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Tribunal affirms Ododo as Kogi governor, dismisses forgery allegations

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Usman Ododo

The Kogi State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja, on Monday affirmed Usman Ahmed Ododo as the lawfully elected governor of Kogi State.

The tribunal dismissed the petition filed by the Social Democratic Party, SDP and its governorship candidate, Murtala Ajaka.

The judgment was passed by the three-member panel of the tribunal, led by Justice Ado Birnin-Kudu.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had declared the candidate of the All Progressive Congress, APC, Usman Ododo, as the winner of the election conducted on November 11, 2023.

The State Returning Officer, Prof Johnson Urama, who is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academics, of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka announced Ododo as the winner on Sunday, November 12, 2023.

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He announced that Ododo polled 446,237 votes, to beat his closest rival, Murtala Ajaka of the SDP who scored 259,052, while Dino Melaye of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) polled 46,362 votes.

However, the petitioners approached the tribunal and sought to overturn the election results on various grounds ranging from alleged over-voting and forgery of personal documents submitted to INEC to secure clearance to participate in the election.

They applied for an order directing INEC to conduct a fresh election in five local government areas.

Ajaka’s legal team led by Jibrin Okutepa, SAN had predicted the petition on the grounds of alleged forgery, overvoting and non-compliance with the Electoral Act.

The petitioners alleged that over-voting occurred in 5 local government areas of Kogi State including Adavi, Okene and Okehi among others.

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But the APC legal team led by Emmanuel Ukala challenged the competence of the witnesses presented by the petitioners.

Counsel for INEC, Kanu Agabi (SAN) on his own maintained that the witnesses presented by the petitioner were incompetent because “they are not the makers” of the electoral documents they submitted as exhibits.

The respondents maintained that the exhibits touching on forgery and overvoting are “mere photocopies” that cannot be relied upon by any court.

However, in the judgment, Justice Ado Birnin-Kudu held that from the decisions of the Supreme Court on the 2023 presidential and governorship elections, statements of witnesses must be filed along with a petition and not during the hearing of a petition.

“The petitioners have failed to file their witness statements (PW1) on oath along with the petition, within the given time,” the Chairman said while expunging the exhibits tendered by the petitioners.

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He added that “the piece of oral evidence made by the petitioner’s witnesses are hearsay evidence” as they are not the makers of the exhibits tendered before the tribunal.

The tribunal, while dismissing the petition, affirmed the election of Ododo.

Ododo took over from former Governor Yahaya Bello after serving as Auditor-General for Local Governments in Kogi State.

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Politics

Rivers crisis: Why I won’t make peace with Fubara – Wike

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Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, has revealed one of the reasons he can’t make peace with Governor Similayi Fubara of Rivers State.

Wike accused Fubara of removing a chief in his family and went ahead to make another person a chief.

The FCT Minister stated this on Wednesday while fielding questions from journalists at a media parley in Abuja.

According to reports, the statement comes amid the ongoing political crisis in the State, with Wike and Governor Similayi Fubara at the center of the feud.

“Sometimes when you people talk about this peace, you don’t take everything. You don’t just sit outside to talk.

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“Look at me, a former governor, Minister of of the FCT, Governor (Fubara) had the temerity, the audacity, because he has money from federation account, because he has more Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), will enter my own family to remove a chief and make another person a chief,” Wike said.

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Lagos HoA Crisis: Let Obasa Stay, Tinubu Tells Lawmakers

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President Bola Tinubu has instructed lawmakers of the Lagos State House of Assembly to allow the impeached and reinstated Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, to continue leading the house.

The President made this position known when he met with the lawmakers at the State House in Abuja on Wednesday.

As reported earlier, this is the first time President Tinubu is meeting the lawmakers since the crisis began in the house January 13, 2025.

One of the lawmakers told newsmen that ” Obasa is staying. We will obey the president. What we had was a family meeting. The President condenmed Obasa’s actions but blamed us for not carring him (Tinubu) along during the impeachement execrise”.

However, the lawmaker said President Tinubu warned Obasa to carry everyone along.

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” He also warned him (Obasa) that if there were any future complaints from any quarters, he would be gone. “The President said he should let peace reign; and so based on that, we have accepted.”

On the pending matter in court, the source said: “The President has instructed him to withdraw it.”

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Fubara not sincere, playing to gallery – Rivers Assembly

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The Rivers State House of Assembly has disagreed with the claims by the State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, that he was blocked from entering the House to re-present his 2025 Appropriation Bill.

The House said it never received any official communication from the governor indicating his interest to bring his appropriation bill to the floor of the House.

Spokesperson of the House and Chairman, House Committee on Information, Enemi George, described the claims of the governor as a mere comedy skit scripted to paint the House in bad light.

George recalled that on March 3, the House of Assembly wrote to the governor requesting him to bring his 2025 appropriation bill to the lawmakers following the judgement of the Supreme Court.

He said: “We were the ones, who immediately after that judgement appealed to the governor to bring his appropriation bill. We acted immediately because we have the interest of the state at heart and didn’t want Rivers people to suffer any harm.

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“Despite withholding our entitlements for over a year and demolishing our chambers, we still wanted him to hasten up the presentation in the interest of the progress of Rivers.

“We indicated our intentions in that letter and even gave him a timeframe because of the urgency of the matter. To regularise his appointments, we also urged him during our subsequent sitting to submit the names of his nominees for the positions of commissioners and some boards’ membership for screening and confirmation.

“But, the governor rebuffed our pleas. We sent employees of the Assembly to deliver these resolutions to him. But, as usual, they turned them down at the gate and even brutalized them. We resorted to engaging the services of a courier company.

“But, he still did not heed our call forgetting that there are essential services like hospitals, schools and others to be funded. Our intention was to finish everything about the budget on March 15, so that we could send necessary information and documents to relevant agencies of the government to allow the release of Rivers allocations at the end of March. But, with what he is doing, we don’t know what he wants to achieve.

“How can he turn around to claim that we blocked him from re-presenting his budget? This is the height of insincerity. We even need the budget to be passed because the governor has been owing us our entitlements for more than a year and without the budget, we can’t get our entitlements.

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“The governor and his team simply and deliberately acted Wednesday’s drama with a singular motive to tarnish the image of the Assembly. The governor is simply playing to the gallery to whip up unnecessary sentiments. But, it has backfired because the truth has come out”.

Besides, George insisted that the letter the governor claimed that he sent to the Speaker never got to him, adding that it was after the Wednesday’s sitting that the lawmakers saw the letter flying on social media.

He said: “But, even the letter trending on social media was dated March 11. Does it mean that the governor purportedly sent a letter on Tuesday God knows when, and immediately mobilised to the Assembly Quarters on Wednesday morning, claiming he came to present his budget?

“That alone vitiates the claimed purpose. It is procedurally trite that after writing to the Assembly, the governor ought to wait for the letter to be acknowledged by the lawmakers, who will then invite him to appear before them and make his presentation. Governor Fubara ought to know this if he is sincere.

“But, all we know is that this Assembly will continue to uphold the rule of law and will remain committed to promoting the interest of Rivers State. We urge him to do the needful so that Rivers people can breathe. He is toying with the lives and livelihood of Rivers people.

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