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https://www.news9naija.com.ng/2019/09/11/buhari-vs-atiku-cos-abba-kyari-arrives-appeal-court-politics-nairaland/
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Meanwhile other top wings in the Apc are already spotted in court awaiting judgment

The Chief of Staff (COS) to President Muhammad Buhari, Abba Kyari, is the latest of dignitaries to arrive at the venue of the much expected judgment in the petition by Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

PDP and Atiku are challenging the outcome of the last presidential election, won by Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Dressed in white agbada and a red cap, Kyari strolled into the packed court room at the Abuja division of the Court of Appeal, around 8. 15 am, accompanied by some other government officials.
https://www.news9naija.com.ng/2019/09/11/buhari-vs-atiku-cos-abba-kyari-arrives-appeal-court-politics-nairaland/

Security was beefed up on Wednesday within the vicinity of the Court of Appeal, Abuja, as the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal delivers judgment in the petition filed by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar challenging president Muhammadu Buhari’s victory in the Feb. 23 general election.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that security personnel comprising mainly men of the Nigeria Police, the Department of State Services and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps mounted security checks at both ends of the stretch of the road to the court.



NEWS9NAIJA reports that lawyers and journalists who arrived the court premises located in the Three Arms Zone, were subjected to checks by security personnel.

NEWS9NAIJA reports that tribunal on Aug.21 reserved judgment in the petition after parties adopted their addresses.

Justice Mohammed Garba, Chairman of the five-man panel of justices had stated that the judgment date would be communicated to parties.

NEWS9NAIJA reports that the president was declared the winner of the election after scoring 15,191,847 votes as against Atiku’s 11, 262,978 votes.



While adopting his address, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, Counsel for Buhari, had described the petition as a sham as it lacked substance and merit.

“I have handled a few electoral petition cases, this is one petition that yarns for help, for assistance and for evidence but could not get any.

“Apart from the hype the matter has generated, there is nothing in law to support the allegations before the tribunal, Olanipekun said.



On the qualification of the president, Olanipekun said Section 131 (b) had settled that matter.

“I make bold to say that the Constitution and case laws had not compelled the candidates of the election to tendered certificates or attached same to INEC form before submission.

“The laws only mandate any person contesting election in the country to have gone to school up to Secondary School level,’’ he said.

On the issue of election results transmission by electronic means, the counsel said the use of such technology must be provided for in the Electoral Act.

“The allegation on the management of server by INEC is vague. Where is the server? This is a million dollar question that the petitioners could not substantiate.

“My Lords, this petition was not properly diagnosed, the action was ill-advised, I therefore urge the tribunal not to bow to sentiment or public opinion that does not represent the law.

“This petition is liable to be dismissed with a considerable cost’’, Olanipekun said.



On his part, Mr Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, Counsel for All Progressive Congress (APC) said he could not help but take the liberty to align himself with the submissions made Olanipekun.

“My Lords it is disheartening to see that this petition still remains watery at this stage.

“The petition made allegations they could not proof. We have done a table showing how the petitioners have proven the case so far.

“The election took place in 119,976 Polling Units, 8,901 Wards in 774 Local Government Areas across the country.

“It is sad therefore to see that the petitioners only called 62 witnesses. Out of this figure, only five witnesses gave direct evidence of what happened in polling units on the day of election.

“I feel sad that this matter has been starved of evidence and therefore deserves to be dismissed,’’ Fagbemi said.

Also, Mr Yunus Usman, SAN, Counsel for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) urged the panel to uphold all of its objections raised against the admissibility of all pieces of documentary and oral evidence led by the petitioners.



Usman submitted that the electoral body conducted the Feb.23 presidential election in total compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).

He also urged the panel to disregard the petitioners’ claims that the results of the election were transmitted electronically to a central server managed by INEC, adding that it was the “greatest lie of the century’’.

He submitted that it was laughable when the petitioners made pleadings that suggested that only the PDP and APC and their candidates contested the election.

Usman prayed the tribunal to take judicial notice of the fact that the Electoral Act 2010 prohibited the transmission of election results electronically.

According to him, the law only provides for manual transmission of election results.

Usman said that all the witnesses presented by the petitioners admitted to the fact that transmission of election results electronically had no placed in the country’s statute books at the moment.

In countering allegations that INEC abandoned its pleadings by not presenting witnesses, the counsel said the commission simply extracted salient pieces of evidence from the petitioners’ pleadings to solidify its defence.

“It would have amounted to wasting the time of the tribunal for us to call witnesses when the petitioners could not discharge the burden of proof on allegations they had made,’’ he said.

Usman thereafter prayed the court to dismiss the petition for lack of merit.

Meanwhile, Dr Livy Uzoukwu, SAN, Counsel for the petitioners urged the tribunal to discountenance the addresses of the respondents, adding that the petitioners had indeed discharged the burden of proof.

He said the tribunal must exercise its powers in good conscience to uphold the petition and return Abubakar as president.

Uzoukwu further said the second respondent (Buhari) was unable to present his Secondary School Certificate before the tribunal in order to rest the allegation.

“My Lords, we pray the panel to judiciously and judicially evaluate our evidence in context of whether we have justified our allegation against Buhari’s certificate or not.

On the issue of server, Uzoukwu said INEC had operated, activated and stored the Feb.23 election results in a centrally controlled server.

NEWS9NAIJA reports that the tribunal would have to rule on all pending interlocutory applications filed by parties before delivering judgment on the main appeal.
CREDIT: NAN
https://www.news9naija.com.ng/2019/09/11/security-beefed-up-at-appeal-court-as-buhari-atiku-know-fate/

https://www.news9naija.com.ng/2019/09/10/robert-mugabe-burial-postponed-as-haggling-over-final-resting-place-rages-on/
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HARARE – Former President Robert Mugabe’s burial slated for Sunday has been postponed, family sources told ZimLive on Tuesday.

A funeral service to be attended by foreign dignitaries will, however, still go ahead as planned on Saturday.

Haggling between the government and Mugabe’s family has delayed an announcement over where he will be laid to rest, with his body expected to arrive in Harare on Wednesday afternoon from Singapore where he died on September 6 at the age of 95.

The reason for the postponement was not immediately clear.



A source familiar with ongoing discussions said: “There are three issues at present which are still bubbling under, and it could be any one of them. First is where the former president is going to be buried, there’s still no agreement on that.

“Second, September 15 is President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s birthday and there’s growing opinion that for all manner of reasons, including of the superstitious kind, burial should not happen on that day.

“The third and final issue is that there is a push from Zanu PF supporters in the provinces who say owing to travel costs it is better for Mugabe’s body to be taken to all 10 provinces before burial. This is gaining traction and could be the reason why the burial has been pushed back to a date as yet unknown.”

Vice President Kembo Mohadi and Chief Karigamombe, a relative of Mugabe, arrived in Singapore on Tuesday in a private jet hired to fly the former president’s body home.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa leaves for the United Nations General Assembly later next week and would be desperate to have Mugabe’s burial behind him before his 10-day jamboree in New York.

Mnangagwa’s government wants Mugabe, who led Zimbabwe from independence in 1980 until the November 2017 coup that ousted him, buried at the National Heroes Acre in Harare – a national monument to heroes of the liberation war against the white minority Rhodesian regime.

But some of Mugabe’s relatives have pushed back against that plan. They share Mugabe’s bitterness at the way former allies including Mnangagwa conspired to topple him and want him buried in his home village of Kutama, some 85km out of Harare in Mashonaland West province.



In public, senior Zanu PF officials express confidence that Mugabe will be buried at the monument after a state funeral service at the National Sports Stadium. In private, they say the feud with Mugabe’s family could have been handled better.

Mohadi is expected to pick up the negotiations with Mugabe’s widow, Grace, who is reportedly amenable to a burial at the Heroes Acre but has demanded that a mausoleum be built for Mugabe’s grave. This, if accepted, would see Mugabe being buried away from his first wife Sally, next to whose grave there are two reserved graves.


One factor that could help Mnangagwa’s delegation in Singapore is that Mugabe’s family is divided over where the former president should be laid to rest.

Leo Mugabe, Mugabe’s nephew, is leading a group of relatives who want the former president to buried in his home village of Kutama, two relatives who have attended planning meetings for Mugabe’s burial told Reuters.



News9naija also understands Mugabe’s two eldest children Bona and Robert Junior, who spent a lot of time with their father in his final months, have gained a voice in the discussions and re-iterated that it was Mugabe’s wish to be buried next to his mother at a cemetery in Kutama, his rural home.

Other family members, including Mike Bimha, who is from Grace’s side of the family, think it would be best to mend ties with Mnangagwa by burying Mugabe at National Heroes Acre, the relatives said.

Mnangagwa is unlikely to attend a national hero’s burial in the village, constrained by standing government protocol.

The influential war veterans, who broke with Mugabe in 2016 and played a key role in bringing Mnangagwa to power, think it would be an affront to the liberation movement if Mugabe is not buried at the shrine.

“If Mugabe identifies with the sacrifices of the Zimbabwean people for whom he was president, he should go there,” the chairman of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association Chris Mutsvangwa told Reuters.

Mnangagwa’s government has not yet released an official programme for Mugabe’s burial.

But in a memo sent to embassies in Harare on Sunday, it encouraged foreign heads of state to leave immediately after the funeral service wraps up on Saturday.

Ibbo Mandaza, a political analyst who is writing a biography of Mugabe, said Mnangagwa was trying to avoid the possibility of a situation where heads of state would attend a burial service in Mugabe’s home district to which he was not invited.

“That is the dilemma Mnangagwa faces, he can’t be sleeping well,” Mandaza said.


A senior Zanu PF politburo member, who requested anonymity to speak freely, said there were lessons to be learned.

“Probably President Mnangagwa should have persuaded and cajoled comrade Mugabe’s family more to avoid this dispute spilling into the public and embarrassing him and the party,” the politburo member said.



Mnangagwa’s spokesman George Charamba could not be reached for comment
News Credit: ZIMLIVE/REUTERS/NEWS9NAIJA
https://www.news9naija.com.ng/2019/09/10/robert-mugabe-burial-postponed-as-haggling-over-final-resting-place-rages-on/