Headlines
APC, INEC Oppose LP’s Request to Quiz IT Experts
The Labour Party and its presidential candidate in the February 25 election, Peter Obi, on Thursday evening, sought an order of the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja to interrogate the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The LP and Obi, among other things, are seeking details relating to the information and communication technology experts used by INEC in the conduct of the election.
The LP and Obi are challenging the declaration by INEC that Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress won the election.
In two separate motions argued by their lawyer, Patrick Ikweto (SAN), Obi posed 12 questions to be forwarded to INEC as part of efforts to support their petition which questioned the integrity of the election.
The petitioners averred that the interrogatory application if acceded to, would assist them in solidifying their claims that the conduct of the election was flawed.
However, counsel for INEC, Kemi Pinhero (SAN), objected to the move, on the grounds that the application was brought outside the time specified and allowed by law.
He contended that moving the application outside the pre-hearing session had robbed the court of jurisdiction to hear it.
Also, both the counsel for Tinubu, Akin Olujimi (SAN) and counsel for the APC, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), opposed the request.
The presiding Justice, Haruna Tsammani, reserved the ruling on the interrogatory applications by Obi and his party.
He also adjourned further hearing in the petition till Friday (today).
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, on Thursday, called their first subpoenaed witness at the Presidential Election Petition Court despite vehement objection by the respondents.
The witness, Friday Egwuma, who was an INEC ad hoc staff, told the court that he served as Presiding Officer at Polling Unit 17, Aba North in Abia State.
Egwuma told the court that he experienced technical glitches at the point of uploading the captured presidential results to the INEC Results Viewing Portal.
He alleged that the results could not be electronically transmitted in real-time after capturing it on the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System.
He pointed out that the difficulty he encountered was only in relation to the presidential results as other results pertaining to the senatorial and House of Representatives elections were electronically transmitted to the portal seamlessly.
He, however, noted that there was an option to use an offline mode in such a situation.
Earlier on, before the witness testified the respondents had opposed the admissibility of his deposition.
The court reserved ruling on the objection until final judgment.
The Punch
The first hostages freed from Gaza under a long-awaited ceasefire agreement are back in Israel. The news sparked jubilant scenes in Tel Aviv where large crowds gathered ahead of their release.
The three freed Israeli hostages – the first of 33 to be released over the next six weeks – are Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari. They are said to be in good health and are receiving treatment at a medical center in Tel Aviv.
In exchange, 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees are set to be released by Israel from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military withdrew from several locations in southern and northern Gaza after the truce began earlier on Sunday, an Israeli military official told CNN.
Displaced Gazans have started returning to their homes, while the aid trucks laden with much-needed supplies have crossed into Gaza. Here’s what we know about how the ceasefire deal will work.
Hamas, despite suffering devastating losses, is framing the Gaza ceasefire agreement as a victory for itself, and a failure for Israel.
One of Hamas’ main goals for taking some 250 people during its brazen October 7, 2023, attack on Israel was to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. As Israel pounded Gaza in response, Hamas vowed not to return the hostages until Israel withdrew its forces from the enclave, permanently ended the war, and allowed for rebuilding.
Source: CNN
The leader of UK’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has said she doesn’t want Britain to be like Nigeria that is plagued by “terrible governments.”
Speaking on Thursday at an event organised by Onward, a British think tank producing research on economic and social issues, Badenoch expressed fears that Britain may become like Nigeria if the system is not reformed.
“And why does this matter so much to me? It’s because I know what it is like to have something and then to lose it,” Badenoch told the audience.
“I don’t want Britain to lose what it has.
“I grew up in a poor country and watched my relatively wealthy family become poorer and poorer, despite working harder and harder as their money disappeared with inflation.
“I came back to the UK aged 16 with my father’s last £100 in the hope of a better life.
“So I have lived with the consequences of terrible governments that destroy lives, and I never, ever want it to happen here.”
Badenoch has been in the news of late after she dissociated herself from Nigeria, saying she has nothing to do with the Islamic northern region.
She also accused the Nigeria Police of robbing citizens instead of protecting them.
She said: “My experience with the Nigeria Police was very negative. Coming to the UK, my experience with the British Police was very positive.
“The police in Nigeria will rob us (laughter). When people say I have this bad experience with the police because I’m black, I say well…I remember the police stole my brother’s shoe and his watch.”
