Headline

Just In: APC Replies Obasanjo, Says Former President’s Sins Haunting Him

Published

7 years ago

January 20, 2019

Eric

Following a barage of attacks unleashed by a former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, against the person and government of President Muhammadu Buhari, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has issued a statement, saying that the ex-president is being haunted by his past sins.

The party said it would be demeaning for its presidential candidate, President Muhammadu Buhari to engage his counterpart in the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, Atiku Abubakar and others in a debate on the same stage.

While the ruling party said Mr Obasanjo was being haunted by his own past, it added it does not have any reason to rig, asking the former president to adjust himself to current realities, because “after February 16th, Obasanjo will realize that he is not a god.”

Addressing a press conference Sunday evening in Abuja, APC’s National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, said during Chief Obasanjo’s regime, government policies were determined by whatever mood he (OBJ) found himself and all decisions of government were subjected to his whims.

When you are used to a particular thing, that means something you know how to do very well. For eight years of President Obasanjo, all the elections he held, in fact his government policies were determined by whatever mood he finds himself and all decisions of government were brought under his wings, and all that he did in those eight years are what is hunting him.

“Obasanjo can not imagine that it is possible for a government to allow INEC statutory independence that it has. We have had 93 elections since APC came to power and we are sure that all those elections were conducted without any interference from this government. In fact, if there is anything you want to credit this government with, it is the fact that institutions are allowed to fulfill their mandate without anybody’s interference. So, we can understand where the former President is coming from, his past is haunting him.

“The 2003 and 2007 elections were nothing to write home about and those elections happened under President Obasanjo. So, for us in APC, votes must count. We are going to have a free, fair and credible election. We have no reason to want to rig elections because our achievements speak for us. So, President Obasanjo should adjust to the reality of imminent defeat that is staring him in the face. He has carried himself about as the dispenser of our destinies and God is showing him clearly that he has just only been lucky and the favour God has done for him, he has now considered them as things that come from him.”

APC also said it is an insult for its candidate to be on the same stage with the presidential candidate of the People Democratic Party PDP, Atiku Abubakar.

Issa-Onilu stated clearly that the debate is meant for those that are seeking power and not the likes of President Buhari who has a lot already speaking for him.

Both Atiku Abubakar of PDP and President Buhari of APC were conspicuously missing at the live presidential debate organised by the Broadcasting Corporation of Nigeria (BON) and others.

He said Buhari was already engaging with the public through several other platforms which are considered more important and to meet APC’s interest.

He said: “The president doesn’t have to give any reason at all for not attending that debate. The debate is just one of the several platforms that are available for our candidate to engage with the public, we cannot exhaust all the platforms. So we pick the platforms that are most impactful and we are the ones in the position to determine which platform we want to use.

“To debate with who? That is an insult, that the president will come debate with who? The debate the president is having is what he did that morning in Niger state. The people of Niger state can look forward to a brighter future. The people of this country, everywhere they go can see development, they can see projects going on. So these are the debates that the president is already engaging with public.

“So, that particular debate may be important and I think it is important to people who are seeking power, not for somebody who has a lot speaking for him already. So, for us in APC, the debate as a fantastic idea it is, it is just one of the several options for our own candidate to engage with the public. There are many platforms we have used, there are many platforms we are still going to use and there are many we may not use. It is up to us to chose the platforms that will serve own interests.

“Don’t forget, just few days before this debate came, the president was live for two hours with Nigerians discussing his projects. Beside him was the Vice President of this country, talking about his projects and having very important debate over those policies and projects with Nigerians, with people having unfettered access and opportunity to make calls to him, to seek clarifications and ask questions. That for us is what our candidate needs. That for us is more important.

“That gives us the opportunity to say we are different. We are not in the same class with Atiku and the PDP to come share the same stage with people who ruined this country. To talk about what? The same people who started several projects and they became conduit pipes and the APC government has come in, fixing all these projects one after the other. The same party complaining about the fact that we are completing projects. Is that the party you want us to stand on the same stage to debate with. Don’t take Nigerians for granted. We are not in the same class.”

Headline

Supreme Court Reserves Judgment in Appeal over Nullified PDP Convention

Published

4 days ago

April 22, 2026

Eric

The Supreme Court has reserved its judgment in the appeal filed by the Taminu Turaki-led group of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) seeking to overturn the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which nullified the conduct of the party’s national convention, held last year in Ibadan, Oyo State.

A five-member panel of the apex court announced on Wednesday that its judgment would be delivered on a date to be communicated to all parties in the appeal.

Justice Garba Mohammed, who led the five-member panel, made the announcement shortly after lawyers representing parties in the appeal adopted their processes as briefs of their arguments for and against the appeal.

The appeal was filed by the Turaki-led group’s national executives of the party who emerged from the convention.

They had approached the apex court to challenge the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which had nullified the convention for being held in disobedience of a valid order of the court.

While adopting their brief of argument filed on April 2, the appellants, through their team of lawyers led by Paul Erokoro (SAN), urged the Supreme Court not only to allow their appeal but also to dismiss a cross-appeal lodged against them by a leadership group in the party aligned with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike.

Meanwhile, Lamido, who was represented by J. C. Njikonye (SAN), as well as the Wike-backed group represented by Joseph Daudu (SAN), filed preliminary objections seeking dismissal of the appeal.

The respondents insisted that, contrary to the contention by the Turaki-led group, the appeal did not fall within the sphere of the PDP’s internal affairs.

It was the respondents’ position that both the high court and the appellate court had rightly exercised jurisdiction over the matter.

Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja, in a judgment last year, restrained the then-Ambassador Iliya Damagum-led National Executive Committee of the PDP from proceeding with the convention slated for November 15 and 16, 2026, in Ibadan, Oyo State.

Justice Lifu had ordered that the convention should not hold until an aspirant to the office of national chairman, former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido, is allowed to purchase interest and nomination forms to enable him to participate in the convention for the election of national officers.

The party, however, went ahead to conduct the convention in disregard of the orders of the court.

The PDP had predicated its action to conduct the convention on the grounds that the court lacked the jurisdiction to stop the convention, as the issue brought before it was an internal matter of the PDP, which no court has jurisdiction to delve into.

However, the appellate court in its judgment last month disagreed that the issue at the trial court was an internal affair of a political party, which courts cannot entertain.

The three-member panel of the appellate court subsequently nullified the outcome of the convention for being held in disobedience to the orders of the Federal High Court, Abuja.

Dissatisfied, the PDP approached the apex court, praying it to accept the appeal against the lower court judgment, set the judgment aside, and hold that the issue was an internal matter of the PDP, which both the Court of Appeal and the Federal High Court lacked jurisdiction to entertain.

However, the respondents in the appeal urged the court to dismiss the appeal for lack of merit and hold otherwise.

Headline

LP: Nenadi Usman Floors Julius Abure at Appeal Court

Published

5 days ago

April 21, 2026

Eric

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has dismissed the appeal filed by Julius Abure challenging the legitimacy of the Nenadi Usman-led leadership of the Labour Party (LP).

A three-member panel of the appellate court, in a Tuesday judgment, unanimously affirmed the January 21 judgment by Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which upheld the legitimacy of the 29-member caretaker committee of the LP, led by Senator Usman.

In the lead judgment delivered by Justice Oyejoju Oyewumi, which Justices Abba Mohammed and Eberechi Nyesom-Wike agreed with, the appellate court held that the earlier Supreme Court judgment conclusively settled the leadership dispute within the LP by nullifying the convention that purportedly returned Abure as National Chairman.

Justice Lifu had, in the January 21 judgment, relied on an April 4, 2025, decision of the Supreme Court, which held that Abure’s tenure as the party’s National Chairman had expired. The judgment directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognize Senator Usman and other members of her committee as the legitimate leaders of the party, to the exclusion of all others.

The court further held that the lower court had the power under Section 251 of the Constitution to compel a statutory Federal government agency to perform its functions when it ordered INEC to recognize Senator Nenadi Usman as the National Chairman of the Labour Party.

It was equally agreed with the trial court that constituting the LP’s caretaker committee, headed by Usman, was a doctrine of necessity required to provide leadership in the party when a vacuum appeared to exist.

The court faulted Abure’s claim that the trial court denied him a fair hearing and accused him of abusing the court process.

The court also accused Abure of forum shopping by appearing before the Nasarawa State High Court in a case already decided by the Supreme Court, and of persisting in the claim the party’s leadership despite the apex court’s clear and unambiguous pronouncement.

It held that the appeal, marked: CA/ABJ/CV/255/2026, was devoid of merit and constituted an abuse of court process.

“On the whole, I agree with the decision and conclusion of the trial court as the same, being in accordance with the Constitution,” Justice Oyewumi held, adding that the lower court reached a reasonable conclusion that the Court of Appeal cannot fault.

While dismissing the appeal, the court awarded him costs of N10 million for wasting the court’s time on an issue that had already been conclusively determined.

Earlier, the court held that Nenadi Usman, as a juristic person, had the right to file the case before the trial court, and that the trial court had jurisdiction to hear and determine the case.

The court also rejected Abure’s allegation that the lower court denied him a fair hearing, noting that the claim lacked any basis.

Headline

Tinubu Sacks Edun, Appoints Oyedele As Finance Minister

Published

5 days ago

April 21, 2026

Eric

President Bola Tinubu has approved a minor cabinet reshuffle in the membership of the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

According to a memo signed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, two cabinet members, Mr. Wale Edun and Arc. Ahmed Musa Dangiwa are to leave the cabinet while their replacements have been named.

A statement signed by the Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Yomi Odunuga, on Tuesday evening, said Edun, until the latest development, was the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy.

“He has been directed to hand over to Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, who is now to take over as Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy. Oyedele was formerly a Minister of State in the ministry.

“Also Mr. Muttaqha Rabe Darma (PhD.) has been named as the ministerial nominee and minister-designate for the Housing and Urban Development Ministry,” Odunuga stated.

The memo also directed Dangiwa to hand over to the Minister of State in the ministry pending Darma’s confirmation.

The memo stated that “all handing over and taking over processes should be completed on or before close of business on Thursday 23rd April, 2026.”

Explaining the President’s decision, Odunuga quoted Akume as saying: “These changes are aimed at strengthening cohesion, synergy in governance as well as achieving more impactful delivery on the economy to Nigerians, through the Renewed Hope Agenda.”

He said the President, in approving the cabinet reshuffle, has fully exercised his powers as conferred on him by Sections 147 and 148 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999, as amended).

The President thanked the outgoing ministers for their services to the nation while wishing them the best in all their future endeavours.

The President, Akume noted, equally assured all cabinet members that “the process of reinvigoration shall be continuous.”