal, Goronyo, Sokoto and other places.”

    In a release signed and issued to reporters in Sokoto Thursday by the state chairman of the party, Alhaji Sadiq Isa Achida, the party also stated that it was compelled to sound caution to the perpetrators and their sponsors that “enough is enough.”

    The party according to the release titled” Enough of the PDP Atrocities in Sokoto” said its desire for peace to reign in the state should not and must not be misconstrued as a sign of weakness.

    ” PDP thugs attacked and killed Sani Aliyu, an APC supporter in Giyawa village of Goronyo local government. Another APC supporter was also attacked in Sifawa, Bodinga local government, now lying unconscious in UDUTH as a result of the physical assault on him.

    ” Highly placed religious clerics were also attacked and their families maimed and injured. Our supporters have become easy targets in their homes, markets, mosques and business premises almost on a daily basis since the declaration of the rerun elections results by INEC.

    ” Our opponents of the PDP should note that they do not have monopoly of the ability to perpetrate violence”, Achida cautioned.

    However, the opposition party in the state which urged its supporters not to react in any way and should continue to be law-abiding citizens, added” we hope that our state will be saved from the danger that could befall our people should those responsible for maintaining peace in our state fail in their duty as we assure our supporters in the state that the party is working assiduously to defend our interest and we are confident of being victorious soon “, the release concluded.

  • PDP to APC: rig election, risk people’s wrath

    THE People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has cautioned the All Progressives Congress (APC) against any attempt to rig the governorship supplementary election holding today in some polling units in the Adamawa State.

    A statement yesterday by the PDP spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, warned that whoever toys with the idea of rigging the poll would be doing so at their own peril.

    The main opposition party said it’s in possession of details of how the APC allegedly hired thugs and miscreants from other states with instructions to cause confusion, invade polling units, disrupt the electoral process, snatch ballot boxes, engage in ballot stuffing and assist the APC to allocate votes for its candidate.

    Read also: Atiku, PDP get tribunal’s nod to serve Buhari through APC

    Accusing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and some security agents of compromise, the PDP also alleged that the APC had already cloned Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) for the purpose of manipulating the process.

    The statement warned that the APC would not be allowed to stage a repeat performance of what the governing party did with the Kano supplementary election in Adamawa.

    “The party, therefore, directs our teeming members and supporters to come out en-masse to vote and defend their votes from the polling unit to collation and the final announcement of results,” the PDP said

  • Atiku, PDP get tribunal’s nod to serve Buhari through APC

    AT a pre-hearing session conducted yesterday, the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal (PEPT) acceded to the request by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the February 23 election, Atiku Abubakar, for permission to serve their petition on President Muhammadu Buhari through the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    The PDP and Atiku, who, by their petition, are challenging Buhari’s victory at the election, applied for leave to effect service of the petition on the President on the grounds that they were having difficulty serving him.

    The three-man tribunal, after listening to Chris Uche (SAN), who moved the ex-parte motion filed by the PDP and Atiku, granted them permission to serve through substituted means.

    Justice Abdul Aboki, who led the panel, ordered that Buhari, who is listed as the second respondent to the petition, be served through any senior official or an officer of the APC at the party’s secretariat in Abuja.

    The Judge, in his lead ruling, said: “It is in the interest of justice” to grant the prayers in the petitioners’ motion.

    Three more parties have joined the PDP to challenge the outcome of the presidential election, which was one by incumbent President and candidate of the APC.

    Read also: ‘Atiku should accept election outcome’

    The parties have dropped their petitions before the PEPT in Abuja, it was learnt yesterday.

    With the one filed on March 18 by PDP and Atiku, the number of petitions against Buhari’s election have risen to four.

    One of the petitions 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, before that of the PDP and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, which was 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 Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) and Pastor Aminchi Habu, listed as the party’s presidential candidate.