The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) seeking to restore the nullification of the participation of forner Osun state Governor, Gboyega Oyetola and his deputy Benedict Alabi in the July 16, 2022 governorship election.

A five-member panel of the Supreme Court led by Justice Centus Nweze held that the appeal by the PDP lacked merit and directed the counsel to the PDP Kehinde Ogunwumiju to withdraw it.

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The court held that the PDP could not, under the law,question the process leading to the emergence of Oyetola and Alabi as candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the election.

Recall that Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja had in a judgment on September 30, 2022, nullified the participation of Oyetola and Alabi in the governorship election on the grounds that their nomination forms were endorsed by an acting Chairman of APC, who was also a serving governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni.

Justice Nwite’s judgment was set aside by the Court of Appeal, Abuja in a judgment in December last year, a decision the PDP appealed to the Supreme Court.

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Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed says no official report of anybody in the presidential villa working against the aspiration of the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

He also said President Muhammadu Buhari would not deviate from his commitment towards ensuring the conduct of free, fair and credible general elections.

The minister disclosed this to State House correspondents after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday.

He was responding to a claim by Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai, that some persons in the Presidential Villa were working against the electoral success of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in the coming presidential election.

He said President Buhari, being the main occupant of the Aso Rock Villa, had stressed times without number that he wanted his administration to deliver a credible exercise.

The minister said that if there were elements within the seat of power working against the victory of the ruling party, it has not been brought officially to his notice.

He said, “One thing I can assure you is that no matter what, this administration is focused, determined to ensure free and fair elections.

“But I think with this administration, the most important person is Mr. President, and I think he has shown by words and by deeds that he is committed to free, fair and credible election. And fair, free, credible elections actually mean not favouring anybody or disadvantaging anybody.

“And everywhere he goes, he makes that very clear even as recently last Friday when he was in Daura, he said the same thing.

“If there’s anybody working against a candidate, we don’t know officially.”

He also responded to the Transparency International’s latest report, which saw Nigeria dropping five places in the 2021 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) ranking.

He said, “We are not fighting corruption because we want to impress Transparency International or any organization whatsoever.

“We’re fighting corruption because we believe if we do not fight corruption, there’ll be no growth either in terms of the economy or even political. Therefore, what we do and what we’re putting in place to fight corruption is not because we want to be rated by anybody.

“If, for instance, what we’re doing catches the attention of Transparency International and they improve and give us better marks, so we’ll and go. However, I can assure you that we do not know what template TI is using.

“Whatever template they’re using is clearly oblivious of what this administration is doing, to fight corruption.

“Corruption fighting is not just by how many people have you arrested? How many people have you tried? How many people have you convicted? Of course, even in that respect, we have a very impressive record. Is it the EFCC or is it the ICPC?

“You see, if you look at what we’re doing even to make corrupt practices, almost impossible or difficult…I’ll just give you two examples. For instance, this administration, when funds were returned from the Abacha loot and other funds were recovered from the US, the UK, and Europe, this administration was that rather than pay these funds into the treasury and face the possibility of it being stolen or looted, the administration decided that we will put this money into a separate account and ask the National Sovereign Investment Fund to manage these funds, and we used this money for specific projects.

“And some of our legacy projects today actually are being financed from our money that have been stolen, which were returned and which we have kept. To me, this is one example of how to fight corruption. An example of how to ensure that people do not steal what has been recovered again.

Wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, has supported claims by the Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, that some “elements” in Aso Rock are working against the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.

The governor made the accusation on Wednesday while speaking on Channels TV’s breakfast show, ‘Sunrise Daily’.

The First Lady shared the video of the Kaduna governor’s interview on her verified Instagram page with the caption ‘Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria’.

This is seen by many as an endorsement of the governor’s position.

The Kaduna governor also cited the sudden removal of petrol subsidy and the naira redesign policy as measures targeted at the APC presidential candidate.

Tinubu has also made a similar allegation.

El-Rufai had said, “I believe there are elements in the Villa that want us to lose the election because they didn’t get their way; they had their candidate. Their candidate did not win the primaries.

“They are trying to get us to lose the election, and they are hiding behind the President’s desire to do what he thinks is right. I will give two examples: this petroleum subsidy, which is costing the country trillions of Naira, was something that we all agreed would be removed.

“In fact, I discussed with the President and showed him why it had to go. Because how can you have a capital budget of N200 billion for federal roads and then spend N2 trillion on petroleum subsidy? This was a conversation I had with the President in 2021 when the subsidy thing started rising. He was convinced. We left. It changed. Everyone in the government agreed, and it changed.

“The second example I will give is this currency redesign. You have to understand the President. People are blaming the Governor of the Central Bank for the currency redesign, but No. You have to go back and look at the first outing of Buhari as President.

“He did this; the Buhari, Idiagbon regime changed our currency and did it in secrecy with a view to catching those that are stashing away illicit funds. It is a very good intention. The President has his right. But doing it at this time within the allotted time does not make any political or economic sense.”