News

JUST IN: Appeal Court Reverses Sack Of Nasarawa State Gov Sule

Published

5 months ago

November 23, 2023

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, on Thursday reversed the nullification of the election of Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State.

The appellate court, in a unanimous decision by a three-member panel of justices, voided the verdict of the Nasarawa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which sacked Governor Sule of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

In the lead verdict that was delivered by Justice Uchechukwu Onuemenam, the court held that evidence before it established that the tribunal relied on legally inadmissible evidence to declare the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, David Ombugadu, as the valid winner of the governorship election that was held in the state on March 18.

According to the appellate court, the tribunal wrongly relied on the evidence of eight of the witnesses that were produced by the PDP candidate, whose statements on oath were not front-loaded alongside the petition.

It stressed that Section 285(5) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, Section 132(7) of the Electoral Act 2022, and Paragraphs 4(5) (6) and 14(2) of the First Schedule to the Electoral Act, every written statement on oath must be filed alongside the petition within the statutorily allocated time.

“Where a trial court admitted and acted on illegally inadmissible evidence, it is the duty of the appellate court to ensure that such illegally inadmissible evidence is expunged.

“A court of law is only allowed to act on legally admissible evidence. If documents are unlawfully allowed by a trial court, the appellate court is duty-bound to exclude the documents and discountenance the evidence.”

The appellate court proceeded to strike out all the evidence and exhibits that were tendered before the tribunal by the eight witnesses.

It held that the evidence of 12 remaining witnesses who testified for the PDP candidate was not sufficient to sustain the judgment of the tribunal.

More so, the appellate court held that the tribunal was in error when it deducted a total of 1,868 votes that were credited to Governor Sule on the premise that over-voting occurred in four polling units.

It held that the tribunal was wrong in its decision since the petitioners did not provide the necessary documents needed to prove over-voting.

The court noted that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, machines, and other electoral documents were merely dumped on the tribunal without any demonstration to show how the over-voting occurred.

It faulted the tribunal for summarily dismissing the evidence of witnesses that testified for the APC candidate, describing the action as “perverse”, adding that none of the witnesses that were called by the PDP and its candidate gave valid evidence that the tribunal could have acted on.

It held that the tribunal acted wrongly when it recomputed votes and made the declaration that returned the PDP candidate as the winner of the election.

News

UNIBEN Ex-deputy VC Is Dead

Published

41 mins ago

April 27, 2024

Editor

A Former Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) of the University of Benin, Edo State, Prof. Pius Iribhogbe, is dead.

Until his demise, Prof. Iribhogbe was also a consultant trauma surgeon, head of the Department of Surgery and coordinator of the School of Paramedics at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital.

The academic scholar passed on in Saudi Arabia.

UNIBEN’s Public Relations Officer, Dr Benedicta Ehanire, who confirmed the surgeon’s death said the school was yet to issue a statement.

News

Residents Displaced As Rainstorms Wreck Havoc In Edo Community

Published

2 hours ago

April 27, 2024

Editor

Lampese community in Akoko-Edo Local Government Area of Edo State has been ravaged by rainstorms.

The incident was said to have occurred Friday as a result of a heavy downpour which affected many houses including the electricity transformer.

An eyewitness account described the incident as very unfortunate following the level of devastation.

Residents of the community have therefore called on the state and local governments and all concerned authorities to come to their rescue with a view to proffering urgent solutions and resettling displaced residents.

Reacting to the situation, the local government council chairman, Tajudeen Suleman, who said he was far away in Enugu State for an official engagement, disclosed that he has mobilised the council officials to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment immediately he got the news, promising to visit victims as soon as he returns today.

He also said he was in touch with the state deputy governor, Marvellous Omobayo and the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) on moves to fast track the process of resettling affected persons.

News

Lawyer Drags NERC, AGF, Minister Of Power To Court Over Electricity Tariff Hike

Published

3 hours ago

April 27, 2024

Editor

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Joe Agi, has taken legal action against the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and Abuja Electricity Distribution (AEDC) for allegedly raising his electricity tariff by 230 per cent.

The case is currently being heard by Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja, where Agi is seeking the protection of his fundamental rights.

In his application, the senior lawyer asks the court to declare that the new tariffs and the hours of supply violate the Electricity Act of 2023 and Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution.

The applications list NERC, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu; the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi, and AEDC as the first to fourth respondents, respectively.

In the attached affidavit submitted with the lawsuit, the attorney stated that he purchased 682kwh of utility from the AEDC on both March 23 and April 3, for a total of N50,000.

Furthermore, Agi declared that on April 6, he made another N50,000 utility purchase, but this time the value of the purchase was reduced to 206.7kwh.

He expressed his concern regarding this unexpected change but later discovered that the NERC and AEDC had implemented a system known as “bands” in the country. Under this system, NERC issued the April 2024 Supplementary Order to the Multi-Year Tariff Order 2024.

“That from the tariffs shared, the 1st and 4th respondents (NERC and AEDC) increased my tariffs by 230%, whereas others had theirs increased by 236%,177% and some others 0% in Nigeria.

“The tariffs are discriminatory and the hours of supply are discriminatory between consumers and consumer categories and should be cancelled,” the SAN prayed the court.

Agi criticized the statement made by NERC’s chairman, Musiliu Oseni, on April 1st, where he stated that “only 15% of the electricity consumers in the country who consume 40% of the nation’s electricity are the ones affected.”

In Agi’s view, this directive creates a distinction between the 15% and the remaining 85% of consumers in Nigeria, which he considers discriminatory.

He argued that the use of US Dollars to determine tariffs in Nigeria is unnecessary and goes against public policy.

Consequently, the applicant requested “a declaration that the NERC Supplementary Order to the MYTO 2024 is discriminatory, unconstitutional, and a clear violation of the applicant’s right to freedom from discrimination as guaranteed under Section 116 (2) (e) of the Electricity Act, 2023, and Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution (As Amended).”

He also stated that it violates the African Charter on Human and Peoples Right (Ratification and Enforcement) Act Cap A9 Vol. 1LEN 2004.

Agi also requested the court to declare that the use of the United States of American dollar exchange rate to determine the cost of tariffs in Nigeria is illegal, unconstitutional, and against public policy. Additionally, he sought an order to invalidate the NERC Supplementary Order to the MYTO 2024, as it is discriminatory and a clear violation of his right to freedom from discrimination as protected by the law.

However, no hearing date has been scheduled for this matter.

Recall that on April 3, NERC increased the electricity tariff for customers in the Band A category, who receive 20 hours of power supply daily, from N66/kWh to N225/kWh.