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We’ll Not Reveal Members of Supreme Court Panel for Atiku’s Case – Judiciary
The judiciary has resolved to keep a lid on the members of the Supreme Court panel who will hear the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, challenging the verdict of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT), which upheld the election of President Muhammadu Buhari. The appeal is scheduled for hearing on Wednesday.
The appellants had approached the court shortly after the September 11 verdict with 66 reasons why the apex court should upturn the tribunal’s decision. The five-man panel had in its lead judgment delivered by its chairman, Justice Mohammed Garba, held that the petitioners failed to prove their allegations against Buhari and subsequently dismissed the petitions for being incompetent and lacking in merit.
The countdown to the appeal has however been shadowed by public interest in who the members would be and when they would be unveiled.But a source close to the apex court yesterday told The Guardian that the composition of the panel would remain shrouded in mystery. According to the insider, not even the members of the panel would have the faintest whiff of their involvement, as the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, has vowed to mask all details “until the 11th hour.”
Bothered by the silence, the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) yesterday regretted that over 45 days after the tribunal’s verdict, the Supreme Court is yet to constitute the appeal panel.“The development is very worrisome to the opposition political parties, as critical stakeholders in the nation’s democracy,” the CUPP said in a statement by its spokesperson, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere.
“The CUPP calls on well-meaning Nigerians and lovers of democracy to prevail on the Supreme Court to do the needful on this matter before it is too late, by ensuring that the integrity and public confidence in the apex court is not destroyed.“We insist that we shall declare a total lack of confidence in any panel constituted in violation of the age-long order of seniority. The apex court must be ready to be on the side of the people in saving this nation and its democracy.”
Atiku and PDP in their 95-page appeal are urging the Supreme Court to set aside all the decisions of the tribunal, saying it erred in reaching the conclusion that the petitioners failed to prove their case against the respondents.The petitioners had hinged their case on the allegation that Buhari lied on oath on his Form CF001, which he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), seeking clearance to contest the position of president in the election.
With INEC, Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) as respondents, other allegations in the petition included election irregularities and substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act and guidelines during the elections.
But the tribunal ruled that Buhari was “eminently qualified” to contest the poll.In the appeal therefore, the petitioners held that the panel erred in law by stating that Buhari was eligible. They also accused the panel of defending Buhari.
In ground one of the appeal, Atiku and PDP held that the tribunal erred in law when it relied on “overall interest of justice” to hold that Buhari’s documents were properly admitted in evidence. They noted that the documents, which bordered on his certificates, were not pleaded and were not front-loaded.
The appellant, on ground two, challenged the part of the ruling, which held that Buhari does not need to attach his certificates to his Form CF 001. They submitted that the tribunal gave restrictive interpretation to Section 76 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) to exclude Form CF001 from its provisions.
“The conduct of election by the first respondent starts with the screening of candidates. No candidate can be screened unless he completes Form CF001 (Exhibit P1). In Form CF001, under the column for ‘Schools Attended/Educational Qualification with dates’, there is the clear provision for attaching evidence of all educational qualifications.”
The appellants said: “Certificates are evidence of educational qualifications.” They went further to accuse the tribunal of attaching evidential value to the military statement on Buhari’s certificate. Thus making a case for him after rejecting the same document for lack of probative value.They maintained that the crucial issue in their case was that the purported claim by Buhari that his “Primary School Leaving Certificate, WASC and Officer Cadet” are
with the Secretary of the Military Board is false.
The appellants also faulted the tribunal on the variation in the name of Buhari, asking whether Mohammed, Muhammed or Muhammadu referred to one and the same person. They argued that Buhari neither claimed in his pleadings nor showed evidence that at any time, he was known as “Mohammed Buhari.”
The Guardian
The Super Eagles’ 2026 World Cup dream suffered a major blow on Sunday as DR Congo advanced to the intercontinental playoff following a dramatic penalty shootout at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat.
Nigeria’s hopes of qualifying ended in heartbreaking fashion, marking the second consecutive year the Super Eagles will miss out on the world stage.
The match ended 1–1 after 120 minutes of regulation and extra time, sending the high-stakes encounter to penalties.
Nigeria initially went ahead through Frank Onyeka in the third minute, but DR Congo equalised in the 32nd minute through M. Elia.
The tension continued into the penalty shootout.
Nigeria’s Calvin Bassey and Moses Simon missed early chances, while Nwabali denied DR Congo’s first penalty.
Akor Adams kept the Super Eagles alive, but DR Congo struck back through Sadique and later scored the decisive fourth penalty, leaving Nigeria trailing 4–3 in the shootout.
The victory sets up DR Congo for a chance to secure one of the final World Cup tickets to the expanded 48-team tournament in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Nigeria’s defeat marked the second consecutive year the Super Eagles will miss out on the world stage.
Both teams had earned their places in the final after dramatic semi-finals.
Nigeria had booked their place in the final with a dramatic 4–1 extra-time win over Gabon in Thursday’s semi-final at the Moulay El Hassan Stadium.
DR Congo also advanced with a 1–0 victory over Cameroon at the Al Barid Stadium the same evening.
The Leopards now await their intercontinental playoff opponent, keeping alive their hopes of reaching the 2026 World Cup, while the Super Eagles’ campaign comes to an agonising end in Rabat.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has expelled Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike, its suspended National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu, and former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose.
Their expulsion was announced on Saturday at the party’s National Convention in Ibadan, Oyo State.
The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) has insisted that there is Christian genocide ongoing in Nigeria, hence demanding end to the alleged Christian killings.
Speaking on Thursday after an emergency executive meeting of the Fellowship held at its national headquarters in Lagos, PFN President, Bishop Francis Wale Oke, said the body would no longer remain silent while Christians are “targeted, killed, raped, and displaced” across the country.
He said: “There is Christian genocide going on in Nigeria. If we call it by any other name, it will bring Nigeria down. We are crying out to our international friends, beginning with America and Donald Trump. Whatever you can do to help our government put an end to it, come quickly and get it done. When on Christmas Day, Christmas Day was turned a bloody day in Benue State, and hundreds were massacred. And we are to be conducting mass funerals when we are not in open conflict. What do you call that? And this is different from individual cases.
“Let us call a spade a spade. There is Christian genocide ongoing in Nigeria,”Bishop Oke declared.
“Even while we speak, killings are still taking place in Borno, Plateau, and Benue states. When 501 Christians were massacred in Dogon Noma in Plateau, what do we call that? When Christmas Day turned into a bloody day in Benue, with hundreds massacred, what name should we give it?
While noting that the United States President Donald Trump spoke the truth, the PRN President cited the case of Leah Sharibu who was abducted alongside other Chibok girls and has since remained in captivity.
“Like the case of Leah Sharibu. Where is Leah Sharibu? Like the case of Deborah that was lynched and burned alive in Sokoto? What about that? And several of our girls were kidnapped and forced, given out as wives by force without the consent of their parents and their Christian parents. And the Christian parents would not see them for years.And this has been going on. We have been talking and we are not taking it seriously. And it has been going on again and again, until Donald Trump now spoke. And Donald Trump spoke the truth. There is Christian genocide going on in Nigeria.
“Like you will have picked in the news, even since this narrative began, killing was still going on in Borno, in Plateau, in Benue, up until yesterday. What are we saying? When 501 Christians were massacred in Dogonaya in Plateau State, what do we call that? And for no offense other than they are Christians.”
Oke recalled that the Christian community had repeatedly called the attention of the government to the alleged genocide with no decisive action from the authority.
The cleric expressed his backing for President Trump’s intervention, adding that Trump only echoed what Nigerian Christians had been saying for year
“I was part of the team that went to see the immediate past President, Muhammadu Buhari. We spoke very strongly about this and the President listened to us, but he completely ignored the main issue we came for, If we came and spoke with such vehemence, with such passion, and then you pick the peripheral matter and left this matter alone, I knew that day that his government was complicit in what was going on,” he added.
Oke alleged that the killings across parts of Nigeria were systematic and targeted on Christians, lamenting that the killings had continued unchecked despite repeated appeals from the Church.
“The evidence is all over the place. There is nothing anybody can say that can whitewash it. It is evil, it is blood shedding, it is mass murder and it is genocide. The time to stop it is now. That is what the church in Nigeria is saying with one voice.
“Christians in this nation must be free to practice their faith in any part of Nigeria as bona fide citizens of Nigeria.
“These armed bandits, Fulani herdsmen, Boko Haram, ISWAP, all of them using Islam as a cover. We have been living in peace with our Muslim brothers for a long, until this violent Islamic sect came up with an intent to make sure they impose Sharia on all Nigerians,” Oke said.
Bishop Oke called on President Bola Tinubu to decisively overhaul the nation’s security architecture, and ensure justice for victims of religious violence. He questioned why those responsible for notorious attacks—such as the killing of Deborah Samuel in Sokoto and the abduction of Leah Sharibu and the Chibok schoolgirls—remain unpunished.
“The government should prove by action, not words, that it is not complicit,” he said. “When hundreds are buried in mass graves and the whole world sees it, who can deny it? Why should we play politics with the blood of Nigerians?”
The PFN urged President Tinubu’s administration to rebuild trust by ensuring that the security architecture of the country is not infiltrated by those sympathetic to extremist ideologies.
Oke further condemned the government’s rehabilitation of so-called “repentant terrorists,” describing the move as a grave security.
He assured Christians that the PFN would continue to speak out until the killings stop. “We are not going to keep quiet. We will keep raising our voices until justice is done and every Nigerian, regardless of faith, can live in peace. The truth may be suppressed for a time, but it cannot be buried forever,” he said.
The meeting, which drew PFN leaders from across the country, reaffirmed the body’s commitment to national unity, peace, and the protection of fundamental human rights, while urging the media to “side with the oppressed” and report the truth without fear or bias.
