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Tribunal dismisses Peter Obi’s request to question INEC on technology deployed
Tribunal dismisses Peter Obi’s request to question INEC on technology deployed
The Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, on Saturday dismissed the application filed by the Labour Party and Peter Obi seeking an order to question INEC on the technology it deployed for the conduct of the general elections.
Mr Obi and LP are petitioners in the petition marked CA/PEPC/03/2023 challenging the election which brought president Bola Tinubu into power.
Respondents are the INEC, President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima and All Progressives Congress, APC.
Ruling on the application, the five-member panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani held that it lacked the jurisdiction to grant the request as it was brought outside the pre-hearing session and therefore incompetent.
“It is an afterthought on the grounds that the pre-hearing period to file such an application elapsed on May 22.
“I have not disputed the fact that they did not call the attention of the court during the pre-hearing session.
“It is for the applicant to take a step towards the hearing of his motion on notice. The court cannot do that for him.
“The petitioners’ counsel are very conversant with the provisions of the law and did not ask for an extension of time.
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“They rather seek to employ the right to fair hearing as a magic wand to escape the consequence of their failure to comply with the law and blame the court for its inaction” the court held.
The court also held that the applicants failed to disclose any extreme circumstance that stopped them from filing within the statutory time.
In a unanimous decision, the court stated that motions cannot be heard at the hearing session and as such can be deemed as abandoned.
”Their application is incompetent and the court lacks the jurisdiction to entertain it and accordingly, the application is struck out,” it held.
The petitioners, among other reasons for disputing the outcome of the elections are accusing the electoral umpire of non-compliance with the Electoral Act.
Their concerns also included failure to transmit the results of the presidential election in real-time on the INEC results viewing portal as assured.
In their effort to support the grounds of their petition, the petitioners had asked the court to permit them to question INEC.
On the technology deployed to conduct the election including the quality of the ICT experts who oversaw the conduct of the election.
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In two applications, the petitioners through their lawyer, Patrick Ikweto, SAN, urged the court to order INEC to supply the names and other details of its ICT professionals that deployed electronic devices for the conduct of the election.
Specifically, the petitioners maintained that given INEC’s reply to their petition, it should be compelled to answer 12 questions posed to them.
The added the date the electoral body conducted functionality tests on the system it deployed for the elections, as well as names and details of those that conducted the test.
They further required INEC to answer the following questions: “Who created/deployed the four (4) Applications Patches/Updates to fix the HTTP 500 error that prevented the e-transmission of the results of the Presidential election on 25th February 2023?
“What was the exact time of the occurrence of the technical glitch which prevented the e-transmission of the result of the Presidential election on 25th February 2023?
“What time were the technological glitches fixed and or repaired?
“What percentage of the result of the Presidential election was uploaded on the I-Rev on February 25?
“What percentage of the result of the Presidential election was uploaded on the I-Rev at the time of the declaration of the Result of the Presidential election on March 1?”
Tribunal dismisses Peter Obi’s request to question INEC on technology deployed
NAN
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Rivers: Pro-Fubara Assembly to screen commissioner-nominee today
Rivers: Pro-Fubara Assembly to screen commissioner-nominee today
The factional House of Assembly led by speaker, Victor Oko-Jumbo, has invited a commissioner-nominee, Danagogo Iboroma, for screening and confirmation as a member of the state executive.
Gillis-West asked Iboroma to appear at the Hallowed Chamber, Rivers State House of Assembly, Auditorium, Admin Block, Rivers state government House Port Harcourt.
Iboroma was asked to appear with 10 sets of his CVs, photocopies of his credentials and the original.
Rivers: Pro-Fubara Assembly to screen commissioner-nominee today
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Fubara can’t change House of Assembly venue – Falana
Fubara can’t change House of Assembly venue – Falana
A human rights lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) has said Governor Simi Fubara of Rivers State can’t arrogate the power and functions of the legislature to himself.
Falana said this in reaction to the executive order by Fubara relocating the sitting of the house of assembly to the government house.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, Falana faulted Fubara’s move, saying the legislature is not an extension of the executive but an independent arm of the government.
He explaining that since both arms of government are independent of each other, Fubara cannot change the sitting venue of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
“I would like to assume that the governor issued that executive order before the intervention of the High Court in Rivers State,” Falana said on the show.
“The house is independent of the executive. So the governor cannot tell the house where to sit.”
Fubara had on Friday issued an executive order for the immediate and temporary relocation of the sitting of the Rivers State Assembly to the Auditorium, Admin Block of the Government House, Port Harcourt.
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In an official Gazette, Executive Order of the Rivers State Government 001-2023, Fubara cited the unsafe state of the House of Assembly complex.
But Falana insisted that Fubara was wrong to move the sitting venue of the Rivers State House of Assembly, and referenced an impeachment of a governor done outside the premises of the House of Assembly which was nullified by the Supreme Court.
“This was very clear in the Oyo State case which led to the impeachment of Governor Ladoja whereby under the influence of the late Chief Lamidi Adedibu, the House was alleged to have sat in a hotel and the Supreme Court made that point abundantly clear that an impeachment carried out in a hotel deviates clearly from the Constitution,” the human rights lawyer said.
“So any sitting of the House outside the premise of the House of Assembly complex will not be known to law; will not be recognized by law.”
He said if there is a need for a sitting elsewhere, the members of the House of Assembly, properly constituted, will have to decide where to carry out their meeting.
“There is a separation of powers under the Constitution and each organ of the government must recognise its own powers and limitations,” he said.
Fubara can’t change House of Assembly venue – Falana
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EFCC to work with UK prosecutors in Diezani’s case
EFCC to work with UK prosecutors in Diezani’s case
There were indications at the weekend that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) will apply to a United Kingdom court as an interested party in the trial of a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke.
A team of the anti-graft commission is billed for London to begin the process of filing papers as a party to the case.
The EFCC may also avail the UK court of its findings and the forfeiture order of a high court in Abuja on the former minister’s $2.5 million homes and cars.
Diezani has been on trial in the Southwark Crown Court in the UK for an alleged £100,000 bribe.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) alleged that Diezani might have “benefitted from at least £100,000 in cash, chauffeur-driven cars, flights on private jets, luxury holidays for her family, and the use of multiple London properties”.
On October 2, 2023, a Magistrate Court granted bail to the ex-Minister for £70,000 after deeming her “a flight risk.”
The hearing of Diezani’s case will begin in November 2025.
According to a source, the EFCC is seeking to be an interested party in the case to enable Nigeria to have access to assets which may be seized from the ex-minister.
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The source said: “This country may not be able to retrieve questionable assets from Diezani if the EFCC does not file an application as an interested party.
“We have received an advisory on this important bend to Diezani’s trial and we will be part of the case in the UK.
“A team will leave for London any moment from now to explore legal opportunities and file necessary papers as an interested party.
“The overall aim is for Nigeria to benefit from Diezani’s trial, especially the recovery of all assets linked to funds looted in this country.
“The EFCC has sufficient evidence against Diezani, including a court order on the former minister’s $2.5million homes and cars.
“In another case, a former chairman of EFCC confirmed that the commission recovered $153million and secured the final forfeiture of over 80 properties in Nigeria valued at about $80million.
“The allegations against Diezani by the EFCC border on alleged stealing of about $2.5 billion from Nigeria’s coffers as a minister.
“It is necessary for this nation to rise to the occasion because, in March 2023, the NCA also provided evidence to the US Department of Justice that enabled them to recover assets totalling $53.1 million linked to Mrs. Alison-Madueke’s alleged corruption.
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“Like the P&ID case, the EFCC has sufficient evidence to pull through a case against Diezani. We want all stolen, diverted and questionable assets back in the custody of Nigeria for the good use of our citizens.”
The source added: “I think the EFCC is collaborating with the NCA in the UK on this.
“It is also unclear if the UK court will ask Diezani to return to Nigeria to serve prison terms if convicted. This is why we also need to be an interested party in the case in the UK.”
Last year, the Head of the NCA’s international corruption unit (ICU), Andy Kelly, said the “charges are a milestone in what has been a thorough and complex international investigation”.
“Bribery is a pervasive form of corruption, which enables serious criminality and can have devastating consequences for developing countries.
“We will continue to work with partners here and overseas to tackle the threat.”
Diezani was arrested in London in 2015 shortly after stepping down as minister, and was charged in August with six bribery offences.
She has spent more than eight years on police bail, living in St John’s Wood, an expensive area of London.
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