INEC fails to open defence of Obi’s petition against Tinubu
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) failed to open its defence of the conduct of the February 25 2023 presidential election on Monday because of the absence of the witness it scheduled to call for the day.
INEC, is the first respondent in the petition filed by Peter Obi and the Labour Party (LP) against its declaration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the winner of the February, 25 presidential election.
However, INEC’s lawyer, Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN) told the ustice Haruna Tsammani led five-man panel of the Presidential Election Petition Court on Monday morning that the witness it scheduled to call to open was not available because of family issues.
INEC had indicated that it will call three witnesses to defend its conduct of the 2023 presidential election and declaration of Tinubu as winner.
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He then asked the court for an adjournment till Tuesday to enable the witness attend court.
Fire guts hotel in Onitsha
Fire has gutted Sopurum Hotel, located in the Nkwelle community, a commercial city of Onitsha, Anambra State, burning a substantial part of the structure.
The cause of the fire has yet to be ascertained, but it was gathered that the incident started at about 4:30 am on Monday.
As of the time of filing this report, men of the fire service from Delta and Anambra states were already on the ground battling with the situation.
The Anambra State Fire Chief, Martins Agbili, could not be immediately reached for reactions as calls and text messages to his telephone line were not responded to.
But the state police spokesman, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, confirmed the fire incident, saying that the situation is under control.
“The situation is under control. The fire started around 4:30 am on Monday and when we got the information, our men were quickly mobilised to the scene and they condoned off the area to avoid any case of vandalism.
“No loss of life and the men of the fire service are on the ground controlling the situation and managing the fire,” Ikenga added.
Dialogue with bandits a waste of time, says Shehu Sani
Former Kaduna Central Senator, Shehu Sani has explained why bandits terrorising in communities across the Northern part of the country cannot be persuaded to abandon their criminal ways through dialogue.
Sani, a former governorship aspirant said this in response to call by former Governor of Zamfara State Sani Yerima, that the federal government should initiate dialogue with the bandits to convince them to abandon their criminal ways.
But Sani said dialogue with the bandits will be a waste of time as has been shown by such efforts in the past.
Sani who stated this on his verified Twitter handle listed three key reasons why dialoguing with the bandits will be another waste of efforts on the part of government.
Sani said: “Dialogue with bandits will not work because of these three reasons; they are not an armed movement founded for the pursuit of any religious, ethnic or political causes, other than extortion by atrocious blackmail, abductions and cold blooded murder of innocent citizens.
“Two, they are not united under a single leadership but operates in clusters and criminal gangs;
“Three, their motivation is money. They kill and abduct for money.”
Presidential tribunal adjourns INEC’s defence to July 4
The Presidential Petition Election Court has adjourned to Tuesday, July 4, the hearing of the defence filed by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The court on June 23 fixed Monday, July 3 for respondents to open their case in defence of the petition filed by aggrieved parties challenging the outcome of the February 25 election wherein Bola Tinubu emerged as the president.
According to the schedule, the electoral commission was billed to advance their argument against the petition filed by the Labour Party and its presidential election, Peter Obi on Monday morning.
During Monday’s proceedings, counsel for INEC, A.B Mahmoud, SAN, informed the court that the commission had billed three witnesses to give their testimony in aid of their defence.
However, he said that the witness who was scheduled to testify was unavoidably absent from the court.
He thereafter sought that the matter be moved to the next day.
The PEPC headed by Justice Haruna Tsammani heeded the request following the agreement of other parties in the case.
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