Election Tribunal: We’ll expose INEC, Obi’s lawyer declares
Livy Uzoukwu (SAN), the leading counsel of Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi has vowed to expose the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for allegedly withholding essential documents, alleging that the electoral umpire is probably trying to manipulate the documents, before releasing them.
According to him, he will focus on the most important witnesses in the case in the three weeks allotted to his team to present their case.
Uzoukwu said this during an interview with journalists Tuesday at the tribunal pre-hearing in Abuja.
“We have written five letters indicating to pay and that we’re ready to collect those documents. The letters were duly received and endorsed by INEC. Why are they telling lies to say that we couldn’t pay? This is very unfortunate.
“What about the documents we have collected? Don’t we pay for them? Of course, we paid for them and those ones were given to us but refused to give us others,” he said.
Obi’s lawyer also said his party would serve INEC a subpoena as soon as hearing resumes May 30 (a day after inauguration), to compel them to produce the documents.
Peter Obi to present petitions against Tinubu in three weeks
The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal has ordered Peter Obi and the Labour Party to present their joint petition against Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s victory at the 2023 election within three weeks.
The Tribunal also ordered the President-elect, Tinubu, to defend his victory along with the Independent National Electoral Commission within five days.
The Chairman of the Tribunal, Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani, issued the order on Tuesday while presenting the pre-hearing session report of the Tribunal.
Among others, Justice Tsammani ordered that Obi open his petition for hearing on May 30 and end same on June 23.
Recall that Obi, through his counsel, Professor Awa Kalu, SAN, had requested a period of seven weeks to establish their allegations against Tinubu’s victory.
The Tribunal said that it arrived at the decision because of the limited time within which the petition must be disposed of.
Meanwhile, the Tribunal has ordered the consolidation of the petitions so as to ensure an expeditious hearing.
Gombe Gov, Yahaya, Emerges NSGF Chair
The Governor of Gombe State, Inuwa Yahaya, emerged as the new Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, on Tuesday.
Yahaya, who was elected governor of the state in 2019, won his re-election bid for a second term in the February 2023 general election.
He will be taking over from the outgoing chairman of the forum, Simon Lalong, who is also the governor of Plateau State.
Lalong was elected chairman of the forum in 2019.
The member representing Orlu/Oru East/Orsu Federal Constituency of Imo State in the House of Representatives, Hon Jerry Alagbaoso, has defected from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He made his decision known in a letter presented to the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, at a plenary, on Tuesday. Alagbaoso who later read the letter said he defected because he wants to work with Governor, Hope Uzodinma, to take the state to the mainstream of Nigerian politics and “bring more dividends of democracy to the people”.
Gbajabiamila described Alagbaoso’s defection as an “earthquake moment” because of his political stature. Gbajabiamila described Alagbaoso’s defection as an “earthquake moment” because of his political stature. He said that was why he was allowed to read his defection letter by himself instead of the usual practice when the speaker reads the letters submitted by defecting lawmakers.
