₦airaland Forum

Catholic Bishops have appealed to the Judiciary to save the Nigeria’s democracy, arguing that all eyes are now on it to remedy the obvious irregularities that marred the 2023 general elections.

The Bishops of Owerri Ecclesiastical Province who met in Umuahia, Abia State, expressed disappointment over the failure of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to live up to its promise to deliver a credible poll.

In a communiqué issued after their meeting at Umuahia Diocesan Secretariat, the Bishops urged the Judiciary to redeem the situation in the interest of Nigeria’s democracy.

“The hope, at the moment is that the judiciary will rise up to the challenge and rescue our ailing democratic experiment”, the communique read in part.

The Bishops accused INEC of colluding with corrupt politicians to compromise the polls.

”Many people had trusted the repeated assurances by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deliver a credible electoral process, namely, to come up with an impartial standard for screening candidates, to organize the logistics for conducting free and fair elections, to transmit voting results electronically from polling stations in real time, to eliminate cases of ballot stuffing and vote stealing, etc.

“Sadly, the electoral process was riddled by irregularities. INEC and some of the political actors dashed the hopes of our people.

“Consequently, the results of the last elections can hardly be considered as reflecting the overall will of the people, and are still being contested. And this continues to darken the cloud of uncertainty and tension that has enveloped the nation.”

The Catholic Bishops expressed deep concern over the biting effects of the fuel subsidy removal on Nigerians and challenged Government to rise to the occasion.

“The ugly sight of our people toiling under excruciating economic conditions is not only frightening but heartbreaking.

”Though the Federal Government has announced a series of “palliative” measures to mitigate the impact of these policies, many Nigerians are still not feeling any relief from their worsening situation.”

The Bishops further expressed worry over the crippling effects of the incessant sit-at-home in the South East on the economy of the zone.

“We can no longer close our eyes to the indiscriminate sit-at-home orders in the South-East that have so far disrupted lives, paralyzing economic, educational and commercial activities. In the past we had called on our people to sheathe their swords and come together to agree on the way forward for our region.

“We want to repeat this appeal again with more urgency. The resort to violence can never be condoned, nor can it be expected to bring any lasting solution to the needs of our people. The South-East is extolled as the commercial hub of the nation.

“Unfortunately, traders in the region today are compelled to stay at home on Mondays, usually the busiest day of the week and the most productive for some. Events like traditional weddings, new yam festivals, funerals, Christmas and Easter celebrations, when our brothers and sisters from the Diaspora usually return home to be with their loved one, are now being boycotted, with people prioritizing their security. The damage to our local economies, and to the culture and mental health of our people, can never be fully quantified. “

The Bishops, however, appealed to Nigerians not to give up but to keep hope alive for a better future.

“As your spiritual leaders, we still call upon all the good-willed and patriotic citizens of Nigeria to continue to work for the common good of all Nigerians on that same note of equity, justice and peace.

“With a critical mass of caring and concerned citizens, we can overcome our present pains and liabilities, and move Nigeria forward to a better and healthier nation than it presently is.

“We urge all Nigerians, in their various callings and positions, to uphold the banner of integrity and good action for a new Nigeria.”

Ttalk:
Same epistles you wrote during the primary.

A weak man looking for who would help him fight his enemy, shame on you

garfield1:
The problem is in 2027,you will still come and say tinubu will lose

LegendHero:
Faith without work is dead my brother.

The governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, has described his petition as a “litmus test” of the superiority of the provisions of the constitution over every other enactment or law.

Citing Sections 182 (1)(a) and 187 (1) & (2) of the Constitution on the declaration of allegiance to another country and failure to nominate a deputy governorship candidate respectively, Rhodes-Vivour told the Lagos State Governorship Election Tribunal that “to dismiss his petition would amount to an endorsement of unconstitutionality and the possibility of opening every state in Nigeria to having persons with sworn loyalties to foreign entities liable to be conscripted into the armed forces of that foreign entity possibly against the Nigerian state and Lagos in particular to take over the reins of power…”.

He made the submission through his lawyer Olumide Ayeni (SAN) and 12 others in his final written response to the final address of Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat who were declared by INEC as the winners of the March 18 Governorship elections in Lagos State.

The petitioner contends that Sanwo-Olu was not validly elected into the office of Governor having nominated Hamzat who violated the provisions of Sections 182 (1)(a) and 187 (1) & (2) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

He also contended that the election as conducted by INEC was marred with violence, overvoting, disenfranchisement, thuggery and electoral irregularities as same was not conducted in substantial compliance with the Electoral Act 2022 and that Sanwo-Olu did not garner the highest number of valid votes cast at that election.

In proof of his petition, Rhodes-Vivour called 10 witnesses while Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat called 1.

In his final written address filed on July 28, the petitioner raised a preliminary objection to the validity of the final written addresses of Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat. He formulated a single issue for the determination:

“Whether, in view of the clear provisions of paragraphs 5(a), 5(c) and 5(d) of the Election Judicial Proceedings Practice Directions, 2022, and the Ruling of the Honourable Tribunal delivered on July 6, 2023 in Petition No. EPT/LAG/GOV/01/2023 between Dr. Azeez Olajide Adediran and Anor vs. INEC and Ors, the 2nd and 3rd Respondents’ Final written Address dated 22nd July 2023 is invalid.”

The petitioner submitted that “in gross violation and in abuse of the clear provisions of paragraphs 5(a), 5(c) and 5(d) of the Election Judicial Proceedings Practice Directions, 2022, SanwoOlu and Hamzat filed forty-three (43) pages Final Written Address as opposed to forty (40) pages provided in paragraph 5(a). They also prepared their Final Written Address in Times New Roman of 12 font size as opposed to 14 font size provided in paragraph 5(c). In further violation of paragraph 5(c), the 2nd and 3rd Respondents used 1.15 line spacing in their Final Written Address as opposed to 1.5 line spacing between the lines.”

The Petitioner noted that It is trite and banal that Election Petition is sui generis (in a class of its own) with its special rules and for failing to comply with the rules, he urged the Tribunal “to strike out the 2nd and 3rd Respondents’ Final Written Address dated 22nd July 2023 for being invalid and for contravening the provisions in paragraph 5(a) & 5(c) of the Election Judicial Proceedings Practice Directions, 2022.”

Rhodes-Vivour also reiterated some of the issues he raised during the Pre-Hearing.

On the issue of Hamzat having voluntarily made a declaration of allegiance to the United States of America, the Petitioner asked the Tribunal to hold that this disqualified him from being nominated as the Deputy Governorship Candidate.

“It is instructive to note that Exhibits PE713-PE 723 contains an Affidavit of Personal Particulars by the 3rd Respondent verifying the contents of the information handwritten by him, the said information includes a confirmation that he has and continues to owe his allegiance to the United States of America.”
The Petitioner also asked the Tribunal to note that Hamzat did not deny or make any pleading to dispel the allegations against him as to the making of the declaration of allegiance in the USA and no witness was called to rebut the weighty and empirical evidence as contained in the Exhibits.
For the petitioner, the 3rd Respondent’s submission that his oath of allegiance was not tendered “falls like a pack of cards” in the face of Exhibits tendered and in the testimony of the expert witness who said that the information is protected by “US Privacy Act of 1974”.

“From the above uncontroverted evidence, it is only the 3rd Respondent that can have access to the oath of allegiance he took and signed in view of the provision of the US Privacy Act of 1974. With respect, it would be very unreasonable for the law to place a burden on the Petitioner to prove by direct evidence via a document, which only the 3rd Respondent and no one else can assess. In fact, if any other person makes an attempt to secure the oath of allegiance made by the 3rd Respondent, any such action attracts criminal liability”.

Citing Section 182 (1) (a) of the Constitution, the petitioner submitted that the 3rd Respondent never pleaded any exceptions by the National Assembly as envisaged under the section as one of the exceptions. He urged the 3 man panel “to uphold the sanctity of the Constitution in spite of whose is ox is gored and protect the sovereignty of the country from possible espionage by preventing any person who does not have a clear loyalty and allegiance to Nigeria alone from occupying executive and sensitive arms of government such as the position of Governor and Deputy Governor respectively.

“The case of your Petitioner is NOT that the 3rd Respondent ceased to be a Citizen of Nigeria because he made a declaration of allegiance to the United States of America. No! By making the declaration of allegiance, the 3rd respondent never lost his citizenship. He was simply disqualified from being eligible by the fact of his making the forbidden declaration of allegiance to the foreign country. The 3rd Respondent is disqualified in the same manner in which an adjured bankrupt, or ex-convict or lunatic is by section 182 of the Constitution disqualified from contesting as a governor but he cannot by stretch of any interpretation be said to have lost his Citizenship by virtue of that disability.
“The far-reaching implication of this is that citizenship by birth does not excuse a candidate who has made an oath of allegiance to any foreign country from being disqualified.”

On the disqualification of SanwoOlu, the Petitioner submitted that since the 3rd Respondent is disqualified, the 2nd Respondent who holds a joint ticket with the 3rd Respondent is also disqualified (by virtue of the non-qualification of the 3rd Respondent).

Rhodes-Vivour concluded his final written address with the effervescent and cautionary words of Lord Denning, “Justice must be rooted in confidence and confidence is destroyed when right-minded people go away thinking: “The judge was biased.

“We urge my Lords to uphold the supremacy of the Constitution and protect the territorial integrity of the Country by applying the clear constitutional provisions which disqualify a person that does not have fidelity or allegiance to the Country from occupying number 2 position in Lagos State which automatically vitiates the joint ticket of the 2nd and 3rd Respondents.

“The proper order to make in the circumstance, having found that the 2nd and 3rd Respondents are disqualified, shall be the return of the Petitioner as the person with the highest number of lawful votes cast at the Governorship Election held on 18th March 2023…”

Iziquiel:
Who read the trash from a bittered soul?

raskymonojendor:
What's this one saying.
Same Gazette NG that said The supreme Court justice was meeting Tinubu in London is what you are ejaculating on-top. You people are real Andrew liver salt mtchew

LegendHero:
Lol your own delusionn is the worst among you Obidients. Which of the rerun? Rerun in Nigeria or Biafra?

By the way, Tinubu lost in both Kano and Kaduna where Kwakwanso and Elrufai hold sway. Infact, PDP won 2 senatorial district in the last election in Kaduna state.

El Rufai will still be confirmed as a minister and he will work with Tinubu. All this one happening na just normal political gimmick and Tinubu will sort that out as he already met with Malam today. El-Rufai is very important to Tinubu and he is the only man Tinubu had to beg to be in his government. El-Rufai is not brainless like Obi, he knows Jagaban has nothing to do with this confirmation issue.

Lastly, stop expending your time on useless hope. There will be no rerun and Peter Obi cannot be Nigeria president even if he is the only one printed on INEC ballot. Until we Yoruba and Hausa/Fulanis agree to give power to an Ibo person, no Ibo person living or dead will be president.

garfield1:
Obi has lost out sir.anambra is one ethnicity,Nigeria multiple

Thislifesef:
see the way you carry the matter for head.
Abeg which re run you dey talk about?

Beremx:
The terrorist said he doesn't want to serve in Tinubu's administration, why is he being persuaded? Are there no other people from Kaduna state to replace him? Why's Tinubu begging him upandan?
A man who supervised the killings of Christians in his state and openly supports religious bigotry?
Hell no!!!

ChiefOloye:
Aveg, wetin you want base your rerun on, and na you and who go run am?

Ogene001:
Or one year maximum. Ebola is overrated. He lacks strategy. The north has dumped him to handle Niger matter by themselves

TemplarLandry:
The imp feels his ego has been stroked.

Ogene001:
These are northern Nigeria envoys who are there to show solidarity with the junta.

Throwback:
You Obidients have never hidden the fact that you do not care about democracy.

You only wanted power at all cost, even if you had to seize the voters cards of your old parents who had a different impression on who was better suited to lead the country.

Your shameless fantasy about a military coup seizing power from President Tinubu, underscores your deceit about being a bird of reason.

You are a frustrated bird.

EmperorCaesar:
You may not know what conflict resolution is and how powerful/effective it is in any chaotic establishment.

You wont know tho, cause Ekpa and your other kinsmen resorted to bombing everywhere instead of settling things via a round table dialogue

garfield1:
Leave religion out of this.the person that would fight them would most likely be affiliated to them not from the opposite camp,a moderate muslim.all these politicians are deep in evil so normally God won't intervene.if he does,he can use someone from the enemy camp to scatter them not necessarily a xtian.

Tinubu did not plan anything,he was always going to beat obi as far as ne nw exist.tinubu is even the best person to rule as he has the influence and is well known across nigetia.he has followers everywhere unlike obi that is sectional.obi would be worst than gej

Nasir El-Rufai is all but guaranteed to excuse himself from President Bola Tinubu’s federal executive council even if his security clearance ultimately goes through for ministerial confirmation, Peoples Gazette heard from two people familiar.

The former Kaduna governor said he was incensed by the hold on his senatorial endorsement that appeared to cast a pall on his security status as a prominent Nigerian politician, according to the sources who urged anonymity to relay aspects of a recent meeting with the ministerial nominee to The Gazette.

From our findings, Mr El-Rufai has not publicly announced his intention to abandon his ministerial nomination because he believed the Senate would eventually receive a green light from the national security establishment and subsequently confirm him. He has decided to wait until his confirmation before announcing his desire not to serve in the cabinet, sources said, eliminating any emergency developments that could force his hands otherwise. He could be the first to resign ministerial appointment between Senate confirmation and inauguration.

The reason Mr El-Rufai decided to follow this approach, The Gazette heard, was to show the Nigerian public that there were no justifiable grounds for the outcome of his security assessment to be placed on hold, presumably by national security adviser Nuhu Ribadu, much less being heinous enough to preclude him from serving as a minister.

Mr El-Rufai was among three politicians whose confirmations were withheld by the Senate on Monday. They were among 48 total ministerial nominations forwarded to the upper parliamentary chamber by Mr Tinubu, with lawmakers clearing 45 names who are now being assigned portfolios. Senate President Godswill Akpabio was silent on what informed the body’s decision to reject three ministers.

Whereas the grounds for withholding confirmation for the two other nominees, Abubakar Danladi of Taraba and Stella Okotete of Delta, were publicly documented, even if unstated by Mr Akpabio, Mr El-Rufai’s fate has been stranded in the realm of high octane speculations that have proven rather stubborn for his supporters to quell. Some of his opponents swore the hold was due to Mr El-Rufai’s handling of ethnic and sectarian clashes that overshadowed most of his tenure as a two-term governor; while others cited the politician’s insinuated propensity for corruption and betrayal of allies.

Mr El-Rufai’s decision came despite relentless entreaties from his closest and most powerful friends, who said he should follow them to see Mr Ribadu to resolve any outstanding issues.

“His Excellency Nasir El-Rufai is a man of conviction, and he has made it clear that he won’t be meeting Nuhu Ribadu to lobby him for security clearance,” one of our sources said. “In fact, he was supposed to be in Abuja on Wednesday for a meeting with the NSA but he vigorously turned it down.”

Mr Ribadu’s involvement in the last-minute intervention of the NSA in the ministerial nomination process was first reported by Sahara Reporters. The Gazette heard that Mr El-Rufai insisted that he won’t be meeting Mr Ribadu because he strongly believed the NSA lacked requisite political stature to unilaterally withhold a ministerial nomination.

Mr El-Eufai and other nominees had been previously cleared by the State Security Service prior to being asked to proceed to the Senate. They were all questioned for more than a week as part of the screening process. It, however, remained unclear how Mr Ribadu managed to successfully raise objection to the previously imminent confirmation of Mr El-Rufai and two others.

“Whatever Nuhu Ribadu might be doing, he won’t be able to do it without the president’s prior knowledge,” the source said, echoing Mr El-Rufai’s position. “So that is why he would wait until he finally gets confirmed before pulling out of the cabinet.”

Mr El-Rufai did not return a request seeking comments from The Gazette about what he told his friends, yet he didn’t object to running this story.

Mr Ribadu, whose specific grouse against Mr El-Rufai could not be yet ascertained by The Gazette, did not return a request seeking comments about his involvement on Tuesday night. A spokesman for the president was not available for comments on Wednesday morning.

A career civil engineer, Mr El-Rufai served in different capacity under President Olusegun Obasanjo between the early and mid-aughts, including four years as Abuja minister from 2003-2007. He later abandoned the then-ruling Peoples Democratic Party amid tensed political atmosphere and aligned with then-opposition elements that ultimately formed the now-ruling All Progressives Congress.

He was elected Kaduna governor in May 2015, serving for two terms until May this year. His political opponents have often deployed his acerbic interference in public discussions against him, but he has rarely ever apologised for his views, which ranged from confronting a sitting president in populist advocacy to championing execution of foreigners who interfere in Nigerian affairs on national television.

“There is nothing new about being a minister to him anymore, since he has done it before, so he would turn down the position after security clearance,” one of his allies emphasised to The Gazette. Mr El-Rufai faced criticism recently for accepting Mr Tinubu’s nomination after publicly stating that he was no longer interested in being a minister. An ally said he accepted the nomination based on fresh factors that emerged after the elections.

DaTruths:
Please Do you know When the Tribunal judgement will hold?

Vinnie2000:
It is What it is!🤨🙂

In Reality, we First belong to our Local Tribes before being Nigerians!.

In the First Place, Our Tribes should be Seperate, distinct Nations!
Like the Serbs, Croats, Bulgarians, Czech, Polish, etc of Europe!.

garfield1:
You can't win them.even if he wins in court,they would find a way to take him out.

IbileIfe:
Port Harcourt was under the region of Eastern Nigeria under Dr. Michael Okpara.
Michael Iheonukara Okpara // (listen)(25 December 1920 – 17 December 1984) was a Nigerian politician and Premier of Eastern Nigeria during the First Republic, from 1959 to 1966.

It was for the Free Education in Western Nigeria that millions of Igbos relocated to Lagos. And started breeding like rabbits to make the state congested
You a poor Igbo couple having 10 children in one room in Ajegunle, Ikate, Amukko and Oshodi.
What they could not afford to do in their Eastern Nigeria

.

garfield1:
The fight is above nasarawa,the northern establishment is interested

Perfectbeing:
What tribalistic tendency did Awolowo have?
Not wanting an Igbo man to be premier of the West when there's already an Igbo premier of the East is such a bad thing?

assholemods:
Osifo is Edo/Delta what difference does it make?

sanpipita:
They have never been able to answer that question, funny they accept BVAS as integral part of the electoral process yet try discredit IREV that's an output for same BVAS, anyway their INEC witness confirmed IREV is authentic and keyword statutorily storage for results for review or petitions