News
Court Strikes Out APM’s Suit Against Shettima, Tinubu
The Presidential Election Petition Court has dismissed the suit of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) seeking to nullify President Bola Tinubu’s election.
The court, in its ruling delivered in Abuja on Wednesday, dismissed the petition for lacking in merit and being incompetent.
The Chairman of the panel, Justice Haruna Tsammani, who read the judgement, held that issues the APM raised in its petition contained pre-election matters that could only be determined by the Federal High Court.
The court further upheld the preliminary objections of the respondents who challenged the competence of the suit.
Justice Tsammani noted that since the petition centred on the qualification of President Tinubu to contest the presidential election, the APM ought to have gone to court within 14 days after Tinubu was nominated by the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He held that since the cause of action bordered on a pre-election matter, the APM lacked the locus standi to challenge Tinubu’s nomination.
Furthermore, the court held that the Supreme Court had earlier decided that a political party does not have the right to challenge a nomination that was made by another political party.
He held that sections 131 and 237 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, made provisions for the qualification or disqualification of candidates in an election.
The court noted that the main grouse of the APM was on the alleged invalid nomination of Tinubu’s running mate, Vice-President Kashim Shettima.
He further held that Section 84(3) of the Electoral Act, 2022, stipulates that political parties should not impose qualification criteria on a candidate, except as provided for in the constitution.
It held that where an election has already been conducted and the result declared, the qualification of a candidate could no longer be challenged on the basis of sections 131 and 137 of the Constitution.
The court held that since the APM failed to challenge President Tinubu’s nomination within the constitutionally allowed period, its case, therefore, had become statute-barred.
It held that where the constitution has qualified a candidate for an election, no other law can disqualify such candidate except the constitution itself.
The court held that the issue of double nomination as alleged by the APM, was not a legal ground for disqualification.
The court held that it found no reason why Ibrahim Masari was cited as the 5th Respondent in the petition since he would not in any way be affected by the outcome of the case.
News
Akran of Badagry is dead, aged 89
The demise of the monarch marks the end of his 48-year reign on the throne, making him one of the longest-serving traditional rulers in Lagos State.
Photo: Akran of Badagry, De Wheno Aholu Menu-Toyi
The traditional ruler of the Badagry local government area in Lagos State, the Akran of Badagry, De Wheno Aholu Menu-Toyi, is dead, aged 89.
The demise of the monarch marks the end of his 48-year reign on the throne, making him one of the longest-serving traditional rulers in Lagos State.
According to the palace, the Akran was pronounced dead by medical experts, after a brief illness, and the traditional rites for his burial have gradually commenced.
Residents of Badagry, who are currently mourning the loss of their revered monarch, described his death as a heavy blow, noting that the town has lost not just a king but a father figure whose wisdom, counsel and presence brought reassurance in moments of uncertainty.
News
Osun sues UBA, officials to court over illegal LG accounts
They were specifically accused of allowing the opening, operation and maintenance of accounts for each of the local government councils “by unknown private individuals as signatories…
• Map of Osun State
The Osun State Government has instituted a criminal case against United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) and four of its top officials over alleged illegal opening of local government accounts.
Tribune newspaper reported that the Chief Magistrate Court, sitting in Osogbo, Osun State, has fixed January 30 for the hearing of the case, marked Charge No: MOS/601c/2025.
The defendants in the suit are: the UBA Plc, its Group Managing Director, Mr Oliver Alawuba, the Company Secretary and Group Legal Adviser, Mr Billy Odum and the Deputy Managing Director, Mr Chukwuma Nweke.
In the charge sheet, the government filed the 31-count charge against the bank and its officials, with each count relating to alleged infractions involving opening of bank accounts for the state’s 30 local government councils.
In count one, the prosecution alleged that the defendants, on or about December 9, 2025, and on subsequent days, at UBA’S Osun State branch office located in the Olonkoro area of Osogbo, conspired to commit a felony by opening, operating and maintaining what it described as illegal Osun State Local Government Council accounts.
The alleged offence, the charge stated, occurred within the Osogbo Magisterial District and is said to be contrary to and punishable under Section 516 of the Criminal Code, Cap 34, Volume 2, Laws of Osun State of Nigeria, 2002.
They were specifically accused of allowing the opening, operation and maintenance of accounts for each of the local government councils “by unknown private individuals as signatories” after the Local Government Service Commission had introduced to the defendants, Directors of Administration and General Services and Directors of Finance of all the local governments as signatories to the councils’ statutory accounts “and thereby committed an offence contrary to Sections 2 and 3 (1) and (2), and punishable under Section 5(1) and (2) of Osun State Local Government Accounts Administration Law, 2025.”
News
Umahi: We’re not tolling Third Mainland Bridge
Umahi affirmed this during inauguration of the N40 billion Closed Circuit Television Camera Centre on the Third Mainland Bridge, the previous day.
• Third Mainland Bridge
The Minister of Works Senator Dave Umahi has confirmed that the Federal Government has no plan to toll the rehabilitated Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos.
Umahi affirmed this during inauguration of the N40 billion Closed Circuit Television Camera Centre on the Third Mainland Bridge, the previous day.
He said : “We will not engage construction on this bridge because it will entail static load on the bridge.
“It is also within the town, so it will introduce many bottlenecks; that is why we are not tolling this bridge,” he said.
Umahi said that security would be handled by the police, noting that the 11-kilometre bridge would have a five-minute response time.
Akran of Badagry is dead, aged 89
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