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Tag: Tribunal

  • Tribunal chides Nasarawa for N80m tax debt

    The Tax Appeal Tribunal, sitting in Jos, the Plateau State capital, has frowned at the attitude of the Nasarawa State Government on the accumulated tax it owed the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

    The Chairman of the North Central zone of the tribunal, Abraham Ndana Yisa, spoke yesterday at the sitting of the tribunal in Jos.

    Three agencies of the state government – the Nasarawa State University, the Nasarawa State Tourism Corporation and Nasarawa State Investment and the Nasarawa State Property Company Limited – have allegedly defaulted in remitting N80 million tax, excluding interest and penalties, to the Federal Government. The FIRS had charged the defaulting agencies before the North Central zone of the tribunal, sitting in Jos.

    When the three agencies appeared before the tribunal yesterday for the fourth time, they were said to have shown no commitment to paying their debts.

    Counsel to the FIRS, Nasiru Ahmed, urged the tribunal to invoke Section 34 of Value Added Tax (VAT) Law, Cap. 6, Law of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, to compel the defaulting agencies to pay the principal sum, the accumulated interests and the penalties.

     

  • Absence of counsel stalls Useni’s trial

    Absence of counsel stalls Useni’s trial

    The absence of Mr. Victor Ochemu, counsel to retired Lt.-Gen. Jeremiah Useni, on Tuesday stalled hearing in a case filed by the former minister at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

    At the resumed hearing, Ochemu sent a letter urging the tribunal to grant him an adjournment to enable him travel to Calabar.

    Useni was also absent in court.

    He said the adjournment was to enable him take his sick brother to the hospital.

    Ochemu, who apologised for his absence before the tribunal, said that he was the only counsel handling the matter for his client.

    Mr. Abbas Ibrahim, Assistant Chief State Counsel in the Ministry of Justice, who is holding the brief for Mr. Simon Egede, the Director, Public Prosecutions of the Federation, confirmed that he had received a letter from Ochemu, stating reasons for his absence.

    Ibrahim, who did not oppose the application for adjournment, prayed the tribunal to fix a date in November for hearing.

    The Tribunal Chairman, Justice Danlami Umar, therefore, adjourned further hearing in the case to November 13.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that at the last sitting, Umar had ordered Useni to appear before the tribunal.

    Umar gave the order while hearing the motion on notice filed by Useni`s counsel challenging the confiscation of his property by the Federal Government.

    Useni is seeking an order of the tribunal to compel the government to release the title documents of his property that were confiscated in 1999.

     

  • ‘We have lost confidence in Ondo election petition tribunal’

    ‘We have lost confidence in Ondo election petition tribunal’

    Soji Ehinlanwo contested as the governorship candidate of Congress for Progressive Change [CPC] in the last gubernatorial election in Ondo State. In this interview with Damise Ojo, he explains why his party petitioned the Appeal Court President to disband Ondo State Election Petitions Tribunal and other related issues. Excerpts.

     

     

    You were the candidate of the CPC in the last governorship election in Ondo state. What motivated you to run for the Ondo State governorship?

    Until I ran for governorship, I was working as a senior consultant at the European Commission. From 2007 to 2009 when the appeal court pronounced him winner of the 2007 governorship election, we backed the incumbent, so we could engender significant change in terms of infrastructural development, ensure transparency and accountability in the management of state resources, bring Ondo State to the forefront in relation to industrial growth, stimulate, in an impressive manner, the generation of employment opportunities for our teeming unemployed youths and generally make Ondo State a strong reference point like Lagos in terms of good governance. Unfortunately, a year or two after the inception of this government, it dawned on many, including myself, that our confidence in the ability of the incumbent to bring about the desired change was utterly misplaced.

    It was a case of a government that was simply drifting although obsessed with media spin meant to give an impression it was performing. This state of affairs was not what we had hoped for and many people felt that given my deep and broad experience in public sector change, I should put myself forward to salvage our state

    After the October election, your and your party presented a petition to the Ondo State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal challenging the results of that election. What happened thereafter?

    After presenting the petition, it was dismissed at the pre-trial stage by the tribunal in a way that conveyed an hasty disposition to prevent us from providing evidence. Of course, we challenged the dismissal of our petition at the Appeal Court. The appeal court agreed with us that it was wrong to dismiss our petition without allowing us to present evidences and to show in full trial our grounds for disputing the outcome of that election. The petition was then referred back to the tribunal for trial on its own merit

    But, there were reports that after the tribunal resumed sitting a few weeks ago to hear your matter, you refused to appear before it. What were your reasons and what happened after wards?

    When the tribunal gave its judgement, I was in Europe. We referred the judgement to our lawyer at the time and it was agreed that the judges erred in many respects in relation to their decision to strike out our matter.

    A decision was then taken to appeal against the judgement at the Appeal Court. I returned to Nigeria after our victory at the appeal court and then took some time to fully study both the Tribunal and the Appeal Court judgements.

    I was extremely shocked by some of the pronouncements of the tribunal judges in the judgement which they delivered and it became crystal clear to me, my state party chairman and other party members that their pronouncements reflected unacceptable and manifest bias against myself and the CPC, obviously with a view to favouring the respondents.

    We felt fully convinced that it would not serve the course of justice for us to subject ourselves and our petition to a panel which appeared to have already made up its mind about our petition even before we adduced evidences given the wild conclusions they made and the negative and condescending opinions they expressed about myself and our petition which seemingly had no bearing to points of Law.

    Consequently, we presented a petition to the Appeal Court prior to the day we were due to appear in the tribunal, requesting the panel should excuse themselves from adjudicating on our petition or in the absence of this, they should be disallowed from presiding over our petition while a new panel should be constituted to hear our matter.

    That petition is now with the President of the Court of Appeal.

    What specific pronouncements made by the tribunal judges did you find reflected manifest bias as you claimed

    First and foremost, in the judgement, they claimed that I admitted that I scored a certain number of votes as against some number of votes scored by the ACN, PDP and two other parties in a manner suggestive of an affirmation of the results as declared by INEC even before full trial.

    I am lost as to how they came about the conclusion that I made the admission they claimed I made.

    Secondly, they also appeared to me to be deliberately working toward a pre-determined outcome when they questioned the validity of my nomination.

    Thirdly, the panelist veered into the political fray making wild assertions, disparaging remarks and ludicrous statements about myself without basis which appeared to be deliberately targeted at undermining and demeaning the petition and myself in the eyes of my supporters and the general public.

    How this related to points of law still beats my imagination.

  • Ondo tribunal resumes sitting

    The Ondo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Akure will resume today, following the Court of Appeal’s directive that it should hear the petition of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).

    CPC’s petition was struck out by the Justice Andova Kaka’n-led tribunal on the grounds that it lacked merit.

    The Court of Appeal ruled that by dismissing the CPC’s petition before trial, the tribunal denied the party fair hearing.

    It ordered the tribunal to relist the petition for hearing.

    The CPC’s petition was consolidated with that of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    The ACN and the PDP are set for the adoption of their final written addresses, as all parties, including the respondents, have filed their final written addresses.

  • Uphold our case, Ondo ACN urges tribunal

    Uphold our case, Ondo ACN urges tribunal

    •‘INEC is defenceless’

    The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Ondo State and its candidate in last October’s governorship poll, Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN), have filed the final written address in their petition before the Election Petition Tribunal.

    They urged the tribunal to rule in their favour on the grounds that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which conducted the election and declared Governor Olusegun Mimiko winner, failed to defend itself in the petition or call witnesses to contradict the allegation of non-compliance with the Electoral Act.

    ACN said its 41 witnesses and 118 documentary evidence were not challenged by the respondents during the trial.

    It argued that INEC admitted injecting over 100,625 fresh names into the 2012 voters’ register but failed to call any witness to give reasons for doing so.

    ACN’s expert gave evidence that 164,072 names were injected into the 2012 voters’ register by INEC.

    The party said the fresh names injected were substantial enough to give Mimiko victory in the poll.

    It said INEC also failed to defend the “massive irregularities detected” in result sheets used for the election.

    ACN said during cross-examination, Mimiko’s 14 witnesses confirmed irregularities in their polling units.

    It said: “In exhibit p57(b15), Ward 7, Unit 2 in Ondo East Local Government, Human fist was registered as a voter. Invalid names like EwrrRtyy were registered by INEC in Akure South Local Government. In many polling units, there was voting without accreditation. In others, illegal registrants were allowed to vote.

    “This was confirmed by one of Mimiko’s witnesses, who said INEC issued two voter’s cards and allowed illegal registrants, whose fingerprints were not captured, to vote.

    “In the face of these monumental discoveries of irregularities, Mimiko, who was earlier granted leave by the tribunal to call his expert, failed to call him or tender his report, which had been filed before the tribunal.

    “INEC’s and the Labour Party’s (LP’s) pleadings/replies before the tribunal stand abandoned in the face of lack of evidence to substantiate them. What the law requires of petitioners, under this circumstance, is minimal proof, which we have presented satisfactorily before the tribunal.”

    ACN prayed the Justice Andova Kaka’n-led tribunal to order a fresh election.

    The written address was filed by 52 lawyers, led by Chief Akin Olujimi (SAN). Others include Oladipo Okpeseyi (SAN); Wole Aina, Adekola Olawoye, Michael Lana, Kazeem Gbadamosi, Oluwagbenga Olatunja and Titiloye Charles, among others.

  • Lagos explosives: Tribunal to commence sitting Monday

    The Panel of Inquiry set up by the Lagos State Government to look into the December 26, 2012 fire and explosion that rocked Ojo-Giwa and Okoya areas of Lagos Island and destroyed properties worth several millions of naira,will commence sitting on Monday.

    The Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Sunday Oladokun Ishola (rtd), who disclosed this on Thursday at the inaugural sitting of the tribunal held at the Council Chambers of the Lagos City Hall, said that it has three months within which to complete its assignment and submit report to the government.

    Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola (SAN) had as part of his administration’s commitment to the protection of life and property in the state, inaugurated the three-member Tribunal on February 18.

    Other members of the tribunal are Eng. Olokunola Olatunde Wasiu, a Special Adviser in the Office of Infrastructure and Asset Management of Lagos State, Mr. Richard Ahonaruogho, founding secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Section on Legal Practice (SLP) and Mrs. Olubunmi Fagbayi, the Chief State Counsel (DLD) who is the Secretary to the Tribunal

    Justice Ishola in his address at the inaugural session said the tribunal sittings will be by public hearing that will hold between 10am and 4pm daily from Mondays to Thursdays and in rare cases on Fridays when the situation demands.

    According to him, the panel is saddled with the responsibility of investigating the explosion and fire outbreak that many attributed to knock outs that were ware-housed in some buildings in the area.

     

  • Ondo tribunal fixes April 23 for adoption of addresses

    The Ondo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal yesterday finished hearing petitions arising from the conduct of the October 20, last year, governorship poll.

    The three-man panel, led by Justice Andovar Kaka’n, fixed April 23 for the adoption of the addresses of all parties.

    This followed the closure of the Labour Party’s (LP’s) defence on the petition of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) candidate, Chief Olusola Oke.

    The LP did not call all its witnesses before closing its defence. The closure was announced by its counsel, Mr. Yusuf Alli (SAN).

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) followed suit and closed its defence.

    LP’s witnesses were cross-examined by Oke’s counsel, Dr. Kayode Olatoke.

    Akafiri James from Akoko North West, Ward 12, claimed to have been accredited and participated in the election, but it was discovered under cross-examination that his name was not ticked for accreditation on the voters’ register.

    Moses Ojo claimed in his witness statement on oath that the election ran smoothly in his polling unit, but later said he could neither read nor write. He later denied his name on the voters’ register.

    Adefarati Babatunde from Ikun-Akoko said he could neither read nor write and claimed to have served as the polling agent at Ikun Unit 005.

    He told the tribunal that he did not vote in his polling unit.

    Abimbola Bolade from Ero Ifedore said the poll went on smoothly in her area, but could not defend cases of multiple voting and voting without accreditation alleged by Olatoke.

    Aluko Samuel from Ifedore caused a stir when he said the tribunal has no jurisdiction to ask whether his party trained him to be a polling agent before the election.

    Biola Jacob from Ile-Oluji/Okeigbo agreed that cancellations were made on form EC8A and that they were not endorsed by presiding officer because his signature was missing.

    The hearing of petitions ended after the cross-examination. Justice Kaka’n thanked the lawyers for their maturity and orderly conduct.

    Responding on behalf of the counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) hailed the conduct of the judges and stressed that the rule of law is the binding force.

    The tribunal was inaugurated on November 22, last year. It has 180 days to hear the petitions.

     

  • Thugs attack ACN, PDP supporters at Ondo tribunal

    •Party stalwart hospitalised
    •Mimiko defends Oke’s petition

     

    Thugs suspected to be supporters of the Labour Party (LP) in Ondo State yesterday invaded the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting at the High Court in Akure, the state capital.

    The hoodlums, who were said to be members of a transport union, assaulted supporters of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    An ACN stalwart, Mr. Niyi Ojo, had machete cuts on his head. He is on admission at a hospital in Akure.

    It was learnt that the thugs were led by a union official.

    The invasion occurred shortly after the counsel to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), told the tribunal that the electoral body would not call any witness.

    Awomolo said the commission would rely on the documents before the court.

    The tribunal called for a brief adjournment before calling the first respondent (Governor Olusegun Mimiko) to open his defence on the petition of the PDP’s candidate, Chief Olusola Oke.

    An ACN supporter said: “After the tribunal rose for a short recess, hell was let loose, as LP thugs attacked ACN and PDP supporters.

    The policemen around the court could not save the situation.”

    A Toyota bus belonging to the ACN governorship candidate, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), was vandalised. Those injured were taken to various hospitals.

    Police spokesman Wole Ogodo confirmed that thugs attacked people at the tribunal, but said he had not been briefed on the incident.

    Mimiko later opened his defence on Oke’s petition.

    Four of his witnesses gave evidence that the election was hitch-free.

    ACN condemned the attack on the opposition. In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Rotimi Agbede, the party said the thugs were frustrated by the “abysmal performance” of the LP at the tribunal in the last one week and decided to take it out on the opposition.

    It said INEC’s abrupt closure of its defence without calling any witness must have heightened the desperation of the hoodlums.

    ACN said: “Not satisfied with their hopeless situation, the thugs embraced violence. It is unfortunate that the thugs vented their anger on anybody in sight, injuring many people. But for the intervention of security agents, the story would have been different.”

    “We condemn the desecrating of the court with violence and wonder why a government that came to power through the instrumentality of the courts would do everything in its power to undermine the process.”

    ACN urged security agencies to be on the alert to check trouble makers.

  • Tribunal validates Kano LGA census figure

    The Census Tribunal on Monday in Abuja validated the 2006 enumeration figures for Wudil Local Government Area of Kano State as released by the National Population Commission (NPC).

    The local government area had gone to court to challenge the 188,639 census figure that the commission had enumerated in the area.

    In a judgment, the census tribunal said the figure was validated following the failure of the complainant to disclose the identities of persons it claimed were not enumerated in its petition.

    In a lead judgment read by Mrs. Miannaya Essien, the tribunal held that the complainant failed to prove its claims that 1,807 households were omitted from the head count.

    “The onus of claims is on the complainant to prove a fact it asserts. Section 132 of Evidence Act 2011 stipulates that the burden of proof in a suit lies on that person who would fail if no evidence were given on either side,” the News Agency of Nigeria quoted the tribunal as saying on Monday.

    “The complainant failed to give the tribunal names of persons it claimed were omitted during the exercise.

    “The failure of the complainant to prove the facts alleged is a major defect upon which it would fail.

    “The complainant asserted that the omission of names of the persons who were not enumerated was not relevant. But giving the tribunal names is the only way to identify the persons it claimed were not enumerated.

    “As the identity of the persons claimed not to have been enumerated in Wudil LGA has not been disclosed before the tribunal, the quest to claim a legal right on behalf of these unidentified persons, has omitted a fundamental element,’’ Essien added.

     

  • Akeredolu presents 46 lawyers at Ondo tribunal

    The candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the October 20 governorship election in Ondo State, Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN) will be represented by 46 lawyers at the Election Petition Tribunal, sitting in Akure, the state capital.

    The list, which was presented to the tribunal yesterday, includes Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), led by the former Attorney-General of the Federation, Chief Akin Olujimi.

    Some of the lawyers on the list are Oladapo Okpeseyi (SAN); Lasun Sanusi (SAN); Wole Aina; Mrs. S. T. Babalola; Kola Olawoye; Ayo Odugbesan; Micheal Lana; Folashade Aladeniyi; Bode Ayorinde; Oluwagbemiga Olatunja; Victor Olatoyegun and Titiloye Charles.

    Mrs. Ejinwa Joy Akeredolu and Miss Yejide Akeredolu also made the list.

    The legal team has concluded inspection of the documents used by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the election.

    Although it refused to speak on its findings, a source said all was not well.

    Indications emerged that the respondents, Governor Olusegun Mimiko and the Labour Party (LP), were planning to kill the petition on technical grounds. So many objections have been filed to this effect by the respondents.

    It was learnt that Mimiko filed a cross petition to the result declared by INEC in Irele and Ilaje to prevent any of the petitioners from being declared winner of the election without a rerun.

    Mimiko’s legal team is led by Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) and that of the LP by Yusuf Ali (SAN).