INEC Refused To Provide Documents We Asked For — LP, Peter Obi Allege

Published

2 years ago

June 20, 2023

Editor

The Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi on Monday alleged that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) refused to provide the documents they asked for.

Obi and the LP are petitioners in the petition marked CA/PEPC/03/2023 challenging the election of President Bola Tinubu.

Respondents are Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) president Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima and All Progressives Congress (APC).

The LP and Obi told the Presidential Election Petition Court that due to INEC ‘s refusal to provide them the documents they asked for, they can’t go on with their case.

Mr Jubrin Okutepa, counsel for the LP, told the court that all the documents his client asked for from INEC were not provided.

“We are bringing this to your notice for your intervention because we have done everything humanly possible.

“This afternoon, INEC released a few IreV reports from Lagos and Gombe.

“These documents were certified since May 29. We have severally written letters detailing the documents we needed in proof of our petition.

“We have paid for most of these documents,” he said.

He further informed the court that it appears that INEC was deliberately delaying proceedings.

Mr Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN counsel for INEC, told the court that he received a letter dated May 15 from the petitioners and have not received any other letter after that.

“All the documents that the subpoenaed witnesses are tendering were provided by INEC. We never denied the petitioners any document.

“I am a senior counsel and know the importance of this matter. They should stop this lamentation, ” he said.

Mr Wole Olanipakun, SAN counsel for Tinubu and Shettima promised to ensure that a meeting between senior counsel holds to address the issues raised.

The court urged them to come to a better understanding so that the proceeding can go on smoothly as they pledged in their spirit of cooperation.

The petitioners through their counsel, Patrick Ikweato, SAN brought their seventh witness (PW 7) to come and testify.

The subpoenaed witness, Loretta Ogah, is an architect with Amazon Web Services Incorporated (AWS)

At the point of adopting her witness statement on oath, the respondents objected.

Mahmoud told the court that the petitioners just served them with the documents.

“I will not be in the position to examine the witness today, I need to study the documents ” he said.

Olanipakun also objected to the adoption of the witness statement.

“We are not saying that the witness should not go on with her evidence,” he said.

The petitioners tendered the witness’s employment letter by Amazon and her resumé and were admitted in evidence.

Also admitted were six reports showing the health status of the AWS dashboard of cloud services in 33 regions and certificates of compliance.

Meanwhile, the five-member panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani adjourned until Tuesday for the cross-examination of the witness and further hearing of the petition.

NiMet Predicts Three-day Rain, Thunderstorms From Monday

Published

18 hours ago

September 21, 2025

Editor

JUST IN: Ooni Visits Olubadan-designate Ladoja In Ibadan

Published

23 hours ago

September 21, 2025

Editor

The Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi, on Sunday, paid a visit to the Olubadan designate, Rashidi Ladoja, at his Bodija private residence in Ibadan, Oyo State.

The PUNCH reports that Oba Ladoja will be installed as the 44th Olubadan on Friday, September 26, 2025, following the demise of the 43rd Olubadan, Oba Owolabi Olakulehin, who joined his ancestors on Monday, July 7, 2025, at the age of 90 years.

The two paramount rulers are currently exchanging pleasantries.

Details later…

News

JUST IN: FG Revokes 1,263 Mineral Licenses Over Unpaid Fees

Published

24 hours ago

September 21, 2025

Editor

The Federal Government through the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development has announced a fresh revocation of not less than 1,263 mineral licenses.

These licenses, which will now be deleted from the Electronic Mining Cadastral System portal of the Nigerian Mining Cadastral Office, include 584 exploration licenses, 65 mining leases, 144 quarry licenses, and 470 small-scale mining leases.

The minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, gave the revocation announcement in a statement issued by his special assistant on Media, Segun Tomori, on Sunday in Abuja.

The minister explained that the directive was issued due to the companies’ failure to comply with the requirement of paying their annual service fees.

The latest revocation brings the total mineral titles revoked under the current administration to 3, 794 including,619 mineral titles revoked for defaulting in paying annual service fees and 912 for dormancy last year.

By opening up the areas formerly covered by these licenses, the revocation is expected to spur fresh applications by investors looking for fresh opportunities.

The statement read, “Not less than 1,263 mineral licenses will be deleted from the portal of the Electronic Mining Cadastral system of the Nigerian Mining Cadastral Office, MCO, following their revocation by the Federal Government.

“These include 584 exploration licenses, 65 mining leases, 144 quarry licenses, and 470 small-scale mining leases.”

Approving the revocation following the recommendation of the MCO, the Minister said applying the law to keep speculators and unserious investors away from the mining sector would make way for diligent investors and grow the sector.

“The era of obtaining licences and keeping them in drawers for the highest bidder, while financially capable and industrious businessmen are complaining of access to good sites, is over.

“The annual service fee is the minimum evidence that you are interested in mining. You don’t have to wait for us to revoke the license because the law allows you to return the license if you change your mind,” the minister said.

He warned that the revocation does not mean the Federal Government has pardoned the annual service debt owed by licensees, adding that the list will be forwarded to the Economic & Financial Crimes Commission to ensure that debtors pay or face the wrath of the law.

“This is to encourage due diligence and emphasise the consequences of inundating the license application processes with speculative activities.”

In the recommendation to the minister, the Director-General of the MCO, Simon Nkom, disclosed that there were 1,957 initial defaulters when the MCO published the intention to revoke licences in the Federal Government Gazette on June 19, 2025.

He informed the minister that the gazette was distributed to MCO offices nationwide to sensitise licencees and encourage them to comply within 30 days in compliance with the Minerals and Mining Act 2007 and relevant regulations.

He observed that the delay in the final recommendation was due to complaints of several licensees who claimed to have paid to the Federal Government through Remita and had to be reconciled.

Earlier this month, the DG MCO had hinted that more mining licences would be revoked as part of ongoing efforts to sanitise the solid minerals sector and protect investors from fraudsters.

According to Nkom, the clean-up exercise, which covers expired, speculative, and inactive titles, is necessary to make room for genuine investors and ensure compliance with the law.

This is part of ongoing efforts at sanitising the sector since the inception of the Tinubu administration, and the salutary effects of the reforms are massive and manifest despite the attempts to push back by defaulters and their agents.