There are other pending cases on him in the courts of which only one granted him bail. The current action of bringing out school children, beating and molesting them; burning down of Amaraku market is inhuman and it will have much effect on the children mentally.
A political activist, Ayomipe Jatto, has claimed the immediate past All Progressives Congress-led government of former President Muhammadu Buhari passed a baton of militia character to President Bola Tinubu after keeping the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in prison for years. The Activist tasked leaders of Igbo ethnic-nationality with togetherness in resolving the sit-at-home syndrome, which he described as a burning flame capable of hurting the region more.
Jatto insisted that the southeast region has turned into a war zone without any external aggressor but an enemy they created for themselves, now affecting other regions in the country because of a lack of unity. He also noted that the southeast is a region at war with itself where innocent primary school children are attacked and Igbo markets set ablaze by loyalists of Nnamdi Kanu. Jatto further warned that Kanu must not die in jail for seeking the independence of the Biafra Republic from Nigeria.
He said, “The release of Nnamdi Kanu was impossible despite the court order that allowed him go on bail, I urge President Bola Tinubu and the APC-led government to look into the issue. “There are other pending cases on him in the courts of which only one granted him bail.
“The current action of bringing out school children, beating and molesting them; burning down of Amaraku market is inhuman and it will have much effect on the children mentally. On the sit-at-home order often issued by the pro-Biafra group in the southeast, Mr Jatto opined: “A massive protest is better than sitting at home, the Easterners can’t sit-at-home for one million years in the guise that they want Nnamdi Kanu out of prison, to me it is self-deceit because it is like one punishing his own children backwards which will affect the businesses of poor Igbos.
The southwest political activist urged President Bola Tinubu to grant freedom to the pro-Biafra secessionist, who he described as a strong leader in the southeast region, so as to restore peace and stability in the country.
reports has it that the Electoral Act 2022 made it mandatory for candidates that were aggrieved by the outcome of the election, to within 21 days after the result was declared by INEC, file a petition before the court which shall deliver its judgement in writing within 180 days.
The Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, sitting in Abuja, is getting set to deliver its judgement on the three petitions that are seeking to nullify the election of President Bola Tinubu.
The court, in a notice it sent to the parties, invited them to adopt their written address with respect to the petition that was lodged against President Tinubu by a former Vice President and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as well as the one that was filed by candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Mr.
Peter Obi. It will be recalled that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had on March 1, announced that Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, won the presidential election that held on February 25, ahead of 17 other candidates that participated in the contest.
It declared that Tinubu scored a total of 8,794,726 votes to defeat the two major contenders, Alhaji Atiku of the PDP, who came second with a total of 6,984,520 votes, and Mr. Obi of the LP, who came third with a total of 6,101,533 votes. The duo, in their separate petitions, claimed that they won the presidential poll, even as they challenged Tinubu’s eligibility to contest the election.
The petitioners, aside from praying the court to declare that President Tinubu did not secure the majority of lawful votes that were cast at the election, are equally seeking the withdraw of the Certificate of Return that was issued to him by INEC. Alternatively, they are praying the court to order a fresh presidential election, with the exclusion of President Tinubu whom they argued was ab-initio, not qualified to participate in the Poll. Vanguard had reported that the Electoral Act 2022 made it mandatory for candidates that were aggrieved by the outcome of the election, to within 21 days after the result was declared by INEC, file a petition before the court which shall deliver its judgement in writing within 180 days.
Driver hospitalised after car plunges into Lagos canal Woman, 31, murdered in Lagos apartment On their part, both INEC and President Tinubu wrapped up their defence in both cases with one witness each, while the APC failed to produce any witness before the court.
President Tinubu urged the court to hold that he was validly returned as winner of the election, by the INEC. Specifically, Atiku, in the joint petition he filed with his party, marked: CA/PEPC/05/2023, maintained that the declaration of Tinubu as winner of the presidential election was “invalid by reason of non- compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022”, insisting that he “was not duly elected by majority of lawful votes cast at the election”.
He told the court that Tinubu, who was cited as the 2nd Respondent, “was at the time of the election not qualified to contest.” In a further process he filed through his team of lawyers led by Chief Chris Uche, SAN, Atiku told the court that the President-elect had “demonstrated inconsistency as to his actual date of birth, secondary schools he attended (Government College Ibadan); his State of origin, gender, actual name; certificates evidencing Universities attended (Chicago State University).” Likewise, Obi and LP, in their own petition marked: CA/PEPC/03/2023, argued that as at the time Tinubu’s running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima, became the Vice Presidential candidate, he was still the nominated candidate of the APC for the Borno Central Senatorial election.
They equally challenged Tinubu’s eligibility to contest the presidential election, alleging that he was previously indicted and fined the sum of $460,000.00 by the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, in Case No: 93C 4483, for an offence involving dishonesty and drug trafficking. On the ground that the election was invalid by reason of corrupt practices and non- compliance with the provision of Electoral Act, 2022, the petitioners argued that INEC acted in breach of its own Regulations and Guidelines. Consequently, they prayed the court to not only hold that Tinubu was not qualified to contest the election, but to also declare that all the votes recorded for him were wasted votes owing to his non-qualification/disqualification.
“That it be determined that on the basis of the remaining votes (after discountenancing the votes credited to the 2nd Respondent) the 1st Petitioner (Obi) scored a majority of the lawful votes cast at the election and had not less than 25% of the votes cast in at least 2/3 of the States of the Federation, and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, and satisfied the constitutional requirements to be declared the winner of the 25th February 2023 presidential election. “That it be determined that the 2nd Respondent having failed to score one-quater of the votes cast at the presidential election in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, was not entitled to be declared and returned as the winner of the presidential election held on 25th February, 2023.
In the alternative, the petitioners want an order cancelling the election and compelling INEC to conduct a fresh election at which Tinubu, Shettima and the APC, listed as 2nd, 3rd and 4th Respondents, respectively, shall not participate. They urged the court to declare that since Tinubu was not duly elected by a majority of the lawful votes cast in the election, therefore, his return as the winner of the presidential election, was unlawful, unconstitutional and of no effect whatsoever.
In a further alternative prayer in the petition dated March 20, which Obi filed through a team of lawyers led by Dr. Livy Uzoukwu, SAN, and Awa Kalu, SAN, he wants the tribunal to hold that the presidential election was void on the ground that it was not conducted substantially in accordance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022, and the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
The party argued that there was a gap of about three weeks between the period that Masari, who was listed as the 5th Respondent in the petition, expressed intention to withdraw, the actual withdrawal of his purported nomination, and the time Tinubu purportedly replaced him with Senator Kashim Shettima.
A yet-to-be-identified middle-aged man has murdered a young lecturer working with the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State.
The incident happened on Friday, at Ifite village in Awka, the State capital.
This reporter, Izunna Okafor, gathered that the lecturer who belonged to the Psychology Department, simply identified as Chima, was murdered shortly after a brief argument with his houseboy, which led to a fight between the two.
This was corroborated by videos currently trending on the social media, which show the suspect as he confessed to have truly killed the lecturer with a pestle.
He said, “When he came back, he told me to cook rice. And as I was cooking the rice, he asked me why I did not wash plates. I did not reply him anything. And then, he further asked why I wasn’t responding to his question.
“In the process, he slapped me. But I told him I usually have ears problem, and that people don’t slap me. As I was saying that, he angrily asked if I was still talking while he was talking. And therefore, he slapped me again, and brought out cain and start flogging me all over.
“Then in the process, I got angry, and we started fighting. It was also in the process of that fight that I picked up the pestle in the kitchen and hit him on the head.”
The suspect also confessed to have hit Chima with the pestle up to three times before he stopped, after he had fallen on the ground, in the pool of blood.
The video also shows the deceased lying lifeless in the hospital bed, while his bereaved relatives gathered to behold and mourn him, alongside his friends and some hospital officials who we are also interrogating the suspect.
It was also gathered that while Chima’s friends and the suspect were rushing him to the hospital that night for medical attention after the encounter, he (the suspect), was attempting to choke to death right inside the vehicle where he was sitting close to him.
“It was in the process that we discovered what was going on and therefore hit of his hand and started suspecting him. As that was going on also, the victim who was still alive then, used his last strength to cough out the suspect’s name, before he finally gave up the ghost,” said one of the eyewitnesses.
Meanwhile, the suspect was said to have denied knowing anything about Chima’s death, but eventually confessed to the crime after he was tortured by the doctor on duty at the hospital that night.
“In his confessions, he first said that it was the girlfriend of the deceased who visited him that night that attacked him. However after some more tortures, he eventually confessed that he was the person who killed Chima with pestle,” the source said.
A source close to the scene of the incident also alleged that the Abakaliki-born suspect bruised the deceased’s body with knife after hitting him to unconsciousness, so as to make it appear as if he was attacked by a third party. Though the suspect denied the allegation.
All the efforts made to get the reactions of the Spokesperson of the Anambra State Police Command, DSP Ikenga Tochukwu, on the matter, proved abortive, as as he was yet to respond to messages sent to him, as at the time of this publication.
True voice 