Kebbi Guber: Appeal Court Upholds Nasir Idris’ Election

 The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Friday, declared Governor Nasir Idris as the authentic winner of the March 8th governorship election of Kebbi State. it therefore, dismissed the appeal of the People’s Democratic Party PDP and its Governorship candidate, General Aminu Bande for lacking in merit. In a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Ndukwe Anyannwu, the Appellate Court resolved all the five issues formulated for determination in favour of the governor and against PDP. Justice Anyanwu held that the allegations of forgery of testimonial brought against the Deputy Governor of the State, Abubakar Umar Tafida was not established as required by law. She also held that the issues of non compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act in the conduit of the election could not stand because the appellants failed to proof how the allegations substantially affected the election. Justice Anyanwu subsequently affirmed the judgment of the Kebbi State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal which had earlier dismissed the petition of PDP and affirmed the election of the governor.

Kaduna Guber: Appeal Court Upholds Gov Sani’s Election

*Says Election Not Inconclusive The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Friday, cancelled the Kaduna State Governorship election tribunal order for election rerun and affirmed the election of Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State. The Appellate Court dismissed an appeal instituted by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its candidate, Mohammed Ashiru, challenging the outcome of the governorship election that was held in the state on March 18. In a lead judgement that was delivered by Justice Obietonbara Daniel-Kalio, the court upheld the verdict of the Kaduna State Election Petition Tribunal, which validated Governor Sani’s election. It held that the tribunal was right in its majority decision when it declared the petition by the PDP and its candidate as abandoned. It resolved all the five issues that were raised in the appeal, against the Appellants. Justice Obietonbara Owupele Daniel-Kalio who read judgments of the Court of Appeal on the main and cross appeal, also reversed the order of the Tribunal on the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC to conduct supplementary elections in 22 polling units in four Local Government Areas of the state. In the main appeal, Justice Daniel-Kalio resolved all the five formulated issues against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the 2023 election, Mohammed Isah Ashiru. The five issues bothered on alleged malpractices, over voting, manipulation of results collations and ballot stuffing made by PDP and its Governorship candidate. In the cross appeal filed by the All Progressives Congress APC, which challenged the declaration of the election inconclusive, the Court of Appeal resolved the three formulated issues in favour of the party and vacated the declaration of the Tribunal. The Court held that evidence relied upon by the Tribunal to declare the election inconclusive were manifestly bad, unreliable and ought not to have given any probative value. A 3- man panel of Justices of the Court headed by Justice Obietonbara Owupele Daniel-Kalio and supported by James Gambo Abundaga and Mohamed Baba Idris delivered the unanimous judgments. “The appeal lacks merit and it is accordingly dismissed. Parties are to bear their respective costs,” the court held. “An order dismissing the alternative reliefs of the petition for a supplementary election in any polling unit in Kaduna State, which was granted by the tribunal. “An order striking out the 1st and 2nd cross respondents’ (PDP and Isa) petition for being statute barred. “An order striking out the 1st and 2nd cross respondents’ petition for non-compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022. Earlier, the panel had dismissed Ashiru’s appeal before making pronouncement on the cross appeal.  Governor Sani’s cross-appeal was argued by his legal team, headed by former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Bayo Ojo, SAN. The governor, in his cross-appeal against the alternative ruling, listed 14 grounds of errors, committed by the tribunal in arriving at its second conclusion.

Alleged $460,000 Fraud: No evidence of trial, conviction against Tinubu – Tribunal rules

*Says Tinubu ’eminently’ qualified The Presidential Election Petition Court has ruled against allegations of fraud and drug allegations leveled against President Bola Tinubu by the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi. The former governor of Anambra State and his party, claimed Tinubu was made to forfeit the sum of $460,000 to the US over alleged complicity in drug related offences in the early 90s. The Petitioners, were among other things alleged that by virtue of a forfeiture order against Tinubu by a United States District Court, his name ought not to be on the ballot. However, the court in it’s judgment  held that the Petitioners failed to substantiate the above mentioned allegation, consequently, it held that the respondent was eminently qualified to contest the election. Justice Tsunami held that Obi failed to prove that Tinubu was found guilty of any offence involving any act of dishonesty, adding that evidence before the court showed that the forfeiture order against Tinubu was in a civil, an allegation against a bank and not criminal matter. The five-man panel held that Tinubu was neither arraigned nor convicted in the US over any alleged crime to warrant his disqualification. “The Petitioners failed to prove that Tinubu went through any criminal trial, any form of sentences imposed on him. No record of any form of criminal arrest recorded in the USA.  “A general search was conducted and there was no records of any criminal charges against Tinubu. “The result of the search were negative of any criminal charge arrest and conviction.”  The court noted that documents tendered by the respondents confirmed that he was given a clean bill of health after enquiry from Nigeria. Beside, the tribunal held that under Section 269(1&2) such documents must be given under the hand Police official and must be accompanied with a certificate showing that the police officer has powers to sign such documents. Justice Tsunami further held that even if Tinubu were convicted for the alleged offence, for him to be disqualified from the 2023 election, the purported conviction must take place within 10 years to the election. On the Obi’s claim that the  results of the election were not transmitted real time to the INEC’s Results Viewing (IReV) portals,  the court held there is no where in the Electoral Act, that says election must be electronically transmitted for collation. It maintained that Sections 14&18 of the Electoral Act provides for the use of the Bi-modal Verification Accreditation System (BVAS) for the purpose of accreditation of voters, but ” IReV is not a collation system”. Therefore, it dismissed the claim of not compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022. “It should be noted as decided by this court previously, the BVAS is to transmit results to IREV. The IREV is not a collation system/center,” the court held . The court also held that the testimonies of 10 out of 13 witnesses called by Obi and LP were worthless, adding that no witness can give evidence in chief if his statement on oath is not properly before the court . “By combined provisions of section 285 of the Nigeria Constitution as amended and paragraph 14(1) and 14 of the schedule of the Electoral Act, the Petitioner cannot be allowed to file and use witness statement filed outside 21 days”.

Again, Emefiele’s arraignment stalled; ex-CBN gov settles for plea bargain

Suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele’s arraignment on alleged breach of procurement laws and contract inflation, was again stalled on Wednesday. Strong indications have also emerged that the detained former CBN Boss, has opted for a plea bargain policy to settle with the Federal Government, hence, the indefinite hold on the arraignment. NIGERIAN ANCHOR gathered that the arraignment on a 20-count charges slated for Wednesday August 23, was not listed in the cause list before Justice Hamza Muazu of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, sitting in Maitama, Abuja It was also gathered at the courtroom that the arraignment was shifted at the instance of the detained CBN Chief. Authoritative sources confided in our correspondent that Emefiele and his-co accused, Saadat Yaro have opted for a plea bargain policy to settle with the Federal Government. Speaking on the development and the defendant’s absence in court, counsel to the defendant, Kehinde Akinlolu, confirmed the shift in the arraignment.  Emefiele’s lawyer, Kehinde Akinlolu SAN confirmed the shift in the arraignment when contacted on phone, adding that a new date may likely be issued by the court’s Chief Judge, Justice Hussein Baba Yusuf. At the time of filing this report, operatives of the Department of State Service DSS who used to escort him to court were not seen, as well as his legal team. Meanwhile, the court has commenced proceedings on matters on the cause list. More details later…