RENOWNED U.S. BASED INTERNATIONAL LAWYER BRINGS JUSTICE TSAMMANI'S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION JUDGMENT TO ASHES

Excerpts of "Mechanical Vs. Dynamic Justice" by Emmanuel Ogebe, Esq., US Nigeria Law Group, 2023 Nigeria Special Election Observer, September 8, 2023.

_*"The court’s failure to inquire into the gravity of allegations that a man who seeks to be president of Nigeria not only has a Guinean passport but lied about it on oath is a failure to protect national security and integrity.*_

_*"Sitting US President Bill Clinton lost his law license over the Monica Lewinsky Scandal not because he slept with the intern in the White House BUT BECAUSE HE LIED TO THE INVESTIGATORS ON OATH ABOUT IT. The sanction was to send the signal that a president should not set a bad example by lying to the government.*_

_*"This is the problem with mechanical justice versus dynamic justice. At no point did the (Justice Tsammani's PEPT) court show a concern for the safety of Nigeria from corrupt predators, fraudsters or charlatans which was the clear intent of the constitution and ancillary laws."*_

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*NB:* Pls, take special note of all highlights.

The court (Presidential Election Petition Tribunal) should have allowed the testimony of the witnesses given in court and the cross-examination even if it disallowed their late-filed witness statements for the sake of equity and in the interest of Justice.

In my defamation lawsuit against the Buhari administration over the Chibok girls I sponsored to school in US, the Attorney General did not file FGN’s pleadings or statement of defense till I came from US, testified and was cross-examined by them.

After I closed my case as Plaintiff, they then rushed to the court seeking leave to file their defense. We opposed it because having discovered the entirety of my case, they were only now going to file their Defense *one and a half years after the case began when it should have been filed within a month!*

*Yet Abuja High Court Judge Abba Mohammed, now a member of the presidential election court, granted the FGN leave to file the pleadings late even after noting that they lied about not being aware of the case when in fact they had been participating for over a year.* This was extremely prejudicial to my case.

*However he said he did so “in the interest of justice.” Why couldn’t the (Labour Party and PDP) petitioners’ benefit from such magnanimity or mercy in the interest of Justice too?* Rather, Justice Mohammed said the petitioner failed by not serving spreadsheets of election irregularities with the petition on Respondents.

Yet *(in my 2017 suit)* if he had similarly denied FGN’s late filing of its statement of defense after I had presented my evidence, I would have won and my case would not still be dragging in the high court six years later! 

I also submit that the subpoenaed witnesses should not be affected by the time-limiting requirement to file evidence with the petition.

Per a social media post, “In ABBA YUSUF v APC, an unreported case of the Court of Appeal, Kano in Appeal NO CA/KN/EP/Gov/KAN/05/2023 of 24 August 2023, it was decided thus: *"Flowing from the catalogued statutory position of a subpoenaed witness, as a witness of a court, it will be incongruous and preposterous to hold that his statement on oath must willy-nilly accompany a petition. As a matter of fact, it will evince natural and human impossibility for such a court witness to file his deposition alongside a petition. The reason is simple. A subpoenaed witness appears in court on the invitation of a court on the application of a party. A subpoenaed witness cannot suo motu present himself before a court." The beneficiary of the judgment was APC!”*

The court should have aimed to mitigate the situation. In my defamation case, Justice Abba Mohammed awarded costs against the FGN and allowed them to file late. Myself and the other parties have paid penalties to the court for late filing as is standard practice. There are less drastic sanctions than expungement of the evidence for late filing more so in a sensitive like this of national and international significance.

This unfortunately is one drawback to the reservation of objections till the end of the case because if these had been ventilated earlier, petitioners would have had an opportunity to rectify the infractions eg by a motion for enlargement of time and to deem as timely filed.

*Selective Judicial Notice*

It is important to note that *the conclusion of the case is not that the allegations against Tinubu were not true. In summary - Tinubu had a Guinean passport and a fake university certificate but they were not tendered on time and had a drug forfeiture, oh but though it was tendered on time, it wasn’t a conviction.*

While it is unfortunate and inexplicable why the foreign citizenship and forged certificate were not filed timely, the court itself should have noted the gravity of the weighty allegations in light of national interest.

*Curiously, the court said they took judicial notice of the fact that Peter Obi had Anambra state indigeneship, even though it wasn’t an issue before them, but the court didn’t take judicial notice of the fact that Tinubu has a Guinean citizenship even though the issue was before them!*

A responsible court concerned for the integrity and security of the nation would not shut its eyes to sensitive evidence or explosive allegations of this nature.

*If they felt that the Guinean passport issue was smuggled in after the settlement of pleadings, they could have authorized extra time for the petitioners to respond to it.* Note that the trial ended earlier than scheduled as the respondents didn’t utilize all the time allotted to them. In fact, with the numerous SANs and lawyers in their retinue, taking them by surprise was not a serious capacity concern. After all, over a dozen SANs combined presented only one defense witness.  The respondents’ lawyers outnumbered the petitioners three to one. There were three sets of respondents’ lawyers to only one set of petitioners’ lawyers!

Indeed, the manner in which Olanipeku SAN, counsel to Tinubu, deconstructed LP’s Amazon Witness PW7 during cross examination one day after her bombshell testimony is the stuff of legends.

Therefore *the court’s failure to inquire into the gravity of allegations that a man who seeks to be president of Nigeria not only has a Guinean passport but lied about it on oath is a failure to protect national security and integrity.*

*Sitting US President Bill Clinton lost his law license over the Monica Lewinsky Scandal not because he slept with the intern in the White House but because he lied to the investigators on oath about it. The sanction was to send the signal that a president should not set a bad example by lying to the government.*

This is the problem with mechanical justice versus dynamic justice. *At no point did the court show a concern for the safety of Nigeria from corrupt predators, fraudsters or charlatans which was the clear intent of the constitution and ancillary laws.*

*There was scant effort to explore the mischief rule of what the drafters were trying to cure. All one saw was a mechanical and slavish adherence to the letter and not the spirit of the law thereby resulting in a catastrophic conclusion that criminality trumps (triumphs over) constitutionality.*

It is worrisome that criminal-minded elements are more creative than adjudicators and so exploit this to their advantage.

*On March 10th, 2017, the Supreme Court sacked a Benue state Rep member, for submitting a FORGED CERTIFICATE  to INEC.*

*Delivering the lead judgment, Sidi Bage, JSC held, “This court...must take the lead, righting the wrong in our society... Allowing criminality and certificate forgery to continue to percolate into the streams, waters, and oceans of our national polity will only mean that our waters are and will remain dangerously contaminated. The purification efforts must start now and be sustained as we seek, as a nation, to now change from our old culture of reckless impunity. The Nigerian Constitution is supreme. It desires that no one who has ever presented a forged certificate to INEC should contest election into the Nigerian National Assembly. This is clear and sacrosanct."*

To my mind, the court should have allowed the testimony of the witnesses given in court and the cross examination even if it disallowed their late-filed witness statements for the sake of equity and in the interest of Justice.

VIDEO: Why Peter Obi Heading to Supreme Court ?

 

HE Peter Obi

Apapa in charge of LP As Supreme Court Upheld Chief Ukaegbu Ikechukwu Joseph (Ikenga) As the Imo State Gubernatorial Candidate for the 11th November, 2023 Gubernatorial Election

Details of the Certified True Copy, CTC of the Supreme Court Judgement shall be made public within 48 hours.

Highly of the Labour Party LP Struggles.

This victory follows from the 16th April, 2023 primaries conducted by Alhaji Lamidi Basiru Apapa led National Working Committee, NWC for the off-season Gubernatorial Election in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi States respectively.

1: That the gubernatorial primary for Imo state was conducted by the following Electoral Committee members of the Apapa led National Working Committee, NWC:

(a): Comrade Eragbe Anslem, the National Youth Leader, as the Returning Officer,

(b): Alhaji Alkali Ibrahim Mohammed, the National Vice Chairman North East, as the Chairman,

(c): Barr Monday Mawah, the Acting Deputy National Secretary, as the Secretary,

(d): Comrade Oko Eze Splendour, the Acting National Vice Chairman, as member of the Electoral Committee for the Imo governorship primaries of 16th April, 2023.

2: That the Supreme Court in it's Judgement of Monday 11th September, 2023 has finally put to rest the issues of the authentic candidates for the Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi States 11th November, 2023 off-season gubernatorial election and the matter of who is the authentic National Chairmanship of the Labour Party LP; with Alhaji Lamidi Basiru Apapa As the Acting National Chairman of Labour Party LP in Nigeria.

3: That Nigerians would recall that Barr Julius Abure was Restrained by the FCT High Court Order of 5th April, 2023 as Acting National Chairman along with three (3) other National Working Committee NWC members of the Labour Party LP in Nigeria including:

(b): Umar Farouk Ibrahim, Acting National Secretary,

(c): Ojukwu Clement, National Organizing Secretary, and

(c): Mrs Oluchi Okpara, National Treasurer 

From parading themselves as National Chairman and Executives of the Labour Party LP in Nigeria and that matter is still subsisting in the court of Appeal in Abuja, FCT Nigeria.

4: That this matter of the Restraining Order on Barr Julius Abure and others bother on the Nigeria Police Force Criminal Investigation Department, FCID Investigation with Forensic Audit Report that indicted Barr Julius Abure and others for:

(a): Perjury

(b): Forgery

(c): Impersonation

(d): Criminal Conspiracy with financial malfeasance to the sum of over four hundred million naira (N400,000,000.00) 

5: That this matter is in furtherance of the illegal and unlawful substitution of the name of Comrade Oko Eze Splendour, the Governorship Candidate of the Labour Party LP in Ebonyi State in the INEC PORTAL using Forged FCT High Court Affidavits, Fake TSA payment receipts, forged withdrawal letters using forged and manipulated signatures and so many other infractions committed by Barr Julius Abure and others.

6: That the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC shall be required to comply with this Supreme Court Judgement without much Ado and without any further delays, to avert the scenario of the Ebonyi case in 2024 where INEC indulged in illegality and deliberately refused to upload the name of Comrade Oko Eze in the INEC PORTAL for the 2023 Gubernatorial Election.

That this vexatious action by INEC was to the extent that INEC defied the Supreme Court Judgement that affirmed Comrade Oko Eze Splendour as the Gubernatorial Candidate of the Labour Party LP for the Ebonyi State Gubernatorial Election 2023 by deliberately refusing to upload his name in the INEC portal.

7: That by this Supreme Court Judgement affirming Chief Ukaegbu Ikechukwu Joseph (Ikenga) as the Authentic Labour Party LP candidate in Imo state, INEC shall be required to give the PORTAL CODES to Alhaji Lamidi Basiru Apapa to upload the names of the Gubernatorial Candidates for Bayelsa, Imo And Kogi States respectively

8: That this Supreme Court Judgement shall give immediate force for the immediate removal from the INEC website the names of:

(a): Barr Julius Abure, 

(b): Umar Farouk Ibrahim, 

(c): Ojukwu Clement and 

(d): Mrs Oluchi Opara and to upload the names of:

(a): Alhaji Lamidi Basiru Apapa, as Acting National Chairman 

(b): Alhaji Saleh Lawan as Acting National Secretary and 

(c): other members of the Alhaji Lamidi Basiru Apapa led National Working Committee, NWC 

Stay Tuned For The Full Details

For

Labour Party LP National Working Committee, NWC 

Comrade Arabambi Abayomi

Acting National Publicity Secretary

By Eragbe Anslem

VIDEO: We have Faith in our Country, we will rebuild it — Peter Obi

 

Our message remains the same before, during and after the election.

All eyes on the NIGERIA JUDICIARY!!

Oyo APC Will Emerge Bigger And Stronger, Progressive Minds Leaders Assure

Leaders and elders of Oyo State APC Progressive Minds, the gathering of progressives in the state has reiterated the need to learn from the mistakes of the past which led to the party's dwindling fortunes in the state and forge ahead for a better future by insisting on the possession of proven track records, good antecedents and contributions to the growth of the party, in choosing the party's flag bearers in future elections. 

The meeting which was graced by progressive leaders which included Alhaji Kehinde Balogun, Hon Caleb Oyaniyi, Hon Salawu, Alhaji Rasheed Jimoh, Mr Olu Abiola, Alhaji Tunde Ibrahim, Mrs Bamigbola Stella, Alhaji Abiade Yekeen, Alhaji Anifowose Shakiru, Alhaji Tirimisiyu Alarape, Eng A.I.M Olaniyan, Chief Tajudeen Hamed (Babaloja), Sheik Tajudeen Olujide, Alhaji Sulaimon Busari (Professor), Alhaji Ganiyu (Babayaro), Pa Shaba Adekunle and others, had members in attendance from local governments across all the zones of Oyo State. 

Members in attendance and progressives across the state are encouraged to make the necessary effort to ensure that the All Progressive Congress return to her roots, one of which is the practice of pushing forward candidates with proven track records and enviable antecedents for elective offices rather than the later and recent aberration of giving in to the highest bidder, noting that it is the former practice that attracted serious minded and people oriented politicians of proven integrity to the progressive fold in the Pa Obafemi Awolowo, Chief Bola Ige and Alh Lam Adesina eras. 

Leaders in the party are also entreated not to divide their followers and members of the party into camps with the hope of getting feedbacks from opposing camps, but rather to be committed to the resolution of every misunderstanding and points of differences within the party, towards achieving the unification of the party as a whole, in the shortest possible period of time. 

Oyo APC Progressive Minds leaders assured members that the meeting is recognized by party elders in the state while expressing confidence that Oyo State APC will navigate her present challenges and emerge bigger and stronger.

Oyo APC Progressive Minds general meeting will reconvene by 12:00 noon on Tuesday September 26, 2023 at the premises of Black and White Chambers, Oke Ado, Ibadan. All Oyo State APC members are invited to join us at the meeting for the development of Oyo State APC progressive movement.

More pictures from the meeting!!

JUSTICE SET BACK ON ITS HEELS: WHY JUDGES WILL SURVIVE ATTEMPTS TO INTIMIDATE THEM

By Ajiroba Yemi Kotun 

“My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me.” – Jane Austin

INTIMIDATION is an animal thing. Ethical people do not intimidate. Unlike English novelist Jane Austin (1775-1817), the author of “Pride and Prejudice”, 279 pages, a brilliant novel published anonymously in 1813, which Austin herself called “my own darling child”, and who is celebrated mainly for her six novels that tacitly interpret, review, and comment upon the British propertied aristocracy at the close of the 18th century, Nigeria’s stubborn losers in the February 25, 2023 presidential election that are now angrily, ignorantly, and cowardly trying to knock the stuffing out of the judiciary, take its breath away, make the judges’ hair stand on end, or scare the daylights out of them with their so-called “All eyes on the judiciary” covert threat, do not know that there is a stubbornness about the institution that “never can bear to be frightened at the will of others” <Refers to the 2014 paperback, “All Eyes On Me”, 234 pages, Barnes & Noble, by bestselling author Linsey Lanier>. 

Probably, the judges, too, who before now know that intimidators use fear and bullying as their foremost big sticks, are keen as mustard on their own to reply these ignorant and angry ‘tricksters’ inaudibly that: “Bring it on! We are falling for your hurricane eyes, but you do not know us yet because our real eyes will expose your real lies one by one in the Court's own good time <Refers to 1 Peter 3:14 - "...do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled">. Really, as you make your bed, so you must lie on it. Suitably, Hilary Clinton, 75, the 67th U.S. Secretary of State (2009-2013) and author of “State of Terror” (2022), 512 pages, Simon & Schuster, a novel of unrivaled kicks and unmatched insider knowledge, wrote “Extremism thrives amid ignorance and anger, intimidation and cowardice” <Refers to the 2016 Nollywood movie, "Intimidation", starring Mike Ezuruonye, Ini Edo, Koffi Adjorlolo, Tonto Dikeh, and Pat Asore>. Barking dogs seldom bite just as bullies are cowards. 

And since democracy will not compromise any of its salient elements, these coercing ‘democrats’ should learn a thing or two from Mo Ibrahim, 77, a Sudanese-British billionaire businessman and the founder of “Celtel”, who said frankly that “Intimidation, harassment, and violence have no place in a democracy.” They should also read less of such refined “intimidation” defenders as British-American media executive Anna Wintour, 73, Vogue’s Editor-in-Chief since 1988 and the author of the 2021 book, “Wonderland”, 439 pages, Amazon, who tried to justify her “interest in getting things done” by saying “I think I’m decisive, and I like to get things done quickly. So if that comes across as intimidation, I’m sorry to hear it.” However, a worried blunt, hard-boiled, and galvanic Sandra Day O’Connor, 93, Judge of the Arizona Court of Appeal (1979-1981), the first female associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1981-2006), and the author of the 2004 hardcover, “The Majesty of the Law: Reflections of a Supreme Court Justice”, 352 pages, hit the bull’s eye when she wrote thus “The freedom to criticize judges and other public officials is necessary to a vibrant democracy. The problem comes when healthy criticism is replaced with more destructive intimidation and sanctions.” 

Democratic or autocratic, all governments dislike those who ride roughshod over others. This is akin to how Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013), the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1979-1990) who was pleased when a Russian newspaper nicknamed her “the Iron Lady” as many had doubted whether a woman would be strong enough to lead any big European or American country in this modern age, disliked British left-wing zealots whom she accused of having “often been prepared to ride roughshod over due process and basic considerations of fairness when they think they can get away with it.”Just like these ones, the defeated former contenders of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, 71, the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, too, think the ends always seem to justify the means and that intimidating the judiciary, keeping it at bay, or just riding roughshod over it with their indirect blackmails, subtle threats, or furtive pressure can yield them their hearts’ desires, turn the tables on the declared winner of the election, and deny him the sweat of his brow. 

That to control the judges, they just have to instill fear in them or make them feel afraid. But, instead of making such enemies for themselves and looking like the bad guys or not really good at being the bad guys (like American professional wrestler Ric Flair, 74), since the hustings towards the last general elections began and ended and up till now, they should be thinking of winning more friends and attracting and swaying people to their goals, whatever those are. In the 1936 book, “How to Win Friends and Influence People”, 288 pages, American writer and lecturer Dale Carnegie (1888-1955), whose enduring principles are helping many people to achieve their maximum potential in the difficult and competitive modern age, wrote “We ride roughshod over the feelings of others, getting our own way, finding fault, issuing threats, criticizing… without even considering the hurt to the other person’s pride.” Carnegie’s above book teaches “the six ways to make people like you, the twelve ways to win people to your way of thinking, and the nine ways to change people without arousing resentment.”

Many people thank their lucky stars that they see everything in front of their eyes. Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t know. Therefore, Nigerians are silently thanking their lucky stars for not having these kinds as their elected leaders who will rule by intimidation, possibly, because they have nothing else to bring to the table or contribute freshly. 

American attorney Michelle Obama, 59, who served as the first African-American First Lady of the United States (2009-2017) and the author of the 2009 hardcover, “Believe in the Possibility: The Words of Michelle Obama”, 128 pages, Goodreads, wrote aptly, confirming the foregoing thus “Leaders who demonize and dehumanize entire groups of people often do so because they have nothing else to offer.” We have on our hands disappointed people, who want to steal the presidency of ‘their country’ by using “lies, arrogance, and intimidation”, variegated with so much hate and rage. As Dr. Leslyn Lewis, 52 a Canadian lawyer and politician who has served as the member of Parliament for Haldimand – Norfolk since 2021, would easily recommend, after letting the dust of all this braggadocio settle, maybe part of what Nigeria will be needing going forward is a sweeping and truthful talk around the culture of rudeness, disrespect, disrepute, and intimidation that we have permitted to aggravate concerning the judiciary, our senior citizens, and other Nigerians at risk of holding poles apart views. Definitely, intimidation is one tool that decent people do not take in hand as a means to attain victory or success in any endeavor. 

We must tell ourselves the plain truth that a political culture of intimidation, bullying, pressure, coercion, fear, threats, or blackmails is no way to build a nation and no way a nation is governed. “Frightening other Nigerians” or intimidating and insulting them will not get any political party, group, tribe, or religion anywhere. According to Evangelist  Ugochukwu-Uko of the Igbo Youths Movement (IYM), "Nobody ever acquired political power by reining insults on those with opposing political views." Intimidation against people who hold different views from our own views has no justification whatsoever. It is headstrong and totally indefensible.

Nightcaps: 

1. Canadian politician Stockwell Day, 73, the Leader of Opposition (2000-2001) and Minister of Public Safety (2006-2008), also agreed that “Judges must be free from political intervention or intimidation.”

2. It is easy to be wise after the event. People who devise wild skills to embarrass their fellow humans inevitably blunder their own feelings <Denotes to the failed plot to humiliate the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Olukayode Ariwo-ola, 69, in March 2003 over the grossly fake, misleading and malicious story that he  disguised to meet then President-elect Bola Tinubu in London>.

3. Intimidation is a tradition. It first gets its own natural life before growing into a disorder.

4. Will history repeat itself again, why not?