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Tribunal: Tinubu Kicks As Court Admits INEC’s Exhibit Containing His Bio-data

Published

2 years ago

June 16, 2023

Following a summon issued on him, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu, yesterday produced before the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, sitting in Abuja, a document that contained President Bola Tinubu’s age.

The document, known as Form EC9, was an affidavit of personal particulars which President Tinubu submitted to the INEC in aid of his qualification to contest the 2023 presidential election.

Former Vice President and candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who is challenging the outcome of the presidential election that held on February 25, had in an application filed through his legal team, persuaded the court to summon the INEC boss to, among other exhibits he requested for, produce the document containing Tinubu’s bio-data.

Atiku, in a joint petition filed with his party, insisted that President Tinubu had “demonstrated inconsistency as to his actual date of birth, secondary schools he attended (Government College Ibadan); his state of origin, gender, actual name; certificates evidencing universities attended (Chicago State University).

“The purported degree Certificate of the 2nd Respondent allegedly acquired at the Chicago State University did not belong to him but to a female (F) described as “F” in the Certificate bearing the name Bola Tinubu.

“The 2nd Respondent did not disclose to the 1st Respondent (INEC) his voluntary acquisition of the citizenship of Republic of Guinea with Guinean Passport No. D00001551, in addition to his Nigerian citizenship. The 2nd Respondent is hereby given notice to produce the original copies of his said two passports.’’

Sequel to an application by the petitioners, the Justice Haruna Tsammani-led five-member panel on May 26, issued a subpoena for the INEC chairman to produce 11 sets of exhibits.

Consequently, at the resumed proceedings in the case yesterday, though Prof. Yakubu was not physically present in court, he sent a senior official of the commission to tender four of the requested exhibits.

His representative, Mrs. Moronkeji Tairu, told the court that she is a Deputy Director, Certification & Complaints, Legal Drafting and Clearance Department at the INEC headquarters in Abuja.

Specifically, Mrs. Tairu, who mounted the witness box, told the court that she brought Forms EC8D series, which were results of the presidential election from the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja.

The second exhibit she tendered before the court was a Form EC8D(A), which was the final declaration of result of the presidential election by INEC.

Prof. Yakubu’s representative further tendered reports of extracts from the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, machines in respect of Rivers State, as well as certified copies of accreditation data from the BVAS, relating to the 36 states of the federation and the FCT.

Lastly, the witness tendered the certified true copy of the Form EC9 President Tinubu submitted to INEC and it was admitted in evidence and marked as Exhibit PAJ 40.

Mrs. Tairu told the court that owing to the bulky nature of some of the requested documents, the commission extracted 10 copies from each state and packaged the remaining details in flash drives she also handed over to the panel.

Meanwhile, President Tinubu, through his team of lawyers, led by Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, opposed the admissibility of all the documents in evidence.

The All Progressives Congress, APC, through its legal team, led by Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, equally raised its objection against all the exhibits tendered by representative of the INEC chairman.

The Respondents said they would in their final written address, adduce reasons behind their objections.

On its part, INEC, through its lead counsel, Mr. Abubakar Mahmood, SAN, said though it was not opposed to the admissibility of the documents which it described as irrelevant to the case before the court, it, however, contended that the petitioners did not pay the necessary fees.

Responding, the petitioners’ lead counsel, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, told the court that contrary to the position of INEC’s lawyer, his clients, paid N6.7million for the certification of all the documents they requested from INEC.

Earlier in the proceedings, a statistician, Mr. Samuel Oduntan, who testified as the 21st witness in the matter, told the court that based on his analysis, Atiku and the PDP won the presidential election.

The witness told the court that he inspected and analysed electoral materials used for conduct of the election, especially the Forms EC8A, which were polling unit results in 26 states of the federation.

Answering questions under cross-examination, the statistician said he carried out quality checks before he reached conclusions on data he presented in the reports he tendered in evidence before the court.

While being cross examined by President Tinubu’s lawyer, Chief Olanipekun, SAN, the witness said he had in the past analysed electoral materials in many election-related disputes.

He, however, admitted that no pictorial evidence of the electoral materials he inspected at INEC’s headquarters at the behest of Atiku and the PDP was attached to his report before the court.

According to the witness, the process of his analysis involved the deduction of votes credited to the three major political parties, in polling units where the election was marred by irregularities.

He told the court that he was not equally satisfied with results from both Adamawa and Kano states, which were won by the PDP and the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, adding that he had in his report, also called for deduction of “irregularities votes” in the states Labour Party won.

Answering questions from APC’s lawyer, Prince Fagbemi, SAN, the witness, said: “I have been following INEC’s activities since 1999. I am aware that the chairman of INEC had in the buildup to the 2023 general elections, stated that results of the election would be electronically transmitted and in real time.

“I, however, did not hear at any time before the election when he said that owing to the issue of security and cash crunch, the commission could no longer transmit results of the election electronically.”

Asked if he extracted information from the BVAS machines before packaging his report, the witness, said: “As at the time of preparing the report, the BVAS machines had already been reconfigured for another round of elections. So they were not available for me to extract information from them.

“I am aware that the laid down rule was that the BVAS machines were to be used for the accreditation of voters,” he added.

He told the court that from results of 26 states he analysed with his team, comprising six members, Atiku secured majority votes in 12 states.

“I was the only one that signed the report because I was the team leader,” he added.

However, the APC drew the attention of the court to the fact that while the witness in a page in his report, claimed he analysed results in 28 states, on another page, he claimed the analysis was with respect to all the 36 states of the federation.

The Justice Tsammani-led panel adjourned further hearing on the case till today.
VANGUARD

Headline

South Korea, Japan Protest China, Russia Aircraft Incursions

Published

3 days ago

December 10, 2025

Editor

South Korea and Japan reacted furiously on Wednesday after Chinese and Russian military aircraft conducted joint patrols around the two countries, with both Seoul and Tokyo scrambling jets.

South Korea said it had protested with representatives of China and Russia, while Japan said it had conveyed its “serious concerns” over national security.

According to Tokyo, two Russian Tu-95 nuclear-capable bombers on Tuesday flew from the Sea of Japan to rendezvous with two Chinese H-6 bombers in the East China Sea, then conducted a joint flight around the country.

The incident comes as Japan is locked in a dispute with China over comments Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made about Taiwan.

The bombers’ joint flights were “clearly intended as a show of force against our nation, Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi wrote on X Wednesday.

Top government spokesman Minoru Kihara said that Tokyo had “conveyed to both China and Russia our serious concerns over our national security through diplomatic channels”.

Seoul said Tuesday the Russian and Chinese warplanes entered its air defence zone and that a complaint had been lodged with the defence attaches of both countries in the South Korean capital.

“Our military will continue to respond actively to the activities of neighbouring countries’ aircraft within the KADIZ in compliance with international law,” said Lee Kwang-suk, director general of the International Policy Bureau at Seoul’s defence ministry, referring to the Korea Air Defence Identification Zone.

South Korea also said it deployed “fighter jets to take tactical measures in preparation for any contingencies” in response to the Chinese and Russian incursion into the KADIZ.

The planes were spotted before they entered the air defence identification zone, defined as a broader area in which countries police aircraft for security reasons but which does not constitute their airspace.

Japan’s defence ministry also scrambled fighter jets to intercept the warplanes.

Beijing later Tuesday confirmed it had organised drills with Russia’s military according to “annual cooperation plans”.

Moscow also described it as a routine exercise, saying it lasted eight hours and that some foreign fighter jets followed the Russian and Chinese aircraft.

Since 2019, China and Russia have regularly flown military aircraft into South Korea’s air defence zone without prior notice, citing joint exercises.

In November last year, Seoul scrambled jets as five Chinese and six Russian military planes flew through its air defence zone.

Similar incidents occurred in June and December 2023, and in May and November 2022.

Meanwhile, Tokyo said Monday it had scrambled jets in response to repeated takeoff and landing exercises involving fighter jets and military helicopters from China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier as it cruised in international waters near Japan.

It also summoned Beijing’s ambassador after military aircraft from the Liaoning locked radar onto Japanese jets, the latest incident in the row ignited by Takaichi’s comments backing Taiwan.

Takaichi suggested last month that Japan would intervene militarily in any Chinese attack on the self-ruled island, which Beijing claims as its own and has not ruled out seizing by force.

AFP

Headline

Thousands Reported To Have Fled DR Congo Fighting As M23 Closes On Key City

Published

3 days ago

December 9, 2025

Editor

Fierce fighting rocked the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday as the Rwanda-backed M23 militia rapidly advanced towards the strategic city of Uvira, with tens of thousands of people fleeing over the nearby border into Burundi, sources said.

The armed group and its Rwandan allies were just a few kilometres (miles) north of Uvira, security and military sources told AFP.

The renewed violence undermined a peace agreement brokered by US President Donald Trump that Kinshasa and Kigali signed less than a week ago, on December 4.

Trump had boasted that the Rwanda-DRC conflict was one of eight he has ended since returning to power in America in January.

With the new fighting, more than 30,000 people have fled the area around Uvira for Burundi in the space of a week, a UN source and a Burundian administrative source told AFP.

The Burundian source told AFP on condition of anonymity he had recorded more than 8,000 daily arrivals over the past two days, and 30,000 arrivals in one week. A source in the UN refugee agency confirmed the figure.

The Rwanda-backed M23 offensive comes nearly a year after the group seized control of Goma and Bukavu, the two largest cities in eastern DRC, a strategic region rich in natural resources and plagued by conflict for 30 years.

Local people described a state of growing panic as bombardments struck the hills above Uvira, a city of several hundred thousand residents.

“Three bombs have just exploded in the hills. It’s every man for himself,” said one resident reached by telephone.

“We are all under the beds in Uvira — that’s the reality,” another resident said, while a representative of civil society who would not give their name described fighting on the city’s outskirts.

Fighting was also reported in Runingo, another small locality some 20 kilometres (12 miles) from Uvira, as the M23 and the Rwandan army closed in.

Burundi views the prospect of Uvira falling to Rwanda-backed forces as an existential threat, given that it sits across Lake Tanganyika from Burundi’s economic capital Bujumbura.

The city is the main sizeable locality in the area yet to fall to the M23 and its capture would essentially cut off the zone from DRC control.

Burundi deployed about 10,000 soldiers to eastern DRC in October 2023 as part of a military cooperation agreement, and security sources say reinforcements have since taken that presence to around 18,000 men.

The M23 and Rwandan forces launched their Uvira offensive on December 1.

Rich in natural resources, eastern DRC has been choked by successive conflicts for around three decades.

Violence in the region intensified early this year when M23 fighters seized the key eastern city of Goma in January, followed by Bukavu, capital of South Kivu province, a few weeks later.

– Regional risk –

The peace deal meant to quell the fighting was signed last Thursday in Washington by Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame, with Trump — who called it a “miracle” deal — also putting his signature to it.

The agreement includes an economic component intended to secure US supplies of critical minerals present in the region, as America seeks to challenge China’s dominance in the sector.

But even on the day of the signing, intense fighting took place in South Kivu, where Uvira is located, which included the bombing of houses and schools.

Witnesses and military sources in Uvira said that Congolese soldiers fleeing the fighting had arrived in the city overnight Monday and shops were looted at dawn.

Several hundred Congolese and Burundian soldiers had already fled to Burundi on Monday, according to military sources, since the M23 fighters embarked on their latest offensive from Kamanyola, some 70 kilometres north of Uvira.
Since the M23’s lightning offensive early this year, the front had largely stabilised over the past nine months.

Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye warned in February there was a danger of the conflict escalating into a broader regional war, a fear echoed by the United Nations.

Headline

‘Santa Claus’ Arrested For Possessing, Distributing Child Sexual Abuse Material

Published

3 days ago

December 9, 2025

Editor

A 64-year-old man from Hamilton Township has been arrested in the United States after investigators linked him to the possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material.

The suspect, identified as Mark Paulino, had been working as a “Santa for hire” at holiday events, a role that placed him in repeated contact with children.

Mercer County officials said the investigation began on 4 December when detectives were alerted to suspicious online activity involving the uploading of child pornography from a residence in Hamilton Township. The probe quickly identified Paulino, a retired elementary school teacher, as the person involved.

Police stated that Paulino had presented himself online as a retired teacher and had recently performed as Santa Claus for photographs and private, corporate, and organisational events. “Because this role involved direct, repeated contact with children, detectives worked around the clock to secure a search warrant,” authorities explained.

The warrant was executed on 5 December, during which police seized multiple items regarded as evidentiary. Paulino was taken into custody without incident and charged with possession and distribution of child sexual abuse materials, as well as endangering the welfare of a child.

Prosecutors have filed a motion to detain him pending trial. The investigation remains ongoing, and authorities have urged members of the public with relevant information to come forward.