Headline

Impeachment: Anti-Saraki Forces Cease Fire, Lobby for Buhari

Published

5 years ago

October 10, 2018

Eric

Members of the All Progressives Congress caucus have suspended their plan to force Senator Bukola Saraki to resign as President of the Senate, or plot his impeachment, The PUNCH reliably learnt on Tuesday.

Reliable sources disclosed to our correspondent that both the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party caucuses, who had been at daggers drawn over who controls the Senate, had resolved to suspend the infighting as both parties had failed some of their members in the chamber.

Sources from both camps told our correspondent that senators who lost out in the primaries held by the two dominant parties had resolved to stop defending the interests of their parties in the chamber.

There has been a power tussle between members of the APC and PDP in the Senate and House of Representatives over which party now has the majority, following defections by lawmakers.

The power play had become worse when Saraki and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, defected from the APC to the PDP.

The APC caucuses in both chambers had asked Saraki and Dogara to resign as Senate President and Speaker, respectively, or be impeached when the lawmakers resumed from recess.

A source in the Saraki/PDP camp, in a message to our correspondent, said senators had agreed “to give peace a chance.”

The source said, “The Senate today reconvened after about two months recess and immediately went into a closed session where all members had frank discussions about the future of the 8th Senate as it goes into its last stage.

“The members agreed to give peace a chance and avoid allowing the Red Chamber of the federal legislature to degenerate into an arena of conflict over partisan and personal issues.

“The APC caucus leadership also extracted a promise from SP (Senate President) that national interest will continue to take precedence over any other consideration in the activities of the Senate.

The Punch

Headline

Identity Saga: Tinubu Pleads with Court to Release Only His Certificate, Not Academic Details

Published

4 days ago

September 25, 2023

Eric

President Bola Tinubu has reluctantly allowed a federal judge in the United States to give his university certificate to his political opponent Atiku Abubakar.

But the Nigerian leader pleaded with Judge Nancy Maldonado to block all other details, especially the gender, and admission records, among others, of the person who owns the certificate from being disclosed.

Mr Tinubu’s prayers on Monday morning came as part of the ongoing legal battle unfolding at the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago.

The case was brought by Mr Abubakar, who has been on a judicial quest to establish that Mr Tinubu was not eligible to be Nigerian president despite his election in February 2023.

He won the election by 36 per cent of the vote after Mr Abubakar and Peter Obi, who was his running mate in the 2019 election, fell out, subsequently dividing their potential votes into at least two parts, paving the way for Mr Tinubu’s victory with the slimmest margin in Nigerian presidential election history.

Mr Tinubu’s acceptance that his certificate could be released came after he narrowly escaped full disclosure on September 21 by pleading severe harm to his life in order to obtain a stay of a magistrate judge’s order on September 19.

“There is harm in allowing discovery on issues and documents outside the diploma,” Mr Tinubu’s lawyers said in their full briefing to the court seeking a review of Judge Jeffrey Gilbert’s order by Ms Maldonado, a district judge.

The identity of who was admitted into Chicago State University in the 1970s has been a hot issue after college transcripts emerged that indicated the school admitted a female Bola Tinubu from Southwest College Chicago in 1977.

Source: People’s Gazette

Headline

Sanwo-Olu Floors Jandor, Rhodes-Vivour As Court Dismisses Petitioners’ Application

Published

4 days ago

September 25, 2023

Eric

The Lagos Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, on Monday, dismissed the petitions brought by Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour and the Labour Party, and Olajide Adediran, also known as Jandor of the Peoples Democratic Party, challenging the victory of Babajide Sanwo-Olu in the March 18 governorship election.

The tribunal therefore, affirms the election of Sanwo-Olu as the winner of the March 18 Lagos State governorship poll.

Jandor and Rhodes-Vivour had contested the results, challenging the victory of Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Dr. Obafemi Hamzat.