02042019 - Military uncovers arms factory in Benue

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42 — Vanguard, TUESDAY APRIL 2, 2019 OSUN GOV: Unending dust over tribunal verdict By Olayinka Ajayi TEN days after the Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal in Osun annulled the election of Mr Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and declared Senator Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as winner of the poll, the verdict is still raising dust in the polity. In separate chats with Vanguard, some lawyers differed on the judgement. Among those who spoke with Vanguard are Mr Femi Falana, SAN; and Mr Malachy Ugwummadu. In what was described as a ‘split judgement’, the tribunal in its ruling, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, to immediately issue Adeleke with Certificate of Return, declaring him as the duly elected governor. The panel agreed that PDP and Adeleke established beyond reasonable doubt that INEC did not comply substantially with the Electoral Act in 17 polling units. The chairman of the Tribunal, Justice Ibrahim Sirajo upheld the whole election. However, in the majority judgement delivered by Justice Peter Obiora, the tribunal set aside the rerun election conducted on September 27, 2018 for being unlawful. Justice Obiora held that the poll conducted in the seven units is unknown by law because INEC has no power to conduct it. Consequently, over 2,000 votes credited to the APC and Governor Oyetola by INEC were deducted by By Polycarp Nwafor Mr. Matthew Ugwueze is a member, representing Igboeze South LGA in Enugu State House of Assembly. He is the Chairman House Committee on Education, Science, and Technology. In this interview, he speaks on his time at the Assembly, the 2019 general elections and the reason politicians in the state who lost at the polls should not subject the outcome of the elections to litigation. How would you describe your outing as a politician and as a representative of your people? It has been a successful outing and I give due glory to God for His mercies. Considering my poor background and looking back at all that I went through growing up, I have every course to be eternally grateful to God, the good people of Igbo-Eze South, our leader, the Governor of Enugu State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for giving me the opportunity to serve and for standing by me through and through. Is there any bill to your credit that you hold dear to heart? There is a host of them but to address the question succinctly, it would be the Amendment of Education Law cap 37 of Enugu State, which had been grossly outdated. We had inherited the bill from the then Eastern Regional Government when the education policy stipulated that all that was to be paid by a private school was N20. You can imagine how obsolete such law had become. So, we worked on the law to bring it to the realities of present-day Nigeria. After you lost re-election bid at the primaries and it became obvious that you would not be part of the 9th Assembly in Enugu, it was surprising •Adeleke the tribunal, and over 1,000 votes said to have been scored by the PDP and its candidate were also removed from their total votes. The majority judgement held that the returning officer, Prof. Joseph Fuwape, who cancelled the result in the affected units for the September 22 election after the announcement had no power to have done so. Fuwape maintained that the election was inconclusive because 3,498 votes were cancelled as a result of ballot box snatching that occurred in some polling units during the election. The affected polling units were Ife North (one polling unit), Ife south (two polling units), Orolu,(three polling units) and Osogbo, one polling unit. According to Fuwape, Senator Adeleke scored 254,698 votes while Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola got 254, 345 votes. He thus called for rerun elections at the polling units where results were cancelled. The majority judgement after deductions of the votes recorded in the rerun poll gave Adeleke’s score as 253,777 and Oyetola’s as 253,476. ENUGU: 'Why challenging Ugwuanyi’s victory’ll be futile exercise' that you did not revolt as is synonymous with the average Nigerian politician. Why did you choose to work for your party instead? The slogan of our state under the current administration is that Enugu is in the hand of God. That implies that everything about the state and in the state is in God’s hands. Therefore, my present and political future are in God’s hand. So, there was no need to revolt. To me, it was the will of God. I came here with the full realization that I would not be a House member forever. Inasmuch as I had desired to serve my people further, the position is not my birthright. So, I give God the glory for allowing me, son of a poor farmer, the opportunity to serve as a legislator in Enugu state. However, as a human being, I would not pretend that I did not feel bad at the time. Then you were later compensated with an appointment as Coordinator of Gburugburu re-election Campaign Organisation for Igbo-Eze South? No, no! The fact was that they found me worthy to serve in that capacity and not that I lost out at the primary election. Was I the only one that did not triumph at our party’s primaries? But to be honest, that engagement enabled me to put issues that were associated with the primaries behind me faster. I threw myself into the assignment and that was why till now, many people are still congratulating me for winning the election ignorant of the fact that I was not the candidate after all. So, I never showed any sign of anger because, as I said, someone must leave for someone to emerge. So, I would continue to work for PDP, to support our hard-working governor and my people, while leaving tomorrow firmly •Ugwueze •Oyetola in God’s hand. The result of the 2019 election showed that Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area, recorded highest votes ever in her history, and incidentally, that happened under your leadership as campaign coordinator; how did you achieve that? We ascribe all our successes to God who gives strength and wisdom. However, we did not achieve that feat via a one-man show but through the collective efforts of our stakeholders, especially the Chairman of the council area, Hon. Fidelis Odo, who gave us a lot of support, encouragement, and partnership. We did not suffer any sort of interference from him. Our NASS members, Senator Chuka Utazi and Rt Hon Patrick Asadu, as well as Chief Ikeje Asogwa and many others, were also tremendous in their support to us. There was unity of purpose, mutual Controversial Minority judgment However, a controversy ensued via the minority judgment, in which Justice Ibrahim Sirajo, the chairman of the tribunal, held that the petitioners, PDP and Adeleke did not prove how the noncompliance of non-recording in the columns of accredited votes and account of ballots in the result sheets substantially affected the final results. He stated that even when non substantial compliance affects the outcome of the election, the tribunal, respect, and collective hard work throughout the process, and that earned us over 38,000 votes, to become third in Enugu state vote rating, the highest ever in the council area, like you rightly noted. So, as the campaign coordinator, it is a thing to cheer about. But more importantly, we are grateful to candidate Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi for making campaign job easy for us through his superlative governance. We did not have to ruffle feathers to mobilize our people because the governor had already become a household name before the election. That was the case in the rest of the LGAs. So, I use this medium to appeal to our people to continue to pray for and support the governor. Let our people calm down and partner with the governor to take our state to the next level of peace, development, inclusive and peopleoriented governance. I appeal to those that lost in the election not to distract the government with litigation. We can only have one governor at a time and the future belongs to God. The governor’s first tenure was subjected to unending litigation which was later settled at the Supreme Court after over three and half years. That was almost four years of distraction to the government with attendant colossal economic loss and deprivation to the state and her citizens. Let us not waste our time and resources by subjecting the results of the election to litigation. This is the first time a governor is developing both rural areas and the city at the same time. Ugwuanyi has touched all the 17 local government areas in terms of infrastructure development, just as he is touching all the communities in the state via, Visit Every Community, VEC. by virtue of section 140(2) of the Electoral Act, does not have the power to subtract the votes affected by the non-compliance from the scores of the candidates and announce a winner. According to him the tribunal only has the power to nullify the results of the Polling units affected by the noncompliance and order a supplementary poll. He concluded that even if the non-compliance was substantial, it was not proved by the petitioners. Panel being divided is not unusual – Falana Speaking on the controversial verdict, Right activist, Mr. Femi Falana, SAN, said that divergent decision in a tribunal is inevitable saying: “Is that the first time an election would be annulled in Nigeria? Panel being divided is not unusual? The court of appeal is clear about that . So it is not unusual. Professionally, I have not read the judgement yet, as I have been away for sometime. So I will have to read the judgement before I can further make comment.’’ You don’t nullify an election without declaring a winner – Comrade Ugwummadu However, President of the Committee for the Defence of Human Right, CDHR, Barrister Malachy Ugwummadu stressed that it would be unsafe for the electoral panel to nullify the election without declaring a winner. Quoting section 140 sub section 2 and 3 of the electoral act 2010 Electoral Act, he said: “There is what is called consequential order. The effect of nullifying an election will be more dangerous without a consequential order of what happens after that. I am referencing section 140 sub section 2 and 3 of the electoral act 2010. If the court comes to the verdict. for instance, a candidate who was declared winner and returned was not qualified as a winner, what the court does is to call for a rerun. If it on the basis of the candidate declared as a winner scored the majority lawful votes, what the court does in this circumstance, is to declare the second person the winner. So you don’t just nullify an election without declaring a winner, that would create serious void and problems. So the court was proper by the verdict made in Osun”. “However, the divided verdict the tribunal had is normal. In fact, it is the beauty of a court system unlike what we have in conventional high court. The beauty of our judicial system is that as the case graduates, it moves from magistrate to high court, federal high court, to the supreme court, the number of judges increases. It is because the jurisprudence that would be expected would be more profound, more thorough and better discharged when you have up to three or more judges dealing with the facts of the case. So if you have three, there are instances and in most cases where they come up with unanimous discussions, but there are also instances which we have dissenting decisions . That is, the decision that does not agree with the popular decision. whereas he has given his decision , it does not mean that that is the judgement of the court. It becomes the minority opinion. So what transpired in Osun election tribunal is normal. Before judges take a decision, they have a conference with the law to review the arguments of counsels, they evaluate the evidence, come up with there reasoning. What the verdict imply is that the rule of law does not respect any person or political party. whereas you are at liberty to force your way through, if you do not comply with the enabling constitution of the country, guideline of the INEC, you are likely going to have the implication such as this. You may have put something on nothing and you expect it to stand. So political parties must learn and play by the rules.”
VANGUARD, TUESDAY APRIL 2, 2019 — 43 By Omeiza Ajayi THE ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, has dismissed reports of a political feud between its National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and the Director General of its Presidential Campaign Council, Rotimi Amaechi on the position of the party in the controversial governorship election in Rivers State. While Amaechi, who is also the minister of Transportation had influenced a large section of the party in Rivers to adopt candidates of the African Action Congress, AAC, owing to the disqualification of the APC by the courts from fielding candidates, Oshiomhole had at the weekend reportedly distanced the party’s hierarchy from such arrangement. However, in a statement Monday evening in Abuja, the party through its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam RIVERS: No rift between Oshiomhole, Amaechi — APC Lanre Issa-Onilu, said there has been a futile attempt by some partisans to twist Oshiomhole’s Blame politicians for electoral violence, not INEC – Sen Abe By Egufe Yafugborhi •Sen Abe PORT HARCOURT - A chieftain of All Progressives Congress, APC, in Rivers State, Sen Magnus Abe has said that it is unfair to blame the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for the culture of violence in the state elections, saying politicians should be blamed. Abe, Senator representing Rivers South East Senatorial District in the National Assembly, in a statement through his Media Aide, Parry Benson, reiterated that no individual can determine the future of Rivers State. He said: “Politicians do not go into elections ready to accept the will of the people. They have pre-determined results and will do everything possible to subvert the process to create a particular result. “If we turn around to blame INEC for all the challenges that come out of that kind of •Amaechi disposition toward the electoral process, it will be unfair. “There is an election that comes up every four years in Nigeria and every adult in this country knows that there will be an election in 2019 and those who are qualified to vote were prepared long before the due date. “How you reach out to these people and organise yourself to get the best of the goodwill of the people is the politics. That is the work of the political party. Where you don’t do that and then you give instructions for people to go and vote in a particular manner, your followers could obey but the general population will not. “If Nigerians, Rivers people want a better state and better life, they must come out and fight for what they believe in and that is what I think we ought to be doing. “In several places in this country, when these elections were going on, citizens came out and stood their ground and at the end of the day, everybody submitted to what the citizens wanted. “The future of Rivers is in the hands of Rivers people. They need to come together to decide what is right and how we can make things better in the state. It is not something that will happen by accident. People must come out and fight for it and I am ready to be one of those people that will fight for a better Rivers.” •Oshiomhole comments on the issue. He said: “Our attention has been drawn to some reports in the media purporting a disagreement between the National Chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi over the alignment of the Rivers State APC with the governorship candidate of the African Action Congress AAC, Awara Biokpomabo. “It is regrettable that the APC National Chairman’s statement is being twisted to suit a jaundiced narrative. This narrative is at best, mischievous, pedestrian and should be disregarded. The APC Chairman’s statement is unambiguous as to the effect that the APC’s National Working Committee NWC does not have any formal alliance with AAC. This is without prejudice to any local arrangement that may exist. “Both Oshiomhole and Amaechi are above the petty insinuations being orchestrated by a section of the Media. Like many leaders of the party, APC National Chairman, Comrade Oshiomhole and the Minister of Transport, Hon. Amaechi enjoy cordial relationship and do share mutual respect; therefore, deliberate misinterpretation of issues and statements from the party or between the two of them would continue to fail”, he added. Amaechi had in the lead up to the elections said the APC will throw its weight behind Awara Biokpomabo, governorship candidate of the AAC in the state. “This morning, the leadership of the party met and agreed that we would work with a party called African Action Congress AAC, while we are still in court to reclaim our mandate,” he had said. Last week, Issa- Onilu also disclaimed insinuations that Amaechi was involved in anti-party activities, absolving the minister of any wrongdoing. “I will emphatically say no because if you liken it to the situation in Imo and or Ogun states, it will be wrong. In Rivers state, APC does not have any candidate and as a party, Rivers state is very important to us. The state has been in the hands of pillagers for too long. “If we have the opportunity of working with a party willing to abide by our principles, then it is within our right to work with such a party to ensure we free the people of Rivers state from the locusts”, Issa-Onilu had stated. However, speaking on a Channels Television programme Friday in Abuja, Oshiomhole said the party leadership was not aware of the arrangement between the APC and AAC in Rivers state. He said: “I have never spoken at any forum that we have aligned with any party. There is only one party (I oversee) and that is APC, if there is going to be alignment, I will know. “I can’t choose to be in the know. That has never been discussed with me or with any of the members of the national working committee.” PDP candidate rejects result, heads to tribunal in Lagos By Esther Onyegbula THE Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate for Lagos State House of Assembly, Ibeju Lekki Constituency, Tari Oba-Oliver, has rejected the result of the just concluded elections. He vowed to challenge the outcome which saw Mojeed Fatai of the All Progressives Congress, APC, declared winner at the elections Petitions Tribunal. Oliver, who addressed newsmen at the weekend said: “I reject the declaration of Hon Mojeed Fatai as the winner of that election on the grounds that the supplementary poll held on Saturday March 23, 2019 was marred by voter intimidation, vote-buying at polling station and sponsorship of multiple voting by same voters. “There was even a skirmish involving an INEC official at one of the polling stations who boldly told our party agents who complained of the gross irregularities that they did not play their game well; and that the election was just a mere formality because the result of •Tari Oba-Oliver It is regrettable that the APC National Chairman’s statement is being twisted to suit a jaundiced narrative the election was already known. “We have always been aware of the desperation of the APC over the years to hold on to power in all corners of Lagos State whether deservedly or not. But that desperation has never before been so openly displayed as it was on Saturday. “The people of Ibeju Lekki Constituency I came out to vote with the intention to echo the tiredness of Lagos people with the current dispensation under the APC. They came to do this honourably; they came with no intention to soil their hands; they came to vote the APC out. “They would have succeeded on a level playing ground. But, indeed, the good people of Ibeju Lekki for the first time witnessed a blatant broad daylight robbery of their mandate by the enemies of democracy.” In addition, he said: “We came into this race with the honest and honourable intention to address the decay in people representation. “We have meticulously gathered overwhelming evidence of the electoral fraud that occurred in the Ibeju Lekki Constituency I rerun election. And we have decided to take a legal action through the Election Petitions Tribunal. We promise that by God’s grace, the mandate of the people of Ibeju Lekki Constituency 1 of Lagos State shall be reclaimed.”
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02042019 - Military uncovers arms factory in Benue

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