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Peter Obi not qualified to contest presidential poll – APC tells tribunal

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Labour Party Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi
Labour Party, Presidential candidate Peter Obi
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The All Progressives Congress (APC), has prayed the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) in Abuja to dismiss the petition filed by the Labour Party (LP) and its Presidential Candidate, Mr Peter Obi, against the emergence of Sen. Bola Tinubu as president-elect in the February 25 election.

The APC, the 4th respondent, urged the PEPC to reject the petition in its notice of preliminary objection marked: CA/PEPC/03/2023 and filed at PEPC’s Secretariat on Monday night by Thomas Ojo, a member of the party’s legal team led by Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, in Abuja.

The party asked the tribunal to dismiss the petition with substantial cost on the grounds that it lacked merit and was frivolous.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Obi, the 1st petitioner, and LP, the 2nd petitioner, had sued the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Tinubu, Sen. Kashim Shettima and APC as 1st to 4th respondents, respectively.

The petitioners are seeking the nullification of the election victory of Tinubu and Shettima in the Feb. 25 presidential poll.

While former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) came second with 6,984,520 votes in the election, Obi came third with 6,101,533 votes.

Abubakar and PDP are also challenging the outcome of the poll.

However, in the petition marked: CA/PEPC/03/2023 filed by Obi and LP’s lead counsel, Livy Ozoukwu, they contended that Tinubu “was not duly elected by a majority of the lawful votes cast at the time of the election.”

The petitioners claimed there was rigging in 11 states, adding that they would demonstrate this in the declaration of results based on the uploaded results.

Obi and LP said INEC violated its own regulations when it announced the result despite the fact that at the time of the announcement, the totality of the polling unit results had yet to be fully scanned, uploaded and transmitted electronically as required by the Electoral Act.

Among other prayers, the petitioners urged the tribunal to “determine that, at the time of the presidential election held on February 25, 2023, the 2nd and 3rd respondents (Tinubu and Shettima) were not qualified to contest the election.

“That it be determined that all the votes recorded for the 2nd respondent in the election are wasted votes, owing to the non-qualification of the 2nd and 3rd respondents.

“That it is determined that on the basis of the remaining votes (after discountenancing the votes credited to the 2nd respondent), the 1st petitioner (Obi) scored a majority of the lawful votes cast at the election and had not less than 25 per cent of the votes cast in each of at least two-thirds of the states of the federation and the FCT and satisfied the constitutional requirements to be declared the winner of the February 25 presidential election.

“That it be determined that the 2nd respondent (Tinubu), having failed to score one-quarter of the votes cast at the presidential election in the FCT, was not entitled to be declared and returned as the winner of the presidential election held on February 25.”

Responding, the APC prayed the court to dismiss the suit on the ground that Obi, the 1st petitioner, lacked requisite locus standi to institute the petition because he was not a member of LP at least 30 days before the party’s presidential primary to be validly sponsored by the party.

It said: “The 1st petitioner (Obi) was a member of PDP until May 24, 2022.

“1st petitioner was screened as a presidential aspirant of the PDP in Apni 2022.

“1st petitioner participated and was cleared to contest the presidential election while being a member of the PDP.

“1st petitioner purportedly resigned his membership of PDP on May 24, 2022, to purportedly join the 2nd petitioner (Labour Party) on May 27, 2022.

“2nd petitioner conducted its presidential primary on May 30, 2022, which purportedly produced 1st petitioner as its candidate, which time contravened Section 77(3) of the Electoral Act for him to contest the primary election as a member of the 2nd petitioner.”

The party argued that Obi was not a member of LP at the time of his alleged sponsorship.

The APC argued that “by the mandatory provisions of Section 77 (1) (2) and (3) of the Electoral Act 2022, a political party shall maintain a register and shall make the such register available to INEC not later than 30 days before the date fixed for the party primaries, congresses and convention.”

It stated further that all the PDP’s presidential candidates were screened on April 29, 2022, an exercise in which Obi participated and was cleared to contest while being a member of the party.

It argued that the petition was incompetent since Obi’s name could not have been in LP’s register made available to INEC at the time he joined the party.

The APC equally argued that the petition was improperly constituted, having failed to join Atiku Abubakar and PDP, which were necessary parties to be affected by the reliefs sought.

“By Paragraph 17 of the petition, the petitioners, on their own, stated that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar came second in the presidential election with 6,984,520 votes as against the petitioners who came third with 6,101,533 votes;

“At Paragraph 102 (ii) of the petition, the petitioners urged the tribunal to determine that the 1st petitioner scored the majority of lawful votes without joining Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in the petition.

“For the tribunal to grant prayer (iii) of the petitioners, the tribunal must have set aside the scores and election of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

“Alhaji Atiku Abubakar must be heard before his votes can be discountenanced by the tribunal,” it said.

The party, therefore, argued that the tribunal lacked the requisite jurisdiction to entertain pre-election complaints embedded in the petition as presently constituted, among other arguments.

The APC urged the tribunal to dismiss the petition with substantial cost as the same was devoid of any merit and founded on frivolity.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Obi, the 1st petitioner, and LP, the 2nd petitioner, had sued the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Tinubu, Sen. Kashim Shettima and APC as 1st to 4th respondents, respectively.

The petitioners are seeking the nullification of the election victory of Tinubu and Shettima in the Feb. 25 presidential poll.

While former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) came second with 6,984,520 votes in the election, Obi came third with 6,101,533 votes.

Abubakar and PDP are also challenging the outcome of the poll.

However, in the petition marked: CA/PEPC/03/2023 filed by Obi and LP’s lead counsel, Livy Ozoukwu, they contended that Tinubu “was not duly elected by a majority of the lawful votes cast at the time of the election.”

The petitioners claimed there was rigging in 11 states, adding that they would demonstrate this in the declaration of results based on the uploaded results.

Obi and LP said INEC violated its own regulations when it announced the result despite the fact that at the time of the announcement, the totality of the polling unit results had yet to be fully scanned, uploaded and transmitted electronically as required by the Electoral Act.

Among other prayers, the petitioners urged the tribunal to “determine that, at the time of the presidential election held on February 25, 2023, the 2nd and 3rd respondents (Tinubu and Shettima) were not qualified to contest the election.

“That it be determined that all the votes recorded for the 2nd respondent in the election are wasted votes, owing to the non-qualification of the 2nd and 3rd respondents.

“That it is determined that on the basis of the remaining votes (after discountenancing the votes credited to the 2nd respondent), the 1st petitioner (Obi) scored a majority of the lawful votes cast at the election and had not less than 25 per cent of the votes cast in each of at least two-thirds of the states of the federation and the FCT and satisfied the constitutional requirements to be declared the winner of the February 25 presidential election.

“That it be determined that the 2nd respondent (Tinubu), having failed to score one-quarter of the votes cast at the presidential election in the FCT, was not entitled to be declared and returned as the winner of the presidential election held on February 25.”

Responding, the APC prayed the court to dismiss the suit on the ground that Obi, the 1st petitioner, lacked requisite locus standi to institute the petition because he was not a member of LP at least 30 days before the party’s presidential primary to be validly sponsored by the party.

It said: “The 1st petitioner (Obi) was a member of PDP until May 24, 2022.

“1st petitioner was screened as a presidential aspirant of the PDP in Apni 2022.

“1st petitioner participated and was cleared to contest the presidential election while being a member of the PDP.

“1st petitioner purportedly resigned his membership of PDP on May 24, 2022, to purportedly join the 2nd petitioner (Labour Party) on May 27, 2022.

“2nd petitioner conducted its presidential primary on May 30, 2022, which purportedly produced 1st petitioner as its candidate, which time contravened Section 77(3) of the Electoral Act for him to contest the primary election as a member of the 2nd petitioner.”

The party argued that Obi was not a member of LP at the time of his alleged sponsorship.

The APC argued that “by the mandatory provisions of Section 77 (1) (2) and (3) of the Electoral Act 2022, a political party shall maintain a register and shall make the such register available to INEC not later than 30 days before the date fixed for the party primaries, congresses and convention.”

It stated further that all the PDP’s presidential candidates were screened on April 29, 2022, an exercise in which Obi participated and was cleared to contest while being a member of the party.

It argued that the petition was incompetent since Obi’s name could not have been in LP’s register made available to INEC at the time he joined the party.

The APC equally argued that the petition was improperly constituted, having failed to join Atiku Abubakar and PDP, which were necessary parties to be affected by the reliefs sought.

“By Paragraph 17 of the petition, the petitioners, on their own, stated that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar came second in the presidential election with 6,984,520 votes as against the petitioners who came third with 6,101,533 votes;

“At Paragraph 102 (ii) of the petition, the petitioners urged the tribunal to determine that the 1st petitioner scored the majority of lawful votes without joining Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in the petition.

“For the tribunal to grant prayer (iii) of the petitioners, the tribunal must have set aside the scores and election of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

“Alhaji Atiku Abubakar must be heard before his votes can be discountenanced by the tribunal,” it said.

The party, therefore, argued that the tribunal lacked the requisite jurisdiction to entertain pre-election complaints embedded in the petition as presently constituted, among other arguments.

The APC urged the tribunal to dismiss the petition with substantial cost as the same was devoid of any merit and founded on frivolity.

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Police Arrest 5 PakistanI Nationals, Recover 35 Phones in Benue Intelligence Ooperations

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August 8, 2026

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The Benue State Police Command has arrested five Pakistani nationals and recovered thirty-five mobile phones in separate intelligence-led operations in Otukpo and Ugbokolo areas of the state.

The arrests were disclosed in a statement issued on Thursday, August 7, 2026, by the Command’s Public Relations Officer, DSP Orchia Peter Aondongu.

According to the statement, operatives acting on credible intelligence arrested three Pakistanis at Adoka Motor Park, Otukpo Local Government Area, on August 4, 2026.

The suspects were identified as Younas Mohammad, 36; Ahmad Nunil, 38; and Aslam Muhammad, 46. They were intercepted while attempting to board a vehicle to Adoka village.

During preliminary questioning, the suspects claimed they were in Otukpo to market cosmetics and mobile gadgets, none of which were found in their possession.

“This made their explanation, activities and movements within the area suspicious, requiring more clarification,” the PPRO stated.

In a separate operation on August 5, 2026, two other Pakistanis, Juma Sharif, 30, and Muhammed Sharif, 25, were arrested at a local hotel in Ugbokolo following another credible intelligence.

The two claimed to be dealers in Android phones. A search of their belongings led to the recovery of eleven Tecno Camon 50 Pro mobile phones.

Further investigation and operational follow-up resulted in the recovery of an additional twenty-three Tecno Camon 50 Pro phones and one Infinix Hot 60 phone, bringing the total number of recovered mobile phones to thirty-five.

The five suspects have been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, Makurdi, where discreet and comprehensive investigations are ongoing to establish the circumstances surrounding their presence, activities and movements within the state.

The Command said it strongly suspects that the possession of the mobile phones may be a decoy for clandestine activities in rural areas of the state, noting that the suspects “hardly speak or understand English.”

The Commissioner of Police, Benue State Command, CP Cletus C. N. Nwadiogbu, commended the officers involved in the operations and members of the public whose timely information contributed to the arrests.

He reassured residents that the operations form part of the Command’s proactive, intelligence-led policing strategy aimed at identifying potential security threats, preventing criminal activities and safeguarding lives and property across the state.

CP Nwadiogbu further urged residents to remain vigilant and promptly report suspicious persons, movements or activities to the Police.

“The Command will continue to work with relevant stakeholders and members of the public to maintain peace and security across Benue State. The public will be updated as the investigation progresses,” the statement added.

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HURIWA Calls for Probe of Adeyemi’s Govt Collaborators

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August 8, 2026

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Human Right Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA
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The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has dismissed the interim report of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on the controversial Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), alleging that its findings have raise more questions than answers.

HURIWA, National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, in a statement, on Friday, argued that the report appeared to focus largely on alleged offences committed by one individual while failing to establish how a purportedly non-existent government agency operated within official circles for an extended period.

The organisation therefore opposed the prosecution of Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, ICPC’ sole accused for forging documents, falsely presenting himself as Director-General of the PFIPC, creating additional agencies, opening bank accounts with forged instruments and exploiting weaknesses in government institutions.

HURIWA insisted that the alleged activities of Adeyemi could not, on their own, explain how the PFIPC acquired the appearance of an official government institution.

In HURIWA’s view, the central issue was not merely who allegedly forged documents, but how such documents were accepted and acted upon by government institutions.

It asked how a non-existent agency could acquire official legitimacy, who admitted its operators into government circles, who authorised meetings and engagements with public institutions and why elementary verification procedures failed to detect the alleged fraud.

The group also questioned how the PFIPC found its way into the 2026 Appropriation Act with a budgetary allocation running into billions of naira if it did not legally exist.

“The questions confronting Nigeria are neither difficult nor complicated,” HURIWA said.

It said there is a need to establish who processed documents linked to the agency, who ignored red flags and who enabled it to operate without challenge.

The organisation expressed concern that the ICPC’s interim findings could give the impression that the scandal was essentially the work of a lone individual.

It argued that such a conclusion would be difficult to reconcile with the scale and duration of the alleged activities, particularly given the involvement of multiple Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

“HURIWA refuses to accept the proposition that one private citizen, acting entirely alone, successfully penetrated multiple Ministries, Departments and Agencies, operated for an extended period, secured official interactions and allegedly built an elaborate structure involving forged instruments without significant failures or possible complicity within the public service,” Onwubiko stated.

The association noted that the ICPC itself had identified weaknesses in inter-agency coordination, verification mechanisms and internal controls, arguing that such weaknesses required further investigation.

It said Nigerians deserved to know whether the failures were merely administrative lapses or whether some officials deliberately facilitated the activities of the alleged fake agency.

HURIWA was particularly critical of any recommendation for administrative sanctions against public officers whose negligence may have enabled the operation.

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Why Alia revamped Abandoned Benue N70bn Taraku Mill After 40 Years

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August 8, 2026

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The Benue State Gov. Hyacinth Alia  says he revived the N70 billion moribund Taraku Mill after 40 years because the state could no longer afford to waste its economic potential.
Alia made the disclosure on Friday in Makurdi during a media chat with the Renewed Hope Ambassadors Presidential Media Team.
The team was led by Mr Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President Bola Tinubu on Media and Strategy.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the team was in Benue to inspect completed and ongoing federal and state infrastructure projects, including the Taraku Mill, located in Gwer East Local Government Area.
The governor said the revival of the mill, located in Taraku, was part of his administration’s broader strategy to establish sustainable economic structures capable of surviving changes in political leadership.
He said previous administrations had lacked a comprehensive development plan, resulting in projects being initiated without adequate consideration for continuity and the actual needs of citizens.
“​​There has to be a direction. There has to be a mission and there has to be a vision,” Alia said.
According to him, his administration’s development blueprint was designed after consultations with communities to distinguish between what people wanted and their actual priority needs.
He said that the approach required government to understand the needs of market women, farmers and other residents before committing resources to projects.
Alia said the objective was to move Benue from  “a glorified village status” and improve the state’s towns and economic centres.
He said sustainability was built into the projects being implemented, stressing that government must put measures in place to ensure investments remained productive after the tenure of the current administration.
The governor argued that government could not completely stay away from business when strategic investments were necessary to create employment, retain capital and stimulate the local economy.
He cited the newly established Benue Brewery, juice factory and concentrate factory as examples of investments intended to process local agricultural products and strengthen the state’s value chain.
Alia said Benue produced sorghum, cassava, maize, oranges and soybeans in large quantities, but needed industries capable of converting the agricultural produce into finished products.
He said the development of such industries would create markets for farmers, generate employment and reduce capital flight caused by importing products that could be produced locally.
The governor said farmers with orchards and farms had been identified and organised into cooperatives, enabling them to access support while providing industries with dependable sources of raw materials.
He said the improved road network linking Benue with Abuja would further enhance opportunities for farmers to take fresh agricultural produce to the federal capital and other markets.
Alia said the revival of Taraku Mill was particularly significant because Benue was previously a leading soybean-producing state, but the collapse of the mill disrupted the market for farmers.
He said the return of the mill would provide a sustained market for soybean farmers, adding that his administration had begun providing incentives and farm inputs to identified producers.
The governor said the revival was, therefore, not limited to restoring the factory but was aimed at rebuilding an agricultural ecosystem in which farmers could consistently earn income from their produce.
Earlier, the inspection team visited the Taraku Mill, where the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr Tersoo Kula, explained that production had continued until around the mid-1990s.
Kula said the factory subsequently became moribund until the Alia administration decided to revamp it, with the machinery serviced and currently undergoing test runs.
He commended residents of the area for protecting the abandoned facility over the years, saying they collectively ensured that no equipment was removed from the premises.
According to him, the mill will produce soybean and groundnut oil, process maize and manufacture animal feeds, thereby restoring its former role as an economic booster for the area.
Kula also attributed the revival to improved economic conditions and support from the Federal Government, saying major investments of that magnitude required adequate resources.
He said the administration had also rehabilitated the Otobi Waterworks and its treatment plant in Otukpo Local Government Area to provide water needed for operations at the mill.
Mr Terngwu Kyuve, General Manager of the mill, said the revived facility would create no fewer than 2,000 direct and indirect jobs when fully operational.
Kyuve said the plant comprised oil, maize and animal-feed divisions, adding that its maize plant had a capacity to process 72,000 metric tonnes annually.
He said the animal-feed plant could process 172,300 metric tonnes annually, while the oil division had mechanical pressing, flaking, solvent extraction and refining facilities.
According to him, the mechanical press can process 200 metric tonnes of seeds daily, solvent extraction 320 metric tonnes daily, while the refinery can process 100 metric tonnes of oil daily.
Kyuve, a pioneer staff member, said maintenance and test-running were ongoing, adding that dry and wet testing would precede actual production.
He expressed optimism that products would begin coming out of the factory within two months, marking the return of Taraku Mill to industrial production after decades of inactivity.

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