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."*_

*------------------------------------------*

*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

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?

IAM NOT DESPERATE TO BE PRESIDENT, I WANT NIGERIAN DEMOCRACY TO SURVIVE FOR BETTER — PETER OBI

The Presidential Candidate of Labour Party Mr PETER OBI who the world believe won the Last Presidential election, which INEC decided to go against the Electoral laws of chosen a President by constitutional rules,filled with a must attained height and winnings, when they said on National Telly "Go to Court" as they packaged below expectations from the Votes casted and Mutilation of BVAS, which Peter Obi obeyed and went to Court even with Television Sets that will be used to show evidences of manipulation , currently INEC seems to be scared about him staying in COURT just as they wished originally without considering that Peter Obi is a Son of Judiciary process.

While meeting with Press Doyens in Lagos yesterday, He provided answers to some Hostile feelings and lay many Fears to rest.

 When asked how he will feel if the Courts rules against him on the ongoing Election trial..

He said "i am not the one in Court as Mr Peter Obi for Peter Obi's interest, I am simply representing vast majority of Nigerians including the Families of the Judges and members of all Parties who want a better redeemed Nation, those who want to see a working NIGERIA that will come with people who actually want to see progressive Nigeria ,who believe that Nigeria has what it takes to be Better than many Nations if well handled ,those who believe that Nigerians deserve undiluted joy from the Government they elected".

Any judge should have that in mind ,to me it's not a do or die affair.

"The task is that of a driver who must work hard to take Passengers out of Hostile areas,take them through tough and rough roads to destination in one good piece no matter the odds, such driver should know that it's a big responsibility,so whatever the driver is doing He must remember that He has so many lives and interest to protect".

"Nigeria is in Court, the Future of Our Children including that of Grand Children of both Judges, Politicians, Securities are all in Court, I am just representing them ,We are in Court not to Drag for anything, we are in Court for the Court to look at what the masses demanded by casting Votes and casting it for who they believe will give them back hope and oiled Future, it's not about Peter but about the nation and our tomorrow".

He was asked why he still move about the Nation freely despite the fears of insecurities of the Nation and Fear of Harm coming to him ?

He said his "job is to restore sanity in the Nation, build back Hope for the common masses ,that if the common masses doesn't see him amongst them ,it will send a bad message , he went further to explain , if he recovers his Mandate that it won't take him away from the Masses,that he is working for them and he is accountable to them and will never create a barrier between him and the masses".

He recollected, During campaign He visited Many extreme hostile places where no politicians have ever Visited including some parts of Borno state, BENUE State, and places even Governor's of such states refused to go because of insecurities,He said We travel even against security intelligent Advise,I Will tell my Security that if they can't go ,let me go and if I die among my people out there ,then it's not a bad price for me to pay .

"I know there are insecurity in many places, but as long as there are Nigerian living out there,no one can be left behind ".

Asked about the SUBSIDY REMOVAL and the effect on the nation..

He smiled " I said that SUBSIDY is a Scam that I will remove, the first thing would've being to identify the Scam, remove the scam , restore a seamless PETROLEUM production and distribution, and not to cause the Nation lots of undeserved pains which can be avoided".

"We know that Subsidy is a Scam ,what should be removed is the Scam and causes of Subsidies".

Mr Peter Obi as we noticed still have stamina that dwarfed that of all his mates ,as he travels far and wide weekly on speaking engagement, social events and reaching out to the society,a situation that can't be seen with any Politician who lost Mandate and should be battling through thick and thin to win or recover such Mandate or get compensated by any person in power, to many Politicians it's not about the masses, it's Business extension.

Mr Peter Obi simply move around the Nation feeling freer than those in power with all National provided Security details for the people in power.

Peter simply can be said to be Boil between the Legs that gives you sleepless night on how to deal with it or allow it to be , whichever way ,it Means moral and physical torture.

The man is not one who believe when an elder takes what belong to a child and raise his hand up ,the child will wait,when the hand grew weary he bring it down for the child to take back what belong to him ,in peters case ,you take his belonging,he will be pissing on your legs and trousers, it's either you give him back his belongings and take back your sanity or He continues enjoying maximizing your pains.

Mazi Odera

Tinubu, APC looking for a rerun without Peter Obi : Raw courtroom closing addresses

*Peter Obi/LP vs Tinubu/Shetima/APC/INEC* 

The judges are now seated.

It’s time for the business of the day.

The Clerk has now called the case.

Peter Obi

Peter Obi is now up with smiles all over: Respectfully my lord, I am Mr. Peter Obi for the petitioners

APC: With utmost humility my lord, I am Saturday Monsignia for the 2nd Respondent.

Lead Counsel:

Labour Party and Peter Obi - SAN Livy Uzoukwu

INEC - SAN AB Mahmoud

Tinubu and Shettima - SAN Olanipekun 

APC - SAN L.O Fagbemi

INEC’s lead counsel SAN AB Mahmoud is now up and he’s suggesting the petitioners start first.

SAN Livy: They filed before we did, so they have to go first.

Justice Tsammani: AB Mahmoud please let’s start. 

SAN AB Mahmoud: Yes my lord, my colleague will take it up from here.

Another INEC lawyer stands up to continue.

INEC: My lord, the 1st respondent written address was filed 14th July 2023 and we also filed the reply of point of law on 28 July 2023 

Before I go on I want to make a slight correction my lord. On the 3rd line of the reply of point of law there’s “have” and it should be “do not have”

And after that I wish to adopt this my lord.

There’s now currently an adjustment on the 3rd line and the judges are looking through.

Tinubu and Shettima’s lawyers are now up.

SAN Olanipekun: My lord, my colleague will lead this proceeding for the 2nd respondent.

2nd respondent: We filed a response on 23rd July 2023. Upon receipt of the reply of the petitioners then it became pertinent to file our reply of point of law which we did on the 27 July 2023 and we seek that my lordships strike out these petitioners request.

Thank you my lord.

SAN Fagbemi is now up for APC

Fagbemi: We filed a reply on 23rd July 2023 and then we filed of point of law on receipt of the petitioners address and the point of law was filed on 27th of July and served on 28th of July.

We now seek to adopt this and reply on these due processes and we urge my able lords to reject and discountenance those petitioners documents. Very much obliged my lords.

SAN Livy is now up on his feet.

SAN Livy: My lord, my learned colleague SAN Kalu will lead this case today.

SAN Kalu is now up on his feet

SAN Kalu: My lord the reply was filed against the 1st respondents on the 14th July and with humility I adopt these reply.

Justice Tsammani: Mention all your replies and adopt. You’re mixing the whole thing.

Let’s finish with the respondents objection and come to yours.

SAN Kalu: I am responding to the 1st respondent my lord

Justice Tsammani: Respond to all at once 

SAN Kalu: My lord it’s division of Labour, my learned colleague here is to handle the 2nd and 3rd respondent.

Justice Tsammani: No, we can’t allow that, you have to do all at once.

Justice Ugo: I think your economics teacher was too thorough with division of Labour

SAN Kalu: 😅😅😅 My lord, we just want to do it how it would be easier but no problem.

Justice Tsammani: It’s even a coincidence, you’re from Abia State and my Economics Teacher in Maiduguri was also from Abia 

SAN Kalu: Then my lord, you should be paying me tithes

SAN Livy: My lord, Anichebe SAN would continue with the objections.

SAN Anichebe: My lord, the first objection was filed on 23rd of July 2023.

Which is the objection filed against documents submitted by 1st respondents.

My lord, the objection filed by the petitioner against the 2nd and 3rd respondents was filed on 20th of July 2023.

My lord, we respectfully adopt the arguments canvassed in 2 processes in opposition of the documents rendered by all the respondents and we seek that you sustain our objections here to.

Justice Tsammani: Please note that we would use 10 minutes each for adoptions and then 20 minutes each for oral submission of your final address.

SAN AB Mahmoud: Thank you my lord. My lord on 14th July 2023 we filed our final address and then we filed the reply on 20th of July 2023 and these are the processes filed by the 1st respondent and we seek your humble permission to take our prayers and dismiss this petition as it lacks merit and should be dismissed by the court.

I will seek your indulgence to clarify.

On page 15 of our written address we listed issues and the first issue listed B has to do with the petioners complaints of noncompliance and other regulations and guidelines by the 1st respondent.

The technology introduced by the 1st respondent was misunderstood and misconstrued by the petitioners and the purpose was not well understood.

What was introduced cited by the petitioners is on the BVAs which was solely used for authentication of voters and upload of results from the PU to the IREV portal.

“Hmmmm… INEC is capping”

The evidence before the court shows clearly that the 1st respondent went to great lenght to ensure that the technology functioned as designed.

The only point of disagreement are 2:

1. The petitioners have constructed in their mind that the electronic method be used to collate result and No evidence was presented to support this by the petitioners and the 1st respondent through its witness has certified that there is nothing like electronic collation but manual collation which was carried out impeccably.

There has been no electronic collation in any election in this country because it does not exist.

2. The petitioners claim this glitch was humanly done to give room for manipulation of election result and no evidence was given by them to prove it.

We have brought evidence to show that this glitch is not unusual to technology especially new technologies.

‘Ahhhh INEC

STOP THE CAPPING 😅’

INEC: My lord, the allegation of the so called 88,000 blurred results should be discarded because they do not in any way suggest that the original copies of the result sheets are also blurred. They have still not provided any form EC8A original copies from their agents to prove the 88,000 blurred results.

My lord, the petitioners brought up the 88,000 blurred issue just for dramatisation without evidence.

“The whole courtroom shouts ahhh”

The glitch which was for 4 hours 15 minutes did not affect the presidential election and there is no eveidence of any manipulation of the result and I seek my lord to discountenance all statement of noncompliance from the petitioners.

“NEPA”

😅

Justice Ugo: This is a glitch too

AB Mahmoud: Yes, even the courtroom has glitches 

🙄

INEC: Now on the 25% of FCT is in relation to the interpretation of the constitution section 134 that candidates must score 25% on two-thirds of the state and the FCT, my lords, do not listen to approach that are not constitutional. FCT in accordance of 299 is to be taken as a State and nothing more, nothing less and not elevated to a status it does not hold or ascribe superiority as that has never been the intention of the constitution.

Justice Tsammani: Your time is up

AB Mahmoud: My time for my submission is up

“Everyone is laughing😅” 

Justice Tsammani: Don’t worry you still have more time on earth.

AB Mahmoud: I plead that this petition be dismissed. Thank you.

Ahhhhhh INEC

“Stop the capping😅”

Tinubu and Shettima’s lawyer SAN Olanipekun is now up and starts with a banger:

O: My lord, let us take it that the petitioners have no case in this court, yes because they don’t have a case here.

“The whole courtroom is looking like who be this one🥲”

O: Look at exhibit X1, pages 22 and 23 of the decision at the Supreme Court states that this exhibit X1 settles the matter and it’s the case of APC Vs Labour Party and others and it’s very fresh from the oven.

Let me go to hype being made on FINE and let me draw your attention to section 137 1D of the constitution and we have made submissions and it says “he is under a statement of debt”

It’s simple grammer, he didn’t say was

It says he is under

It’s present tense, present continuous”

“LMAO”

SAN Queen Premier 😅🤣😅

English 

My lord, the law says 10 years after any offence is gone, so even though there is anything, the law has cleared it.

This is the constitution and in secondary school we were thought past tense and past participle and present tense.

Lmao SAN Grammarian

SAN Oxford Dictionary

Best in English

My lord on 25% on FCT

Let me say this oh bended knees (but he is still standing oh)

My lord on bended knees (Baba you’re still standing oh🤣😭🤣)

My lord FCT is like every other state. It is a state.

My lord, again the 1st petitioner has no locus standi because the constitution has taken him out of participating in any election rerun even if there’s going to be because the candidate must be the candidate who has the highest of vote and 1 among of the remaining candidates which is PDP which has the majority of votes in the states cast in the elections 

He is not, so he cannot even be in any rerun

Lastly, to show that he is not a member of Labour Party exhibit shows he cannot run because he’s not a member, he cannot push the 2nd person and claim 2nd.

Justice Tsamamni: But if you’re entering a bus in Lagos 

“The whole courtroom is laughing”

“Lmao APC is begging for a RERUN, but they don’t want Peter Obi to contest”

Why are they afraid 😅.

APC lawyer is now up

Fagbemi takes the stage to give us his own Queen premier English.

Fagbemi: My lord as simple as it is, I join my learned colleagues, SAN AB Mahmoud and my leader SAN Wole Olanipekun to say that this case should be quickly dismissed as it’s a waste of time.

This petition is ambitious (na wa oh, English)

This is the petitioners fourth coming on the case of electronic collation.

The first one was in Federal High Court here in Abuja and they abandoned it and ran to Lagos and that case lasted 8 days and they went to court of appeal and it was disastrous for them because they lost. We have presented this in exhibit X1.

Now they are here again about electronic collation.

It is a gross abuse of court time.

“This one is on colos”

🥲

Fagbemi: If anyone wants to attack any result, there has to be a PU by PU allocation and proof because there was a glitch in PU A but none in B but the petitioners said there was no glitch in their own places they won and they should at least have their proof but have none and it is abysmally lacking in this case.

Now on the issue of Rerun it should be a 2 man race and that is between the winner of the election and the runner up and that has nothing to do with the petitioner.

“APC are actively looking for a rerun, they now know there is nowhere to run to😅🤣😅”

I thought you people said you won.

They don’t want Peter Obi and Labour Party on the ballot, that is their game now😅.

Fagbemi: My lord so on disqualification, everyone can run in an election rerun as long as you’ve ran in the election.

“Wait oh, it’s like someone has fainted oh 😭😭😭”

Awww one APC baby lawyer is having breathing problems, I hope she gets okay”

The court is waiting for them to take her out and give her the attention she needs. Hope she gets better.

Fagbemi: My lord, on the issue of forfeiture, the court already gave the 2nd respondent a clean bill of health on that.

Then on 25% of FCT, the constitution states 25 States of the federation even if the candidate scores 0 in FCT 25% in 25 States stands and there is no dispute that the 2nd respondent scored 25% in 29 States and to put FCT higher would amount to constitutional absurdity.

“One INEC lawyer just stood up and crossed over to pass a note to Fagbemi”

I don’t know if that is allowed.

Fagbemi: My lord on the glitches (Fagbemi started sounding like he was crying and his voice became funny)

“Everyone starts laughing while he was talking and it was difficult to hear him.

One baby lawyer ram and gave him water”

Justice Ugo: It’s a voice glitch

“Everyone starts laughing”.

Fagbemi: Yes my lord, since time is up, let me say that INEC scored a high mark in this election at least 50% is a pass mark and INEC scored 90% which is more than enough of the petitioners are only complaining about glitch.

So my lord, I seek that this petition be thrown out.

SAN Livy is now up with the microphone: testing testing 123

😅🤣😅

SAN Livy: My lord, it is my submission that the respondents have laboured in vain to diminish this petition.

“Hmmmm”

SAN Livy: As the case of Oyetola Vs INEC where the Supreme Court said IREV is part of electoral process, my lords, I will seek your indulgence to refer you to paragraph 22 of the witness disposition of RW1 which all the respondents have preferred to ignore and I will like to further drag them out of their uncomfortable zone.

The witness, their own witness said the authentic portal on which results can be accessed for review or determination of the election is the IREV Portal.

Now they are saying that IREV is no more important.

And an election where 88,000 blurred results were uploaded on this IREV is a flawed election.

Oyaaaaa🔥🔥🔥

Livy: My lord, INEC gave results to the petitioners to present in this court and 88,123 of those results were blurred and they were certified by the same INEC and some were even blank copies of A4 papers, certified and among them you have pictures certified by them, INEC and they want to say they conducted an election properly so called.

My lord, let me repeat myself.

Justice Tsammani: We have heard you

Livy: My lord, let me say this, it is my submission that a CERTIFIED TRUE COPY of a document MUST BE AN EXACT REPLICA OF THE ORIGINAL.

Must be, there is no choice, you cannot give us blurred CTC

 INEC can only have in its custody blurred blank result and not the original and so they have no basis as to what they used to declare that result, they only went to declare someone a winner and they don’t even have the original copies of results they certify because it could never have been any other thing apart from blurred sheets and pictures.

Fire on SAN

Livy: My lord, the 2nd respondent forfeited $460,000 on NARCOTICS, they don’t want to hear that, NARCOTICS

🤣🤣🤣

Livy ohhhh! Livy: My lord they have been quoting section 137 1D they are trying to form a case for us and avoiding the main case, even when you focus on money laundering which was part of the crimes of the 2nd respondent, the NARCOTICS should not be ignored and the constitution is clear on such crimes.

Now on rerun my lord, let us be clear, the only candidate who comes clear for a rerun is the 1st petitioner according to section 131 3D and my lord, in the case of Awolowo and Shagari, of course the provision now was not available then in that case.

And let me quickly refer to what the lawyer of the 2nd respondent said that the petition has been abandoned and I can’t believe this came from a brother I know, petition that you spent time filing replies and you don’t even have replies to file is what you’re saying abandoned.

A petition where you don’t even have any witness.

🔥🔥🔥

Livyyyy! Livy: My lord, I don’t want to spend time talking about FCT because the constitution is very clear on it, none of them even defined the meaning of AND.

I didn’t hear that from any of them whether disjunctive or otherwise and that would lead to manifest absurdity and they know so that is why they ignored that and did not urge my lord to interprete the AND as being disjunctive.

“The clerk rings the bell”

Livy: My lord, I’m replying 3 people, my time is not up

🤣😅🤣

Livy: My lord, the petitioners have proved their case and to the issue of noncompliance from INEC they have no defence. They said because of toner, that’s why results CTC are blurred 

4 months after was when they explained a 4 hours glitch, 4 months after.

Up unto 29th of May, they were still giving us blurred documents of election result, 4 months after elections, how can you reconcile the 2. It’s not possible.

Justice Tsammani: Your time is to

Livy: My lord, one more sentence

the petitioners have proved that there was no glitch whatsoever in this election.

May it please my lordship.

Justice Tsamamani: Okay, we will announce the date for judgement to you all.

OMG 

🥹

“Learned silks, this is it, it’s done”.

It’s going to be a testimony.

Earlier in PDP closing address:

This PDP’s lawyer SAN Uche deserves cold Guinness Stout 

His wife must have rubbed his head well today 😭🤣😭

SAN Uche: My learned colleague on the other side said the criminal offence is timely and INEC the time has passed then the offence has passed. He said it here that the constitution forgives.

Well my lord, I am here to say that TIME DOES NOT RUN AGAINST CRIME

“The whole courtroom shouts Yeeessss”🤣😭🤣

Justice Tsammani: Uche, we should not mislead the public this thing is coming from the mouth of a Senior Advocate.

Some people already have their headline and that’s not right.

It’s a constitutional issue, it’s written in the constitution, so it’s not any time does not run against crime, it’s just the constitution. Let’s not mislead the public. The constitution states how long any crime can stand.

“Everyone is looking at Justice Tsammani like; is like agbado is under your wig”😭🤣😭

SAN Uche: Well my lord, at least he admitted that the 2nd respondent committed a crime. He said there’s forgiveness in the constitution and even when there is forgiveness let’s not forget that there’s also a punishment for sin.

“The whole courtroom is about to start clapping and giving a round of applause”

🤣🤣🤣

SAN Uche: Yes, there is Punishment for sin

Justice Tsammani: Uche you’re a Christian are you not a Christian, Christians forgive and even Jesus said go and sin no more.

SAN Uche: That was Jesus Christ oh, me I’m not Jesus 

🤣🤣🤣

“The whole courtroom is laughing”

SAN Uche: Then on Precedence my lord, my learned colleague said there is no precedence of annulling presidential election in Nigeria. 

SAN Olanipekun now stands up angrily: I take objection to that. Don’t misquote me, I am on my feet right now Uche so sit down.

SAN Uche: But I am still talking and you’re using out of my time.

SAN Olanipekun: I am on my feet. I object to that, I allowed you talk and kept my cool since even when you’re mentioning things that is not in your written address, I kept my cool, I didn’t talk, please don’t make me talk.

I object to that statement you’re making now. Don’t do that.

SAN Uche: Well, I heard you clearly and we all did, you said Precedence does not exist in annulment of presidential election.

My lord if I may go on, that Precedence that they said has never happened can be created today and be done in this case TODAY

“The whole courtroom is shouting Yes”🤣😭🤣

Justice Tsammani interrupts with smiles on his face: But Judgement is not today na

“The whole courtroom is almost on the floor with laughter 😂🤣😂”

SAN Uche: My lord as I end this case, let that precedence be today, HEAVEN WILL NOT FALL

“The whole courtroom wants to clap”

😅😅😅

Wowww amazing

PDP you guys have tried today, I’m proud😅.

Justice Tsammani: So we will inform you guys on the date of judgment, it was great listening to you all. Thank you for coming.

🥹

Awww their case has now ended.

Up next, abour Party and Peter Obi’s case by 2pm.

If Tinubu is not disqualified by the Court, forget about justice in Nigeria

I have carefully perused the Petition of APM versus Tinubu, Shetima, APC and INEC and all I can say is that it appeared too mundane, but carries the strongest venom against Tinubu, Shetima, APC and INEC. 

Many looked down on the case and say that the Supreme Court has already determined the issue of double nomination. However, a close look at the Petition will show that the case was never about double nomination of Shetima, but one of invalid nomination. The core of the case is that as at the time Tinubu nominated his running mate, he himself was no longer a candidate by virtue of the a combine provisions of the Constitution and Electoral Act, 2022 in Section 142 (1) and Section 33 of the Constitution and Electoral Act, respectively. 

Let me bring you closer to the fact, law and the Petition before Court of Appeal by the APM. Due to the impression created about double nomination, the APC and Tinubu,  in concert with INEC have presented a case before the Supreme Court that got them out of the trap of double nomination. However, in the there bid to escape double nomination, they fell into INVALID NOMINATION. 

Follow me, patiently. Now, in the pleadings and final address, one fact remained consistent and undoubtedly solid as all the parties are in concurrence. The 1st, 2nd 3rd and 4th Respondents all agreed that the "placeholder" Alhaji Masari, withdrew as Vice Presidential placeholder on 24th of June, 2022. They also all agreed that the replacement was made on 14th July, 2022. It is not debatable that between the withdrawal and replacement, a period of 21 days lapsed.

Now, Section 142 (1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) provides that a Presidential Candidate is not qualified if he has not nominated another person to run with him/her as Vice President. So, without a Vice Presidential Candidate duly selected by the Presidential Candidate, the ticket is useless. So, in order to beat this provision and other requirements for time in the Electoral Act,  2022 that APC invented what we now call the "Placeholder" to secure the Presidential ticket. For the period before his replacement, Alhaji Masari was the Vice Presidential Candidate of the APC in the eyes of our laws. This was why he had to also explore the provision of the Electoral Act, 2022 to withdraw as Vice Presidential Candidate on the 24th of June, 2022.

Now, Section 33 of the Electoral Act,  2022 is also visible to the blind as it mandate a political party whose Candidate withdraws to replace such a candidate within 14 days. 14 days is 14 days and no Court can extend such a time for anyone. It is just like time for election petition can not be extended by any court.

APM is simply saying that as at the 14th day of July,  2022 APC had no valid Candidate for President as its Vice Presidential Candidate withdrew 21 days before a replacement was made, instead of within 14 days. You see, this is our law and no court can amend it because of one person. This is a clear case of power coming from God.

While they attempted to evade double nomination, they fell into INVALID NOMINATION. Isn't God's way above the ways of man?

A perusal of INEC's final address reveals the disgraceful partisan posture of an institution that ought to be neutral. INEC shamelessly claimed that APM did not plead that APC replaced its Vice Presidential Candidate outside 14 days allowed by law. But, luckily, the Petition was handy for APM to point INEC's blind eyes to the portion of the petition where the facts were copiously pleaded. What remains?

Now, the law, the facts and the case are all against the Candidacy of Tinubu and no one can say otherwise. I only wait to see how the law Lords will deal with this. It will be interesting to see a contrary position from what the law clearly is. But what do I know?

Silas Joseph Onu, Esq. 

Abuja - Nigeria.

Obi, Atiku United in the Cause

POEM Deepens...

If you had time to study the HE Peter Obi and Labour Party final address on one hand and the HE Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party's own on the other, one would notice a path of unity in almost all arguments. Both addresses were in response to HE Bola Ahmed Tinubu and HE Kashim Shettima's own final address in defence of the heist called the February 25 presidential election conducted by the Prof Mahmood Yakubu-led Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

Both petitioners' sets of legal teams brushed aside the arrogance, provocation and threats from the rabble-rousing team led by Wole Olanipekun, SAN to dwell on issues of their respective petitions. Drawing from both the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the 2022 Electoral Act, both teams cleanly pushed the dagger through the arteries of the Respondents by providing proofs evidently beyond every reasonable doubt in matters relating to non-compliance, Tinubu's drug-related forfeiture business, forgery of certificates, Shettima's double nomination and the matter of 25% votes in the Federal Capital Territory.

Most interesting of the arguments can be enjoyed from digesting the submissions both ventilated while supplying proofs upon proofs, including citations, of the intentions of the drafters of the constitution by the use of *AND* in reference to 25% of the votes cast in at least ⅔ of the 36 states of the Federation and the FCT, Abuja.

Though choosing their different sets of words, both teams arrived at exactly the same conclusion - any president of Nigeria *MUST* obtain at least 25% of the total number of the votes cast at the FCT in addition to other constitutional requirements, to be declared president-elect. Tinubu did not, and both parties are crying foul. 

It is significant to note here that even when Atiku and the PDP did not get up to the required 25% votes in FCT, they stoutly defended the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Kudos to Atiku, the PDP and their legal team for insisting on the right thing even when they would not benefit directly from the move. A new Nigeria is indeed POssible!

The Justice Haruna Tsammani-led five-man Tribunal is on the spotlight. Expectations are quite high that they should rise to the occasion and deliver equitable justice. The nation is all eyes as much as the international communities, especially the European Union, who sunk a whopping €38 million into the exercise, having been convinced by Prof Yakubu and his INEC that the election was going to be free, fair and credible.

Tsammani has the yearning chance to clean up the mess of Yakubu and let the country enjoy the confidence of the EU and the watching world. No country lives in isolation from the rest of the world, and a country of over 200 million should not be an exception.

#ANewNigeriaIsPOssible

This is POEM

Peter Obi’s Address to Nigerians on the Eve of the Consumption of a Civilian-Led Coup By Mohammadu Buhari, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and Yakubu Mahmood, APC and Other Nigerian Political Elites

“For all Nigerians, this is a time for deep reflection. It is also a time to re-examine our assumptions, even as we reaffirm our hopes. Let us calmly review our aspirations, in order to recalibrate our expectations and pin down the causes of our missed opportunities and disappointments. We stand at that critical moment in time when, as a people, we must collectively come to grips with the reality of our injured destiny as well as the reasons for that injury. It is for us to reassess our plight as a young democracy and identify clear pathways to a better and greater future for us all. As we await the verdict of the election tribunal, I urge all Nigerians to use this opportunity to renew their commitment to the Nigerian ideal. That ideal remains noble and worth every sacrifice we can make.

Nigeria remains our only patrimony and it is a patrimony we must protect, rather than violate. We have no other nation but this, so let us remain committed to rescuing and rebuilding it.

The judiciary is part of the democratic enterprise and a critical governance tool for determining the propriety of the decisions and actions of every citizen and every institution of state. To that extent, and for that reason,

I urge everyone to treat it with the respect and dignity it deserves.

We expect that the Nigerian judiciary will use the election cases now before it to reaffirm its independence and integrity. It has to do so, for all our sakes and for itself.

Nigerians must, therefore, remain peaceful and law abiding. No matter the depth of anyone’s reservations about what is going on in the polity today, no matter the real and imagined provocations, and no matter the disagreement out there,

we should remember that this will not last forever.

I remain committed, and untiring, in my determination to work with like-minded fellow Nigerians to end the curse of missed opportunities and squandered hope that has become our lot here.

I will never shrink from that original commitment, because I firmly believe that we must change from the present politics of criminality, and corruption, in order to make a new Nigeria possible.

I call on fellow Nigerians, especially the youths to remain steadfast, calm, patient, and peaceful. Our journey may be long and difficult but it is worth it in every way. Victory is assured.

We have to work together to move our beautiful country from corruption and criminality to a center of productivity rather than aimless consumption.

I am aware of some evil designs being hatched against me and my supporters in the coming months. Efforts will be made to taint my image. Campaigns of calumny are being perfected to defame my character and diminish my hard-earned integrity.

These schemes will aim at degrading our support base and confusing the public. But, no evil campaign will alter the substance of my character; nor diminish my patriotic commitment to a better Nigeria.

It is about the future of our youths. it is about ending the Years of Locust.

In all of this, I thank Nigerians, our great party (LP) and the media. The latter, as the Fourth Estate of the realm, has remained a trusted ally.

This Estate must continue to guide our people on the immense promise of a future in a new Nigeria.

God bless Nigeria and protect the troops keeping us safe in this season of vaulting insecurity.

Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria. -PO

TINUBU'S PRESIDENCY: WIKE AND WHAT SOUTH EAST APC LEADERS SHOULDN'T WAIT TO BE TOLD

By Sam Onwuemeodo

I have chosen to begin with  Nyesom Wike, the Rivers State Governor. And for obvious reasons.  

The previous week, the President-elect,  Senator Bola Tinubu was in Portharcourt,   Rivers State. He was there on the invitation of  Wike. He was invited  to commission projects. And he did.

 ln  doing that,  he was quoted to have said that,  he owed Wike  nothing.  And some people  began to celebrate that. Some people  believed that. They took Tinubu's comment to the bank. They went home with it. And l hasten  to say this.

 lf  there's one Nigerian Tinubu owes a lot, that's Wike.  Nyesom Wike.  Aside keeping his Party, PDP, and it's candidate,  Atiku Abubakar on their toes all through,  he delivered Rivers State to Tinubu and his APC.  I am talking about the INEC declared  results for Rivers . INEC's own results.  

Wike,  a pdp governor,  ensured that  APC or Tinubu  was declared winner  in his State. ln Wike's Rivers, Tinubu got 231, 591 votes. His own party,  PDP,  got 88, 468 votes and the Labour Party,  175, 071 votes. lf there's  one man who has a lot of claims to make in Tinubu's presidency,  that man is Wike. There is nothing he wants in BAT's government that he would not  get. Don't believe me.  But mark my words.  He destroyed PDP for Tinubu to navigate. So, paying Wike's Rivers,  the money spent on federal projects in the State would be one of the easiest things Tinubu would do as President. 

Unlike Wike , those who should be worried about the direction  Tinubu's  presidency will be going are the leaders of the APC in the South East. Already,  Tinubu's body language isn't encouraging.  I am not writing that they should believe me , but letting them know the fate that awaits them in BAT's Presidency. Like l said,  they should not wait to be told that Tinubu and his Presidency won't  have anything tangible  in store for them.

For Tinubu,  his Presidency  and his close associates , all the leaders of APC in the South East are OBIDIENTS. This is the mindset of Tinubu and his own emerging  cabal. lt's written all over them. And there seems to be  nothing anybody can do to help the situation. 

The only prayer point left for APC leaders in the South East is that , the election of Tinubu should be annulled or be  nullified by the Tribunal. But  if the Tribunal confirms or authenticates his election,  then, there is every reason to worry by APC leaders in the South East. Some of them, going to the Defence House and taking photographs with him, won't change anything. 

Tinubu didn't hide his disdain for the  South East. He began early enough to show that.  He first settled for a fellow Muslim as Vice- Presidential candidate, believing that Heaven wouldn't fall. And he was right. Heaven didn't fall. And he  did it,  knowing that the South East could be adjudged  the " soul" of Christianity in Nigeria. l am painting a picture. But see the major issues.

 At a time,  the discussion or the  debate in the APC was that, the South should produce  the Presidential candidate of the Party  and by extension , Muhammadu Buhari's successor,  Ahmed Lawan came on board with a bang. And who were in the forefront of the Lawan's project?. Senator Orji Uzor Kalu and His Excellency, Governor Hope Uzodinma. And they were overtly  serious about it. They bought Lawan's nomination forms and displayed them for all and sundry to see, on the screens of  national televisions.  l do not know who drafted each other into the Lawan venture. Whether Kalu drafted the lmo Governor or vice versa. 

lf there was a major threat to Tinubu's aspiration for the Presidential ticket of the APC,  it was that Ahmed  Lawan's entry. That man's case.  And our own people were the pilots. The architects. On the TV screens, the  Yobe State Governor,  Mala Buni,  Lawan's own governor was behind. At the back of Kalu and governor Uzodinma. l am still painting a picture. They didn't support Tinubu. They didn't support Rochas Okorocha or Ogbonnaya Onu or Emeka Nwajiuba or David Umahi. But Lawan from the North. Continue reading my lips correctly. 

Then,  the Concensus issue. Lawan was announced the consensus Presidential  candidate of the party by the Abdullahi Adamu led NWC . lf that had worked out  as planned,  Tinubu's ambition would have been submerged or destroyed at that point. His group fought back. l want you to grab something here. Something "ominous". Something not palatable  at all. Something "imirimious". Do you understand?

Then,  the Presidential  primary proper. The South East delegates voted for Lawan, from all indications.  And not Tinubu. Not Okorocha. Not Nwajiuba. Not Onu or Umahi. They went for the Yobe man, Lawan. After Yobe, you get Borno State. l had been there. That was in 2004. l had gone   for the Turbanning of Emir of Damaturu,  Alhaji Shehu Hashimi 11 lbn Umar El-kanemi. The rest became history. 

Ahmed  Lawan for presidency project was the biggest threat  Tinubu's ambition had, before the INEC conducted election. Buhari's cabal also led Nwajiuba  to go to  court , asking that Tinubu should be disqualified and announce him APC candidate. Buhari's deceitful cabal. 

For the February 25, 2023 Presidential election, the leaders of APC in the South East were helpless. Nigerians,  including the South East people,  opted or settled for Peter Obi of the Labour Party. But Tinubu and his  already existing  cabal won't look at it from  that perspective.  They seem to have made up their minds. For them, APC leaders in the zone were all Obidients or  "lPOB".

 ln Anambra, for instance,  APC ( Tinubu), had 5, 111 votes. PDP (Atiku), 9,036 votes. Labour party ( Obi), 584, 621 votes.  ln Ebonyi, APC, 42, 402 votes.  PDP,  13, 503 votes. Labour party, 259, 738 votes. ln Enugu State,  APC, 4, 772 votes.  PDP,  15, 749 votes. Labour Party, 428,640 votes.  ln Abia, APC,  8, 914, PDP,  22, 676 and Labour Party,  327, 095. ln lmo , APC,  66, 406 votes,  PDP,  30, 234 votes and the Labour party,  360, 495 votes. Don't forget. These're Mahmood Yakubu's INEC  declared results. 

Looking  at these figures, one would be forced to agree or believe that the issue is not what anybody thinks should be Tinubu's right actions,  but what will be the case with regard to South East APC leaders in Tinubu's presidency. 

That is the problem with Orji Uzor Kalu and Osita lzunaso's aspirations for the position of  Senate president. Otherwise,  having denied the South East the position of President most patriotic Nigerians had believed should be their turn , and having also denied them  the office of Vice president, the most appropriate thing to do now is to concede the office of  Senate  president to them. But for the reasons l had earlier mentioned,  that has become a tall dream. They would never live to see that happen.

They have gone to South South. Akwa lbom State in Particular. And their choice is Godswill Akpabio. At the primary,  he withdrew for Tinubu. ln the election,  APC had 160, 620 votes.  More than what Tinubu got in the whole of South East. That's the politics behind their choice of Akpabio. They won't tell you this. 

For the South East and APC leaders in the zone in Particular, they should not expect much from Tinubu and his Presidency. No great expectations. Like I had intoned , the politics has begun.  And only those with foresight or " four-sights" would understand better . Would be able to read the handwriting on the wall and interpret it.  MENE,  MENE,  TEKEL,  URPHARSIN. 

There is already a gang up. While the lmo Governor was at "war" with Joe Ajaero of the Nigeria Labour Congress,  NLC, in lmo , the kano State Governor of APC extraction, Alhaji  Ganduje, was rolling out red carpets in kano for the same Ajaero. The same period. And he  gave him the Chieftaincy Title of Sarkin Yakin, meaning,  Workers' warrior. 

Even when Tinubu might  not remember some of these incidents,  those who have his ears would always remind  him of all these. And there is no  difference between him and Buhari in terms of being easy prey in the hands of wicked cabal. Even,  Tinubu's  own cabal  may be worst than Buhari's own cabal.  The signs are everywhere.  l hope you're reading  between the lines. There is " fire in the Soweto". 

This whole thing is also a wake-up call for Governor Uzodinma,  especially in his bid for second tenure . Yes, APC governor.  The  worst opposition to his second term  bid may not come from within,  but from  "without". Outside.  Don't say l told you. Do not quote me. Do not quote Sam. Onwuemeodo. Caveat emptor.  Disclaimer.  l am only guessing. lmagining things.  Which can't be located or situated.  . On your "marks". Ready....go!!!. The expected heat may be imported. External heat. Perhaps,  from the barbeach or zuma rock. Do you understand? 

The Lagos State Government had, on Wednesday, May 10, 2023,   arraigned Eze Ndigbo in Ajao Estate Lagos, Fredrick Nwajagu, on terrorism charges.  And he has been remanded in prison custody. The man was quoted to have said that, if the attacks on the lgbos and their properties in Lagos continue,  he might invite IPOB. That was a conditional statement. He didn't invite IPOB.  But he's  already in prison. And  those who attacked,  killed and maimed lgbos during the elections in Lagos  walked away free and still walking freely . l am still painting a picture. What to expect from BAT's Presidency. 

The Chief of Army Staff , Lt. Gen. Faruk Yahaya on Friday ,  May 5,  2023, had had reason or reasons to threaten to crack down on  potential threats to Tinubu's inauguration on May 29.

ln doing that,  Gen. Yahaya warned the  "lndigenous People of Biafra , IPOB,  Eastern Security Network, ESN  and other fringe groups not to test the will of the military ". He specifically mentioned IPOB and ESN and described similar groups in other parts of the country as " fringe groups". Are you following?. What to expect. 

Even when  l have never read where IPOB had threatened to frustrate or prevent the inauguration of Tinubu as President on May 29. The man singled out IPOB and ESN, and  left other related groups in other parts of the country. 

That's the nature of the on-going blackmail against the South East and the people of the area. There is nothing to show or believe that Tinubu's presidency would be different from that of " Bubu", with regard to the fate of the South East. 

With the prevailing circumstances and  for Tinubu's presidency,  APC leaders in the South East or the South East people in general,   are all Obidients. Or,  IPOB. Depending on which of the words they would prefer to use at any given time. That's their mindset. That's their belief. Nobody should wait to be told all these. 

Orji Uzor Kalu had thought that,  talking against Obi's Presidential bid  or the corporate aspiration of the South East people to produce the President of the Country this time, would make them to bring him in or take him into confidence or forget his role in the Lawan for President venture.  But he has seen that, that's not the case. They are also  holding him in contempt. He has seen that the sound of bitter kola in the mouth does not reflect the taste. At all. At all, at all.

The only consolation is that,  if the South East people survived Buhari's eight years of negligence and gross disregard,  they would also survive Tinubu and whatever he comes up with. Necessity has always  remained the mother of invention. The earlier this situation is understood,  the better. 

Nevertheless,  we shall continue to clap for Jesus. And there is nothing anybody can do about it.

I’ll go all the way to get back my mandate – Peter Obi

The Labour Party, LP, presidential candidate, Peter Obi has reiterated that he will explore all ways to ensure that he reclaim his alleged stolen mandate.

Obi stated this while speaking during a Labour Party stakeholders’ meeting in Awka.

The former Anambra state governor vowed to explore all legal options in ensuring he reclaims his mandate.

Recall that Obi came third in the February 25th presidential election.

The Labour Party presidential candidate was defeated by the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

Since the declaration of Tinubu as the winner of the poll by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Obi had insisted he won the election, as headed to court to contest the outcome of the poll.

In a tweet via his verified Twitter about the meeting, Obi stated, “Earlier, I interacted with the Anambra State Labour Party Stakeholders in Awka. The meeting was quite animated and constructive. Part of our discussions centred on the way forward for the party.

“I reassured them of my readiness to go all the way, explore every available legal option to ensure that we get our mandate back. I appreciated all their support so far, as I assured them of mine. PO,” he added.

Source: Vanguard News

COMMUNIQUE: Afenifere calls on judiciary to ensure that all petitions of the Presidential election be timeously and justly resolved before the end of the Buhari administration

 *BEING THE COMMUNIQUE AT THE END OF THE REGULAR MONTHLY GENERAL MEETING OF THE AFENIFERE HELD AT THE RESIDENCE OF OUR LEADER CHIEF AYO ADEBANJO AT ISANYA OGBO OGUN STATE ON TUESDAY 25TH APRIL 2023.*

1. 000 PREAMBLE.

Afenifere held its Regular monthly General Meeting today, the 25th day of April 2023, at the residence of our Leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo at Isanya Ogbo, Ogun State, which Meeting had in attendance delegates from the member states and presided over by our Leader aforesaid; and after exhaustive deliberations on the state of the Nigerian Federation, Observed and Resolved as follow:

1.0 ON THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

 

Afenifere reiterates our position that the emergence of a President of Southern and specifically South Eastern origin will guarantee equity, fairness and peaceful corporate existence of the Nigerian federation and for which we continue to support the victory of Peter Obi of the Labour Party in the 25th February Presidential election and all his endeavours in its realisation.

2.0 THE JUDICIARY AND THE 2023 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.

 Afenifere strongly calls on the judiciary to ensure that all petitions in respect of the Presidential election be timeously and justly resolved before the end of the tenure of the Buhari administration as the only way the confidence of Nigerians in its intervention may be earned. Precedents in this regard have been laid even by less endowed countries in Africa. 

3.0 BUHARI’S MESSAGE OF FORGIVENESS TO NIGERIANS. 

3.1 Afenifere considers the request of President Buhari for pardon “by those he might have hurt along the line of his services to the country” as rather short in statesmanship which demands that such apologies be extended to all Nigerians who have been traumatised especially by the pervasive insecurity and marooned in economic quagmire which in the last 8 years have rendered life most uninspiring, nasty, brutish and short. 

3.2 That it is rather shameful and painful that the President would celebrate, as achievement, the purported containment of insecurity in Abuja where the sovereignty of the nation has been wantonly challenged by terrorists routinely routing the Presidential convoy, Correctional Centres attacked and emptied and some Local Governments in neighbouring Niger State in effective occupation by Boko Haram.

3.2 Afenifere further notes the President’s lamentations of his serial loss of elections until “God sent technology to my rescue through the introduction of the PVC” . It is rather more lamentable that the manifest desires of Buhari to improve on the efficacy of the technological processes, inherited from Jonathan, by assenting the 2022 Electoral Act with the BVAS and IREV components, were thwarted by the INEC and security agencies under his watch, while high level officers of his government were befuddled by partisan considerations to justify relapse to primitivity. 

4.0 THE 2023 NATIONAL CENSUS.

4.1 Afenifere bemoans the unthinkable insistence of the Buhari administration in conducting the 2023 National Census in spite of the objective realities which make such an important national exercise most inauspicious in timing and impossible in credible implementation.

4.2 Afenifere recalls that in a paper it presented at the National Consultative Forum on the 2023 Census held at the Banquet Hall, State House Abuja on the 11th August 2022, it reiterated the imperative of census in national development noting that the application and misuse of Census data had been our bane as a country where we lie to ourselves and the world about our number indulging in laughable projections sometimes based on assumed and fixed percentage of population growth across different parts notwithstanding glaring variables.

4.3 It is in the light of the importance of credible exercise that, in the August 2022 Conference, we strongly advised against the conduct of the Census which, among other reasons, we said could not possibly hold in the same year of a General election. 4.4 Other well meaning personalities and institutions including the UNFPA Resident Representative in Nigeria who at another Conference in PortHarcourt on the 26th-29th March 2023 and most recently the Methodist Church Nigeria, Diocese of Calabar which all have raised concerns on the possibility of reasonable and genuine participation in an acceptable headcount in the current mood of the nation.

4.5 That Afenifere is particularly bemused that Government expects participation in headcount by citizens still incensed and distraught by the trauma of violence and brigandage of the elections or by those in IDP camps within their country in whose ancestral homes terrorists in occupation will now be counted as new indigenes.

4.6 That all factors considered, including its inability to supervise a transparent electoral process, a lesser headcount exercise, the integrity deficiency of this administration is abysmally compounded in conducting census which partisan disputes in Nigeria is often at the level of communities, states and ethnic nationalities having been politicised overtime.

4.7 Afenifere decries the most insensitive deployment of over 800 bilion Naira on this wasteful exercise as scandalous and an economic offence.

4.8. Afenifere conclusively says there is no compelling reason why the census must be held by the expiring Buhari administration and calls for all steps and preparations in that regards to be stopped FORTHWITH.

Issued and signed at Isanya Ogbo, Ogun State this 25th day of April 2023.

Chief Ayo Adebanjo 

Leader

Chief Sola Ebiseni 

Secretary General.

REJOINDER: LP Did Not Write To Withdraw Obi's Case in Tribunal

 *REJOINDER 26/04/23: As LP Did Not Write To Withdraw Obi's Case in Tribunal & Contrary to Obiora Ifoh's 08033024036 Peddling of Online Fake News About Alh. Lamidi Bashiru Apapa, the Acting National Chairman of Labour Party (LP)*

Watch You-Tube on Why FCT High Court Restrained Julius Abure as National Chairman : https://youtu.be/bQID8YNqL_U

Apapa

1: The attention of the Labour Party National Working Committee, NWC under the leadership of Alhaji Lamidi Bashiru Apapa has been drawn to an online Fake News making the rounds captioned: "LP Tells Tribunal To Disregard Apapa’s Letter Seeking Withdrawal Of Obi’s Cases Against Tinubu https://firstclassgists.com/lp-tells-tribunal-to-disregard-apapas-lette"

2: For the avoidance of doubt, OBIORA IFOH with the phone number: 08033024036 is an IMPOSTER IMPERSONATING as the Acting National Publicity Secretary of Labour Party (LP) & claiming to be appointed in the illegal, null and voided National Executive Council, NEC meeting of 18th April, 2023 in Asaba Delta State which amounted to CONTEMPT OF THE FCT COURT ORDER of 4th April, 2023 & 17th April, 2023 and organized by Julius Abure.

3: That Julius Abure who convened that illegal gathering had no legitimacy in Labour Party (LP) due to the FCT High Court Restraining Order imposed on him and three others: 

(I): Umar Farouk Ibrahim National Secretary, (Ii): Ojukwu Clement National Organizing Secretary and 

(iii): Mrs Oluchi Okpara National Treasurer from Parading themselves as National Officers of Labour Party over criminality.

4: That the FCT High Court restraining order was predicated on the Nigeria Police FCID Investigation & Forensic Audit Report that  indicted Abure and three others for: FORGERY, PERJURY AND CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY with financial malfeasance to the sum of over four hundred million naira (N400,000,000.00)

5: That the Labour Party LP National Working Committee, NWC has notified the Inspector General of Police, IGP & the Director General, Department of State Security Service DG-DSSS about the impostor OBIORA IFOH online Fake News making the rounds about how he is impersonating the office of the Acting National Publicity Secretary of the Labour Party (LP) 

6: That Obiora Ifoh is deploying the Labour Party (LP) website:

labourparty.com.ng/danger-alert-s and other social media handles to orchestrate fake News against the Acting National Chairman of Labour Party (LP), Alhaji Lamidi Bashiru Apapa and other National Working Committee, NWC members.

Labour Party !

Forward Ever !!

Backward Never !!!

GO TO COURT! - Mike Ozekhome

INTRODUCTION

I am today compelled to write on the topical trending issue of the moment– “GO TO COURT”. Yes, you heard me right: go to court. Nigeria is a great country, but a very interesting one with spectacular oddities and oxymorons. Every day is new. I love her to no end.

WHY GO TO COURT?

Politicians, sorry, Politricians, have popularised “Go to Court” in their morbid desperation to acquire power at all cost. By hook or by crook. They are desperados. They have been very successful in messing up our hard-earned democracy. They carry out unspeakable acts – bizarre acts drained of logic, legality, constitutionality and morality – and then tell you to your face, “Go to Court”. This is a sad sarcasm of their obvious derisive, pejorative and derogatory euphemism for our beleaguered justice–delivery systems.

What the Politricians are saying cheek-in-tongue, in effect, shorn of all pretences, affectation and braggadocio, is that they believe you cannot get justice in the courts. So, they taunt you to ‘go to court’. Before, during and after elections, they kill, maim, burn, thumbprint; steal and allocate ballot boxes and paper; steal BVAs machines; propel their candidates to “win at all costs”; select their winners; and collude with INEC to announce their preferred victors. Then, they humour you with, “Go to Court”. For you, my readers, if you do not like this my introductory part, please, do me a favour – go to court.

EXPANDING NIGERIA’S POLITICAL LEXICON

The new refrain in town – go to court – is therefore an obvious addition to our ever-elastic warped political lexicon. Webster, Oxford, Collins, Longman, Black – all Dictionary exponents – must be green with envy from their cold graves.

I have since added new words to our political vocabulary and encyclopedia – “Electionocracy”; “Selectocracy”; “Judocracy”; “Executocracy” and “Legislatocracy”. Mike Ozekhome says we are not practicing democracy in Nigeria Is this the Nigeria of our dreams?”; This Nigeria is a captured state”.

THE FLAWED 2023 GENERAL ELECTIONS

The last Presidential, NASS, Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections were the worst I have ever witnessed in this contraption called Nigeria since the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates by Lord Frederick Lugard (22nd January, 1858 – 11th April, 1945), on the 1st of January, 1914, to found Nigeria. If you do not like this opinion of mine, go to court.

I guffawed when I heard President Muhammadu Buhari, in congratulating Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on his presumed victory at the 25th February, 2023 presidential election, say, “None of the issues registered represents a challenge to the freeness and fairness of the elections”. Mr. President, did I hear you correctly sir? I can already see through the eyes of the minds of his handlers and coterie of media snipers, and those of Tinubu, calling me out. I can hear them telling me to “go to court” if I do not like the President’s biased stance expressed in the face of stiff challenge by his co-contestants. My simple response is, go to court if you do not like my own critique.

No sir, Mr. President. I humbly disagree, sir. The last elections were neither free, fair, transparent, honest, respectable, nor imbued with any iota of integrity and dignity. They represented an abysmal retrogression into Australopithecus stone-age election farce. The elections were clearly shambolic, unsystematic, mismanaged, violent, vicious; highly compromised; and drained of any local or international respect and recognition. The outright rejection of, or at best, very lukewarm tolerance of (not wholesome

acceptance or embrace) by the international community, speaks volumes of the elections’ lack of rectitude and honour. Any final emergent product of the fundamentally flawed presidential election will have a moral burden to contend with – even if court judgements were to favour him. The moral burden will hang like an albatross, on his neck throughout his entire tenure of office. It will be more like an ignoble trophy or diadem. I shudder to conjecture the ricocheting effect and dire consequences this forebodes for Nigeria. I am not a seer or clairvoyant, but I can tell Nigerians categorically to brace up for harder times ahead. If you are not comfortable with these humble views of mine, then go to court.

THE “BINANIGATE”

The hallmark of this “go to court” mantra finally crystallised last week during the gubernatorial election in Adamawa state. The events there represent the shame of a country whose citizens, having experienced too many doses of travails, now appear unshockable. I have since been stressed and distressed. Can this shame be wiped off our electoral slate, or democracy syllabus? I do not know. Or, do you? The deeds and misdeeds that attended the Adamawa macabre dance of death remind me of the regretful and symbolic words of Macbeth, in William Shakespeare’s epic “Macbeth” (Act II, Scene II).

In bemoaning his unprovoked decision to assassinate King Duncan, Macbeth lamented that all the oceans of the world would not be capable of washing the blood from his hands. This was even before killing King Duncan. Hear Macbeth: “Will all great Neptune’s Ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red”. If you do not like my taking you back to Shakespearean literature to allegorize and metaphorize these points of mine, then, go to court.

Like many Nigerians, I keenly followed the Binani phenomenon – now “BinaniGATE” (most unfortunately). I like the Senator’s quiet mien, respectable carriage, calm disposition and ever-smiling exterior. She appears incandescent, even if shy. These qualities belied a steely, strong-willed “Margaret Thatcher” of an iron lady, who had taken Adamawa politics by storm, breaking down chauvinistic barriers, and mauling entrenched fixations and stereotypes. My love went straight to her, like the one I had for my late dear mother who died in 1997. I had grown up with my parents in Iviukwe town, in the 60s and 70s. I went to the farm, and far-flung streams with my late mother and late father, who died in 1992. I followed her to dig and plant into ridges, groundnut, beans, cocoyam, maize and yam. I fetched firewood from scorpion-infested dried trees. I fetched water from stagnant spirogyra-infested streams and dirty ponds, with calabashes. We then used alum to purify the water. So, I saw my mother in Binani. I also suddenly saw in Binani, my dear wife – my pillar of strength; my soulmate; my girlfriend; my confidant and sister; my mother and best friend in the world. For these reasons, and propelled by her top-notch political credentials, I, like many Nigerians, silently yearned that she won in a free, fair and transparent election. This, for me, notwithstanding that the big “home boys” holding fort in Adamawa are my elder and younger friends, respectively – former VP, Waziri Atiku Abubakar and Governor Ahmadu Fintiri. But what did we see? A damnatory and ruinous anti-climax.

A sad summersault indeed! Binani was declared “winner” of an election whose supplementary results were still being collated and counted. It was done by an unauthorized and illegal person – the State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) – rather than the INEC-appointed Returning Officer. This, even while she was trailing her main opponent, Governor Fintiri, by over 31,000 votes! Wonders shall never end. She had wanted to foist on INEC, the courts and sympathetic Nigerians (like me), a situation of fait accompli. She will then tell Fintiri to “go to court”. The INEC REC’s audaciousness and brazen acts appear modeled after the INEC leadership itself, which had condoned and facilitated huge electoral malpractices, and told Nigerians to go to court.

THE BACKGROUND TO THE FAILED COUP

Let us have a historical background to this electoral fraud which was actually, a failed coup d’etat.

On 18th March, 2023, Adamawa residents went to the polls, hopeful of the workings of democracy – a concept defined by Abraham Lincoln (with penetrating erudition) in his Gettysburg Declaration on 19th November, 1863, as “government of the people, by the people and for the people”. At the close of voting, sitting Governor, Ahmadu Fintiri, garnered a total of 421,522 votes to lead in 13 of the 21 LGAs of Adamawa State. He beat his closest rival, Aisha Dahiru (A.KA. Binani) by over 32,000 votes, as she trailed with 390,275 votes obtained in 8 LGAs. Mohammed Mele, a Professor of English at the University of Maiduguri, who was the INEC-appointed Returning Officer (and who is the only statutorily authorized person under section 25 of the Electoral Act, 2022, to declare governorship results and announce the winner), however, announced that the election was inconclusive. His reason was that the margin of victory by Fintiri was less that the total votes expected from 69 polling units in 20 LGAs affected by serious electoral issues. In those polling units, there are 42,785 registered voters. But those who collected their PVCs were only 36,955.

All very well and good, if, this was systematic and methodical. It was not. Why didn’t the same INEC use a similar yardstick to withhold declaring Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State as the winner of the same 18th March, 2023 gubernatorial election, when the challenger, Chief Oladipupo Adebutu only trailed Abiodun by a mere 13,915 votes, with only 18,835 votes rejected? Why the duplicity and double standards by INEC in declaring Abiodun the winner then, as against its refusal to declare Fintiri the winner at the first election of 18th March, 2023, under the same circumstances? Abiodun and APC (and even INEC) had simply told Adebutu to go to court. Go to court, he has since done.

THE ADAMAWA CIRCUS SHOW

What happened next could be taken straight from a poorly acted local movie, with desperate script writers and caricature choreographers. It was like a dramatic circus show; a Baba Sala’s Alawada Keri Keri piece of histrionics.

During the supplementary election that took place on April 15, 2023, Fintiri had been clearly leading, with 19,337 votes, to Binani’s 6,513. The gap difference was 2, 824. This was, however, only in 10 LGAs of the 20 LGAs in which voting took place. When you add these 2,824 votes to Fintiri’s March 18 lead of 31,247, Fintiri was surely galloping home to victory with 34,071 votes ahead of Binani. Then some unseen hands struck. They usually behave like witches and wizards in a coven.

With results from 10 out of 20 LGAs already in, the Returning Officer adjourned proceedings to 11 am of the following day. Suddenly (like Fela Kuti of blessed memory would say), one Hudu Ari, the Adamawa Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), struck at 9 am, before the 11 am earmarked for the continuation. Surrounded and escorted by an armada of recruited armed-to-the-teeth Soldiers, DSS operatives, Civil Defence goons, the Police, and thugs, Ari casually strolled into the collation centre, brandishing a folded written piece of paper that contained no final result.

To the shock of all present, he proceeded to announce and declare Binani as the “winner” of the election, whose results were still being collated. The loser who was trailing behind by over 34,000 votes was declared “winner”. Their agenda? Go to court? And bam! Binani “accepted” her “victory”. She was undoubtedly part and parcel of the orchestrated charade and shameful events. If not, how would she have prepared an acceptance speech for results she had not yet seen or known about, just like others? How come only NTA (the Federal Government’s megaphone) was the only media that covered the vaudeville and travesty? In her 21 seconds clip of historical profanity and feminine remissness and delinquency, she told angry Adamawa citizens that “you’ve made history in electing the first female governor in our dear country, Nigeria. This will no doubt broaden political participation by encouraging our daughters, aunties, mothers and indeed our girl child”. Oh blimey! The sentiments! The emotionalism!

Binani not done, even audaciously approached the Federal High Court (yes, in fulfillment of the “go to court” carol), through an ex parte application and urged Justice Inyang Ekwo on 17th April, 2023, to give judicial imprimatur to her sins, in motion No FHC/ABJ/CS/510/2023. Ekwo was a “Daniel come to Judgement”. He rejected the ex parte application. The cerebral Jurist suo motu raised the critical issue of jurisdiction. He directed Binani’s Counsel to return on 26th April, 2023, to convince him that the court has jurisdiction over the matter.

For once, INEC acted swiftly, salvaging whatever remains of its bruised image in the Adamawa theatrics. It suspended further collation; recalled Ari to Abuja; declared null, void and of no effect, the purported declaration of Binani as winner, as it amounted to usurpation of the powers of the Returning Officer. It also vowed to petition IGP (Usman Baba) to investigate and possibly prosecute Ari. INEC also requested the SGF, Boss Mustapha, to brief Buhari (the appointing authority), about Ari’s show of shame.

Will Ari, the DSS, Police, Military, FRSC, Civil Defence Personnel and even Binani be prosecuted under sections 64, 120 and 121 of the Electoral Act, 2022, to set a clear signal that Nigeria is not a banana Republic? Only time will tell. But, for now, go to court. Did the alleged bribery with the sum of N2 billion actually change hands to bring about this attempted monumental heist and thievery? Who will dig in and inform Nigerians? Which rat will bell the cat? Only time will tell. But, for now, go to court.

As at today, Fintiri has been properly pronounced re-elected Governor of Adamawa State. For those who are dissatisfied with this, go to court. For those who enjoyed this write-up, go to court. For those who loathe what I have written, go to court. For all Nigerians, go to court. For the Judges who will sit over this election matters, go to court. Finally, for the court themselves that harbour the Judges who will hear the matters, go to court. Let us all go to court.

- Prof. Mike Ozekhome, SAN, CON, OFR, FCIArb, LL.M, Ph.D, LL.D, D.Litt.