Politics

Abia South: Ikpeazu calls for nullification of Abaribe’s victory

Published

7 months ago

March 1, 2023

Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia has called for the nullification of the declaration of Sen. Enyinnaya Abaribe as the winner of Abia South Senatorial elections of Feb. 25.

Ikpeazu, who is the Abia South senatorial districts candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Feb. 25 election, also faulted Independent National Electoral Commission’s, (INEC) declaration of Sen. Abaribe as winner of the election.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Abaribe contested the election under All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), and according to INEC, he scored the highest votes in the election in which 108 polling units could not vote.

The Returning Officer of the election, Prof Georgina Ugwuanyi had early morning on Tuesday declared the election inconclusive but returned in the afternoon to announce winners.

Ikpeazu, who spoke through the PDP senatorial election collation agent, Mr Charles Esonu, noted that there were over 200, 000 voters in the 108 polling units where election did not hold.

Ikpeazu said that the affected areas had a cumulative voter population of over 200, 000 which was more than the votes scored by the parties.

He described the declaration as a “charade and brazen display of partiality” because the number of voters who did not vote were more than the total votes scored by the parties.

He expressed shock that the INEC Returning Officer still went ahead despite protests from party agents, to declare winners in an inconclusive election which INEC had earlier scheduled a date for.

Ikpeazu said that over 50,000 PDP supporters could not vote due to non provision and late arrival of electoral materials in most of the polling units in the six local government areas of the constituency.

He also alleged that complaints by the PDP agents over the manipulation of election results and bypass of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) were ignored by INEC officials.

He described INEC’s action as “irrational, biased, undemocratic” and demanded an urgent nullification of the declaration of a winner in an inconclusive election.

Ikpeazu also called for the immediate rescheduling of election in the 108 polling units in the constituency where voting could not hold.

Feature

Dollar is now the underground currency of Nigeria’s economy – Peter Obi

Published

22 hours ago

October 2, 2023

Gift Oyekunmi

Businessman and presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi, has lamented the ‘dollarisation’ of the Nigerian economy.

According to Peter Obi, the naira has faded in significance as the use of the dollar in the country has led to unproductivity.

“Dollar has become the underground currency of our economy. It shouldn’t be. We have a currency called the naira. All the things people use dollars to do that are not productive should be removed.’ Obi told Arise TV on Monday, October 2.

“I can assure you that when you remove it, it can strengthen the currency. Today, even when you want to do party primaries, people share dollars. That is not our currency.

“There should be a stiff penalty in dealing with the issue. If people earn dollars legitimately, let them spend it the way they want. However, it has now become a means of corruption and criminality in our system.”

Peter Obi added that the country should work more on exports to strengthen the currency.

Headline

Tribunal upholds Gov. Alia’s election

Published

1 week ago

September 23, 2023

Alero Danjuma

The Benue State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Makurdi on Saturday upheld the victory of Gov. Hyacinth Alia of the APC in the March 18 Governorship Election.

Delivering the judgment, the Chairman of the panel, Justice Ibrahim Karaye, held that the tribunal lacked jurisdiction to entertain pre election issues raised by the petitioners, Titus Uba and PDP.

Karaye, who read the unanimous judgment, stated that only the Federal High Court had the exclusive jurisdiction to entertain issues bordering on pre-election matters.

He further said the petitioners’ case was also an abuse of court processes because the same case was filed by the petitioners before the Federal High Court Abuja Division and its judgment was not challenged by the petitioners.

He said the petitioners lacked locus standi to challenge the nomination of the 2nd and 3rd respondents by the 4th respondent since they were not members of the 4th respondent.

Justice Karaye further said that the petitioners failed to prove their allegations of forgery against the 3rd respondent before the tribunal.

He said the 2nd and 3rd respondents were qualified to contest the March 18 Governorship Election and therefore, dismissed the case.

The petitioners, Titus Uba and the PDP, had dragged the respondents, INEC, Hyacinth Alia, Dr Sam Ode, and the APC before the tribunal, challenging their declaration by the INEC.

The petitioners argued that the 2nd and 3rd respondents, Gov Alia and Dr Ode, were at the time of contesting the election, not qualified to contest the March 18 Governorship Election.

They averred that the 4th respondent – the APC – did not follow the provisions of the law in the nomination of the governorship and deputy governorship candidates.

They also alleged that the 3rd respondent had presented a forged certificate to the 1st respondent, INEC, therefore, should be disqualified.

They, therefore, prayed among other things, for the nullification of their election and declare the petitioners as winners of the election, having scored second highest lawful votes.

The also contended that having not qualified to contest the election, their votes should be declared invalid and certificates earlier issued to them by INEC be withdrawn.

NAN reports that the petitioners in the suit did not challenge the result of the March 18 Benue Governorship Election but qualifications of the candidates.

However, the respondents in their counter arguments, urged the tribunal to dismiss the suit in its entirety as it was an abuse of court processes.

The respondents stated that the Federal High Court Abuja Division, had before the election, delivered judgment on the same matter which was filed by the petitioners but they did not appeal the judgment till date.

They also said that the issues raised were all pre election matter and only the Federal High Court had the exclusive jurisdiction to entertain same.

The 2nd and 3rd respondents clearly stated that since the prayers sought by the petitioners were all pre-election matters, the petitioners case was status bar and should be struck out.

They said the petitioners lacked locus standi to challenge the nomination of candidates of other political parties as they were mere meddlesome interlopers.