₦airaland Forum

BafanaBafana:
Sanctified

Thanks for the correction.

It has been 96 hours since the Edo State Election Petition Tribunal, led by Hon. Justice Wilfred Kpochi (Chairman), alongside Hon. Justice K. B. Yusuf and Hon. Justice A. A. Adewole, delivered its judgment. Yet, the lawyers representing Dr. Asue Ighodalo and the people of Edo State are still being denied access to the Certified True Copies (CTC) of the judgment.

This delay is unacceptable. Transparency and due process are the bedrock of justice, and withholding the CTC only fuels suspicion and undermines public confidence in the judicial process.

We, the people of Edo State, demand:
✅ Immediate release of the Certified True Copies to Dr. Asue Ighodalo’s legal team.
✅ Accountability and adherence to the principles of justice.
✅ An end to unnecessary delays that hinder the pursuit of justice.

The judiciary must uphold its integrity by ensuring that all parties have timely access to legal documents. Justice delayed is justice denied!

#ReleaseTheCertifiedTrueCopies
#EdoStateDemandsJustice
#JusticeForEdo

In hallowed halls of justice, where fairness should reign
A different tale unfolds, of corruption's stain
The scales of justice, once balanced and fair
Now tip in favor of the rich, with bribes to share

The poor and vulnerable, with pleas unheard
Are trampled by the powerful, with justice deferred
Their cries for help, drowned out by the din
Of corruption's whispers, in the judiciary's ear within

The rich politicians, with influence and might
Buy justice with ease, and sleep through the night
Their crimes and wrongdoings, swept under the rug
As the judiciary looks on, with a corrupt hug

But still we hope, for a brighter day
When justice will be served, in a fairer way
When the judiciary will stand, for what is right
And the poor and vulnerable, will see the light.

This poem reflects the corruption and injustice that plagues the Nigerian judiciary, where the rich and powerful can buy justice with ease, while the poor and vulnerable are left to suffer ¹.

dangermouse:
Nice poetry, precisely deep but sad of the calamity that have befallen our once shinning judiciary and the last hope of the common man.

The Nigerian judiciary is no longer the beacon of hope for the common man.

SoftSport:
A powerful poem on corruption in Nigeria's courts. Nice one chief.

This is the situation that everyone is currently dealing with.

My Lord, Tell Me Where To Keep Your Bribe



Do I drop it in your venerable chambers
Or carry the heavy booty to your immaculate mansion

Shall I bury it in the capacious water tank
In your well laundered backyard

Or will it breathe better in the septic tank
Since money can deodorize the smelliest crime

Shall I haul it up the attic
Between the ceiling and your lofty roof

Or shall I conjure the walls to open up
And swallow this sudden bounty from your honest labour

Shall I give a billion to each of your paramours
The black, the light, the Fanta-yellow

They will surely know how to keep the loot
In places too remote for the sniffing dog

Or shall I use the particulars
Of your anonymous maidservants and manservants

With their names on overflowing bank accounts
While they famish like ownerless dogs

Shall I haul it all to your village
In the valley behind seven mountains

Where potholes swallow up the hugest jeep
And Penury leaves a scar on every house

My Lord
It will take the fastest machine

Many, many days to count this booty; and lucky bank bosses
May help themselves to a fraction of the loot

My Lord
Tell me where to keep your bribe?

My Lord
Tell me where to keep your bribe?

The “last hope of the common man”
Has become the last bastion of the criminally rich

A terrible plague bestrides the land
Besieged by rapacious judges and venal lawyers

Behind the antiquated wig
And the slavish glove

The penguin gown and the obfuscating jargon

Is a rot and riot whose stench is choking the land

Behind the rituals and roted rigmaroles

Old antics connive with new tricks

Behind the prim-and-proper costumes of masquerades

Corruption stands, naked, in its insolent impunity

For sale to the highest bidder

Interlocutory and perpetual injunctions

Opulent criminals shop for pliant judges

Protect the criminal, enshrine the crime

And Election Petition Tribunals

Ah, bless those goldmines and bottomless booties!

Scoundrel vote-riggers romp to electoral victory

All hail our buyable
Bench and conniving Bar

A million dollars in Their Lordship’s bedroom
A million euros in the parlor closet

Countless naira beneath the kitchen sink
Our courts are fast running out of Ghana-must-go’s*

The “Temple of Justice”
Is broken in every brick

The roof is roundly perforated
By termites of graft

My Lord
Tell me where to keep your bribe?

Judges doze in the courtroom
Having spent all night counting money and various “gifts”

And the Chief Justice looks on with tired eyes
As Corruption usurps his gavel.

Crime pays in this country
Corruption has its handsome rewards

Just one judgement sold to the richest bidder
Will catapult Judge & Lawyer to the Billionaires’ Club

The Law, they say, is an ass
Sometimes fast, sometimes slow

But the Law in Nigeria is a vulture
Fat on the cash-and-carry carrion of murdered Conscience

Won gb’ebi f’alare
Won gb’are f’elebi**

They kill our trust in the common good
These Monsters of Mammon in their garish gowns
Unhappy the land
Where jobbers are judges

Where Impunity walks the streets
Like a large, invincible Demon

Come Sunday, they troop to the church
Friday, they mouth their mantra in pious mosques

But they pervert Justice all week long
And dig us deeper into the hellish hole

Nigeria is a huge corpse
With milling maggots on its wretched hulk

They prey every day, they prey every night
For the endless decomposition of our common soul

My Most Honourable Lord
Just tell me where to keep your bribe.
Large, extremely tough bags used for carrying heavy cash in Nigeria

They declare the innocent guilty.
They pronounce the guilty innocent.”

*Prof Niyi Osundare* boldly lampoons and ridicules Judges And NJC in an illustrative poetry entitled:
My Lord, Tell Me Where To Keep Your Bribe*

A lovely piece of poem by a blunt and courageous poet that will make your day....
👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼
*“My Lord, Tell me Where to Keep your Bribe.*

A poem by
Prof. Niyi Osundare.

Do I drop it in your venerable chambers
Or carry the heavy booty to your immaculate mansion

Shall I bury it in the capacious water tank
In your well laundered backyard

Or will it breathe better in the septic tank
Since money can deodorize the smelliest crime

Shall I haul it up the attic
Between the ceiling and your lofty roof

Or shall I conjure the walls to open up
And swallow this sudden bounty from your honest labour

Shall I give a billion to each of your paramours
The black, the light, the Fanta-yellow

They will surely know how to keep the loot
In places too remote for the sniffing dog

Or shall I use the particulars
Of your anonymous maidservants and manservants

With their names on overflowing bank accounts
While they famish like ownerless dogs

Shall I haul it all to your village
In the valley behind seven mountains

Where potholes swallow up the hugest jeep
And Penury leaves a scar on every house

My Lord
It will take the fastest machine

Many, many days to count this booty; and lucky bank bosses
May help themselves to a fraction of the loot

My Lord
Tell me where to keep your bribe?

My Lord
Tell me where to keep your bribe?

The “last hope of the common man”
Has become the last bastion of the criminally rich

A terrible plague bestrides the land
Besieged by rapacious judges and venal lawyers

Behind the antiquated wig
And the slavish glove

The penguin gown and the obfuscating jargon

Is a rot and riot whose stench is choking the land

Behind the rituals and roted rigmaroles

Old antics connive with new tricks

Behind the prim-and-proper costumes of masquerades

Corruption stands, naked, in its insolent impunity

For sale to the highest bidder

Interlocutory and perpetual injunctions

Opulent criminals shop for pliant judges

Protect the criminal, enshrine the crime

And Election Petition Tribunals

Ah, bless those goldmines and bottomless booties!

Scoundrel vote-riggers romp to electoral victory

All hail our buyable
Bench and conniving Bar

A million dollars in Their Lordship’s bedroom
A million euros in the parlor closet

Countless naira beneath the kitchen sink
Our courts are fast running out of Ghana-must-go’s*

The “Temple of Justice”
Is broken in every brick

The roof is roundly perforated
By termites of graft

My Lord
Tell me where to keep your bribe?

Judges doze in the courtroom
Having spent all night counting money and various “gifts”

And the Chief Justice looks on with tired eyes
As Corruption usurps his gavel.

Crime pays in this country
Corruption has its handsome rewards

Just one judgement sold to the richest bidder
Will catapult Judge & Lawyer to the Billionaires’ Club

The Law, they say, is an ass
Sometimes fast, sometimes slow

But the Law in Nigeria is a vulture
Fat on the cash-and-carry carrion of murdered Conscience

Won gb’ebi f’alare
Won gb’are f’elebi**

They kill our trust in the common good
These Monsters of Mammon in their garish gowns
Unhappy the land
Where jobbers are judges

Where Impunity walks the streets
Like a large, invincible Demon

Come Sunday, they troop to the church
Friday, they mouth their mantra in pious mosques

But they pervert Justice all week long
And dig us deeper into the hellish hole

Nigeria is a huge corpse
With milling maggots on its wretched hulk

They prey every day, they prey every night
For the endless decomposition of our common soul

My Most Honourable Lord
Just tell me where to keep your bribe.
Large, extremely tough bags used for carrying heavy cash in Nigeria

They declare the innocent guilty.
They pronounce the guilty innocent.”

The 360-Degree Turn: How the Tribunal Shifted Against the Evidence

The morning air was thick with anticipation as I arrived at the courthouse. Rumors were already swirling that the tribunal had been compromised, that justice was an illusion, and that the verdict was a foregone conclusion. But I dismissed these whispers, convinced that the mountain of evidence we had painstakingly gathered was undeniable. Surely, no court could turn a blind eye to such overwhelming proof.

As the proceedings commenced, my confidence grew. The applications that sought to affirm our victory were admitted, and the evidence presented in court seemed irrefutable. One after the other, our arguments dismantled the opposition’s weak claims, painting a clear picture of electoral misconduct. The tension in the courtroom was palpable. The APC representatives, who had exuded an air of certainty earlier, now appeared uneasy, their body language betraying a growing sense of apprehension.

For a moment, it seemed justice was within reach. Every piece of evidence was falling into place, aligning with the truth we had fought to expose. Then, just as we were poised for a favorable outcome, the unimaginable happened—a dramatic 360-degree turn that left everyone in shock.

The judge, whose demeanor had been composed throughout the trial, now appeared unsettled. He stammered through the judgment, struggling to articulate the reasoning behind the sudden shift. Even the APC members present were visibly stunned. Their expressions mirrored our disbelief as the court inexplicably ruled in their favor, dismissing our airtight evidence with feeble justifications.

Among the most shocking aspects of the ruling was the dismissal of our documentary evidence on the grounds that unit witnesses had not been presented. This, despite the fact that electoral documentation is universally accepted as a fundamental pillar of electoral adjudication. The tribunal’s refusal to acknowledge the significance of serial numbers on result sheets—a core issue in electoral integrity—was equally troubling. Rather than addressing this critical concern with due diligence, the judge brushed it aside without a satisfactory explanation.

The ramifications of this judgment extend far beyond our case. If left unchallenged, it could set a dangerous precedent, one where documentary evidence is rendered meaningless in election tribunals. This is why we remain confident that the Supreme Court will rectify this miscarriage of justice. Unlike the tribunal, the apex court understands the weight of its decisions; it recognizes that any ruling it upholds becomes legal precedent.

As we prepare for the next stage of our legal battle, we hold onto hope. Hope that the Supreme Court will see through this charade and restore faith in the judicial system. Because if this ruling is allowed to stand, it will not only disenfranchise the people of Edo State but also shake the very foundations of democracy in Nigeria.

danijesus:
Can PDP get justice?

It's possible.

When they reach their old age, they'll begin authoring books about how they once manipulated the Edo election in favor of APC, seeking forgiveness from Nigerians.

There was no point invoking the Electoral Act if judgement wouldn't capture its spirit and letter.

Legal experts, intelligentsia community, observers and public affairs analysts have continued to fault yesterday's tribunal judgement, noting that the reliance of the tribunal on the non-provision of witnesses in all the areas Asue Ighodalo alleged irregularities, was faulty and subject to contestation in a higher court; and that the tribunal would require Asue Ighodalo to provide physical witnesses in as many as the areas irregularities were alleged, having provided evidential CTCs in those areas, would be an unnecessarily bogus demand and a breach of the Act guiding the conduct of elections.

Section 137 of INEC's Electoral Act, 2022 states, "it shall not be necessary for a party who alleges non-compliance with the provisions of the Act of the conduct of elections to call oral evidence if originals of certified true copies manifestly disclose the non-compliance alleged".

Thus, where there are reliable, credible documentary evidence certified by the Commission to prove irregularities ranging from over-voting, non-serialization of electoral materials, incorrect computation of figures etc, it is no longer a compulsion to have witnesses to address same issues the CTCs rightly addaddresses; the matter is now left for the tribunal to carry out its due diligence to ascertain the veracity of the issues alleged in the CTCs.

We are constrained to believe that the Edo election petitions tribunal may not have done the due diligence needed to provoke the life in Asue Ighodalo's documentary evidence all INEC-CTCs; why request for a rain of witnesses when the Electoral Act already empowers you to invoke it where and when necessary.

PDP/Asue-Ogie had all the requisite materials to secure justiceable outcome at the tribunal, but that the reverse became the case only speaks life to the potpourri of disagreements that has trailed the judgment since it surfaced yesterday at the NJI, Abuja.

Regardless of the outcome, it must be said that the tribunal judges missed the golden opportunity to revolutionize citizens' lost faith in the judiciary, they lost that one last chance to correct popular perception as to the weaknesses and loopholes prevalent in the judicial sector and the sector's overt succestibility to manipulations by external forces, to exercise judgements or dispositions that may necessitate public disagreements and generate overrule by a higher body.

Consequently, observers have noted that because yesterday's judgement did not capture the unambiguously stated provisions of the Electoral Act, particularly provisions as stated in section 137, the tribunal may have consciously or subconsciously exposed its own judgement to overruling by an appellate court, and that the tribunal's non-reliance on the provisions of the Electoral Act to deliver judgement is an act of sabotage that must be courageously corrected or be seen to be corrected by an appellate court, regardless of the superior pressure it may be under.

And as PDP/Asue-Ogie prepares to take the case to the Appeal Court, on behalf of the good people of Edo State, who are now disillusioned by yesterday's travesty, we must strongly query the tribunal's rationale to have invoked the Electoral Act if it wasn't going to base its final judgement on the spirit and letter of the Act.

fergie001:
This case, even to SC level, nobody can rest.

True talk.

Akpakomiza2:
My dear, even if Asue wins in the tribunal, okpebholo will eventually win at the higher courts

Shame on you.

Akpakomiza2:
My dear, even if Asue wins in the tribunal, okpebholo will eventually win at the higher courts

It is finished.
Asue have jst been declared winner of the september 21 election

Congratulations to PDP and Asue Ighodalo.

It is finished.
Asue have jst been declared winner of the september 21 election

Akpakomiza2:
Dismissal up next

You will soon change you name to Asue🤣🤣🤣

Akpakomiza2:
Established in where and where

I dey court ooo.

The amendments sought are inconsequential and are HEREBY granted
The amendments sought by the witnesses are allowed
We disallow the amendments sought by PW6
The amendment sought by PW8 is inconsequential and is allowed
The amendments sought by the PW 12 is allowed

Now the judgment proper
#EdoElectionTribunal2025

The respondent's motions and preliminary objections have now been completely dealt with. In almost all instances, the decisions favored Asue Ighodalo. The time has now come to address the substantive issue, which generally represents the essence of the judgment.

The judge is determining confessional statements of the witnesses.

REV has also been admitted

The objections of the 2nd and 3rd respondents regarding the documents tendered by the Petitioners through the bar and through their witnesses are overruled.
All documents Provisionally admitted are HEREBY substantially admitted in evidence

If the BIVAS had been admitted in Evidence. It simply means that the IREV would be in PDP favor because the results on the IREV was from the BVAS

All INEC documents tendered in court by the PDP have been admitted as admissible by the tribunal. Joy is coming.

Jorussia:
has recounting be done?

The judge is now determining the main petition!!!

BVAS and CTC were tendered by the Petitioners...hereby adopted
#EdoElectionPetitionTribunal Judgement Day

Out of the 16 motions. PDP has already won 10 against APC 4. Again, PDP has just won BVAS motion.

Non serialisation of results sheets
Non compliance of electoral act
Error in figures
Over voting
BVAS

All taken

*The judge has ruled that the documents and the BIVAS have been admitted in evidence*


The judge has ruled in PDP's favour that statement of oath can be adopted orally; and that it doesn't matter at what level it is adopted


IREV left

Is game over

April fool, i guess.

Rest in peace Olarenwaju.

Makamatic:
They were duly elected bro . They did elections in 2023

Who be this?

Felabrity:
Psv to qualify

Who be this one?

Who cares.

May their souls rest in peace.