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Discard Atiku’s BVAS Exhibits — Tinubu, INEC To Tribunal

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Presidential Election Petitions Court in Abuja, on Wednesday, admitted a total of 337 exhibits tendered by the Peoples Democratic Party and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, challenging the emergence of President Bola Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 presidential election.

At the resumed hearing in the matter, the PDP and Atiku, through their legal team, led by Chief Chris Uche (SAN), informed the court that the documents in evidence were in respect of 33 states of the federation, with the exclusion of Kaduna, Kano, Katsina and Lagos states.

Among other documents that Atiku tendered before the court were results of the presidential election from Abia, Bayelsa, Kaduna and Ogun states.

The petitioners told the court that the certified results, which were contained in Forms EC8A, were downloaded by INEC from its I-Rev portal.

However, the respondents in the petition objected to the admissibility of the Certified True Copies of the documents which were presented before the court.

They said they would give reasons behind their objections, in their final written addresses.

Tinubu, through his team of lawyers led by Chief Wole Olanikpekun (SAN), objected to the tendering of information, which according to the petitioners were extracted from the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System machines that were used for the conduct of the 2023 presidential election.

Also, the Independent National Electoral Commission, said it was also opposed to the admissibility of the documents but for the printout of data from BVAS it deployed to three states – Kogi, Sokoto and Rivers.

In a similar vein, the APC opposed the documents in evidence.

Furthermore, INEC’s team of lawyers led by Kemi Pinhero, SAN, opposed the admissibility of the downloaded results just as other respondents raised objections.

However, the five-man panel of the PEPC headed by Justice Haruna Tsammani admitted the documents from the BVAS and marked them as Exhibits PT 1 to PT 33.

The tribunal admitted a total of 337 exhibits tendered by the PDP and Atiku.

Meanwhile, the tribunal, earlier in the day, adjourned till June 1, the hearing of the petition by Labour party and its candidate, Peter Obi against Tinubu.

The adjournment was at the instance of the LP legal team, led by Chief Awa Kalu (SAN), who informed the court that two key members of the team were ill and could not make it to court.

Kalu said, “My Lords, our plan for today’s proceedings was to start with the presentation of our documents, but unfortunately, we had some unexpected development.

“The unexpected development concerns the sudden illness of two of our key staff, for which reason I am constrained to ask for an adjournment till tomorrow (Thursday).

“It is with the greatest humility and apology that we make this application.

“I assure My Lords that we will be here tomorrow morning and we will proceed with vigour.”

Justice Haruna Tsammani granted the application and adjourned the petition till Thursday (today).

BIG STORY

BREAKING: Court Finds Natasha Guilty Of Contempt, Fines Her N5 million

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The Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday convicted the senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, for contempt over a satirical apology she posted on her Facebook page on April 27.

Justice Binta Nyako, delivering judgment in the suit filed by Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan challenging her suspension, began with the contempt application submitted by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.

Akpabio, in his application, argued that the senator’s social media post breached an earlier court order that restrained all parties from speaking to the press or posting on social media about the matter.

Akpoti-Uduaghan’s counsel contended that the post was unrelated to the court’s order on her suspension but was about a separate matter involving sexual harassment claims against the third respondent (Akpabio).

However, Justice Nyako ruled that after reviewing the post and the application before her filed by the third respondent, she was convinced it was connected to the suspension case before the court and therefore declared the plaintiff guilty of contempt.

The judge directed Akpoti-Uduaghan to publish an apology in two national newspapers and on her Facebook page within seven days. She also imposed a fine of N5 million.

 

More to come…

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BIG STORY

BREAKING: Court Orders Senate To Recall Suspended Natasha Akpoti

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A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Friday ruled that the Nigerian Senate exceeded its powers by suspending Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan for six months, ordering her to be immediately recalled to the Red Chamber.

Justice Binta Nyako, delivering the judgment, described the suspension period as “excessive” and lacking a solid legal basis.

The court stated that both Chapter 8 of the Senate Standing Orders and Section 14 of the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act, which the Senate relied on, do not specify a maximum suspension length. Therefore, their application in this situation was considered overreaching.

The judge noted that since the National Assembly is only mandated to sit for 181 days in a legislative year, suspending a lawmaker for about the same length of time effectively silences an entire constituency, calling it unconstitutional.

“While the Senate has the authority to discipline its members, such sanctions must not go so far as to deny constituents their right to representation,” Nyako ruled.

However, the court agreed with Senate President Godswill Akpabio on a different issue, ruling that his decision to prevent Akpoti-Uduaghan from speaking during a plenary—because she was not in her designated seat—did not violate her rights.

Nyako also dismissed Akpabio’s argument that the judiciary should not interfere in what he described as an “internal affair” of the legislature, saying fundamental rights and representation fall squarely within the court’s jurisdiction.

In a separate twist, the court imposed a monetary penalty on Akpoti-Uduaghan for violating an earlier court directive that barred both parties from making public comments about the ongoing legal proceedings.

The fine amounts to millions of naira.

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COALITION: We’ll Register New Party As Backup To ADC — El-Rufai

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A leader of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, and an important figure in the opposition coalition, Nasir El-Rufai, stated that a new political party would be registered as a backup for the African Democratic Congress, ADC.

El-Rufai explained that the new party would serve as an alternative option to guard against potential infiltration by the All Progressives Congress, APC, into the ADC.

The opposition coalition had chosen the ADC as its platform on Wednesday.

However, El-Rufai noted that there is a possibility the APC could spark a crisis within the ADC by turning old members against the new leadership.

He revealed this during an interview with Radio France International (RFI) Hausa Service on Wednesday night.

“Those who refuse to join the APC face threats of investigations by agencies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), or Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).

“The opposition parties’ alliance in the ADC is temporary, and we may register a new party as a second option, which we will move to should the ADC be instigated into crisis by the government,” the former Kaduna governor stated.

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