Day: April 10, 2023

Ayo Adebanjo Afenifere leader

In Birthday message, Tinubu praises Adebanjo for role in progressive politics

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PRESS RELEASE

President-elect Tinubu greets Baba Adebanjo at 95, praises his contributions to progressive good governance

President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has congratulated a leader of the Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, on his 95th birthday.

While thanking God on behalf of Baba for the gift of longevity, the President-elect praised Pa Adebanjo for his contributions to progressive politics and good governance in the country.

The elder statesman is one of the few remaining disciples of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

Asiwaju Tinubu noted with admiration Pa Adebanjo’s consistency over the years in fighting for good governance and social justice in Nigeria.

The President-elect particularly commended Pa Adebanjo for his leading role in the fight against military dictatorship, his pro-democracy struggles in NADECO and remarkable leadership within the Afenifere fold.

In a statement from his office, the President-elect said: “I congratulate Baba Ayo Adebanjo on attaining 95 in good health. Baba is one of the few remaining disciples of our late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

“Papa Adebanjo has remained consistent in sustaining the ideals of progressive good governance and social justice.

“I salute his courage over the years and the useful role he has played in ensuring that Nigeria remains a strong, united and prosperous country.

“We pray that Almighty Allah grant Baba more years so he can witness the dawn of a new era where the hopes of our people for a better, stronger, more secure and more prosperous Nigeria will not only be renewed but come to full realisation.

“I wish Baba Adebanjo good health, renewed strength and, above all, continued grace of God.”

Office of the President-elect,
Tunde Rahman.
April 10, 2023

Bola Tinubu and Peter Obi

LP was like hurricane: Real reasons Peter Obi lost, Tinubu won

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Chairman Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Prof Itse Sagay has explained why Bola Ahmed Tinubu won the February 25 presidential election and why Atiku Abubakar of PDP and Peter Obi of Labour Party lost.

Sagay, a phone-in guest on Sunday Politics, a Channels Television programme, also discredited numerous opinion polls that tipped Obi ahead of other contenders in the race.

“I was not surprised that Tinubu won. I had no faith in those polls. You just pick up your phones, sought views in urban areas.

“Look, do you know the views in massive northern population? Were they contacted? Nobody contacted them and their views were not taken into consideration. So, it was poorly exercised polls.

“It is a very unfortunate thing that those polls set up the stage that the LP was going to win. I, throughout the exercise of the polls, was just laughing.

“You picked up views of few in the urban centres to represent Nigeria when Nigeria has massive rural population.

“That was why there was such a contradiction between the results of those polls and the eventual result of the election. Those polls were not credible.”

He said: “For those who were very upset about the result because they were expecting to win, they have resorted to the court for objective jurists to look at the issue.

“And even if they fail at that level, they should look up to another four years when there will be general election.

“It is not a one-time exercise; it is something that will be done every four years and what I will suggest and advice those who failed, particularly, the LP is to go to the grassroots and begin to organise. They had no organisation.

“If you look at the performance of the Labour Party during the governorship election, it was an indication that the LP has no root in the country but was clearly a hurricane that just blew through the land at the time.

“So, what I will suggest to them is to begin to put their root on the ground instead of quarrelling, fighting and abusing everybody. They should start planning and organising in Tinubu’s way.

“We have to give to him (Tinubu) that he is a super organiser. This election showed that organisation in which his victory spread across the whole country except the Southeast.

“So, the LP has to begin to plan and organise in preparation for the next election in 2027. But, if they fail to do so, that will be a disaster.”

Dismissing allegation of wide manipulation of the poll, the eminent lawyer said the general election was credible.

He said the president-elect had good organisation and planning in place.

According to him Tinubu’s widespread victory, validated Tinubu’s ability to plan ahead.

He said he was not surprised over the outcome of the election, as the president-elect had super organisation and planning far ahead of others.

These, he added, gave him an edge over others in the race.

Attesting that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) introduced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) worked so well in the last election, the senior advocate appealed to those that lost out to allow the judiciary to do its job without any threat.

Sagay, who admitted that there were few challenges with the election, said the election was the best in Nigeria in comparison to past elections.

He said: “There could be few challenges, but no evidence of large manipulation of the election as being claimed. The BVAS was used successfully.

“Can you imagine the All Progressives Congress (APC) losing Lagos? I mean that should tell you that the BVAS worked. For that to happen, that tells you that the election was credible.

“It is unheard of for APC to lose Lagos in over 23 years.

In other areas like the Northwest, Atiku won because he comes from that side.

“But what made Tinubu to win was that where he was not number one, he was closely number two. This election is the best Nigeria has ever had.

“Tinubu was number one in the Southwest, number one in the North-central.

“Look at the north’s results, where Tinubu was not number one, he was close number two. So, he was able to marshal votes all over the country except in the Southeast. The others were not able to achieve this feat.”

On the judiciary, Sagay said: “I pray that the Nigerian judiciary, particularly the Supreme Court lives up to expectation because it is the highest court in the land. So, let the judges go into this matter, look at it judicially and judiciously, using all their knowledge and experiences to do the needful.

“Let them not handle the case due to pressure or threat by anybody. I pray the judiciary in the end, takes right decision in this case.”

Adapted from The Nation

Atiku Abubakar

PDP senator says party deservedly lost 2023 general elections

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Sen. Obinna Ogba (PDP–Ebonyi Central) said on Sunday that the party deservedly lost the 2023 general elections because of mismanagement of affairs by its National Working Committee (NWC).

Ogba told a news conference at his Nkalagu hometown in Ishielu Local Government Area that the NWC shot itself in the foot by the giving the governorship ticket to a “wrong candidate’’.

The senator, who lost the party’s governorship ticket after a protracted legal tussle decided by the Supreme Court, cautioned that the NWC should not suspend any member.

“The fact remains that it is the NWC members who deserve to be suspended starting from the national chairman.

“The national chairman lost his polling booth, ward. Local government area and state and the same thing applied to all the conspirators who offered tickets to whoever understood their language,’’ he charged.

Ogba added, however, that there was still hope for the PDP because it is loved by the people.

“What we need is the right leaders to manage the party’s affairs because no party is stronger than the PDP.

“The Labour Party made strides during the elections, especially during the presidential election because it had mainly our former members who felt annoyed at the state of things in the PDP,’’ he said.

He noted that PDP leaders supported the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate for equity and fairness in the state’s power rotation formula.

“Political parties are only avenues to get to various political destinations.

“Leaders of the PDP in Ebonyi made us to believe that the northern district should produce the next governor and I am happy that those I supported won their elections,’’ Ogba said.

INEC chairman Yakubu, Tinubu and his wife Senator Remi Tinubu

APC counters 3 petitions against Tinubu, asks tribunal to dismiss them

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The All Progressives Congress (APC) has prayed the Presidential Election Petitions Court (PEPC) in Abuja to dismiss petitions filed by three opposition parties challenging the victory of its presidential candidate, Sen. Bola Tinubu, in the Feb. 25 election.

The APC urged the tribunal to discountenance the petitions, in three separate responses filed at PEPC’s Secretariat, Sunday night, by Thomas Ojo, a member of the party’s legal team led by Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, in Abuja.

The three political parties; Action Alliance (AA), Allied Peoples Movement (APM) and Action People’s Party (APP) had, in separate petitions, challenged the emergence of Tinubu as president-elect.

AA, in the petition, sued the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), APC, Tinubu and Hamza Al-Mustapha, its factional presidential candidate and former CSO to late Gen. Sani Abacha.

APM, in its petition, joined INEC, APC, Tinubu, Kashim Shettima and Kabir Masari, who stood as vice-presidential placeholder during the primaries before he was substituted with Shettima.

But APP dragged Tinubu, APC and INEC to court as 1st to 3rd respondents respectively.

In the suits, marked CA/PEPC/01/2023, CA/PEPC/04/2023 and CA/PEPC/02/2023, AA and its presidential candidate, APM and APP are respectively challenging the outcome of the presidential election on the grounds of alleged substantial non-compliance with the electoral laws as well as the INEC guidelines.

While the AA claimed that its candidate, Solomon-David Okanigbuan, was excluded from the presidential poll, based on which the election should be voided, the APM is contending that Tinubu was not qualified to contest the election on the grounds of the alleged double nomination of his vice-presidential candidate.

It is also questioning Tinubu’s candidacy on the grounds of the substitution of the initial placeholder, Kabir Masari, with Shettima.

On its part, the APP claimed that Tinubu was, at the time of the election, not qualified to contest the poll by virtue of the provisions of Sections 131(c) and 142 of the Constitution and Section 35 of the Electoral Act 2022.

Responding, the APC faulted the claim by the AA that its presidential candidate was excluded from the election, arguing that its known candidate, Mr Al-Mustapha, participated in the election.

It stated that contrary to AA’s claim, Tinubu “was duly elected and returned as the President-elect of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, having won the majority of lawful votes cast in the said election devoid of corrupt practices or vices and in substantial compliance with the provisions of Electoral Act 2022 (as amended).”

It argued that the ground on which the AA brought its petition “is not meritorious and facts in support of same are not availing to validate the petitioners’ claims and/or purported right to present the instant petition.”

The APC added that Okanigbuan (listed as the 2nd petitioner “is not the 1st petitioner’s (AA’s validly nominated and sponsored candidate to contest the presidential elections held on Feb. 25.

APC also argued that as against the AA’s claim, INEC (listed as the 1st respondent) did not unlawfully exclude Okanigbuan’s name because he was never the lawfully nominated and sponsored candidate of the petitioner, which did not submit his name to INEC as its candidate for the election.

It added that there is no evidence that the AA conducted a valid primary from which Okanigbuan emerged as a candidate, noting that Al-mustapha was the actual candidate of the AA, who was recognised by INEC.

The APC stated that Okanigbuan was not nominated and sponsored by the AA as its candidate to contest the presidential elections, adding that the party “was not and could not have been excluded from the election as it participated in the presidential election with the 4th respondent (Al-mustapha) as its candidate” who participated in the election and scored 14,542 votes.

In its notice of preliminary objection, the APC questioned the competence of the petition, noting that it was based solely on pre-election issues.

It said: “For an election petition to be competent, it must complain against the return and/or election of the winner of the disputed election.

“The instant petition is neither challenging and/or questioning the election of the 2nd and/or 3rd respondent (APC/Tinubu).

“The petition as presently constituted amounts to a pre-election matter of nomination and sponsorship of candidate(s).

“The crux of the petition being the nomination and sponsorship of the 1st petitioner’s candidate is statute barred, having not been commenced within the mandatory 14 days provided for under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999;

“Issues of nomination, sponsorship and exclusion of candidates for an election are issues that precede the conduct of an election and are pre-election matters that cannot be raised or canvased before an election tribunal.

“Facts in support of the petition speak to intra —party issues, pre-election disputes and administrative actions of INEC triable by Federal High Court under Section 285 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as altered by the 4th Alteration Act and outside the original jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal being a Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.”

Also in its reply, the APC prayed the tribunal to dismiss APM’s petition.

The party, in its preliminary objection equally filed on Sunday, argued that “the petitioner (APM) alone in the absence of its sponsored candidate cannot benefit and did not have any special interest in the election or return of the 3rd respondent (Tinubu) as the winner of the election.

The APC queried the legal capacity of the party to challenge the mode it adopted in nominating its candidate.

The APC argued that since the APM was not a member of the party, it did not know “how it becomes the petitioner’s business how it nominates its candidates.

“The petitioner does not fall under the category of persons that can challenge the internal working operation of the 2nd respondent (APC) regarding the nomination and sponsorship of the 2nd respondent’s candidates for the election.”

The APC equally faulted the competence of the petition by the APP, arguing that the grounds on which it was founded is not sustainable.

It described the petition as frivolous and an attempt to waste the court’s time.

NAN also reports that the presidential candidates of Labour Party (LP), Mr Peter Obi, and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s counterpart, Atiku Abubakar, are also challenging the election.

Tinubu and Shettima, the vice president-elect, are, however, within time to respond to all the petitions.

NAN reports that based on provisions of the law, a respondent has within 21 days to reply to a petition after a service. (NAN)

About

Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a man of many traditional honours across the country, from north to south, west to east. The array of titles he has garnered was only comparable to that of Chief Moshood Abiola, winner of the 1993 Presidential election.

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