The High Court of Bayelsa State sitting in Yenagoa has issued an order restraining associates of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, from holding a mega rally in the South-South State pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.

The proposed rally was scheduled for Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, on April 12, 2025.

Hon. Justice I. A Uzakah granted the motion ex-parte in Suit No. BYHC/YHC/CV/133/2025 was filed by the state’s Attorney General, Biriyai Dambo (SAN).

“An order of the interim injunction is hereby made or granted restraining the 1st and 2nd Defendants, whether by themselves, their agents, associates, privies, representatives (or any person whatsoever acting at their behest), from conducting, convening, coordinating, engaging in, organizing, participating in, holding, hosting, or facilitating any political assembly, rally meeting, or gathering within Bayelsa State, for the purpose of solidarity, hosting, and celebrating the 2nd Defendant in Bayelsa State, pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice for Interlocutory Injunction,” the court order read.

The matter has been adjourned to April 11, 2025, for hearing.

The Minister of Works, Senator Dave Umahi on Thursday, said the closure of Independence Bridge in Lagos for urgent rehabilitation of the collapsed retaining wall was made without his knowledge or authorization.

Umahi said this while apologising to Lagos residents and President Bola Tinubu for the disruption caused by the sudden closure of the bridge on Wednesday.

Umahi who spoke when he toured the bridge in Lagos said: ” Unfortunately, when the bridge was to be closed, I was not informed. It is very unfortunate because for a bridge to be closed, especially in Lagos, as has been the tradition, I should be informed as the minister.

“We should also have studied the implication of it even in an emergency situation. We would have deployed emergency evaluation of the implication of closing the bridge.”

Umahi warned that controllers of works and engineers would face disciplinary action if such an incident would happen again.

“I use the opportunity to warn all controllers and engineers all over the country. Never you close a road or close any bridge without running through the permanent secretary, who will seek for permission from the honourable minister of works,” he said.

The minister acknowledged the efforts of Lagos State Government in managing traffic flow during the closure.

He also took responsibility for the error, saying: “I take responsibility for it, even though I did not order it, but every action by any staff of the ministry of works, I take responsibility for it.”

Umahi said that the closure, which caused significant traffic congestion, was avoidable.

He said: “If we were to do this properly, there would have been a different kind of method deployed and it wouldn’t have necessitated the total closure.”

According to him, even if closure was necessary, it would have been done in a way that it would take three days: Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and necessary remedial work would have been put in place.

“What we are doing now is to restore the bridge temporarily within the next three days. By Sunday, this place will be totally open.”

He added that a permanent solution would be implemented after a two-week assessment.

“Then, after two weeks, we will look at the settlements, and then we will take out three days to put the permanent structure. That is what we are going to do,” he said.

The minister emphasised the competence of the contractor handling the project, Build Well.

“Build Well is a reputable company, and they have been restoring a lot of failures on our bridges in Lagos, some of them 53 years old.

“Some bridges’ spans have been lifted, especially Eko Bridge, Marina Bridge, and even the Lagos-Ibadan Bridge. They are also intervening in all of them,” he added.

The minister also said that the design of the bridge would be varied to address the emergency situation.

He said: ” The design will be varied according to the emergency situation we have on ground, and the contractor is going to cooperate with us.”

He pledged to personally oversee the restoration efforts, saying, “I am not going until the bridge is fully restored by Sunday, we will work day and night to restore it, and then we will evaluate it.”

The bridge was initially closed on April 1 for essential maintenance and rehabilitation works, with the government planning to complete the repairs by May.

NAN

The Edo Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Abuja, on Wednesday, affirmed Senator Monday Okpebholo as the governor.

A three-member panel headed by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, dismissed the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Asue Ighodalo, against the outcome of the September 21, 2024, governorship election.

In its judgment, the panel ruled that the petitioners failed to call competent witnesses to prove the allegations of non-compliance with the Electoral Act.

‎‎In the lead judgment read by Justice Wilfred Kpochi, the Tribunal said non-compliance must be proven convincingly. It noted that the failure of the petitioners to call polling unit officers, presiding officers or even voters during the election proved fatal to their petition.

The Tribunal stated that most of the 19 witnesses called by the PDP merely gave hearsay evidence during the proceedings.

‎‎Justice Kpochi faulted what he termed as the PDP’s reliance on Section 137 of the Electoral Act to dump documents on the Tribunal. The Tribunal noted that it’s not for it to scrutinise documents tendered by the petitioners.

‎‎The Edo Tribunal further said the BVAS machines tendered by the petitioners remain dormant, as it’s not the duty of the Tribunal to access the data in the machines.

‎‎In the unanimous decision, the Tribunal thereby restated that to prove overvoting as alleged by Ighodalo and the PDP, there’s a need to tender the voters register, BVAS machines and polling unit results or Forms EC8A.

Following that, the Tribunal dismissed the petition of Asue Ighodalo, candidate of PDP for lacking merit.

‎‎INEC had declared that Okpebholo of the APC secured 291,667 votes to defeat Ighodalo who got 247,655 votes. PDP approached the Tribunal to challenge the results from 765 polling units of the 4,519 units in Edo State.

‎The PDP candidate faulted the outcome of the election on the grounds of non-compliance with the Electoral Act and the failure of Monday Okphebholo to secure a majority of the lawful votes cast. Putting that in context, the PDP governorship candidate alleged improper computation of votes by INEC, non-serialisation of electoral materials and over-voting.