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TPLT Watermark on CTC: Explain to Nigerians, Atiku Camp Tasks PEPC

The camp of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has called on the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, to explain to Nigerians the rationale behind the appearance of customized watermark of the Tinubu Presidential Legal Team, on the Certified True Copies of the judgment.
The demand is contained in a statement signed by the Special Assistant (Communications) to the presidential candidate, Mr. Phrank Shauibu, where he further lamented the inability of the Tribunal to release the CTC to the PDP candidate on time.
Read the statement in full:
After causing needless delay in availing the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and his legal team Certified True Copies of its judgment, the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) must explain to Nigerians and the world ambiguities around why copies of the judgment bears the header of the Tinubu Presidential Legal Team.
It is not our intention to stir up controversy on the matter, but it is very important that the PEPC should tell Nigerians why they chose to affix the header of the Respondents on the CTC copy of their judgment, whereas the copies that went to the petitioners did not have the same.
Was that because the Tinubu Legal Team is deemed to be accorded special privileges? The court must explain!
It is very clear that there are many questions begging for answers, including why the PEPC came to the decision to avail the Respondents, especially the Tinubu Legal Team to have a first receipt of the CTC of the judgment before the Plaintiffs.
The curiosity is more confounding based on the fact that the lead counsel to Atiku and the PDP had pleaded in the open court to have express receipt of the judgment, to which Justice Haruna Tsammani agreed to and promised to make the document available the following day, which was Thursday.
Nigerians want to know why the PEPC confers special privileges to the Tinubu Legal Team by making them have a first custody of copies of the PEPC judgment, even though it was more urgent for the Petitioners who needed the document in order to cause an appeal to the Supreme Court within 14 days including weekends.
In the course of delivering its judgement, the PEPC had spoken of the petition it was ruling upon in a vexatious and denigrating language as if it was a crime to bring a case of electoral banditry before the court.
However, unfolding developments after the court’s ruling elicit suspicions about whether or not the Tinubu Legal Team provided clerical services to the PEPC. Otherwise, how and when did the ‘Tinubu Presidential Legal Team’ creep into a document that was supposed to be the official document of the Court of Appeal of Nigeria.
We need to restate that the ‘Tinubu Presidential Legal Team’ on the top left-hand corner of all the 798 pages is neither a monochrome nor a metadata. It is actually a HEADER, meaning that except for a valid explanation, the Tinubu Presidential Legal Team is the originator of the document. For the purposes of clarity, “a header is text that is placed at the top of a page, while a footer is placed at the bottom of a page. Typically, these areas are used for inserting information such as the name of the document, the chapter heading, page numbers, creation date, and the like.” On the other hand, watermark is “a faint design made in some paper during manufacture that is visible when held against the light and typically identifies the maker of the document.”
The PEPC must, on its honour if indeed it still has any, clarify why the court chose to put the header of the Tinubu Legal Team on a CTC copy of its judgment document, while the only emblem that should have been on the document is the stamp of the Court of Appeal of Nigeria.
Again, the PEPC must explain why it came to the discretionary decision of having the Respondents have a custody of the judgement earlier in the day on Friday while only making same available to the Petitioners later in the day, and only after the lead counsel to Atiku and PDP had written a second letter (the first was on Thursday) to the court demanding for copies of the judgment.
Moreover, we have it on good authority that when the PEPC was informed that the CTC copies of the judgment given to the Respondents was already circulating in the public domain with the header of TPLT on it, a further delay was necessitated by the need for it to undertake a laundry of the documents by removing the Tinubu Presidential Legal Team header before handing over same to the lawyers of Atiku.
Whereas the legal team of the PDP and Atiku have statutory 14 days to prepare its appeal to the Supreme Court, the PEPC had erased 2 days out of that 14 days, no thanks to the PEPC whose Chairman, Justice Tsamani had promised to make available the CTC copy of the judgment to Atiku a day after its judgement was rendered, which ought to have been on Thursday.
Nigerians and the world are earnestly waiting for answers to these posers as the legal challenge shifts to the Supreme Court. Otherwise, it will validate suspicions that there were external factors involved in the formulation of the judgment and bring the entire judiciary of Nigeria into disrepute.
Make no mistake about it. This legal challenge to the electoral banditry of February 25, which has now shifted to the apex court, is not about Atiku. It is indeed our last ditch effort to salvage our country and deepen our democracy. Against the background of the decimation of nearly all of the institutions of state including the Independent National Electoral Commission which dragged us into this quagmire, our intent is to ensure that the judiciary, the last hope of the common man does not go to the dogs.
News
Rivers Govt Insists Oko-Jumbo Remains Assembly Speaker Amid Supreme Court Judgment

The Rivers State Government has clarified that the withdrawal of Governor Siminialayi Fubara’s appeal at the Supreme Court regarding the 2024 budget does not affect the legitimacy of Rt. Hon. Victor Oko-Jumbo as the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
The appeal, which challenged lower court rulings to represent the 2024 budget to the Martin Amaewhule-led Assembly, was deemed unnecessary and withdrawn by the governor.
In a statement issued on Monday in Port Harcourt, the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Warisenibo Joseph Johnson, explained that the appeal had become an academic exercise since the 2024 budget cycle had already concluded.
Johnson stated: “The 2024 budget became spent on the 31st December of 2024 fiscal year. The appeal is of no useful purpose. The only reasonable thing left to do is to withdraw the appeal and have it dismissed.”
He emphasized that the Supreme Court’s decision does not invalidate the legality of the Victor Oko-Jumbo-led Assembly, affirming that Oko-Jumbo remains the authentic Speaker. “The Supreme Court is a very busy court. It will be most unwise to belabour the Honourable Court with academic appeals without any practical or utilitarian value,” Johnson added.
He further dismissed claims by political opponents, stating: “That is the appeal that the urchins are celebrating. There is no Supreme Court judgment against Gov. Fubara, ignore the outdated political propaganda by some desperate politicians.”
Johnson reiterated: “Supreme Court ruled on the Appeal over the 2024 budget voluntarily withdrawn by Gov. Fubara because 2024 budget cycle have ended and no need wasting time discussing a budget that have been fully spent and implemented. Rt. Hon. Victor Oko Jumbo is still authentic speaker and nothing can change that.”
The clarification comes amid political tensions in the state, with the government reaffirming its commitment to upholding the rule of law and ensuring the stability of the legislative process under Speaker Victor Oko-Jumbo’s leadership.
News
S’Court Dismisses Fubara’s Appeal Against Amaewhule-led Rivers Assembly

An appeal filed by Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, challenging the leadership of the Rivers State House of Assembly has been dismissed by the Supreme Court in Abuja.
Fubara was also ordered to pay N2m to the Assembly and the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Martin Amaewhule, by a five-member panel led by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji on Monday.
The case was dismissed after Fubara’s lawyer, Yusuf Ali, withdrew the suit.
Recall that on October 10, 2024, the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, admonished Fubara for failing to follow the rule of law in his actions.
The court further held that Fubara’s actions violated Section 96 of the 1999 Constitution, which requires at least one-third of the Assembly members to form a quorum.
The court noted that “four out of 31 members cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, constitute the required quorum for legislative business.”
Meanwhile, Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court also ruled against Fubara’s presentation of the 2024 budget before the four-member Assembly led by Edison Ehie.
The budget presentation was a result of the leadership crisis within the Rivers State House of Assembly. Fubara had argued that the Amaewhule-led faction lost its legitimacy after defecting from the People’s Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress.
However, the lower courts ruled that he failed to provide evidence of their defection and, therefore, could not legally present the budget to a four-member House.
Following the Court of Appeal judgment, Fubara approached the Supreme Court to set aside the lower court’s ruling and allow him to present the budget to the Ehie-led faction.
However, when the case was called on Monday, Fubara’s counsel, Yusuf Ali, informed the Supreme Court that the governor had decided to withdraw the appeal.
Ali stated that a notice dated February 6 had already been filed, explaining that the appeal had been overtaken by events.
All 17 respondents in the case, represented by various lawyers, did not oppose the withdrawal. However, J.B. Daudu (SAN), representing the 3rd to 12th respondents (National Assembly and its leadership), and Wole Olanipekun (SAN), representing the 1st and 2nd respondents (Rivers State House of Assembly and Amaewhule), requested a cost of N2 million.
Daudu further urged the court to dismiss the appeal rather than strike it out, as issues had already been joined.
The five-member Supreme Court panel dismissed the appeal after confirming that the withdrawal was not opposed.
In a brief ruling, Justice Abba-Aji declared the appeal dismissed and awarded a cost of N2 million in favour of the 1st to 12th respondents.
The Punch
News
Ex-Minister Turaki in Court over Adultery, False Marriage Allegations

A former Minister of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, Kabiru Turaki (SAN), has been arraigned before a Magistrate Court at Zone 2 in Abuja on allegations bordering on false marriage, adultery, among others.
Turaki pleaded not guilty when the First Information Report (FIR) was read to him in the dock on Thursday before the presiding Magistrate of Court 9, Abubakar Jega.
He insisted that the alleged offences are not true.
According to the FIR, the former minister is accused of “deceitfully inducing belief of lawful marriage, adultery by a man and criminal intimidation, contrary to sections 383, 387 and 389 of the Penal Code.”
The prosecution stated that the investigation of the case followed a petition dated August 9, 2024, received by the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Force FCID, Abuja.
It further stated that the investigation revealed that “you Barrister Kabiru Taminu Turaki (SAN), between December 2014 and August 2016, deceitfully cohabited Ms. Hadiza Musa Bafta at a hotel called Han’s Place.
“You also co-habited her at Ideal Home Holiday, Asokoro between August 2016 and November 2021.
“You hired a place for her at No. 12 Clement Akpagbo Close, Gauzape from November 2021 and made her believe you were married to her and continuously had sexual intercourse with her, which resulted to a baby girl.
“You abandoned Hadiza Musa Baffa with her only child and denied the paternity. You threatened to use your influence and position to terminate the lives of mother and child.
“You are thereby suspected to have committed the above offences.”
Shortly after Turaki:s arraignment, the prosecuting lawyer , Chijioke Okorie urged the court to set a date for the commencement of trial.
Turaki’s lawyer, A. I. Mohammed, who did not object to the prosecution’s request for a date for trial, applied for bail for the defendant on the grounds that he would be available whenever he is required to attend court.
Magistrate Jega granted bail to Turaki at N1million with two sureties in like sum.
He said the sureties must reside within the court’s jurisdiction and must provide evidence of the residences.
The magistrate then adjourned to March 11 for the commencement of trial.
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