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Peter Obi, Labour Party Present 18,088 Blurred Result Sheets, Other Documents

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The Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi on Thursday tendered 18,088 blurred polling unit result sheets among other documents in continuation of the presentation of their case before the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC).

Their lawyer, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), tendered the documents through the petitioners’ fourth witness (PW4), Eric Uwadiegwu Ofoedu, who described himself as a Professor of Mathematics at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka.

The petitioners also tendered report of the witness’ analysis of some election materials, a copy of a letter, written to him by the LP, dated February 20, 2023, engaging Prof Ofoedu to held the party analyse data in respect of the February 25 presidential election and the subpoena issued on him to attend court and produce the said documents.

Lawyer to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN), Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) for President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettma, and Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) for the All Progressives Congress (APC) objected to the tendering of majority of the documents, promising to adduce reasons for their objection at the final written address stage.

Earlier, Mahmoud, Olanipekun and Fagbemi expressed displeasure that the petitioners only served them the written statement of Ofoedu few minutes before the court say, arguing that they ought to be served earlier to enable them study the statement for the purpose of cross examination.

It was however, agreed by lawyers to both parties that the witness should be allowed to testify in-chief and return on Friday for the respondents to cross examine him, a position the court adopted in a brief ruling.

At the conclusion of his testimony in-chief on Thursday, the Presiding Justice, Justice Haruna Tsammani ordered the witness to return on Friday at 9 am for the purpose of cross examination.

The petitioners also called its fifth witness (PW5), Lumnie Edevbie, another subpoenaed witness, who described himself as an official of Arive News.

They tendered,  through Edevbie, a flash drive, containing a video recording of a presentation by INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu at the Chatham House, London.

In the video played in the open court, the INEC Chairman spoke among others, about his agency’s preparation for the last general elections.

He said  INEC  planned to deploy technology, which include the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the uploading of polling unit results to INEC results viewing portal, where anyone could view it.

Prof. Yakubu said the results to be uploaded to the INEC Results Viewing (IREV) portal  where the same thing as the polling unit result sheets (EC8A) which are distributed to party agents.

Another petitioners’ lawyer, Patrick Ikwueto (SAN) said he planned to show another video on Friday afternoon when proceedings are expected to resume.

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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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