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Benue Guber: INEC, APC, Gov Alia, Deputy beg tribunal for more time to defend petition

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The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Governor Hyacinth Alia, his Deputy, Sam Odeh and their party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, have asked the Benue State Governorship election tribunal to give them more time to open their defence in the petition challenging the outcome of the March poll.

Newsmen reports that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its governorship candidate in the 2023 election, Titus Uba had dragged them to court over the controversy surrounding Alia’s Deputy, Odeh’s Form EC-9.

PDP and its candidate are alleging that Odeh obtained the form from INEC, allegedly filled, signed and submitted it to the electoral body, saying that the said INEC Form EC-9 was sworn to before an Abuja High Court.

Uba and PDP said they have via their counsel, Samuel Irabor written to the Chief Registrar, High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja seeking to verify the authenticity of the INEC Form EC-9.

According to them, in response to the said letter of 27th December 2022, the office of the Chief Registrar in a letter dated 9th January 2023 stated that “There is no Revenue Receipt Number on the said document, there is no Court Seal on the said document and the name of the Commissioner for Oath did not appear on the said document.

“Therefore, the affected document was never sworn to before the court.”

The Petitioners closed their case on July 5, and it was adjourned to Friday, (today), for the respondents to open their defence.

When the matter came up, counsel to INEC, Ishiaka Dikko, SAN, told the court that he was not yet prepared to open his defence.

The counsel apologized to the tribunal for not filing his scheduled list of witnesses and documents he seeks to tender, 24-hours to the date of hearing as required by law.

Counsel to Governor Alia, S.I Ameh, SAN, Counsel to Sam Odeh, Mamman Mike Osuman, SAN, and that of the APC, Mathew Burkaa, SAN, all aligned themselves with the application for an adjournment.

Dikko also told the court that he was served a certificate of compliance by the petitioners this morning and needs to look at it. He asked the court for an adjournment to tomorrow, Saturday, July 15th, 2023, and said he was ready to bear the consequences of the adjournment sought.

Despite objections by the PDP and Uba’s counsel, the Chairman of the panel led by Justice Ibrahim Mohammed who ruled on the application, granted the adjournment.

He adjourned the matter to Saturday for INEC, Alia, Odeh and APC to call their witnesses.

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Bribery allegations: Kano court fixes date for Ganduje’s arraignment

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Kano State High Court No. 7 has re-scheduled the arraignment of the National Chairman of All Progressives Congress, APC, Abdullahi Ganduje to June 5.

Ganduje is standing trial alongside his wife Hafsat Umar, his son, Abdullahi Umar and five others

The defendants in the case included Abubaka Bawuro, Jibrilla Muhammad, Lamash Properties Limited, Safari textile Ltd., and lasage General Enterprise Ltd

Kano State High Court No. 5 presided over by Justice Usman Na’abba had earlier scheduled May 16 for ruling on the request substituted service on the defendants.

This was before the State Chief Judge, Justice Dije Aboki reassigned the case to High Court No 7 presided by Justice Amina Adamu.

The new charge sheet sighted contained 11 count charges against the initial eight count charges against Ganduje and his co-defendants.

They include allegations bordering on criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust.

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Edo elections: INEC to commence distribution of 373,030 uncollected PVCs

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Over 373,030 uncollected Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) will be redistributed to the owners from May 27, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has revealed.

Speaking at a stakeholders’ meeting on the forthcoming Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise, the state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr Anugbum Onuoha stated that the PVC collection exercise would be done side-by-side with the CVR exercise, also scheduled for May 27.

Recall that the INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, had announced to begin the CVR exercise in Edo and Ondo ahead of the governorship elections in the two states.

Onuoha says while the statistics of registered voters in Edo is 2,501,081, collected PVC is 2,128,288 and uncollected PVCs stand at 373,030.

He said both the CVR and the PVC collection would be a 10-day exercise, starting from May 27 to June 5, from 9.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m. daily, including weekends.

The REC explained that the exercise would be conducted in the 192 wards and the state headquarters of INEC in Edo.

He also disclosed that each registration centre would be managed by two officials drawn from the commission and the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

“In addition to the registration of voters, the commission will also make available the uncollected PVCs for collection during CVR.

“Also note that no PVC will be collected by proxy. Registered voters should come in person to collect their cards.

“There will be no pre-registration option because of time constraints,” he said.

Onuoha, however, appealed for the support of the media, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), traditional rulers and religious leaders in encouraging voters to locate and pick up their PVCs.

According to him, the commission has published the final list of candidates for the Edo governorship election following the conclusion of primaries of the political parties.

The Deputy Director, Voter Registry, INEC Abuja, Mrs Doris Kande-Wyom, who took stakeholders through CVR processes, appealed to them to mobilise prospective registrants for the exercise.

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Gov. Namadi inspects road projects, insists on timely completion

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By Umar Akilu Majeri, Dutse

The Jigawa state governor Malam Umar Namadi  has inspected 26 ongoing road projects across the state and insisted for timely  completion of the work.for the benefit of the public.

The ongoing projects inspected by the governor were mostly rehabilitation and reconstruction of the  roads and bridges damaged by the flooding in the last two years.

Speaking to various contractors, Governor Namadi expressed satisfaction on the quality of the job at the site and urged a speed  work rate for a timely completion.

The Governor told the contractors that Jigawa state is ready to continue patronising any company that demonstrates seriousness and sincerity in handling its work.

“We will not joke about paying your money as soon as you complete the work, however, we will not tolerate or accept any breach of contractual agreement particularly on quality and timely completion in accordance with the specification.”

Governor Namadi assured the Jigawa state people that his government will ensure the completion of all the ongoing road projects, and award new ones to facilitate the movement of goods and services for social and economic development.

While shading more light, the State Commissioner for Works and Transport Engineer Gambo S Malam said, the ongoing road projects have a total distance of 360 kilometers, while in some roads the works included rebuilding the collapsed bridges and provisions of new ones .

He added that so many measures were taken in the reconstruction of the roads and bridges damaged by the flood to prevent such problem In case of any flood in the future..

On their side, the contractors handling various road projects across the 27 local government areas of the state, assured the state governor that they will deliver a quality job and in a good time.

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