The Lumine News

Tag: #PDP

  • Appeal Court Sacks Plateau Governor Caleb Mutfwang, Declares APC Candidate Winner

    A three-member panel, of the Court of Appeal in a unanimous decision on Sunday, held that Muftwang was not validly sponsored by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as provided by Section 285(2) of the Nigerian Constitution.

    The court declared Nentanwe Yilwatda Goshwe of the APC as duly elected governor of Plateau State.

    A three-member panel, in a unanimous decision on Sunday, held that Muftwang was not validly sponsored by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as provided by Section 285(2) of the Nigerian Constitution.

     

  • Court Of Appeal Sacks Zamfara Governor, Orders Rerun

     

    The Court of Appeal in Abuja has voided the election of Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Lawal the March 18 governorship election winner.

    However, the All Progressives Congress (APC) challenged the victory of Lawal, who ran under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    The tribunal had upheld Lawal’s election, but the APC proceeded to the Appeal Court.

    On Thursday, a three-member panel of justices annulled Lawal’s victory and ordered a rerun of the election in three local government areas.

    The affected LGAs are Maradun, Birnin Magaji and Bukuyun.

  • Tribunal: Why C’River PDP, Onor Are Positive As Judgement Day Draws Closer

     

    As judgement day inches closer in the election petition case filed by the Cross River State PDP gubernatorial candidate, Prof Sandy Onor, tension has continued to rise in the state. This is coming even as Onor and the PDP have remained positive that the tribunal will annul the election.

    Onor believes that he and his party presented a valid case before the tribunal and is upbeat, that since the APC candidate and current governor of the state, Senator Bassey Otu and his deputy, Peter Odey were not qualified abi initio to contest the election, the tribunal will soon end their reign in the Government House.

    Penultimate week, all the parties adopted their written addresses to signal the end of the tribunal hearing, while the tribunal also reserved judgement.

    Dr J.Y. Musa, SAN, lead counsel to the PDP candidate said having led evidence to show that both Otu and Odey were not qualified, the votes awarded them by INEC were wasted. Through his counsel, Onor asked the tribunal to declare him winner of the election.

    In the written address, Onor dissected the brought to the fore, the lies told on oath by Odey concerning his dual citizenship as well as the issue of his membership of the PDP. He said as at the time of the election, the deputy governor was still a member of the PDP and could not have run the election under the APC.

    He also disclosed that Otu did not possess, neither did he present before INEC, the required minimum educational qualification to become governor. This is what he told the tribunal: “The 2nd Respondent(Otu) was nominated by the 4th Respondent(APC) as its Governorship candidate and the 2nd Respondent in turn nominated the 3rd Respondent(Odey) as his running mate and both contested in the Cross River State Governorship Election of 18th March, 2023 and were purportedly declared and returned by the 1st Respondent as winners of the election.

     

    “All the candidates for the election and their running mates, including the 2nd and 3rd Respondents filled form EC9/affidavit of personal particulars under oath as a mandatory requirement of the law. The 3rd Respondent by the information in his Form EC9 (Exhibit D54B), affidavit of personal particulars, acquired the citizenship of the United Kingdom but declared in the said form that he did not swear to an oath of allegiance to the United Kingdom.

     

    “Another issue of disqualification is the fact that the 3rd Respondent at all material time remains a member of the 2nd Petitioner(PDP) up till date as evident in Exhibit D55B which is the certified true copy of the 2nd Petitioner’s membership register of Mbube West Ward 1, Ogoja Local Government Area of Cross River State.

     

    “The 3rd Respondent did not resign his membership of the 2nd Petitioner before contesting election under the platform of the 4th Respondent(APC) The 3rd Respondent as a member of the 2nd Petitioner was elected to represent the Ogoja State Constituency in the Cross River State House of Assembly in 2015 and 2019 under the platform of the 2nd Petitioner.

     

    “He continued to perform his parliamentary duties and collected salaries on the ticket of the 2nd Petitioner up till when he was sworn in as the Deputy Governor of Cross River State.”

     

    Onor also stated in his written address that Otu did not show the tribunal that he possessed the educational qualification as he did not provide any information to that effect in his INEC form. “By his own deposition on oath in Form EC9 (Exhibit D52B) the 2nd Respondent failed to show that he has been educated to at least School Certificate Level and therefore not qualified to contest for the Office of the Governor of Cross River State at the time of the Governorship Election of Cross River State, held on the 18th of March,
    March, 2023.

     

    “Even in Exhibit D53B, the final list of candidates, the 2nd Respondent had no qualification shown against his name. It is not correct as submitted by the 2nd and 3rd respondents’ counsel in paragraphs 7.05 and 7.06 that the issue of the 2nd Respondent’s non qualification up to secondary school certificate level was abandoned as there was sufficient evidence in proof thereof was led and elicited by way of cross examination in support of the petitioner’s pleadings.

    “Under oath, in Exhibit D52B, Part C thereof titled “Schools Attended/Educational Qualifications with Dates”, the 2nd Respondent did not state his qualifications because there was none to state. The 2nd Respondent’s Form EC9 (Exhibit D52B) obtained from the 1st Respondent has some purported certificates of the 2nd Respondent attached.

     

    “Whereas by the 2nd Respondent’s own deposition in his form EC9 (Exhibit D52B), he did not state that he has any certificates; and by the 1st Respondent’s(INEC) own publication of the Final List of Candidates (Exhibit D53B) it is not also stated that the 2nd Respondent has any certificate(s).”

     

    Onor insisted that having sworn on oath in his INEC form, that he had no educational qualification, he could not turn back to show WAEC certificates. Even at that, Onor said the WAEC certificates presented by Otu were forged.

    “We therefore urge this Honourable Tribunal to find and hold that the purported certificates later provided by the 1st Respondent when the Petitioners applied for the Form EC9 (Exhibit D52B) of the 2nd Respondent is nothing but documentary afterthought and an exhibition of 1 st Respondent’s glaring partisanship in this matter.

     

    “Curiously, the WAEC Certificate attached to the Form EC9 (Exhibit D52B) of the 2nd Respondent bears the name of a school different from the secondary school the 2nd Respondent stated in the said Form EC9 (Exhibit D52B) that he attended. The name of the school in the 2nd Respondent’s form EC9 is Salvation Army Secondary School and the name on the 2nd Respondent’s purported WAEC Certificate of June 1977 is Secondary School Akai-Ubium.

     

    “What is apparent here is that the certificate attached to the 2nd Respondent’s Form EC9 (Exhibit D52B) is in conflict with the contents or information supplied in the Form EC9 (Exhibit D52B) and cannot be regarded as evidence of the 2nd Respondent’s education to School Certificate Level, thereby making both documents unworthy of belief, not being credible evidence.”

     

    He added: “In a frantic bid to cure the conflict in the said certificate and the Form EC9 (Exhibit D52B), the senior counsel to the 2nd and 3rd Respondents tendered another certificate from the Bar which is Exhibit 2 & 3 R4 which the Learned Senior Counsel stated that is the original certificate in his cross examination of RW1, Agwu Kenneth.

    “Clearly, there are material contradictions in the certificate attached to the 2nd Respondent’s Form EC9 (Exhibit D52B) and the certificate tendered as Exhibit 2 & 3 R4, all dated June 1977. Exhibit 2 & 3 R4 is said to be an attestation of the certificate attached to Form EC9 (Exhibit D52B).

    “May we use this opportunity to itemize the differences in the two (2) certificates. (i) The secondary school certificate attached to Form EC9 (Exhibit D52B) is: (i)General Certificate of Education (GCE) while Exhibit 2 and 3 R4 is West African Senior School Certificate (WASSC); (ii) The certificate attached to form EC9 certifies that Otu Bassey Edet, the 2nd Respondent, attended Secondary School Akai-Ubium, while Exhibit 2 and 3 R4 certifies that same Otu Bassey Edet attended Salvation Army Secondary School, Akai-Ubium; (iii) The certificate attached to Form EC9 has no photograph of Otu Bassey Edet while Exhibit
    2 and 3 R4 has the current photograph of Otu Bassey Edet embossed thereon, even though it purports to be a June 1977 certificate.

     

    “It is very instructive to point out that embossment of WAEC certificates started in 2002, while the purported certificate of the 2nd Respondent was purportedly gotten in 1977. RW1 testified to this during cross examination.

     

    “We submit that with these material contradictions none of the certificates can be relied on as evidence of the 2nd Respondent’s education to school certificate level. In furtherance of this falsity, the 2nd and 3rd Respondents in their reply to the petition stated at paragraph 15 thereof that the 2nd Respondent attended Secondary School Akai-Ubium and graduated in 1977 and was issued with a testimonial (Exhibit 2 & 3 R16) upon his graduation but this Testimonial is dated 24th of May, 2022 from Salvation Army Secondary School and stating that Bassey Edet Otu participated in senior Secondary School Certificate/Junior Secondary School Certificate Examination in May/June, 1977, whereas the 6-3-3-4 system of education which introduced Junior and Senior secondary schools in Nigeria began in 1983. This is a fact of common knowledge in Nigeria which does not require proof. (See Section 124 of the Evidence Act, 2011).”

     

     

    In defending his case against the deputy governor over his qualification to contest the election, Onor said “it is our respectful submission that from the content of Exhibit D54B (Form EC9 of the 3rd Respondent), the relevant foreign laws tendered and marked as Exhibits D63A, D63A1, D63A2, D63A3, D63A4, D63A5, D63A6 and D63B, Section 182(1)(a) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), the 3rd Respondent is not eligible or is disqualified from contesting as the Deputy Governor of Cross River State.

     

    “By the provisions of section 29(2) of the Electoral Act, 2022 the information submitted by each candidate to 1st Respondent shall be accompanied by an affidavit sworn to by the candidate which is Form EC9 and by section 29(4) of the Electoral Act, 2022 INEC is mandated to issue a CTC of the affidavit (Form EC9) to any person who applies to it on payment of the prescribed fee. Pursuant to the provisions of this section the petitioners applied to INEC for the 3rd Respondent’s Form EC9 for the 2023 elections.

     

    “It is from this Form EC9 admitted as Exhibit D54B that the petitioners got the information that the 3rd Respondent lied under oath that he did not swear to the oath of allegiance to the United Kingdom. It is further submitted that the argument of the 2 nd and 3rd Respondents in paragraph 7.55 of their final written address is suspicious as it is unreasonable to state that the 3rd Respondent did not submit Form EC9 to the 1st Respondent. In any case, the 3rd Respondent never produced any other Form EC9 of his before the honourable Tribunal other than Exhibit D54B.

     

    He took time to adumbrate on the alleged forged information concerning the deputy governor’s dual citizenship. He said “it is submitted that the courts have taken the position that submitting false information in Form EC9 which is the Affidavit in Support of Personal Particulars to INEC amounts to presenting forged or false certificate which is a disqualifying factor.

    “The British Nationality Act, 1981 and the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act, 2002, are foreign laws which regulate the acquisition of citizenship in the United Kingdom and the administration of the oath of allegiance and we have invited this Honourable Tribunal to interpret these laws The point must be made that personal documents of both the 2nd and 3rd Respondents were either tendered from the Bar or through persons other than the 2nd and 3rd Respondents themselves. Personal allegations were made against the 2nd and 3rd Respondents but they failed to turn up to testify in their defence. 6.1.16Even the 3rd Respondent who filed a statement on oath, did not turn up to testify; he chose to send his personal documents through proxies. We understand that they have been sworn in as Governor and Deputy Governor, respectively, and might consider themselves now too big to come to this Honourable Tribunal to testify, but the law remains the law; personal documents cannot be tendered from the Bar or through third party proxies who have no connection to the said documents.

     

    “With these conditions met, this Tribunal will find that there is a conclusive presumption of law that the 3rd Respondent swore to the oath of allegiance to the United Kingdom and the British Monarch. This is direct evidence against the 3rd Respondent and affecting him which he ought to have challenged by evidence coming directly from him, but the 3rd Respondent abandoned his witness statement on oath and chose not to rebut the evidence against him, thereby surrendering to the weighty evidence of the Petitioners and the presumption of law that he took the oath of allegiance.”

     

    He cited various legal authorities to back his position, including the assumption that having not been present at the tribunal to personally defend his case, he did not rebut the allegations against him.

    Onor argued that the deputy governor was not truthful when he said on oath, that he did not subscribe to the citizenship of the UK on oath. He told the tribunal that Odey did not show proof in this direction.

     

    According to him, the “3rd Respondent has also tacitly asserted in his Form EC9 (Exhibit D54B) that he did not subscribe to the oath of allegiance and going by the cross examination questions posed by all the Respondents’ lawyers including his lawyer to PW3, tending to show that he was granted some sort of waiver or his own case comes under an exception under the same law, the 3rd Respondent then has a bounden duty to prove that he was granted a waiver of any sort or that the Secretary of State disapplied or modified the effect of the law in his favor to enjoy any exemption from the compulsory oath.

     

    “ It is submitted that by the provisions of Section 140 of the Evidence Act, 2011 ‘When any fact is especially within the knowledge of any person, the burden of proving that fact is upon him.’ We submit that the 3rd Respondent has submitted false information to INEC that he did not subscribe to the oath of allegiance to the United Kingdom and the 3rd Respondent who has the burden of proving that contrary to the evidence led by the Petitioners, he has reasons or justification for claiming that he did not subscribe to the oath of allegiance woefully failed to discharge that burden.”

    On the issue of Odey’s membership of the PDP as at the time of the election, Onor said he had “established in evidence that at the time of the nomination, sponsorship and election of the 3rd Respondent by the 4th Respondent, he remained a member of the 2nd Petitioner.

    “To buttress this, the Petitioners tendered a certified true copy of the Membership Register of Mbube West Ward 1 of Ogoja Local Government Area of Cross River State admitted and marked as Exhibit D55B.

    “The said membership register was duly certified by INEC and produced from proper custody. By virtue of Section 77(2) and (3) of the Electoral Act 2022, INEC as the 1st Respondent is the custodian of the Register of Members of all the political parties in Nigeria, including the 4th Respondent. By the same provision, all political parties must maintain their register of members with the 1st Respondent.

    “To establish whether a person is a member of a political party, it must be shown that his name is on the register of members with INEC. In trying to disprove the Petitioners’ assertion that the 3rd Respondent is a member of the 2nd Petitioner, the 3rd espondent tendered Exhibit 2&3R17 (a purported Membership Register of the 4th Respondent). This exhibit lacks probative value and proves nothing, for the following reasons: (a) It was not produced from proper custody as provided for in Section 77(2) and (3) of the Electoral Act, 2022 (b). It did not show the date and time the 3rd Respondent became a registered member of the 4th Respondent.

     

    “We submit that what is in issue is not merely a question of membership of a political party but a question of the constitutionality or the legality of a member of the 2nd Petitioner being presented by the 4th Respondent as a candidate at the election. 6.2.4 My Lords, there are two fundamental issues touching the membership of the 3rd Respondent. One, our submission is that the 3rd Respondent is not even a member of the 4th Respondent by the 4th Respondent’s own admission in Exhibit D56B, the Counter Affidavit in Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/976/2021; the second point is that the 3rd Respondent did not resign from the 2nd Petitioner before or after decamping from the 2nd Petitioner.

    “We reiterate that the 3rd Respondent has been a member of the 2nd Petitioner and was elected on the platform of the 2nd Petitioner in 2015 and 2019 to represent the Ogoja State Constituency in the Cross River State House of Assembly. At the time of filing this Petition, the 3rd Respondent was still in the Cross River State House of the Assembly on the mandate given to him by the electorates on the platform of the 2nd Petitioner.

    “The 1st Respondent only lamely argued in Paragraph 4.27 of its Written Address that the 3rd Respondent resigned, decamped, defected from the 2nd Petitioner; no evidence whatsoever was adduced as required by law to show that the 3rd Respondent resigned. The 1st Respondent’s Counsel during cross examination only led the 4th Respondent’s witness, RW3, to state that he believed that resignation and decamping mean the same thing. Unfortunately, the effect of resignation and/or decamping is not a matter of fact but an issue of law. 6.2.7 The 1st Respondent’s counsel objected to the admissibility of Exhibit D55B which is the Certified True Copy of the PDP Register of members for Mbube West Ward 1 which was certified by the 1st Respondent on 27th April, 2023. Surprisingly, when RW1 (INEC witness) testified, none of the Respondents asked questions on the said register of members.

     

    “The Respondents did not just fail in exhibiting a letter of resignation as required by law, the 3rd Respondent did not resign from the 2nd Petitioner before or after decamping to the 4th Respondent because he wanted to be seen on the floor of the house that he has left the 2nd Petitioner while he refused to resign so as to hold on to the ticket of the 2nd Petitioner to derive benefit thereof. But this is not the law. In law, resignation from a political party and decamping from a political party are two different things with different legal implications.

    “It is not legislative coincidence that there is section 77 of the Electoral Act 2022 which requires every political party to maintain a register of its members with the Commission; it is for a time like this, a time when who is truly a member of a political party depends on the authenticity of the register and its custodian. By Exhibit D55B, the 2nd Petitioner’s Membership Register for Mbube West Ward 1, the name of the 3rd Respondent appears clearly as No 36; therefore, proving beyond every scintilla of doubt that the 3rd Respondent is a member of the 2nd Petitioner.

     

    “We further submit with emphasis that is the current membership register of the 2nd Petitioner for Mbube West Ward 1 and that is evident from the date of certification on the 27th day of April, 2023 which was after the election contrary to the submission of the 2nd and 3rd respondents which is in paragraghs 7.47 and 7.48 of their final written address.

    “ To prove the assertion by the 3rd Respondent that he is a member of the 4th Respondent, Exhibit 2 & 3 R17 was tendered through RW2. The said Exhibit is purported to be a membership register of Mbube West One Ward of Ogoja Local Government Area in Cross River State. The document has no date on it and no date of registration of any member written against his or her name and some of the persons written on the register did not sign against their names, including the 3rd Respondent who appears as number 001 without a date of registration against his name.

     

    “ In Exhibit 2 & 3 R17, the 3rd Respondent who said he decamped from the 2nd Petitioner to the 4th Respondent appears as No 001 indicating that he was the first to register in the Ward; for a party that has been existing in the Ward before the 3rd Respondent’s defection. This document clearly lacks credibility and cannot be relied upon in the face of the superiority of Exhibit D56B, the PDP Membership Register of Mbube West Ward 1.

    “This document was obviously made after the election of 18th of March, 2023 but in a futile bid to cloth it with credibility it was needlessly certified by a body not legally required to do so, and the purported certification backdated to 15th September. It is submitted that it is not the register of members and membership slip or card alone that proves that a person has left one political party and joined another political party.

     

    “A similar situation arose in the case of Rt Hon Prince Terhemen Tarzoor vs Ortom Samuel Ioraer & 2 Ors (2016) 3 NWLR (Pt. 1500) pg. 463 @ 423 para B – D, the apex court, per Okoro, JSC, held inter alia as follows “Evidence on record shows that by Exhibit R3, the 1st Respondent resigns his membership from the Peoples Democratic Party. He subsequently joined the All Progressives Congress.

    “This is confirmed by Exhibit R1: his membership card of APC, Exhibit R4 which is APC Membership of the ward where he registered.” We further submit that resignation from the 2nd Petitioner is a sine qua non to the validity of the 3rd Respondent’s purported membership of the 4th Respondent.

    The evidence of such resignation is lacking in the defence of the Respondents. We urge the Tribunal to hold that the 2nd Petitioner has proven that the 3rd Respondent is its member.”

  • Cross River: Ayade, Onor, Others Files 13 Petitions At The Election Tribunal

     

    In Cross River State, the Secretary of the three-man Election Petition Tribunal sitting over the February 25 National Assembly elections in the state, A.D Bambur, acknowledged that they had received 13 petitions from the different political parties.

    Of the 13 petitions, three candidates challenged those INEC declared as winners in the three senatorial districts of the state, just as 10 others queried the conduct of the House of Representatives poll.

    Bambur said the tribunal had commenced sitting, and already granted leave to parties to inspect materials used for the elections, following their respective applications. He added that the parties were currently serving summons and petitions to each other.

    A passing look at the cases shows that Governor Ben Ayade, who lost his bid to return to the Senate to the incumbent senator, Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, filed petition number EPT/CRS/Sen/2/2023 against Jarigbe.

    Ayade vied for the Cross River Northern Senatorial District seat on the platform of APC.

    The PDP candidate in Cross River Central, Hon Bassey Eko Ewa, filed a petition listed as EPT/CRS/SEN/1/2023 against Rt. Hon Eteng Williams of the APC, who is the Speaker of the Cross River State House of Assembly.

    Cross River Southern Senatorial District petition is from Rt. Hon. Daniel Asuquo of the Labour Party, and others versus Mr. Asuquo Ekpenyong Jnr of the APC in suit number EPT/CRS/SEN/03/2023.

    Former House of Representatives member, Hon. Atta Ochinke, also filed a petition against APC’s Hon Victor Abang in Ikom/Boki Federal Constituency.

    The APC candidates for Ogoja/Yala Federal Constituency and Obudu/Bekwarra/Obanliku Federal Constituency, Hon. Jude Ngaji and  Rt.Hon. Legor Idagbo, are said to be at the Tribunals but their summons haven’t gotten to their opponents.

    The PDP governorship candidate, Senator Sandy Onor, has also vowed to challenge the process that made INEC to declare Sen. Bassey Otu as the winner.

    Onor alleged that the exercise was characterized by irregularities, including over-voting, and vote-buying amongst others.

    Hon. Thomas Aruku of the APC, who contested the Ogoja State Constituency seat, is also going to the tribunal to challenge the victory of Hon Rita Ayim of the PDP.

    Sunday Vanguard reports that there was still time for the submission of more petitions, as many of those who participated in the House of Assembly polls were putting finishing touch to their petitions before submission.

  • Cross River Guber Polls: Sandy Onor To Seek Legal Redress

  • C’River Guber Polls: PDP Raises Alarm On Plans By Police To Compromise Elections

    By Admin

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Cross River has raised alarm on plans by the Police Command to compromise the Governorship election in the state on Saturday.

    This is contained in a statement by the Publicity Secretary of the Party in Cross River, Mr Mike Ojisi.

    He said that the plans were perfected on Wednesday evening when the Commissioner in charge of elections in the state, Garba Aliyu in company of other officers met with Gov. Ben Ayade.

    Ojisi said that information available to the party leadership said Ayade had offered the Commissioner a mount watering amount to execute the plans.

    He disclosed that part of the plan is to create crisis in their strong holds and also used the boys that the All Progressives Congress (APC) has assembled to disenfranchised the people in selected parts of the state.

    He further stated that a number of chieftains of the party have been penciled down for arrest between Thursday and Friday as part of plan to keep them out of circulation until after the elections.

    According to him, “We have it on good authority that arrangement have been concluded to use the Police to compromise the governorship election in the state.

    “The plans to disenfranchise many Cross Riverians, cause chaos in our strong hold, put some of our leaders out of circulation with Police playing a critical role of providing cover for all these unwholesome activities were perfected this evening in a meeting with the governor.

    “Aside the Commissioner, others in the meeting were Garba Aliyu, CP Umar Madaki, in charge of Central, and CP Stanley Ude, in charge of Southern Cross River.

    “Others are: DCP Hayatu Shaff, DCP Aboki Danjuma, DCP Uche Adaku, and ACP Yusuf Doki.

    “They arrived Calabar today and were picked up at the Airport by Asuquo Ekpenyong Jr, Senator-Elect, and drove them straigth to Government House where they met with Ayade.”

    Meanwhile, the spokesperson of the Command, SP Irene Ugbo has debunked such plans, but however confirmed the CP meeting.

    She noted that the meeting was not exclusively for the Police but with other security agencies for the election.

    “The meeting is basically to strategize on the election in the area of security”

  • Cross River APC Attack On Nigerian Military And Its Wild Goose Chase – PDP

     

    CROSS RIVER APC ATTACK ON NIGERIAN MILITARY AND ITS WILD GOOSE CHASE

     

    On Thursday, March 2, 2023, the Cross River All Progressives Congress (APC) held a press conference and rejected the defeat of Governor Ben Ayade and the party’s candidate for northern senatorial election by the opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP).

    Sen. Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe (PDP) polled 76,145 votes to defeat Governor Ben Ayade (APC), who scored 56, 595 votes. Jarigbe polled the highest number of votes cast in four of the five local government areas that make up the zone.

    At the press conference, APC chairman, Alphonsus Eba, Esq, openly accused the military of connivance, undue harassment and intimidation of electorate at the Presidential and National Assembly Elections (NASS) held across Northern senatorial district on Saturday, February 25, 2023 and robbed the party of victory.

     

    Eba did not end there, he poured vituperations at the military, saying “they deployed armoured tanks through the aide of some of their sons, particularly in Ugaga community, and got us intimidated. He called for the trial and court marshaling of those who deployed soldiers for violating section 68 of Electoral Act.”

    From the above statement, it is crystal clear that Eba is on a wild goose chase because Jarigbe won the election clean and square. Pointing accusing fingers at the military as being responsible for the abysmal outing of Ayade in the last NASS election has demonstrated his level of duplicitousness.

    His incoherent accounts of what transpired at the election and how his principal and benefactor lost with a whopping 19, 550 votes to Sen. Jarigbe sounds like a drowning man looking for any object to hold on to just to survive.

    May be, APC and Eba had some sinister motives and clandestine strategies ahead of the election only to wake like a fish doped out of water to see military all over strategic locations checking and parading flash points in a very civilized and professional manner. This, Eba could not stomach because he was caught napping on seeing smartly-dressed and stern-looking young soldiers ready to take on anybody who dares to disrupt the Presidential and NASS elections in the north.

    Those who voted in the north would be quick to tell you that the election was model for a study on how to defeat demagogue in power.

    Interactions with some voters, who had a brush with death during the last Ogoja/Yala federal constituency by-election showed that they were relaxed, not afraid to cast their votes for their preferred candidates and confident that their votes would count simply because the security was guaranteed.

    And truly, their votes counted for Sen. Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe, Peter Akpanke and Godwin Offionio, their preferred candidates. Thus, the lamentations and subsequent blaming the military for his woeful outing in the north, where he saw as APC fortress.

    Eba’s wondering why tight security in the north, especially has shown him as a man has lost his sense of history by forgetting the traumatic experiences and human indignities his kinsmen and women have been subjected to in his and Ayade’s since the tussle to replace late Sen. Rose Oko started in 2020.

    Eba has quickly forgotten how Ayade deployed policemen, tear-gassed his people and shut out some delegates at the PDP senatorial primary election for Cross River north that produced Dr. Stephen Odey as purported winner. The election held at Ogoja local government council headquarters on October 5, 2020, was marred by violence leading to emeegence of two senatorial candidates for one seat.

    Again the APC loquacious chairman has easily forgotten how he and Governor Ben Ayade used Operation Sting to sting voters during Ogoja/Yala federal constiuency by-election in February 27, 2022 to pummel voters and PDP supporters. It was a display of political brigandage, new form of election riging and show of raw power planned and executed using ‘operation sting’ unit from governor’s security back-up.

    On that day between 3:00pm-7:00pm, two tinted coaster buses, Anti-kidnapping van and other unmarked vehicles loaded with masked security operatives in company of some cult boys stormed some polling units at Yala and Ogoja and hijacked BVAS, some electoral materials and presiding officers to an unknown destination.

    After doctoring the results, Eba-led team still had the temerity to return the “cooked results” with the same squad to INEC collation centre at Ogoja and forced INEC officials to accept it and declared APC candidate winner of that rigged election. That was new brand of winning election with newly-introduced BVAS then.

    Having won the by-election, Eba boasted to those who cared to listen that subsequent election would be worst and those who think they can stop a moving train would get crushed in 2023. And true to his boasting, three days to the general election, Ayade thugs led by one Tompolo unleashed mayhem on PDP chairman’s house and that of elder brother of Peter Akpanke’s and destroyed cars and property under the supervision of Obudu police command.

    Besides, Akpanke, the PDP’s candidate for Obanliku/Obudu/Bekwarra federal constituency was declared wanted by Ayade’s for alleged murder all in a bid to intimidate and harass Obudu people from coming out to vote. Amid all these, Eba became deaf and dumb because to him, that is how politics should be played.

    And when it was time to finally crush his people to victory, God who knows the heart of man answered ‘old Ogoja’ people prayers and behold the heavy military and police presence that made it impossible for Eba to repeat ‘operation sting’ methodology of cruising to east victory. The people rather laughed last and voted Eba’s and APC candidates out for reining insults on them, chastising them with scorpions and giving them stones instead of bread. The heavy security presence could not give him a space to perpetrate his evil machinations, leading to Ayade and his APC being trounced.

    Eba’s resort for court after being trashed thoroughly by PDP unstoppable train in the north is the last kick of a dying horse. Observers have described Presidential and NASS elections in the north as free, fair and credible. Even Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) has adjudged the election in the north as one of the most peaceful and orderly. Indeed, the emergence of the above candidates has changed power configuration in the north.

    Of course, it is right of APC to seek redress in court, but one wonders what technicalities APC are going to lay claims to even when Eba and his kinsman, Dr, Steve Odey, perpetrated all sorts of electoral frauds in their Echumofana and Yache wards in Yala local government area just to see how their candidates could pull through.

    Even in the presence of the military, PDP agents at Yache ward in Yala were allegedly kidnapped by APC stalwart until election was over. In the same Yache ward, the collation officer disappeared and resurfaced almost 20 hours after election ended with a ‘cooked result’ at Yala collation centre in Okpoma. The ‘cooked result’ was intercepted by PDP agents who raised the alarm. Eba himself was alleged to have harassed PDP supporters and some voters sympathetic to PDP candidates out of their poling units and now had a free day to boost his ward election result. Eba said nothing about these in his media briefing.

    However, we wish to state categorically clear that PDP is not afraid of court. We are already assembling our legal team in readiness to challenge the charades that took place in the central and south in the name of elections. In the above-mentioned two senatorial districts, APC ran riot, intimidated voters, doctored results and employed thuggery to win elections in Yakurr, Abi, Boki, Obubra and Odukpani. Evidences abound where APC big shots were arrested for electoral malpractices. The videos and pictures are there for all to see.

    To Eba, what transpired at central and south is real election and a demonstration of democracy, which he wanted to replicate in the north before the people stood against it with their blood.

    We make bold to say that the military did a professional job in the north and we urge them to continue in the same spirit as we head into Governorship and House of Assembly elections. Anybody who has intention of coming again to rig out the people wish would be resisted. So we call on our party men and women, our supporters and entire electorate to come out en mass to cast their votes for PDP as it would definitely count.

    God Bless Cross Riverians.

    Price Mike Ojisi

    State Publicity Secretary

     

     

     

     

     

  • Ayu A Bad Manager, His Arrogance Caused PDP Loss, He Should Go BY LARE OLAYINKA 

    Ayu A Bad Manager, His Arrogance Caused PDP Loss, He Should Go

    March 1, 2023

    Today, I am pained, so pained. I am pained because once again, my party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has lost yet, another opportunity to return to power.

    I am most pained because the same people who wrecked the PDP in 2015, have finally decimated the party owing to their arrogance.

    Zone the presidency to the South in accordance with the principle power rotation as enshrined in the PDP constitution, they refused obviously because of their desire to satisfy the ambition of a single individual.

    Reach out to those who were aggrieved and bring everyone on board, they refused because they believed that they had assurance from certain quarters that electoral victory will be awarded to them even before the election.

    Rather than stooping to conquer by giving concessions, including sacrificing their positions so that everyone can be brought together to face the elections, almighty National Chairman, Senator Dr Chief Iyorchia Ayu and his cohorts were acting like they already had results of the presidential election in their pockets.

    They were telling everybody, including those who have stood solidly with the party to go to hell!

    Now that the reality of a bad and arrogant manager beckons on the PDP, who will join in the cry? Those they said meant nothing or those they already pencilled down to be dealt with by the Atiku presidency?

    Sad that some the people who went to APC in 2015 and caused PDP to lose power came back to the party and acted so arrogantly to cause it another defeat in an election it could have won so easily.

    With results of the election, now imagine Peter Obi and Musa Kwankanso in the PDP. Imagine Peter Obi as the Presidential Candidate and Kwankanso as his running mate.

    Imagine votes from Rivers, Oyo, Benue, Enugu and Abia States adding to the PDP votes.

    Now that arrogant Ayu and his cohorts in the National Working Committee (NWC) have wrecked the PDP, methinks that by now, they should be at the National Secretariat of the party, packing their personal belongings.

    They are bad managers and they must all go!

    It is only a bad manager of a political party that will embark on suspension and expulsion of party candidates few days to elections.

    It is only a bad and arrogant manager of a political party like Ayu that will call State Governors who made him chairman of the party children.

    Therefore, for us, we will not sit back and allow a rudderless NWC led by a man who sees himself as above every other person and run the affairs of the party like his family business to continue.

    We will not keep silent and allow a man who runs the affairs of the party like his family business, with even his children insulting critical stakeholders of the party to continue.

    Arrogant Ayu and his NWC must go!

     

    Lere Olayinka
    PDP House of Reps Candidate
    Ekiti Central Federal Constituency 2

  • APC’s Campaign Of Calumny: Another Invitation To Anarchy – PDP

    8th February 2023.

    Press Statement.

    APC’s Campaign Of Calumny: Another Invitation To Anarchy

    The attention of our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party Cross River State, has been drawn to a malicious, demonic, barbaric and devilish video circulating on different social media platforms, wherein the occultic, bloodthirsty and murderous APC campaign team, led by their Gubernatorial candidate, Southern Senatorial Candidate and Akpabuyo/Bakassi/Calabar South Federal Constituency Candidate, in a sacrilegious, unspeakable, despicable and abominable manner, carried out a burial ceremony of a man who is still much alive. For what appeared to be an occultic display, the APC procured a casket and inscribed the name of our Candidate Rt. Hon. Apostle Essien Ekpeyong Ayi, our Party Logo and the abbreviation R.I.P (Rest in peace) on the casket–a symbolic representation of the death and burial of a man who is still alive.

    Ordinarily, we would have preferred to ignore such ignoble display of infantilism, nothingness and tomfoolery, but given the criminal and abominable nature of such outlandish display, it has become imperative that we issue a statement and set the records straight. Hence, we make bold to state categorically that;

    1. It is quite regrettable how low the APC has reduced politics in our state. Prior to now, vicious campaign of calumny, subterfuge and violence were never part of our Politics, however, with the recent involvement of lowlifes, riffraffs, scallywags, and nonentities in the politics of our state, an unhealthy aspect of politicking has been introduced by the APC out of sheer desperation.

    2. For the past one week, the APC Gubernatorial candidate and his partners-in-mischief, like the infamous ringleader of the 1971 “commando- Girls” have continued to make inciting statements against various leaders of our party. Sensing a brutal defeat, especially in places like Akpabuyo Local Government and Calabar South, the never-do-well APC deployed their thugs to carry out wanton destruction of properties belonging to Chieftains of our party in Akpabuyo and Calabar South.

    3. As a Party, we condemn unequivocally this act of provocation and maiming of our supporters by the APC, as it has the tendency of inviting anarchy into the State.

    4. We condemn in the strongest terms, the destruction of properties belonging to our party faithfuls, maiming of our teeming supporters and the unspeakable, abominable and sacrilegious display of casket bearing the name of our Candidate for Akpabuyo/Bakassi/Calabar South Federal Constituency, Rt. Hon. Apostle Essien Ekpeyong Ayi, during the APC Gubernatorial rally in Calabar South.

    5. We call on Security agencies to investigate and arrest the perpetrators of such heinous and abominable acts. We call on our teeming supporters to remain calm even in the face of wanton provocation by the APC, as the APC is obviously displaying signs and symptoms of defeat.

    5. We reassure the good people of Cross River State that we are committed to the course of reclaiming Cross River State and call on all lovers of the state to vote massively for our party, the Peoples Democratic Party.

    Signed
    Prince Mike Ojisi
    (State Publicity Secretary)

  • The PDP Campaign Rally In Akpabuyo: Separating The Chaff From The Grain BY DOMINIC KIDZU

     

    Now that the APC apologists and primed star boys of fake news have had their say about what they wished to have happened to the PDP campaign in Akpabuyo, let me disappoint them a little with the true account of what really, factually happened in that local government area the day the PDP campaign swept into town.

    After watching in consternation, I dare say trepidation, as mammoth crowd after mammoth crowd of people thronged the PDP campaign venues throughout the state, and especially in the Southern Senatorial Zone against their expectations, the APC turncoats in Akpabuyo may have panicked and resolved to disrupt the rally in the local government area, perhaps to gain extra plaudits from the Ayade Administration.

    The chief conspirator of course was the usual suspect – the Council Chairman who is alleged to have arranged some able bodied youths to disrupt the rally in protest that they were not being “carried along or recognized.” But as soon as they fired a few shots into the air a brigade of other boys chased after them in hot pursuit.

    St. Peter’s Catholic Primary School, Ekpre Tete, venue for the rally, was jam packed by the people of Akpabuyo to reaffirm their choice of the PDP as they recently demonstrated at the polls and their gratitude for the choice of their darling daughter, Mrs Emana Ambrose Amawhe as the running mate.

    Most people at the venue did not even notice the sound of the few gunshots which was drowned by the excited singing and dancing by the people. The gunmen who were chased into the bushes by the boys of the area did not return again until the end of the hugely attended event. The facts are as stated above, if in doubt go to Akpabuyo and verify.