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Kenya’s Supreme Court to rule today on presidential election dispute
Kenya’s Supreme Court will today decide on whether to uphold or nullify the result of last month’s presidential election.
Kenyans and indeed other people across the globe are anxiously awaiting the ruling, with the country scarred by previous bouts of poll-related violence.
The seven-member court will rule following three days of oral arguments last week by lawyers representing the two main candidates and rival camps of election commissioners.
Opposition leader Raila Odinga, making his fifth presidential bid, says Deputy President William Ruto’s narrow win was the product of massive fraud. Four out of seven election commissioners disowned the result announced by the commission chairman, saying the tallying had been opaque.
The Supreme Court made history in the last election in 2017 by annulling President Uhuru Kenyatta’s victory over Odinga because of procedural irregularities.
Kenyatta prevailed in a re-run that Odinga boycotted.
About 100 people were killed in election-related clashes that year. This time, protests briefly broke out in several Odinga strongholds after the election commission chair declared Ruto the victor on Aug. 15, but Odinga urged supporters to stay peaceful and the streets have remained calm since.
Tempers have mainly flared online, where Odinga and Ruto’s partisans have bombarded social media with often outlandish claims and counter-claims.
Odinga, who was backed by the term-limited Kenyatta in this election, has alleged that a team working for Ruto hacked into the commission’s system and replaced genuine pictures of polling station result forms with fake ones, increasing Ruto’s share.
“The evidence that has been presented by the petitioner shows a well orchestrated and fraudulent scheme that was executed with military precision,” Odinga’s lawyer, Philip Murgor, told the court on Friday.
Odinga and the four dissident commissioners also accuse commission chairman Wafula Chebukati of violating electoral law by unilaterally carrying out the vote tally and declaring the result. The official numbers showed Ruto receiving 50.49%, enough to avoid a second-round run-off.
Ruto and Chebukati have rejected all of these allegations. Ruto’s legal team dismissed Odinga’s claims as a “shock and awe” strategy that lacks concrete evidence.
If the court nullifies the result, a new election must be organised within 60 days. The court’s decision is final.
Kenya is a key Western ally in an unstable region, contributing troops to peacekeeping missions in Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It also hosts the regional headquarters of many global companies and organisations.
While generally stable, it has seen repeated instances of election-related violence, often along ethnic lines.
More than 1,200 were killed in clashes after the 2007 election, when Odinga accused then-President Mwai Kibaki’s party of massive rigging.
News
Edo Gov Okpebholo freezes govt accounts, reverses ministry’s name
Edo Gov Okpebholo freezes govt accounts, reverses ministry’s name
Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, has directed the immediate freezing of all state-owned bank accounts.
In a statement issued on Thursday by his Chief Press Secretary, Fred Itua, the governor stated that the accounts would remain frozen until further notice.
He instructed commercial banks, ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) to comply with the order immediately or face severe consequences.
The statement reads: “All state bank accounts with commercial banks have been frozen. Commercial banks must comply with this order and ensure that not a single naira is withdrawn from government coffers until further notice.
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“Heads of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies must ensure full compliance without delay.
“Following necessary investigations and reconciliations, the governor will take appropriate action and decide on the way forward. For now, this order remains in effect.”
Okpebholo also directed relevant agencies to revert the name of the Ministry of Roads and Bridges to its previous title, the Ministry of Works, a change made during the Godwin Obaseki administration.
“It is odd to name a government institution the Ministry of Roads and Bridges, especially when not a single bridge was built by the previous administration — not even a pedestrian bridge.
“In the coming days, we will examine further actions taken by the previous administration and make decisions that serve the best interests of the state,” the statement added.
Edo Gov Okpebholo freezes govt accounts, reverses ministry’s name
News
Israel-Palestinian conflict: Two-state solution is a deception, says Gumi
Israel-Palestinian conflict: Two-state solution is a deception, says Gumi
Prominent Islamic scholar Dr. Ahmad Mahmud Gumi has criticized the widely discussed two-state solution for the Israel-Palestine conflict, calling it a “deception.”
His remarks followed a recent summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Riyadh, where President Bola Tinubu and other leaders condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza and urged an end to hostilities.
In an interview with Daily Trust at his Kaduna residence, Gumi argued, “This Two-State Solution is a deception. No Israeli will allow a Palestinian to survive, and Palestinians will never allow Israel to survive.
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The only solution is to dissolve the two states and create a democratically electable region.”
Gumi commended the OIC’s support for Palestine, noting that Muslims and Arabs worldwide increasingly see the treatment of Palestinians as “genocide” and accuse Israel of human rights abuses.
He also called for a return to the pre-1948 structure, where Palestinians, Jews, and Christians lived together, suggesting a single, inclusive state that allows peaceful coexistence.
“When I hear people talking about Two-State Solutions, I know they are just deceiving themselves,” Gumi added, advocating for a unified region where people of all faiths can live together, similar to the multi-faith coexistence seen in countries like the United States.
Israel-Palestinian conflict: Two-state solution is a deception, says Gumi
News
Court sacks Ondo LP candidate, two days to governorship poll
Court sacks Ondo LP candidate, two days to governorship poll
The Labour Party candidature of Olusola Ebiseni for the upcoming gubernatorial election in Ondo State has been nullified.
The nullification follows the sacking of Ebiseni by the Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja, on Wednesday.
The governorship election of the southwest State will hold on Saturday, 16 November 2024.
The judgement disqualifying Ebiseni was unanimously delivered by the three members of the panel and read out by the chairman of the panel, Justice Adebukola Banjoko.
The judgment granted the prayer of the Labour Party who preferred the case against Ebiseni.
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Justice Banjoko held that, “the appeal marked CA/ABJ/CV/1172/2024 brought by the Labour Party against Chief Olusola Ebiseni and two others is allowed.”
Justice Banjoko further stated that the Certified True Copy of the judgment would be provided to the parties involved in the appeal as soon as possible for their review.
Recall that Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja had ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to accept and recognize Olusola Ebiseni and Ezekiel Awude as the Labour Party’s governorship and deputy governorship candidates for the November 16 Ondo State governorship elections.
Justice Nwite confirmed that the second primary election conducted by the Labour Party, which resulted in Ebiseni and Awude being selected as candidates, was valid and should be upheld by INEC.
However, the appellate court has now overturned the judgment of the trial court’s judgment.
Court sacks Ondo LP candidate, two days to governorship poll
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