Politics

Why Obi Can’t Win At Supreme Court – Rivers LP Chairman

Published

2 years ago

October 22, 2023

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi, has been advised not to further spend resources to appeal the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, PEPT, at the Supreme Court against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

Obi’s legal team was blamed for not presenting adequate facts and evidences at the Tribunal which led to the party and the presidential candidate losing out at the Tribunal.

Speaking exclusively with Vanguard in Port Harcourt, Rivers state capital, the chairman of LP, Hon Dienye Pepple said Obi’s insistence to appeal the earlier judgment was a misplaced decision which will only amount to lose of time, energy and resources.

“Every party has the right to appeal. The truth is that and I must be realistic to you, I don’t see anything coming out of that case because base on the judgment that the Tribunal gave, if you take time to analyze it, you will see that our party did not present our case well.

“Yes, we have a lot of evidences but those evidences were not well registered at the tribunal. They just took the result sheets and dumped them somewhere there. The lawyers of Peter Obi and that of the labour Party did not do their jobs well. One thing about the court is that they don’t believe in social media noise or people’s opinion. There must be facts to prove your point.

“The legal team did not prove their case well. Going to the Supreme Court will be a job in futility. The party did not even pay its agents. Former LP national chairman, Julius Abule refused to release money to pay the agents. That was why the agents have refused to come out and testify. The legal team and Abule killed the chances of the party at the court”.

Pepple claimed that he had to personally pay the agents just to get the results sheets from them. “I had to personally paid the agents to release some result sheets to me which I took to Abuja. There is nothing to prove that our result was reduced. What figure did we score and what figure was it reduced to? What are the evidences that we won the election? Nobody wins election without releasing money to the agents and LP did not do so”.

The same way they handled the tribunal case is how they will handle the Supreme Court case. Nothing difference will happen. Is a white goose chase.

I believe that Obi won the election. But is a legal matter which has nothing to do with opinion. The law believes in evidence and facts.

Speaking on the forthcoming local government elections in March in Rivers state, Pepple said “we are thinking on how to win the forthcoming election in March, all things being equal. We are working towards clinching most of the seats as the third biggest party in Rivers state. We have one federal House of Reps member here in the state. We will have more councilors and chairmen in the council election”.

He called on the national leadership of the LP to begin preparations for the 2027 general elections where the party hopes to do better. “We have to go back and look at where we made mistakes so that in 2027 we can be well prepared. Obi’s coming into the Labour Party was a bit late. Now we have room to prepare very well”, he said.

Politics

Obasanjo, Atiku, Obi Meet In Abuja

Published

9 hours ago

January 10, 2026

Editor

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi met in Abuja on Saturday.

The trio were among prominent political figures who attended the Tambuwal Colloquium, titled “Leadership, Service and Statesmanship at 60,” held at the New Event Hall of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, in honour of the 60th birthday of former Sokoto State Governor and Senator, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal.

Atiku confirmed his presence at the event in a post on his X handle, stating that he had arrived at the venue for the colloquium organised to mark Tambuwal’s milestone birthday.

The former vice president also shared images of himself, Obasanjo and Obi at the event.

The event attracted political leaders, statesmen and stakeholders from across the country.

Politics

PANDEF Wades Into Rivers Crisis, Sets Up Seven-member Mediation Team

Published

14 hours ago

January 10, 2026

Editor

The Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) has intervened in the political crisis in Rivers State, calling on all actors to sheathe their swords and embrace peace in the interest of the development of the state and the region in general.

Expressing concern that the political disagreement involving the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Mr Nyesom Wike, Governor Siminalayi Fubara and the State House of Assembly might degenerate to total lawlessness, the Board and National Executive Committee of PANDEF set up a seven-member reconciliation team to resolve the issues.

The team, which is headed by a former Attorney-General of the Federation, Chief Kanu Agabi, has six other members.

They are Senator Obende Domingo (Vice Chairman); Chief Essien Nduese; Dr Timiebi Koripamo-Agari; Chief Mike Ejiofor; Mrs Nella Rabana-Andem, SAN; and Prince Godwin Okotie, the Deputy National Secretary of PANDEF, who will serve as the secretary of the team.

Politics

Wike: Why Removing Fubara Will Be Difficult – Ex-Commissioner

Published

2 days ago

January 9, 2026

Editor

A former Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communication, Austin Tam-George, has said that attempts to impeach Governor Siminalayi Fubara would be difficult to sustain, citing what he described as the governor’s performance record and the lack of concrete allegations against him.

Tam-George made the remarks on Thursday while speaking on Prime Time on Arise Television, arguing that the impeachment process being initiated against Fubara was to scuttle his chance for a second term.

According to him, Governor Fubara has continued to place the needs of the people at the centre of his administration, with visible interventions in rural development, housing, education and healthcare.

He said this, in his view, has made it difficult for opponents to justify moves to remove the governor from office.

Tam-George also called on the All Progressives Congress, APC, to intervene, arguing that the party should not allow what he described as the humiliation of a sitting governor.

He said: “Well, all I think he needs to do is to do exactly what he’s been doing from the beginning, which is to place the people at the center of gravity of his administration, prioritize the needs of the people, so that the people can see the direct impact of government action in their lives.

“And that’s exactly what he’s doing in terms of rural development, in terms of housing sector transformation, which I mentioned that he is doing the same in education sector and in health.

“So if he continues, if he persists in placing the people’s need at the center of focus of his administration, there is no way they are going to be able to justify this kind of shenanigans.

“Because, if you look very carefully at the so called articles of impeachment, you will see that there is no specificity in terms of any infraction by the governor or his deputy.

“What they are trying to do is to make sure they scuttle the administration so that the governor doesn’t then get to the point where he will be seeking a second term.

“Let me be clear, just two days ago, Nyesom Wike was at one of the local governments, and he made it clear in a moment of epiphany, he made it clear that, look, if Governor Fubara were to get a second term in office, it will amount to his own political burial.

“So all of these things that we are seeing the so called impeachment proceedings they’ve initiated, it’s actually an effort to try to scuttle the prospects of the governor coming for a second term, and I don’t see how they will succeed.

“If you look at the so called articles of impeachment, as I said, they lack specificity in terms of the kind of infraction that they allege that the governor has committed. He has done nothing wrong, and they will see how the process will play out.

“My sense, and in fact, if I were to advise the governor, my sense is that he should just maintain the people, retain the people at the center of gravity of his administration, meet their needs, run a transparent administration as he always done, and then the truth will come out, and he will be able to defend the administration.

“I think the the governing APC should also step in because they can’t possibly allow the governor of the office with probably one of the best performance records in the country to be humiliated by some of these members of the assembly.”