News

Fate Of 7 Govs Uncertain

Published

4 years ago

January 9, 2020

Editor

Niger and Taraba states in the March 9, 2019 governorship polls while seven other governors await the determination of appeals challenging their elections.

The states whose governorship elections are yet to be decided are: Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Imo, Kano, Plateau and Sokoto.

A five-member panel of justices presided by Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour, yesterday dismissed the appeals before the Supreme Court and affirmed the elections of governors Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia, PDP); Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta, PDP); Abubakar Sani Bello (Niger, APC); and Darius Ishaku (Taraba, PDP).

In the first judgement on Abia delivered by Justice Adamu Galinje, the apex court held that the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Alex Otti, failed to prove the allegation of over-voting against Ikpeazu and the PDP by relying solely on the card reader.

He ruled that the position of the apex court has been that where documents are dumped on the court, it would not attach any probative value to it.

He added that the makers of Forms EC8As, which statements of results contained names of accredited voters and number of voters, should have been called to demonstrate them.

Ruling on the appeal filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) challenging the election of Governor Darius Ishaku of Taraba State, Justice Ejembi Eko held that a Federal High Court having disqualified its original candidate, the party had no flag bearer in the March 9 governorship election and ought not to have challenged the election.

Photo credit: dailytrust.com

Citing the provisions of sections 141 and 285 of the Electoral Act, Justice Eko said Professor Muhammad Sani Yahaya, who was presented by the party in Taraba, did not participate in all the processes of the election and is prohibited by law to be a successor to a candidate who was disqualified by a Federal High Court.

He explained that since the party proceeded to participate in the election despite the subsisting court order disqualifying its candidate, Abubakar Danladi, the votes cast for it are not valid but “wasted votes.”

“The appeal is mere academic exercise and will serve no useful purpose,” he said.

On the Niger appeal brought by PDP’s Umar Mohammed Nasko, Justice Uwani Abba-Aji dismissed the appeal on the grounds that the issue of non-qualification and false information against Governor Bello had become statute barred having been brought outside the 180 days allowed by law.

She said the apex court cannot interfere with the decision made by the Court of Appeal on the judgement of the Niger State Election Petitions Tribunal, adding that the Supreme Court has no jurisdiction on the matter.

In the appeal by Great Ogboru of APC against Governor Okowa of Delta, Justice Cletus Nweze ruled that the appellant dumped documents on the tribunal without demonstrating their relevance to his case.

He held that Ogboru relied too much on hearsay evidence in his allegations of over-voting and other electoral malpractices in the March 9, 2019 governorship election.

S/Court to decide petitions against 7 state govs

The Supreme Court is expected to decide within this month, the remaining seven cases including the appeal by former governor of Adamawa State, Jibrilla Bindow (APC) against Governor Ahmadu Fintiri (PDP); Bauchi appeal between former governor Mohammed Abubakar (APC) against Governor Bala Mohammed (PDP); and Benue appeal brought by Emmanuel Jime (APC) against Governor Samuel Ortom (PDP).

Other cases are those against Imo Governor Emeka Ihedioha (PDP) by the APC candidate, Hope Uzodimma.

There are other appeals by Action Alliance (AA) candidate, Uche Nwosu and the candidate of APGA Ifeanyi Ararume, all of them challenging the validity of the election of Ihedioha.

In Kano, there is the appeal by Abba Kabiru Yusuf (PDP) against Governor Umar Ganduje of Kano; the appeal by Jeremiah Useni (PDP) against Simon Lalong of Plateau State; and in Sokoto, the appeal was brought by APC’s Ahmed Aliyu challenging the election of Governor Aminu Tambuwal.

Other cases dispensed by the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court had earlier ruled on the appeals involving Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Kaduna, Katsina, Lagos, Nasarawa, Ogun, Oyo and Rivers affirming the election of the governors.

But the petitions filed against governors of Cross River, Enugu, Gombe, Kebbi and Kwara did not make it to the Supreme Court.

The governorship elections in Yobe and Jigawa did not attract any petition, while Kogi election, which held on November 16, 2019, is still at the tribunal.

Controversial appeals still at the S/Court

Adamawa

Governor Umar Fintiri will know his fate when the appeal by Bindow is heard at the Supreme Court.

At the tribunal, Bindow alleged over-voting and non-compliance with the Electoral Act as well as irregularities during the March 2019 re-run governorship election.

Fintiri polled 376,552 votes to defeat the incumbent Bindow who got 336,386 votes. Fintiri won by 40,166 votes.

Bauchi

The appeal filed by Abubakar who sought for a second term in Bauchi but was defeated by Mohammed is expected to deepen legal understanding on election litigation in Nigeria.

The ex-governor filed his petition after conceding defeat to his would-be successor.

INEC initially declared the election of March 9 inconclusive as Mohammed polled 469,512 votes while Abubakar, who was rounding up his first term scored, 465, 453 votes.

The re-run election held on March 23, 2019 in 36 polling units across 15 local government areas, including results of Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area, were stalled by a Federal High Court in Abuja on March 19, 2019 after the former governor and the APC brought an ex parte motion before it.

The court, however, lifted the ban on March 25 to allow the conclusion of the collation which returned the opposition Mohammed as winner.

Kano

The appeal by Yusuf against Governor Ganduje at the Supreme Court will be dealing with the controversial issue of inconclusive and supplementary elections in Nigeria.

Yusuf polled 1,014,353 votes against 987,829 votes by Ganduje before the election was declared inconclusive.

During the rerun, Ganduje won and was declared winner but Yusuf approached the election petition tribunal insisting that he won at first ballot. The verdict of the tribunal did not favour him but the PDP candidate decided to approach the apex court.

Sokoto

The appeal by APC’s Aliyu against Governor Tambuwal is another matter that will be of interest to Nigerians. Aliyu lost by the narrowest of margins of 512,002 votes to 511,661 votes he polled. This was after the collation was declared inconclusive on March 9, 2019, forcing a re-run on March 23, 2019 during which Tambuwal was returned as winner.

So far, the APC controls 20 states, PDP 15 and APGA 1.

(DAILY TRUST)

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News

NLC, TUC Give NERC Deadline To Reverse Hike In Electricity Tariff

Published

2 hours ago

May 7, 2024

Editor

Nigeria Labour Congress and its Trade Union Congress of Nigeria counterpart have given the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission till May 12 to withdraw the recent hike in electricity tariff or face unprecedented industrial action.

The ultimatum was issued in a joint letter to the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, CEO, dated May 3, 2024, and copied to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, the Ministers of Labour and Power and the electricity distribution companies, DisCos, among others, Joe Ajaero and Festus Osifo, President of NLC and its TUC’s counterpart.

The letter read, “This is to refer you to our May Day address where we expressed grave concerns regarding the recent announcement of an astronomical hike in electricity tariff across the nation from N65/kWh to N225/Kwh by your commission.

“We believe that this decision is not just morally reprehensible considering the difficulties Nigerians are faced with currently, but it blatantly disregards fundamental principles and statutory obligations.

“It is a slap in the face of justice and fairness, and we will not stand idly by as the masses and workers are subjected to such unacceptable exploitation.

“As the regulator of the electricity sector, it is imperative that your commission grasps the weight of its responsibilities. NERC’s role entails the regulation of electricity tariffs in the country, a duty outlined in explicit detail within the statutes governing the commission.

“Yet, with this recent tariff hike, which you have consented to, it is evident that the Commission has forsaken its duty and abandoned the people it was meant to protect to the fat cats in the electricity industry.

“We are miffed that NERC has become a tacit collaborator in crafting the oppressive pricing regime being perpetuated against Nigerian workers and people. The Laws that set up the commission mandate it to act as an unbiased ombudsman in the electricity industry. “Unfortunately, the reverse is the case as it has acted in cahoots with the Distribution Companies, DisCos, and the Generating Companies, GenCos, to promote their nefarious market practices.

“The announced tariff hike not only defies the established procedure mandated by law but also tramples upon the rights of Nigerian citizens. It is a flagrant abuse of power and a clear violation of the trust bestowed upon your commission by the Nigerian people. Such actions will not be tolerated, and we refuse to accept them as the new norm.

“Nigerian workers and masses led by the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, stand united in denouncing this injustice. We must defend the rights of our fellow citizens against exploitation.

“Therefore, we demand an immediate reversal of the hike in electricity tariff to N65/kwh, immediate cessation of the discriminatory practice of segregating electricity consumers into arbitrary bands, and restoration of the supremacy of the statutes governing the conduct of operators within the electricity industry.

“We give you until Sunday, May 12, 2024, to comply. Failure to do so will result in swift and decisive action on our part as we will not hesitate to mobilize our members and occupy all NERC’s offices and those of the DisCos nationwide until justice is served.”

On April 3, the NERC approved an increase in electricity tariff for customers under the Band A category to N225 per kWh — from N66.

The commission said customers under the classification are those who receive 20 hours of electricity supply daily.

News

SERAP Gives FG 48-hr Ultimatum To Reverse CBN’s 0.5% Cybersecurity Levy

Published

3 hours ago

May 7, 2024

Editor

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project has issued a warning to the Federal Government to reverse the 0.5 per cent cybersecurity levy imposed by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

SERAP also threatened to deal in legal action against the government if it failed to reverse the levy within a 48-hour timeframe.

The non-governmental organisation stated this Tuesday via its Twitter handle, calling for the immediate reversal of what it regarded as levy ‘imposition’.

SERAP tweep @SERAPNigeria stated, “The Tinubu administration must immediately withdraw the grossly unlawful CBN directive to implement section 44 of the Cybercrime Act 2024, which imposes a 0.5% ‘cybersecurity levy’ on Nigerians.

“We’ll see in court if the directive is not withdrawn within 48 hours.”

The Central Bank of Nigeria has ordered banks operating in the country to start charging a cybersecurity levy on transactions.

A circular from the apex bank seen by Punch Online on Monday disclosed that the implementation of the levy would start two weeks from then.

The circular was directed to all commercial, merchant, non-interest and payment service banks, among others.

The circular revealed that it was a follow-up on an earlier letter dated June 25, 2018 (Ref: BPS/DIR/GEN/CIR/05/008) and October 5, 2018 (Ref: BSD/DIR/GEN/LAB/11/023), respectively, on compliance with the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) Act 2015.

News

JAMB Releases Results Of 531 Candidates

Published

4 hours ago

May 7, 2024

Editor

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has released additional 531 results of the recently conducted Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations taking the total number of results released to 1,842,897.

This information is contained in a statement by the Public Communication Advisor of the Board, Dr Fabian Benjamin on Tuesday in Abuja.

Benjamin said the Board had proceeded with the screening of over 64,000 withheld results due to cases of examination misconduct.

“In the course of the exercise, other cases of examination misconduct were also established to make a tally of 92 from the 81 initially discovered,” he said.

He further explained that the Board was also looking at cases of unverified candidates and would soon come up with a position.

He added that the attention of the Board had been drawn to some fallacious publications purporting that an unknown candidate, who did not sit for the Board’s 2024 UTME obtained scores.

Benjamin described this as fake, malicious and a calculated attempt to undermine the integrity of the Board while urging the public to disregard such publications.

He said that the publication which levels such a grievous allegation, has no details of the candidate for proper verification.

“The Board is not surprised as this is the season of mischief makers, who would want to deceive gullible candidates.

“The examination template of the Board is designed with the highest sense of responsibility and is not an allocation platform where scores are doled out to candidates.

“It is most unfortunate that anybody could even believe such narration or that the story could even gain traction given the Board’s integrity.

“This again has gone to further vindicate the Board’s stance that candidates should desist from disclosing their classified details to third parties,” he said.

He said that in investigating some of these allegations, the Board discovered that some of these mischief makers copied results sent to other candidates.

“They then edit the details sent to them and then parade this as emanating from the Board.

“The Board challenges any candidate, parent or anybody with such a claim to prove it wrong by coming forward with the details of such claims, and the phone number with which such results were conveyed,“ he said.

He said that this development would only propel the Board to further tighten the process of checking its results to make it more personalized.

Benjamin said it would be stringent when it should be a straightforward exercise.

“The Board reiterated that neither its results nor any of its processes have been compromised.

“Hence, it will continue to protect the integrity of its systems against such malicious actors, who are hell-bent on creating confusion where none existed,” he said.

Benjamin stated that the Board will add more features like registration numbers to the existing UTME result-checking process going forward, to make it extra difficult for anybody to edit.

He urged candidates to securely keep their details secure, noting that if they were found associating with any of these mischievous elements, they would be treated as collaborators.

The JAMB spokesman said that the method of checking the 2024 UTME remained to send UTMERESULT to 55019 or 66019 and not through any other process.

He, therefore, said the result at the moment is not on the Board’s website.

The Board last week released the results for the 2024 UTME but noted that about 64,000 results remained under investigation.