The trial of Eze Ndigbo of Ajao Estate, Lagos State, Frederick Nwajagu, for alleged terrorism, was on Tuesday stalled due to the absence of his counsel.
Nwajagu is standing trial before a Lagos High Court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square.
He is charged by Lagos State Government and was arraigned on May 9 on a nine-count charge.
The charges border on the attempt to commit terrorism, participating in terrorism and meeting to support a proscribed entity.
The defendant, however, pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Lagos State Government had, in the suit marked LD/21505C/2023, alleged that the defendant’s acts contravened the provisions of Section 403(2) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
Prosecution counsel, Mr. Jonathan Ogunsanya, said that other sections of the law which the alleged offences contravened included 12(a) (c), 18, 21 and 29 of the Terrorism (Prevention & Prohibition) Act, 2022.
Nwajagu was arrested by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) over an alleged threat to invite members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to Lagos to secure the property of Igbo people in the state.
On Tuesday, the prosecution counsel announced his presence but there was no legal representation for the defendant.
When asked by the court about his counsel, the defendant said that he promised that a junior counsel would be in court to represent him.
Justice Yetunde Adesanya adjourned the case until Wednesday (July 5) for trial.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Tuesday dramatically terminated its own defence in Peter Obi’s petition against them, after calling one witness and tendering four documents.
INEC had through its counsel Abubakar Mahmoud SAN, suddenly announced the closure of its defense, calling one witness against the three registered with the Presidential Election Petition Court at the pre-hearing section.
In his evidence-in-chief, the witness, Dr Lawrence Bayode, admitted that INEC suffered glitches during the presidential election but maintained that the glitches did not in any way affect the conduct of the election, collation of results, and declaration of final results.
On the allegations of blurred result sheets on INEC’S portal, the Deputy Director of Information and Communication said that clear result sheets can still be obtained on request by those in need of them.
Sequel to INEC’s closing of its defence, Tinubu’s lead counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN, told the Court that his client is fully ready to kick-start his defence against Mr. Peter Obi and the Labour Party on July 5.
Olanipekun maintained that Tinubu is ready with his witnesses and documents to justify his victory in the presidential election. Meanwhile, further hearing in the petition has been shifted to July 5 by the Court.
The Abuja division of the Federal High Court has nullified the expulsion of Senator Chimaroke Nnamani from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
The court described the action of the party as null and void, adding that the party lacks the power to expel him over alleged anti-party activities.
Senator Nnamani was before Justice J.K. Omotosho challenging his expulsion from the party by the erstwhile National Chairman of the PDP Dr Iyorchia Ayu led National Working Committee (NWC).
In the judgment, the court held that the plaintiff was not given a fair hearing, besides the fact that only the National Executive Committee (NEC) and not the NWC have the power to discipline a member of the National Assembly.
Justice Omotosho held that the NWC cannot validly conduct a disciplinary hearing without according to the plaintiff’s fair hearing, adding that “the NWC cannot validly conduct a hearing and reaching a valid decision of suspending or expelling the plaintiff from membership of the PDP”.
However, the court noted that the NEC has the power after having given the plaintiff opportunity to be heard, insisting “The decision suspending the plaintiff is null and void. The decision expelling the plaintiff is nullified and set aside.”
Therefore, the court restrained PDP from acting upon the said invalid suspension and expulsion of the plaintiff.
The Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) on Monday admitted as an exhibit, the final report of the European Union Election Observer Mission, which faulted the conduct and outcome of the 2023 presidential election that produced President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and others as winners.
The report tendered by the former Vice President and Presidential candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar was admitted as an exhibit in spite of vehement objections by President Bola Tinubu, the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
In the report, the EU election observer mission claimed that the presidential election did not show credibility, fairness, and transparency in the ways and manners it was conducted by INEC.
The report tendered through INEC’s sole witness and Director of Information Technology (IT), Dr. Lawrence Bayode, said only 31 percent of the presidential election results were uploaded into INEC’s result viewing portal.
Before the admission of the report, Atiku, through his lead counsel, Chief Chris Uche SAN, had applied that cross-examination of the INEC’S witness must be kick-started by Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress APC in view of their common interests against Atiku’s petition.
The application was however bluntly opposed by Tinubu and APC through their lead counsel, Wole Olanipekun SAN, and Prince Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi SAN, respectfully.
However, the Justice Haruna Tsammani-led panel, admitted it as evidence.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) called one witness that testified in the petition filed by the candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, challenging the outcome of the 2023 presidential election.
At the resumed proceeding on Monday, INEC tendered four documentary exhibits in evidence, which include a letter dated July 6, 2022, which the Vice President, Kashim Shettima, wrote to notify it of his decision to withdraw as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, for the Borno Central Senatorial election.
Led in evidence by INEC’s lead counsel, Mr. Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, the witness, Mr. Lawrence Bayode, who is a Deputy Director of ICT at the Commission, tendered the letter and its accompanying certification, which was admitted in evidence and marked as Exhibits RA-1 and RA-2.
Under cross-examination by counsel to Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Chief Olanipekun, SAN, the witness, insisted that the presidential election held on February 25, was “free, fair, credible and conducted in substantial compliance with the Electoral Act.”
The witness also told counsel to APC, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, the witness said that the technical glitch that was experienced on Election Day did not affect the actual scores of all the presidential candidates, which he said remained intact.
He further told the court that the results of the presidential election were not electronically collated, saying it was done manually.
“INEC does not have an electronic collation system,” he insisted, adding that INEC had few days to the presidential poll, and announced that electronic transmission of results of the election would not be feasible.
However, while being cross-examined by counsel to the Petitioners, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, the witness, told the court that the European Union, EU, Observation Mission was accredited by INEC to monitor the 2023 general elections.
On if he was aware that the EU has released its final report on the election, the witness, said: “Yes I am aware, but I have not seen it.”
When he was shown a certified copy of the EU’s report and asked to read from a portion of it, the Respondents raised objections.
Though they opposed the admissibility of the report as part of the proof of evidence in the case, Justice Haruna Tsammani-led’s five-member panel of the court admitted it in evidence as Exhibit RA-6.
The witness, read a paragraph in the report where the EU stated that 2023 was not “a transparent and inclusive election” as promised by the INEC.
He also read a portion of the report that stated that “only 31% of results uploaded in I-REV was formally or mathematically correct.”
However, he maintained that technological innovations that INEC introduced into the electoral process were to guarantee transparency and integrity of the results.
Also, the lead counsel to Tinubu, informed the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, its readiness to open his defence to petitions seeking to nullify his client’s election, on Tuesday.
Tribunal admits EU final report, faulting Tinubu’s election.
The Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) Monday, admitted as exhibit, the final report of the European Union Election Observer Mission, which faulted the conduct and outcome of the 2023 presidential election that produced President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and others.
The report tendered by the former Vice President and Presidential candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 25 presidential election, Atiku Abubakar was admitted as exhibit in spite of vehement objections by President Bola Tinubu, All Progressive Congress (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
In the report, the EU election observer mission claimed that the presidential election did not show credibility, fairness, and transparency in the ways and manners it was conducted by INEC.
The report tendered through INEC’s sole witness and Director of Information Technology (IT), Dr. Lawrence Bayode said only 31 percent of the presidential election result was uploaded into INEC’s result viewing portal.
Before the admission of the report, Atiku through his lead counsel, Chief Chris Uche SAN had applied that cross-examination of the INEC’S witness must be kick-started by Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress APC in view of their common interests against Atiku’s petition.
The application was however bluntly opposed by Tinubu and APC through their lead counsel, Wole Olanipekun SAN, and Prince Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi SAN respectfully.
However, the Justice Haruna Tsammani-led panel admitted it as evidence.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday failed to present any of its three witnesses to open their defence against the Labour Party and its Presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi at the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPEC).
According to the pre-hearing report schedule, the electoral body was to open defence on the 3rd of July, after the Prosecutions closed their case.
Its lead counsel and former President of the Nigeria Bar Association NBA, Abubakar Balarabe Mahmood SAN, informed the Court of his plan to call three witnesses to counter the allegations of the Labour Party LP and its Presidential candidate, Peter Gregory Obi.
He however lamented that none of the witnesses was in court due to domestic reasons for him to open the defence.
The senior lawyer pleaded with the Court to bear with him and applied for an adjournment of his defence.
However, lead counsel to Peter Obi, Dr Livy Uzoukwu SAN, expressed shock and surprise by the conduct of the electoral body.
He told the court that the INEC lawyer ought to have taken him into confidence before the commencement of the proceedings.
However, Counsel to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN and Prince Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi SAN who represented the All Progressives Congress (APC) did not object to the request for adjournment of INEC’S plea for the case to be shifted.
Consequently, Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani adjourned the Court till Tuesday July 4.
Armed men early Sunday morning broke into a Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) parish in Ogun State, killing the pastor and kidnapping some worshipers.
Commander of the Ogun State So-Safe Corps, Soji Ganzallo, on Sunday morning, reported that the event happened at about 12 am on Sunday, July 2, at Abule-Ori in the state’s Obafemi Owode Local Government Area.
According to him, his officers have already freed seven churchgoers and killed one of the captors during a raid.
In a statement signed by the So-Safe Director of Information and Public Relations, Moruf Yusuf, Ganzallo “the special operation team of the Corps, Owode-Egba Zonal Command, under ACC Jimoh Rasaki Omoniyi, received a distress call that some of the members of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Desire of Nations Parish, under Ogun Province 22, Abule-Ori in Obafemi Owode Local Government Area were attacked during a vigil, while seven members of the church were kidnapped and the pastor killed.”
He stated that officers of the Corps were charged to go after the suspects to rescue the victims unhurt, stating that “the officers swung into action immediately.”
Ganzallo further disclosed that the efforts of the corps yielded a positive result as “the seven victims were rescued unhurt while one of the kidnappers was killed and many of the suspects sustained serious injury during a fire exchange.”
He also said that a manhunt had been started for the fugitive alleged kidnappers by the combined police and So-Safe Corps squad.
He observed that the deceased kidnapper’s body had been left at a neighboring mortuary.
When President Bola Tinubu was returned as President of Nigeria by INEC Chairman, Mahmoud Yakubu
The 2023 Presidential Elections may have come and gone, but the legal fireworks fanned by Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi continue to fiercely burn.
Suffice it to say that it has been a topsy-turvy three weeks at the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) as the aggrieved parties battled to drive home their case challenging the declaration of Ahmed Bola Tinubu as the winner of the said election.
On May 8th, the presidential election petition kicked off with five petitions from different political parties which were later consolidated.
In the buildup of the full-blown hearing of the petitions, there was mild drama as two aggrieved parties Action Alliance (AA) and the Action Peoples Party (APP) withdrew their petitions, during the pre-hearing sessions of the petitions.
However, Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Alliance Peoples Movement (APM) continued with the quest to upturn the outcome of the presidential election.
The petitioners were given three weeks to prove their case, after the pre-election reports were delivered on 23rd May 2023, as time allocated for hearing, calling of witnesses and cross-examinations were stated for easy conduct of proceedings.
On July 23rd, Mr Obi and LP closed their case after calling 13 witnesses as against the 50 witnesses registered in their pre-hearing schedule, amongst which they tendered documents, and the total number of registered voters and Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) collected in 32 states in the lead up to the presidential polls to aid their case.
All their witnesses who were party agents and INEC officials, submitted that accreditation of voters was seamless, but transmission of Presidential election results was difficult, adding that they were made to sign the forms EC8As under duress.
According to the witnesses, all the Labour Party agents totalled 133,000 as against the 176,974 polling units across the country, and they insisted that Peter Obi should be declared winner because he had the most results which were not uploaded as promised by INEC.
Peter Obi and the Labour Party also tendered a report through a subpoenaed witness, Claretta Ogar, who is a cloud engineer and architect and an employee of Amazon Web Services Incorporated, USA.
According to the Star witness, the Amazon Web server that provided cloud services for INEC’s digital backbone for the presidential election did not experience any glitch that could have affected the e-transmission of results on February 25, 2023.
The report specifically provides details on the health status of the Amazon Web server that provided cloud services for INEC’s digital backbone for the presidential election.
The document, totaling six copies were admitted by the court amid objections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Kashim Shettima and the All Progressive Congress (APC).
Peter Obi and Julius Abure during one of the Presidential Tribunal proceedings in Abuja
Also, two subpoenaed witnesses of the Labour Party and Peter Obi, contradicted each other on the powers and responsibilities of the National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, as related to the February 25, 2023 general elections.
Chebuike Ngwoke, a digital cyber-security expert, commissioned to do a cyber-security and risk analysis of the election by the Labour Party, told the court that the International System for Standardization, ISO Certification, is expected to be issued by the National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA and to the Independent National Electoral Commission in line with the 2007 Act that established it.
However, another subpoenaed witness of Obi, Emmanuel Edet, a legal officer from NITDA contradicted the position that there was no provision in the NITDA Act that gave the agency that role when he was crossed examined by Wole Olanipekun, SAN, Counsel to Tinubu.
On the part of Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), they had on the 21st of March filed their petitions challenging the emergence of President Bola Tinubu in the February 25 elections.
Closing their case on Friday 23rd June, called a total of 27 witnesses as against 100 submitted in the pre-hearing schedule to prove their case, amongst other documents tendered.
However, speaking to reporters, lead counsel to the Petitioners, Chief Chris Uche SAN, said that the documents tendered took the place of the remaining 73 witnesses.
Some of the notable witnesses called were three Presiding Officers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) who told the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) that the refusal of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) to transmit the presidential election results on Election Day frustrated their jobs.
The Officers, who were testifying on subpoena, admitted that the results of the Senate and the House of Representatives were transmitted unhindered and that the problems of technical glitches arose at the point of transmitting only the presidential poll results.
The three witnesses are Janet Nuhu Turaki, Christopher Bulus Ardo and Victoria Sani who served as INEC’S Presiding Officers at Yobe, Bauchi and Katsina States, respectfully.
Also among the testifiers was Hitler Uwala, who is a forensic Analyst and he tendered 7 volumes of reports based on the 110 BVAS machines inspected.
Under the evidence in chief, Uwala told the court that the results contained in the 110 BVAS machines he inspected were deleted.
Atiku Abubakar (middle) during his first appearance at the Presidential Tribunal in Abuja
However, while under cross-examination by the INEC counsel, he admitted that he was not in Abuja when the elections were conducted and that nothing was wrong with the BVAS machine when he inspected them.
He added that he didn’t interview any of the election presiding officers and does not know if anything was wrong with the BVAs machine on Election Day.
INEC further told the court that the 110 BVAS machines inspected in the Federal Capital Territory constitute only 3.5% out of the 3163 devices allocated to Abuja and less than 0.06% of the total number of BVAS deployed across Nigeria.
To verify the witness’ claims on deleting of results, INEC’s lawyer brought four BVAS devices for the witness to inspect but he refused saying it was professionally wrong to do that as the figures might have been tampered with.
Uwala added that he can’t identify the BVAs machine given to him as one of those he inspected.
Closing their case, the Prosecution witness 27, Mike Enahoro- Ebah who is a Private Legal Practitioner informed the Presidential Election Petitions Court about a USA judgement for criminal forfeiture of assets by President Bola Tinubu and the cover note authorizing it.
The witness also tendered academic records from Chicago University, a copy of the subpoena served on the Chicago University, the original academic records and degree certificate, an original admission letter, an original transcript from Southwest College to the school Tinubu attended, given to Chicago University with the gender referred to as Female and the extract of a Guinea passport and the certificate of compliance for Tinubu.
Counsel for the petitioner, Chris Uche, SAN, admitted certified copies of Academic and work records of President Bola Tinubu tendered by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
The documents include a BSc certificate from the Chicago State University, NYSC Discharge Certificate, and Mobil Nigeria Oil Plc certificate of service.
He noted that the documents were purportedly obtained by Tinubu but bore the name ‘Bola Adekunle Tinubu’.
The witness also tendered forms EC13 and EC9 nomination forms and the letters written to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as attachments.
Counsel to INEC, Abubakar Mahmoud, Tinubu, Emmanuel Ukala and the APC, Lateef Fagbemi, all objected to the admissibility of the documents.
Meanwhile, the Allied Peoples Movement, APM, which is seeking to nullify the election of President Bola Tinubu, closed its case after calling its sole witness.
The witness, Aisha Abubakar, who identified herself as the Assistant Welfare Director of the party, tendered seven batches of documentary evidence before the court to establish their case.
APC’s lead counsel, Lateef Fagbemi, tendered a copy of the Supreme Court judgement which the Respondents said had earlier settled the issue the APM raised in the petition.
The court admitted it as evidence despite Objections from the APM.
The court subsequently adjourned the matter till July 14 for all the parties to adopt their final briefs of argument and APM closed its case.
The Justice Haruna Tsammani-led five-man panel adjourned till Monday 3rd July for the INEC to open their defence. Expect more fireworks then!
The three suspects who killed a naval officer, Sub. Lt. Samuel Akingbohun in Idoani, Ose Local Government Area of Ondo State, have narrated how they carried out the crime.
The suspects, Ayomide Sambo, 20, Johnson Adeleke, 20, and Francis Shagari, 17, who were paraded at the police headquarters, Akure, the state capital, said they used an iron rod to hit the officer on his head and scrotum, during fisticuffs.
Speaking when being paraded by the police, Ayomide stated that the deceased naval officer had slapped and head-butted his friend, Johnson Adeleke, while trying to claim the right of way.
He recounted that he, alongside Johnson, as well as their third friend, Francis Shagari, became infuriated and decided to trail the naval officer to a junction in the community, where they attacked him with the iron rod.
The suspect added that after committing the crime, they tried to escape from the community before they were arrested.
“When we came across the naval officer, we were en route to get a power bank. He was coming from the opposite direction, and the area from where he was coming was not good. My companion shoved the officer while we were both trying to move on the good part of the road.
“The naval officer then head-butted him and slapped him out of annoyance. We started pleading with the naval officer. My friend claimed that the naval officer was a fake military guy after he had left.
“We then took a bike, followed him to the intersection, and confronted him. My friend and the naval officer got into an argument. I picked an iron rod during that time and started hitting him with it.”
The other suspect, Johnson Adeleke, who denied involvement in the beating and killing of the officer, said, “When I was on my way to remove my power bank, I mistakenly hit my elbow on the navy office. He slapped me and gave me a head-butt. At that moment, we didn’t know that he was a naval officer.
“I was already out of Idoani in a bid to escape when my mother’s elder brother called me to report to the station.”
Also, the third suspect, Shagari Francis, stated that “I didn’t hit the naval officer, I was just following them. I was arrested when my mother took me to the station to ask if I was part of them.”
