The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Petition

  • ‘I didn’t sign petition against tribunal panel’

    Counsel to Maj.-Gen. Charles Airhiavbere, the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the July 14 election in Edo State, Mr. Efe Akpofure yesterday said he did not sign any petition against the former three-man panel of the Election Petition Tribunal, led by Justice Ambrusa Suleiman.

    The panel was dissolved in October after a petition was sent to the National Judicial Council (NJC) by Airhiavbere.

    Akpofure made the clarification while drawing the attention of the reconstituted panel, led by Justice Mu’azu Pindinga, to media reports that Airhiavbere’s witnesses tendered fake voter’s cards.

    He said he was not aware of any ruling of the tribunal stating that the voter’s cards presented by the witnesses were fake.

    Akpofure said: “I did not at any moment sign a petition against the former tribunal. These reports in the media will not take us anywhere unless this is stopped.”

    Governor Adams Oshiomhole’s counsel Omoruyi Omonuwa said his client had nothing to do with the reports.

    He said what matters is the petition before the tribunal, adding that bringing complaints would distract the tribunal.

    Counsel to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Ken Mozia informed the tribunal that Airhiavbere issued a statement alleging that the man that collapsed during the tribunal’s sitting last week was brought to the court by Deputy Governor Pius Odubu and that he was dead.

    Mozia said: “This is coming from the petitioner and not the media. We should not bring in outside materials to derail the proceeding. The man in question is an Itsekiri man and he is still alive.”

    Justice Pindinga urged the parties to sort themselves out and advised reporters to listen to proceeding properly and seek clarification, if confused.

     

  • Kogi PDP elders submit petition against Wada

    Kogi State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) elders have visited the party’s National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, in Abuja to complain about the alleged undemocratic practices of the Idris Wada administration.

    “We want the national leadership of our great party to intervene to save the PDP in Kogi State from an untimely death,” said Senator Alex Kadiri, who led Senator Mohammed Ohiare and Dr Onukaba Adinoyi-Ojo to Tukur.

    He added: “All is not well in Kogi State. Our party has been hijacked by strangers. There is no governance in the state. State funds are being used to settle judges and anti-corruption agencies. Not even a culvert has been constructed by the nearly one-year-old Wada administration.”

    The party elders listed the crisis in the House of Assembly, the appointment of liaison officers for local governments, the alleged looting of the treasury and the “undemocratic conduct of state congress” last weekend as some of the issues they are unhappy about.

    They accused Wada of cluelessness, profligacy and looting.

    The PDP chieftains cited the appointment of 20 commissioners, 57 advisers, 74 senior special assistants and scores of other aides as proof that Wada is ill-prepared to govern the state.

    They said the recent discovery of 800 ghost schools and thousands of ghost teachers were only a tip of the iceberg in the rot in Kogi State.

    Tukur promised to examine their complaints.

    He hailed the elders for their maturity.

    The PDP Chairman said the party would be democratic, inclusive and transparent in its dealings.

    He promised to treat the petition with urgency, adding that the calibre of the petitioners demands nothing less.

    The elders included former Speaker and Acting Governor Clarence Olafemi; AVM Salihu Atawodi (rtd) and former state Chairman of the PDP, John Odawun.

    They submitted copies of the petition to President Goodluck Jonathan, Senate President David Mark, House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Tambuwal and former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

  • Petition: ACN slams Mimiko, LP for avoiding service

    The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Ondo State has criticised Governor Olusegun Mimiko and the Labour Party (LP) for locking up their secretariat, to avoid being served summons by the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Akure.

    A statement by Mr. Idowu Ajanaku, the Director of Media, Publicity and Strategy of ACN in the state, said Governor Mimiko and the LP have been evading service of summons by the tribunal to waste time, perhaps to make sure the case is not finished within the constitutionally-accepted period.

    He said: “ACN supporters and other Nigerians want to know why Governor Mimiko is avoiding being served summons. Why is he afraid of summons? Why is he running from his shadow? He should be prepared prove to the world that he won the last governorship election.

    “ACN is committed to pursuing the tribunal case to a logical conclusion. We have the responsibility of informing our supporters in Ondo State, Nigeria and the world why we are in court and this is what we have done. We owe no apology to the spin doctors employed by Governor Mimiko to challenge our right, which was not denied him in 2009 when he fought to retrieve his mandate.

    “It is sad that the LP’s Publicity Secretary, Mr. Femi Okunjemiruwa, missed the point by alluding “to an era when the judiciary was under the cash-and-carry characters of old, the era of judgment purchase.

    “We urge him to name the characters he was referring to and the judgment purchased. Is he saying Mimiko’s victory in the courts in 2009 was purchased?

    “What we are saying is that the LP has committed electoral fraud in Ondo State and should be ready to defend itself at the tribunal and the court of public opinion.”