News
Diri to open defence at Bayelsa petition tribunal next week
Bayelsa State Governor, Duoye Diri, and his deputy, Lawrence Ewhrujakpo, are expected to open their defence next week before the state governorship tribunal sitting in Abuja.
The All Progressives Congress and its candidate in the governorship election, Timipre Sylva, are challenging the re-election of the governor and his deputy.
The Independent National Electoral Commission had declared Diri the winner of the election after polling 175, 196 votes to defeat his closest rival, Sylva of the APC who scored 110,108 votes.
Dissatisfied, Sylva and APC approached the tribunal to challenge the declaration of Diri as the winner of the November 11, 2023 governorship election.
Sylva and the APC are contending that elections were held in some polling units in three local governments of Southern Ijaw, Ogbia, and Nembe where INEC and the other respondents claimed there was no election.
The petitioners claimed that if the results from these local governments were added to their votes, they won the election.
They urged the tribunal to hold that election held in the said polling units across three local governments and declared them the winner.
At the opening of the hearing on the petition on February 14, 2024, INEC presented evidence to the tribunal to substantiate its claim that voting did not take place due to the alleged diversion of materials and disruption of the electoral process over the alleged bypass of the BVAS machine.
However, the petitioners on Thursday, after calling four witnesses sought for an adjournment to enable them to call more witnesses to prove their case.
Since the request for adjournment was not opposed by the respondents, the Chairman of the three-member panel of the Bayelsa Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, Justice Adekunle Adeleye, announced Monday and Tuesday next week for the continuation of the trial.
The petitioners are expected to close their case next week, after which the governor, his deputy, and the PDP will open theirs.
According to him, such financial mishandling not only disrupts critical public services and projects but also results in major losses to the nation’s purse—resources that could have been channelled into crucial services and developmental efforts, as laid out in Section 14(2)(b) of the Constitution.
Speaker Abbas, thereafter setup a Special Committee to be chaired by Rep. Chinedu Martins to immediately launch a probe into the “Utilisation of take-off grants, bailout funds, and interventions allocated to MDAs, government institutions, and GOEs from 2015 to present.”
The FCT Minister, Mr. Nyesom Wike, expressed satisfaction with the progress on the Abuja light rail project, reaffirming its May 29 delivery as sacrosanct.
He made these assurances after inspecting the ongoing construction of access roads to the train stations on Wednesday, from Metro Train Station in the Central Area to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
Reassuring journalists accompanying him, the minister reiterated that President Bola Tinubu would commission the rail project on May 29 to mark his second year in office.
The visited stations were Wupa station near Idu and Bassanjiwa station near the airport.
“This is part of our routine inspection of ongoing projects to see the contractors’ progress,” Wike explained.
“We are working day and night to fulfill our promise to President Tinubu and FCT residents. By May, Mr. President will ride on the Metro line.”
Gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen are currently invading some communities in the Ukum Local Government Area of Benue State.
According to sources, the herdsmen armed with AK-47 rifles stormed the community around 04:15pm on Thursday.
“Our lives are in danger this evening, armed Fulani herdsmen, about 600 in numbers have taken over our communities this evening,” a resident told SaharaReporters.
“They’re currently moving around towns in Ukum Local Government Area of Benue state. No security personnel at all, Governor Alia didn’t send security, they said operation will start soon once they (herders) have observed the place.”
The insecurity situation in Benue has been alarming in recent weeks with attacks from gunmen suspected to be herdsmen.
The media had reported that suspected herdsmen again unleashed terror in Benue State, attacking three communities in Otukpo Local Government Area (LGA) on Wednesday, just a day after 11 people were killed in a deadly raid on Otobi community.
The latest victims of the escalating violence were Emichi, Odudaje, and Okpamaju, communities that had previously suffered an attack in February, which left five people dead.
However, the renewed attack has created fear and mass displacement among residents, with women and children fleeing to safety.
Local sources say the death toll from the fresh attack remains unclear, but several casualties are feared.
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