Politics

NBA seeks exclusion of corrupt INEC staff from guber polls

Published

7 months ago

March 8, 2023

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to exclude its staff engaged in malpractices during the Feb. 25 elections from participating in the March 11 governorship and State assemblies elections.

The NBA made the call on Wednesday in Abuja in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Akorede Habeeb-Lawal.

The association also advised INEC to fix all bugs or glitches that affected the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines used during the presidential and national assembly elections.

“The NBA urges INEC to ensure that all bugs or glitches in the BVAS machines and other election technology are fixed and improved.

“All INEC staff, including collation and returning officers, with proven cases of misconduct in the Feb. 25 elections should be excluded from the March 11elections,“it said.

The association urged the Inspector-General of Police to ensure the timely deployment of police officers on duty for the March 11 elections.

It also called on political parties to educate their members and supporters on the need to eschew all forms of actions in violation of the Electoral Act.

The NBA commended Nigerians for their resilience and perseverance in carrying out their civic duties, during the presidential and national assembly elections.

The association encouraged citizens to show same values and resolve in the upcoming governorship and state houses of assembly elections.

The NBA urged INEC to address some major challenges observed during the Feb. 25 presidential and national assembly elections.

“ These include the late arrival of INEC officials and ballot materials at the polling stations, malfunctioning BVAS machines, limited or non-transmission of the results from the polling units to the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV),“it said.

Other challenges are insecurity at some polling units, violent attacks on voters and officials, voter intimidation, snatching and destruction of among others.

The association said that findings from their observers indicated that, only a quarter of the electorate representing 27.1 per cent were impressed with the conduct of the elections.

“The majority of the voters representing 64.6 per cent said they are somewhat satisfied,“it said.

It also said its observers found out that only 8.2 per cent of the electorate rated the election poor or very poor.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that NBA Election Working Group deployed over 1,000 INEC accredited observers, drawn from 128 branches of the association to monitor elections across the 36 states and the FCT.

Feature

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

Published

1 day 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.