Headlines
Atiku Defeated Buhari in Katsina, Claims PDP State Chairman
The Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in Katsina State, Sailisu Maijigiri, told the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal in Abuja, on Tuesday, that his party defeated President Muhammadu Buhari in the February 23, 2019 presidential election in the state.
The figures he however gave failed to tally with those his party and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, alluded to in their petition as the “true results” they obtained from the Independent National Electoral Commission’s server.
Maijigiri appeared before the five-man tribunal led by Justice Mohammed Garba, at the instance of the PDP and Atiku, who are by their petition challenging the victory of Buhari and his All Progressives Congress at the poll.
The petitioners, on Tuesday, presented 13 witnesses, in addition to the six they earlier called on Monday.
Testifying as the eighth petitioners’ witness, Maijigiri who served as the party’s collation agent for the presidential election in Katsina State, said the collation of the results of the poll carried out by his party in the state, showed that his party polled 905,000 to defeat Buhari and the APC whom he said scored 872,000 votes.
He said, “We (the PDP) won the election in Katsina State not the APC. The APC scored 872,000 and the PDP scored, 905,000.”
But the respondents’ lawyers pointed his attention to the claim by the petitioners in their petition conceding defeat to Buhari.
Asked if he was aware that the petitioners, according to the results they claimed to have obtained from INEC’s server, stated that in their petition that they polled 160,203 votes while Buhari scored 155,633 votes, he said, “The figures we have are the results that we collated in our state, and not the ones from the server.”
In the results officially declared by INEC, Buhari won his home state of Katsina with 1,232,133 to defeat Atiku who polled 308,056 votes.
Another agent of the PDP in Katsina State for the presidential election, Dan Abdusallam, who testified as the 10th petitioners’ witness at the tribunal , was also asked if he was aware that the petitioners conceded defeat to Buhari in Katsina State, he said, “It will never happen that Atiku would concede defeat to Buhari in Katsina.”
In his testimony, he alleged that the election was marred by over-voting in some polling units as the total votes cast outnumbered the number of accredited voters.
Two ad hoc electoral officers who served during the election also told the tribunal that they electronically transmitted results of the election into the INEC server.
The Punch
The Presidency has dismissed claims that Vice President Kashim Shettima’s recent comments were directed at the political situation in Rivers State or President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s constitutional decisions on the matter.
In a statement on Friday by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications (Office of the Vice President), Stanley Nkwocha, the Presidency described the reports as a “gross misrepresentation.”
The statement clarified that Vice President Shettima’s remarks at the public presentation of a book by former Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), were misconstrued by some online platforms and individuals.
“These reports have distorted the Vice President’s comments in pursuit of a mischievous agenda,” it stated.
“They twisted his account of how the administration of former President Jonathan considered removing him as Borno Governor during the insurgency to falsely link it with current events in Rivers State.”
The Vice President, who spoke at the launch of OPL 245: The Inside Story of the $1.3 Billion Oil Block in Abuja on Thursday, was said to have referenced the past solely to commend Adoke’s professionalism while in office, and to reflect on Nigeria’s constitutional evolution regarding federal and state relations.
“For the avoidance of doubt, President Tinubu did not remove Governor Fubara from office. The constitutional measure implemented was a suspension, not an outright removal.
“This action was taken in response to the grave political crisis in Rivers State at the time, with the governor facing a looming impeachment and the State Assembly complex under demolition,” Nkwocha clarified.
The Presidency insisted that the action taken by President Tinubu in declaring a state of emergency and suspending the Governor was fully in line with Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which authorises such measures when there is a breakdown of public order requiring extraordinary intervention.
According to the statement, the President’s proclamation invoking Section 305(2) was subsequently ratified by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in the National Assembly, confirming the legitimacy and constitutional propriety of the decision.
“The action of President Tinubu in suspending Mr. Fubara and others from exercising the functions of office averted the governor’s outright removal. To conflate suspension with removal is misleading,” the statement further noted.
Nkwocha also stressed that Vice President Shettima’s comments were delivered extemporaneously and intended to underline the importance of public accountability and historical documentation.
He referenced the Vice President’s mention of past public servants, including Adoke and former Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, to illustrate principled leadership.
“His remarks were not in any way a criticism of President Tinubu’s actions, which the Vice President and the entire administration fully support and stand by without reservation,” the spokesman stated.
The Vice President, the statement added, remains in “loyal concert” with President Tinubu and is committed to implementing all constitutional measures necessary to safeguard democracy and uphold order across the country.
Concluding, the Presidency called on media organisations and political actors to desist from misrepresenting public remarks for sensational or partisan purposes.
“We urge media organisations and political actors to desist from the destructive practice of wrenching statements from context in order to fabricate nonexistent conflicts,” Nkwocha said.
Headlines
Akpabio Relieves Natasha of Committee Chairmanship Position, Appoints Akwa Ibom Senator As Replacement
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has replaced suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, as the Chairman, Senate Committee on Diaspora/Non-Governmental Organisations.
In her place, Akpabio named Senator Bassey Aniekun Etim (Akwa Ibom -East).
The Senate President, who made the announcement on the floor in Abuja on Thursday, did not give any reasons.
The committee position had remained vacant since March when the Senate suspended the Kogi-Central Senatorial District lawmaker for six months for flouting the Senate’s rule on the seating arrangement and seat allocation.
The suspended lawmaker, at a point, chaired the Senate Committee on Local Content before Akpabio reassigned her to the Committee on Diaspora/NGO, shortly before she ran into trouble with the Senate over her conduct on seat allocation.
The Supreme Court has affirmed the 2024 governorship election victory of Governor Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC), dismissing the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Asuerinme Ighodalo.
In a unanimous decision by a five-member panel led by Justice Mohammed Garba, the apex court ruled that the appeal lacked merit. It upheld the earlier judgments of the Court of Appeal and the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which had both declared Okpebholo the validly elected governor.
