Politics
Kano Guber Petition: Appeal Court Substitutes NNPP With APC
. . . Upholds Bala Mohammed’s election as Bauchi Governor
In a development widely seen in political circles as clipping the wings of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), the Court of Appeal (CA), sitting in Abuja has ruled in favour of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on the gubernatorial petition on Kano State.
Consequently, the CA, on Friday sacked NNPP’s Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano State.
By upholding the ruling of the Justice Oluyemi Akintan Osadebay led tribunal, which sacked Yusuf on September 20, 2023, the judiciary has almost put paid to the political fortunes of the NNPP, literarily.
Recall that the lower court had declared 165,663 votes of Yusuf, who contested under the NNPP, invalid on the grounds that they were not signed or stamped by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
That ruling had reduced Yusuf’s to 853,939 while those of his APC counterpart, Nasir Ganuwa, his APC remained at 890,705.
Yusuf in rejecting the verdict described it as “unfair” and “a miscarriage of justice”, and headed to the appeal court.
At the court, Wole Olanipekun, SAN, lead for Yusuf, asked that the judgement of the tribunal be set aside.
Kicking against the ruling on ballot papers, the senior lawyer said that was the first time in the history that a tribunal would annul an election over non-signing of the back of ballot papers.
According to him, the tribunal erred, he also argued that, that was the first time that a political party would file a matter without joining its candidate as a party in the petition and the candidate would be declared winner of the polls.
However, counsel for APC, Akin Olujimi, SAN, countered that the CA stated emphatically that the non-signing of ballots amounted to electoral malpractice.
In a related development, the CA, Abuja Division, on Friday, affirmed the victory of Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State in the March 18 governorship election.
The appeal was filed by the APC’s governorship candidate, Sadique Abubakar, following the tribunal judgment upholding Mohammed’s victory.
The panel of three justices were unanimous, awarding no cost as the court ruled that each party to the matter should bear their costs.
The presiding justice read the judgment in the order of the appellant’s plea before the appeal court.
On plea number one, the appellant pleaded that the election be nullified because the forms and booklets used in the election were not properly filled. The court ruled that the appellant failed to prove this allegation with the needed evidence.
The court also ruled that the appellant failed to state the polling units involved in the said allegations and that he was unable to state what was missing in the forms. It further held that the appellant was unable to prove how the said improperly filled forms affected the results of the election.
The court held that the witnesses called by the appellant were unable to prove that they understood what the forms looked like, while commending the tribunal for doing a thorough job by scrutinising the evidence before it.
On the plea that there was massive non-compliance with the electoral laws, the court ruled that the appellant again could not prove this, as some of the witnesses who testified did not vote on election day and those who voted only spoke based on what they saw in their polling units alone.
On the issue of the alleged unprofessional conduct of INEC officials, the court held the same views as the tribunal, saying it was never part of the plea by the appellant at the lower court and that it was not pleaded and could not be argued.
The plea was ruled in favour of the first respondent, Mohammed.
On the plea about fraudulent cancellations, mutilations and alterations to favour the PDP candidate, the appeal court noted that, if proven, falsification of results is a criminal matter that could lead to the cancellation of election results.
However, according to the court, the appellant had the burden to prove this and had to bring the genuine one, if he argued the one tendered by INEC was falsified.
The court noted that the appellant, unfortunately, could not prove this. The court also said the least the appellant could have done was present a genuine result along with the said falsified one.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has commenced the monitoring of constituency projects worth N21 billion across Kaduna State.
The initiative, aimed at promoting accountability and transparency in the use of public funds, is part of the commission’s broader effort to tackle corruption and ensure the timely completion of government projects.
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Addressing journalists in Kaduna, Chief Superintendent Haruna Aminu, who represented the Constituency and Executive Tracking Department under the leadership of ICPC Chairman Dr. Musa Adamu Aliyu, revealed that the commission is currently tracking 60 projects across the state.
“We are here to track about 60 projects across Kaduna State with a total value of N21 billion. We started on Wednesday with the Kafanchan axis, where we tracked at least 21 projects.
“Now we are in Kaduna main town, Kabala area, focusing on projects such as solar-powered streetlights across the town,” Aminu said.
The ICPC team observed progress on some of the projects, but Aminu highlighted concerns over delays and execution challenges.
“Generally, on the solar project, we have seen a level of execution. However, we discovered certain shortcomings. This is a project that touches people’s lives, and we will ensure its completion,” he added.
Aminu stressed that contractors who fail to deliver on their obligations will be held accountable.
“There is no contractor that is going to be skipped. They cannot collect government money and abandon projects. The era of abandoned projects is over. We have clear directives and support to hold defaulters accountable,” he warned.
The delay in completing certain projects, particularly the solar-powered streetlights, has affected the intended impact on communities, Aminu noted.
“These projects are vital to improving livelihoods in Kaduna State. If completed last year as planned, they would have made a significant difference by now,” he said.
The ICPC announced that the next phase of the exercise would focus on taking action against contractors who fail to execute their projects.
The commission reiterated its commitment to ensuring that public funds translate into tangible benefits for citizens.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has rejected the outcome of the Ondo State governorship election, accusing the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of electoral malpractice, including vote-buying and result manipulation.
This was disclosed during a meeting of the PDP Governors’ Forum on Saturday in Jos, Plateau State.
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The forum, chaired by Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed, criticized the conduct of the election, which saw APC’s Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa secure a landslide victory for another four-year term in Alagbaka, Akure.
“We are still reviewing documents from the Ondo election, where the APC openly bought votes and manipulated results,” Mohammed said.
He urged the judiciary to “save Nigerian democracy” and called on the National Assembly to strengthen electoral laws to prevent what he described as “institutional sabotage of the people’s will.”
The PDP governors also condemned the September governorship election in Edo State, describing it as a “rape of democracy.”
The forum accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of colluding with the APC to declare its candidate the winner despite claims that the PDP candidate, Asue Ighodalo, had secured the majority of lawful votes.
“INEC blatantly manipulated the results in favor of the APC candidate. This undermines the credibility of our electoral process,” Mohammed said.
Beyond electoral grievances, the governors urged the PDP’s National Working Committee (NWC) to convene a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting by February 2025.
They emphasized the need for broader consultations with stakeholders to resolve the party’s internal leadership crisis and strengthen its position as the main opposition party.
The forum reiterated its commitment to democratic values and vowed to push for electoral reforms that would restore public confidence in Nigeria’s electoral process.
The Ondo governorship election has sparked a renewed call for transparency in the country’s electoral system, with the PDP vowing to challenge what it views as a subversion of democracy.
Following his observations that ‘the momentum was strong’ Matt Gaetz whom 47th POTUS elect, Donald Trump nominated for Attorney General has withdrawn.
Biztellers reports that this follows his meeting with Senate and the feedback, which included two women, represented by their attorneys, who accused him of having paid for sex.
Consequently, Gaetz placed on record his full commitment to seeing “that Donald J. Trump is the most successful President in history.”
His withdrawal according his statement on micro-blogging site, X, was based on his conviction that “There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle”.
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In is view, “Trump’s DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1”.
Gaetz wrote, “I had excellent meetings with Senators yesterday. I appreciate their thoughtful feedback – and the incredible support of so many. While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition. There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General. Trump’s DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1.
“I remain fully committed to see that Donald J. Trump is the most successful President in history. I will forever be honored that President Trump nominated me to lead the Department of Justice and I’m certain he will Save America.”
His backers have promptly encouraged to take his seat in the House of Representatives, having been elected to the house under the flag of the Republicans to represent Florida.
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