Tag: petition

Tinubu, Shettima, APC close defence in Obi’s Petition

President Bola Tinubu, vice president Kashim Shittema and the All Peoples Congress (APC) on Wednesday closed their defence in Mr Peter Obi and his Labour Party’s petition. Counsel for Tinubu and Shettima, Wole Olanipekun, SAN informed the presidential election petition court (PEPC) that they are closing their case after the testimony of their sole witness.

President Bola Tinubu flanked by VP Kashima Shettima and supporters Lateef Fagbemi, SAN for APC also informed the court that they have no witnesses and relied on the witnesses called by other respondents. Following the closure of their defence the five-member panel presided over by Justice Haruna Tsammani said the date for the final written addresses would be communicated. Tsammani assigned 10 days each to the respondents, seven days to the petitioners and five days for reply. Earlier, Tinubu through his counsel tendered some documents in support of their defence. The documents tendered are a letter from the Nigeria Police to the United States Embassy, dated February 3, 2003; letter from the United States Embassy to the Nigeria Police, dated February 4, 2003. Others are; US Visas and immigration documents between 2011 and 2021.
Others are; A copy of the Report of the Committee on the Location of the Federal Capital of Nigeria, certified by the Archives and History Bureau of the FCT. Tendered also are copies of Form EC 8D for Kano State in respect of the February 25, 2023, presidential election; and copies of Form EC 8D(A); copies of Form EC8D in respect of the presidential election of 25th February 2023. Also tendered and admitted were a list of registered members of the labour party and a membership list of LP for Anambra state to claim that Obi is not a member of the labour party. After the tendering of documents, Olanipekun called their sole witness, Senate Majority Leader Sen. Michael Bamidele to testify. Being cross-examined by Fagbemi, the witness told the court that the February 25 presidential election results for APC in Kano state were recorded with a shortfall of 10, 292 votes against Tinubu. He added that Obi‘s name was not contained in the membership list of the LP submitted to the INEC. Being cross-examined by counsel to Obi, Dr Livy Uzoukwu, SAN the witness agreed that there a report by the EU election observers in Nigeria and it was tendered through him in evidence. On whether the letter from the United States Embassy to the Nigeria Police, dated February 4, 2003 addresses issues of criminal allegation against Tinubu, the witness said the Nigeria Police letter to the US requested for search for general Criminal records against Tinubu.. He added that therefore the US letter which cleared Tinubu of criminal conviction was an appropriate response. Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN counsel for INEC told the court that they have no cross-examination. Obi and his Labour Party (LP) are petitioners in the petition marked CA/PEPC/03/2023 challenging the election which brought President Bola Tinubu into power Respondents are Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) president Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima and All Progressives Congress (APC.)

INEC claims Peter Obi is asking for non-existent documents in petition against Tinubu

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has claimed that some documents requested by the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) at the 2023 election, Mr Peter Obi to be presented as exhibits at the Presidential Election Tribunal are non-existent. Obi and the Labour Party (LP) are challenging the Feb. 25 election of President Bola Tinubu before the court in a petition marked CA/PEPC/03/2023.

Peter Obi and INEC Chairman Respondents in the petition are INEC, President Tinubu, Vice-President Kashim Shettima and their All Progressives Congress (APC). Giving evidence before the court, Mr Lawrence Bayode, Deputy Director, ICT at INEC told the court that out of the five documents Obi asked for; two were non-existent, while one was work in progress. One of Obi’s witnesses, Ms Loretta Ogah, an ICT cloud engineer, said she contested election into the House of Representatives on the platform of Labour Party in Cross River, but lost the election. Ogah was cross-examined by Mr Wole Olanipakun (SAN), counsel for Tinubu and Shettima. She told the court that she sued INEC after her loss because the electoral umpire did not list her name on its portal as a result of network failure. Also cross-examined by Mr Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), counsel for APC, Ogah told the court that glitches did not occur on INEC portal on Feb. 25. She said she did not know INEC’s password protocol as she was not INEC’s employee. The court presided over by Justice Haruna Tsammani, adjourned further hearing to Wednesday.

claims documents INEC nonexistent Obi PETER petition TINUBU

Court rejects Tinubu’s request to strike out APM’s petition challenging presidential election

The Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC on Monday rejected an attempt by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) to stop the Allied People’s Movement (APM) in its petition challenging his qualification for the February 25, 2023, Presidential election. Tinubu, through his lead counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN, had sought to use a Supreme Court judgment delivered on May 26, 2023, to terminate the APM’S petition, but the request was turned down. President Bola Tinubu The grouse of Tinubu was that the Apex Court had resolved the sole issue raised in the petition of the APM in the judgment in a suit filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He sought to move the Court to invoke the spirit and letters of the Supreme Court judgment to halt the hearing into the APM’s petition. The Presiding Justice of the Court, Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani, however, disagreed with Tinubu and held that the party cannot be shut out in the face of fair hearing. Justice Tsammani asked Tinubu to keep his objections against the hearing of the petition to the final address stage of the court’s proceedings. Similar objections raised by APC through its counsel, Charles Edosomwen SAN, against the petition on the same ground were turned down by PEPC for the same reason. Earlier, the APM, through its lawyer, Mr Gideon Ijiagbonya, had informed the Court of receipt of the Supreme Court judgment being sought to be used to terminate its petition. The lawyer said that upon perusal of the judgment by the Supreme Court, he and his legal team concluded that there is life in the petition and applied for its hearing. He, however, sought adjournment till June 26 to enable him to obtain a vital document from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to establish his case. Justice Tsammani, in a brief ruling, rejected a week-long adjournment and fixed Wednesday, June 21, for the hearing of the petition.

APMs challenging Court Election petition presidential rejects request strike Tinubus

Court berates Peter Obi over unpreparedness in petition against Tinubu’s victory

The presidential election petition court criticizes the Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, for their lack of preparedness in the petition filed against President Bola Tinubu‘s victory. During the court session on Thursday, one of the senior lawyers representing the petitioners, Emeka Okpoko, attempted to submit electoral documents as exhibits. However, it was observed that these documents had not been properly filed and scheduled before the court, THE CABLE reported.

Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi. Credit: peterobigregory Source: Instagram As a result, the court temporarily adjourned the hearing for 10 minutes and requested the legal team to re-file the schedule of documents in accordance with the provisions stated in the pre-hearing report. However, upon reconvening, the petitioners’ legal team still appeared disorganized. This dissatisfaction led Haruna Tsammani, the leader of the five-member panel presiding over the court, to advise the petitioners to request an adjournment to allow them to properly arrange their documents. “What we have done today is a waste of time. I think you underrated the kind of job you have to do,” one of the justices said. In response, Awa Kalu, another experienced lawyer representing the petitioners, stated that they would not be accepting the adjournment proposed by the court. “I took an adjournment yesterday and I would not like to do that today,” Kalu said. Subsequently, the issues were resolved, and the petitioners successfully presented electoral documents (form EC8As) from six states. These states include Rivers with 15 Local Government Areas (LGAs), Benue with 23 LGAs, Cross River with 18 LGAs, Niger with 21 LGAs, Osun with 20 LGAs, and Ekiti with 16 LGAs. In the petition filed by Peter Obi and the Labour Party, a total of 83 witnesses have been identified to testify, representing both the petitioners and the respondents. The petitioners have indicated their intention to call 50 witnesses, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has listed five witnesses, while President Bola Tinubu and Governor Kashim Shettima have listed 21 witnesses, and the All Progressives Congress (APC) has listed seven witnesses. The court has set specific dates for each party to present their case. Obi and the Labour Party are scheduled to prove their case from May 30 to June 23, INEC from June 24 to June 29, Tinubu and Shettima from June 30 to July 5, and the APC from July 6 to July 10. The adoption of final addresses is set for August 5. At this point, only one witness has been called by the petitioners during the proceedings.

berates Court Obi PETER petition Tinubus unpreparedness Victory

Action Alliance party makes U-turn, withdraws petition against Tinubu

During a proceeding session at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, the Action Alliance (AA) political party withdrew its petition against Bola Tinubu, the president-elect of Nigeria, in a surprising move. However, no explanation was given by Action Alliance for the sudden withdrawal on May 08, 2023, in Abuja, and the reason remains unclear. A panel of judges, which includes the Chief Registrar of the Court of Appeal, Haruna Tsammani; Justice Stephen Adah of the Court of Appeal Asaba division; Justice Misitura Bolaji-Yusuf of the Court of Appeal in Asaba; Justice Boloukuoromo Ugoh of the Kano division, and Justice Abba Mohammed of the Ibadan Court of Appeal, will oversee various petitions to be heard.

action Alliance party petition TINUBU Uturn withdraws

“Peter Obi’s petition against Tinubu is an effort in futility”

Delta North senator-elect, Ned Nwoko, has said the petition of Peter Obi against Tinubu is an effort in futility. According to Punch, Nwoko explained that once the President-elect is sworn in, the petition filed against him at the Presidential Elections Petitions Tribunal in Abuja, might not see the light of day. According to him, the Labour Party’s ‘’poor assessment of the situation and unrealistic expectations” led to its defeat. He said if the opposition parties had teamed up, they would have crushed the ruling APC in the election, given the ‘poor performance’ of the current APC regime, led by President Buhari. “Once Tinubu is inaugurated as President, he takes charge of everything. He becomes the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces; he orders them and uses them as he wishes. He appoints new Chief Justice upon recommendation by the judicial council. So, you see, it is almost impossible to stop him from completing his four years tenure.
Moving forward, the PDP and Labour Party have to come to terms and make next election more strategic. Natural alliance between both parties is the only way to save Nigeria from this inauspicious government.”, Nwoko noted.

effort futility Obis PETER petition TINUBU

Churchill Olakunle leaks divorce petition to estranged wife, Bimbo online

Churchill Olakunle has leaked online the divorce petition to his first wife, Bimbo Coker after Tonto disclosed he never divorced her.

It’s no news anymore that Churchill Olakunle was married to Bimbo Coker before getting married to actress cum politician Tonto Dikeh seven years ago. Instagram blogger, Cutie Julls has taken to her Instagram page to share screenshots of the court petition to Bimbo Coker, which was dated 11th of June, 2019; exactly six years after Bimbo and Churchill wedded. In the petition shared by Cutie, Olakunle Churchill had appealed to the court to dissolve his marriage to Bimbo Coker without her presence. This is because the businessman claimed that all efforts to serve Bimbo a divorce proved abortive and as such wanted to court to dissolve their marriage in her absence. The Instagram blogger claimed that Churchill ran away from his matrimonial home and never returned. He moved on to date Zainab before marrying Tonto Dikeh and now, Rosy Meurer. See the divorce petition below…