THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), yesterday, has opened and closed its defence in the petition by the Labour party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, before the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC).

  The electoral body had on Monday, July 3, failed to commence its defence because of the absence of its witness scheduled for the day; hence adjournment to yesterday.

At the resumed hearing, INEC’s Counsel, Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN), announced the closure of the first respondent’s case after the conclusion of the testimony of its sole witness, Dr. Lawrence Bayode, a Deputy Director in its Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Department, who told the court that he has worked for INEC for 24 years.

Before then, INEC had tendered some documents, which were admitted and marked as exhibits.

Under cross examination by Counsel for the petitioners, Patrick Ikwueto (SAN), the witness told the court that the testing of the software application for the election was carried out on February 4, adding that there was a report on the testing, but it was not with him in the court.

The petitioners, however, tendered the e- transmission saver Web and compliance form through the witness and was admitted and marked as evidence.

The witness told the court that the pre-production test was carried out before the election.

When asked if the hard copy of the results would be different from the ones in the IreV, he said no, adding, however, that anything could happen when sending the results from Form EC8A to the IreV.

He admitted that performance, functionality and vulnerability tests were carried out before the election and agreed with Ikwueto that the report of the e-transmission application identifies remediation to be undertaken to resolve the high vulnerability identified in the report.

The witness said he does not know INEC’s web address where its materials are published.

In his cross examination, Wole Olanipekun (SAN), Counsel for President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima, asked if foundation and authenticity of any election by INEC is rooted in Forms EC8A and EC8E, to which the witness said yes, adding that blurred documents downloaded from INEC IreV would not affect the physical results in Form EC8A, because the image there is not relevant.

He said the election is concluded with the recording, snapping and sending to INEC’s IreV.

Answering questions from APC’s Counsel, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), the witness said the physical results are used for computing the election final results and that the glitches that occurred on the day of the election did not affect the collation of the results.

He added that if what was downloaded from the IreV are not clear, the physical results could also be obtained, saying that ECOWAS monitored the election, but he does not have their report.

The witness stated that the cloud trial log account of INEC could be obtained from Amazon Web Services (AWS), noting that this shows the patches that were deployed on e- transmission applications on AWS to fix the glitches that were encountered on election day.

After the testimony of the sole witness, Mahmoud told the court that INEC’s defence was closed.

Olanipekun later told the court that Tinubu and Shettima, who are listed as second and third respondents in the petition, will tomorrow open their defence.

The five-member panel, presided over by Justice Haruna Tsammani, adjourned until Wednesday, July 5 for Tinubu and Shettima to open their defence.

THE Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, on Tuesday, July 4, announced the names of the majority leadership of the 10^th Senate, with the senator representing Ekiti Central, Opeyemi Bamidele, emerging as the Senate Leader.

All the leaders, who are members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), emerged through consensus, including David Umahi (APC-Ebonyi), Deputy Majority Leader; Mohammed Ali Ndume (APC-Borno), Senate Majority Whip and Lola Ashiru (APC-Kwara), Deputy Majority Whip.

  Akpabio made the announcement at plenary at 11. 29 a.m. after commencement of proceedings following the Eid-El Kabir break.

Akpabio said: “The All Progressives Congress (APC) caucus of the Senate, after consultations, has emerged with their leadership, which will be the fulcrum of commencing other businesses of the chamber.

“I’m happy to announce that by consensus the Senate Leader is Senator Opeyemi Bamidele. He will be the Majority Leader. Senator Mohammed Ndume (APC-Borno) will be the Chief Whip of the 10th Senate; Senator David Umahi (APC-Ebonyi), by your consent, will act as the Deputy Leader and Senator Lola Ashiru (APC-Kwara) will be the Deputy Chief Whip.”

  Bamidele, chairman, Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters in the 9th National Assembly, was a member of the 7th House of Representatives, where he chaired the committee on Legislative Budget and Research.

Insists Result Was Fake

Innoson Boss Says It’s Unfortunate

THE Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has insisted that the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) result being paraded by Ejikeme Joy Mmesoma, who purportedly scored the highest mark in examination, was patently faked.

According to a statement on Tuesday, July 4, 2023 by JAMB’s spokesperson, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, the Board, after considering the weighty infraction committed by Ejikeme, and in line with its established procedures, decided to withdraw her 2023 UTME result and also barred her from sitting the Board’s examination for the next three years.

JAMB alleged that Ejikeme simply falsified a copy of a result slip of another candidate, named Asimiyu Mariam Omobolanle, who sat the UTME in 2021 and scored 138, adding that its system was neither tampered with nor compromised.

The statement read: “It is also instructive to note that the candidate, in her statement, has inadvertently revealed the rightful owner of the result she is parading when she pointed out that the QR code on the result slip showed the actual owner of the said result before she peddled a lie in an attempt to obfuscate the truth.

  “To witness the unassailable position of the Board regarding this obvious falsehood, the general public is, therefore, urged to endeavour to scan the QR code on the result slip to see its actual owner before it was mutilated.

“It is to be noted that the QR code encapsulates the UTME result of each candidate; hence what is on the result sheet is nothing other than the interpretation of the information on this QR code.

“Furthermore, the public is also to note that the Board stopped issuing Notification of Result slips after the 2021 UTME for the simple reason that candidates were falsifying them.

“Consequently, the Board has been issuing actual UTME RESULT Slips (not notification of results) since 2022, complete with the photograph of each candidate.

“Similarly, the public is also invited to ponder on the fact that out of all the candidates that sat the 2023 UTME, only Ejikeme Mmesoma parades the obsolete ‘Notification of Result.”

JAMB stated that it remained unperturbed by this development, as it was not the first time such fraudulent claims had been made, adding: “As such, Nigerians are urged to recall numerous occasions where the Board was sued for billions of naira, only for the lawyers to later apologise profusely for their clients’ misadventure.

“Prominent among these is the case of a candidate, John Chinedu Ifesinachi, who, in 2021, wrote a letter to the Board, threatening to sue for N2billion damages, only for him and his Counsel to tender unreserved apology when the candidate eventually confessed his crime in the face of incontrovertible facts in an open investigation observed by several national public institutions, including the Public Complaints Commission (PCC), National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Council (FCCPC), Servicom and media houses.”

The Board said the matter had been handed over to relevant security agencies for a thorough investigation to unravel the masterminds of the scam, noting: “The Board is not averse to public scrutiny and is ready for open public session, involving the agencies listed above, as well as relevant security agencies, where the candidate, parents guardian and her legal team will be present.”

It urged Nigerians to examine critically, the issue at hand and avoid spreading fake news.

   Meanwhile, Founder of Innoson Motors, Chief Innocent Chukwuma, who earlier awarded a scholarship to Ejikeme based on the said result, has described as very unfortunate, JAMB’s revelation that Ejikeme’s 362 score in the 2023 UMTE was fake.

Chukwuma said he was earlier excited when he heard about her performance in the UMTE, especially having attended a public, and not a private school.

He explained: “When I was told that a student of a public school recorded the highest score in the JAMB examination, I sent for the principal of the school and the principal confirmed to me that it was true that the girl scored the mark.

“I said to myself that such a brilliant girl if properly educated will be beneficial to our country and the world at large, so I decided to award her scholarship so that nothing will stop her from attaining a University education.

“When awarded her the scholarship, I deposited N3million in a dedicated bank account and told the principal that the money is strictly meant for Mmesoma’s education in the university; that any time she needs to pay any fee in the school, they will let me know so that I will sign for withdrawal of money from the account. I made the arrangement so that nobody, including the girl’s parents can divert the money to another thing.”

The Nnewi-based industrialist expressed regret over the controversy surrounding her result, saying he will set up an investigation team to ascertain if it was somebody else that manipulated the result for her without her consent or she deliberately faked it to deceive people to believe that she is a brilliant student.

“The little girl I saw looked so innocent that I can’t believe that she can manipulate her score. If I find out that she deliberately faked her result, I will cancel the scholarship because I can’t encourage a criminal; such person cannot be useful to the society.

“But if I find out that she didn’t have a hand in the manipulation; that the score was given to her in error or that someone manipulated the result for her without her knowing, I will not cancel the scholarship. So, I will make inquiry to find out what actually happened.

“I didn’t know the girl before. I heard that she hails from Enugu State but studied in a public school in Anambra State, so my interest is to make sure that I support her to realise her potential in education and be useful to our nation, that is all. And to encourage other younger ones to take their education very seriously,” he stated.

THE absence of a witness, on Monday, July 3 stalled the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from opening its case in the petition filed by Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi.

Both are challenging INEC’s declaration of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as winner of the February 25, 2023 election.

The Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), sitting at the Court of Appeal in Abuja , last week adjourned till Monday for INEC, which is the first respondent in the petition, to open its defence.

When the petition was called, INEC’s Lead Counsel, Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN), told the court that the first defendant had three days to defend the outcome of the election.

He told the court that the body has three witnesses to present in its case, but regretted that the witness slated to give evidence for the day was not in court and asked for an adjournment until Tuesday, July 4 for INEC to open its case.

Other respondents are Vice President Kashim Shettima and the APC.

  The request for adjournment was not opposed by the petitioners, Tinubu, Shettima and the APC.

Consequently, the five-member panel of Justices of the court, led by Justice Haruna Tsammani, adjourned further proceedings in the petition until Tuesday.

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has charged the newly appointed service chiefs to work as a team, saying there is work to be done.

  Speaking on Monday, July 3 during his first meeting with them and the new National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu since their appointment on June 19, 2023, at the State House, Abuja, the President, according to Ribadu, assured them of his unwavering support.

  Ribadu explained that the service chiefs, on their part, pledged their loyalty to the President and Nigerians, while also underlining their commitment to work tirelessly to secure the country.

  Ribadu said: “We are here to thank Mr. President for the opportunity he gave us to serve our country and to serve his own government. We also pledged our loyalty to him, to Nigeria and Nigerians.

“We believe that the choice he made is the right one, the correct one, and we know what he wants for this country. We are going to work tirelessly to ensure that we accomplish that objective of securing our country, establishing peace, stability and let’s get our lives back.”

The former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said although the task ahead was a big one, it was achievable, adding: “Where we are today, and you can see already, things are improving in our country. If you see, the record of crimes and activities of criminals are going down, it will continue to go down. We’ll secure this place.

  “Nigerians have seen the quality of the people that are given the opportunity, they are probably some of the best we have and they are not going to fail you, they’ll certainly deliver.”

The Chief of Defence Staff, Maj-Gen. C.G. Musa; Chief of Army Staff, Maj-Gen T. A. Lagbaja; Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral E. A. Ogalla; Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal H.B. Abubakar and the acting Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun attended the meeting.

‘I Printed My Result From JAMB Portal’

THE Anambra State Government has set up a panel of inquiry into the controversy following the highest scorer in the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

The state Commissioner for Education, Prof. Ngozi Chuma-Udeh, who announced this in a statement in Awka, on Monday, July 3, said: “A panel of inquiry has been set up to work with security agents to investigate the allegation of falsification of result levelled against Mmesoma Ejikeme, who had earlier been showcased in the social media as having scored the highest.”

The commissioner described the controversy over Ejikeme’s actual result as embarrassing, especially coming at a time Governor Chukwuma Soludo was repositioning the education sector in the state.

Ejikeme, a student of Anglican Girls Secondary School, Uruagu in Nnewi, had earlier been celebrated for emerging with the highest score of 362 in the 2023 UTME, a result later described by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) as fake.

JAMB, in a statement on Sunday, July 2, alleged that Ejikeme inflated her actual result from 249 to 362, vowing to prosecute her and others that allegedly manipulated their results.

Meanwhile, the state government has hailed another candidate in the examination, Nkechinyere Umeh, also from Anambra State, who was declared by JAMB as the actual highest scorer nationwide, with a cumulative mark of 360 in the 2023 UTME.

In a related development, Ejikeme has dismissed JAMB’s allegations that she manipulated her result to “deceive the public to fraudulently obtain a scholarship and other recognitions.”

Speaking in a video online, Ejikeme insisted that she printed her result from JAMB portal, saying the allegation has left her traumatised, because she was not capable of forging her own result.

According to her: “I am the owner of this result. I went to JAMB portal to print this result and this is what they gave me. This is my aggregate, 362. This is exactly how I printed it out and downloaded from the site.

“So, the fact that they are now saying I forged the result is what I don’t know. I am traumatised that they accused me of forging my own result. This is because I am not capable of forging my own result.

“This is the evidence. They said that I forged my result. They scanned this QR code then and it showed another name, a Yoruba name, Omotola Afolabi, 138. And that same person that scored 138, they checked again, the person score 338. Meaning that there is problem somewhere.

“And we went to the commissioner for Education’s office last week Friday, with my principal and the educational secretary of Anglican Secondary School Girls of Anglican Diocese. We went there and showed this result to the commissioner. She snapped it and sent it to the JAMB officials.

“They called back and said this is a forged result, that I forged it myself, that the JAMB office don’t have the record of this.

“They now said that I forged it and called the DSS over. The DSS took us to their office and we made our statements there and said they will contact us later, that they are going to investigate this result to know where the source came from.

“So, instead of them to wait for the investigation to be over, they posted that I forged the result without confirming. I am really sad about it.

“Since my nursery school, I have been taking first. It’s not that I am an illiterate girl to go and forge my result. Even in my common entrance exam, I scored three hundred and something.”

Calls It ‘Jaundiced, ‘Poorly Done Desk Job’

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has rejected the report of the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) on Nigeria’s 2023 general elections.

  The EU Mission had stated that the presidential selection of the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) leaves the electoral body vulnerable to the perception of partiality, adding that the elections did not ensure a well-run transparent and inclusive democratic process as assured by INEC.

  It explained that public confidence and trust in INEC were severely damaged during the presidential poll and were not restored in state-level elections, leading civil society to call for an independent audit of the entire process.

The Mission also decried alleged Police inaction, which it said fuelled impunity during the elections, saying it was sad that in some cases, the “Police detained the journalist who documented irregularities, but not the attacker.”

In its final report submitted to INEC on Monday, June 26, the EU EOM said it was despicable that media workers were left vulnerable and prone to attacks, while the security agencies watched or even collaborated with attackers.

But in his reaction, Special Adviser to the President  on Special Duties, Communications and Strategy, Dele Alake, in a statement on Sunday, July 2, 2023, described the EU Mission report as unfounded bias.

According to Alake: “Sometime in May, we alerted the nation, through a press statement, to the plan by a continental multi-lateral institution to discredit the 2023 general elections conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission. The main target was the presidential election, clearly and fairly won by the then candidate of All Progressives Congress, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“While we did not mention the name of the organisation in the said statement, we made it abundantly clear to Nigerians how this foreign institution had been unrelenting in its assault on the credibility of the electoral process, the sovereignty of our country and on our ability as a people to organise ourselves.

“We find it preposterous and unconscionable that in this day and age, any foreign organisation of whatever hue can continue to insist on its own yardstick and assessment as the only way to determine the credibility and transparency of our elections.

“Now that the organisation has submitted what it claimed to be its final report on the elections, we can now categorically let Nigerians and the entire world know that we were not unaware of the machinations of the European Union to sustain its, largely, unfounded bias and claims on the election outcomes.”

  He added: “For emphasis, we want to reiterate that the 2023 general elections, most especially the presidential election, won by President Bola Tinubu/All Progressives Congress, were credible, peaceful, free, fair and the best organised general elections in Nigeria since 1999.

  “There is no substantial evidence provided by the European Union or any foreign and local organisation that is viable enough to impeach the integrity of the 2023 election outcomes.

“It is worth restating that the limitation of EU final assessment and conclusions on our elections was made very bare in the text of the press conference addressed by the Head of its Electoral Observation Mission, Barry Andrews.

“While addressing journalists in Abuja on the so-called final report, Andrews noted that  monitored the pre-election and post-election processes in Nigeria from January 11 to April 11, 2023 as an INEC accredited election monitoring group.

“Within this period, EU-EOM observed the elections through 11 Abuja-based analysts, and 40 election observers spread across 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

“With the level of personnel deployed, which was barely an average of one person per state, we wonder how EU-EOM independently monitored election in over 176,000 polling units across Nigeria.

  “We would like to know and even ask EU, how it reached the conclusions in the submitted final report with the very limited coverage of the elections by their observers who, without doubt, relied more on rumours, hearsay, cocktails of prejudiced and uninformed social media commentaries and opposition talking heads.

  “We are convinced that what EU-EOM called final report on our recent elections is a product of a poorly done desk job that relied heavily on few instances of skirmishes in less than 1000 polling units out of over 176,000 where Nigerians voted on election day.

   “We have many reasons to believe the jaundiced report, based on the views of fewer than 50 observers, was to merely sustain the same premature denunciatory stance contained in EU’s preliminary report released in March.

  “We strongly reject, in its entirety, any notion and idea from any organisation, group and individual remotely suggesting that the 2023 election was fraudulent.”

  The outcome of that presidential election and declaration of Tinubu as winner is currently being challenged at the Presidential Election Tribunal by the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart, Atiku Abubakar, among other candidates.

THE Campaign Manager of the Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign in the February 25, 2023 election, Oseloka Obaze, has cautioned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) against tampering with IRev, as it concerns the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

In a tweet on Saturday, July 1, 2023, Obaze said intelligence reaching the campaign office showed that INEC was trying to succumb to pressures to tinker with the results of some states, including the FCT, to enable the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to be in good standing.

He stated: “According to our source, INEC is tampering with the machines used in the election to adjust FCT results to give the APC candidate the much-needed 25%, which he did not get as per the initial INEC declaration and for which he is being challenged at the Presidential Election Tribunal.

“It’s not clear how the electoral commission can brazenly carry out such bizarre action, but given the abracadabra they did to announce the APC candidate winner by 4 am., there is nothing to be taken for granted.”

Obaze said INEC and the ruling APC might be taking the adherence to the rule of law and due process disposition of Nigerians in general and the Obidient Movement in particular for granted, but warned that it would be courting catastrophe for them to want to pour salt into an open wound inflicted on Nigeria’s electorate.

He reminded INEC that what it was allegedly trying to do was tantamount to raising a dead horse and that whether the reports were fake or real, the Commission should know the level of public confidence in it has long been eroded.

THE President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, on Saturday, July 1, 2023, led members of the senate on Sallah homage to the Keffi, Nasarawa State residence of the National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Abdullahi Adamu.Akpabio, who was accompanied by his Deputy, Jibrin Barau, Senators Dave Umahi, Ali Ndume and Opeyemi Bamidele, expressed happiness for the opportunity to visit Adamu, adding: “Sallah is a period to exchange love which is what Islam enjoins us to do.”

  He described Adamu as a man of integrity that piloted the recent zoning arrangements in the National Assembly (NASS), which produced results, adding: “We are here to pay Sallah homage to a man of honour. To give respect to whom it is due.

“We thank the leadership of the party and the National Working Committee (NWC), through you, for the role you played which led to the success of the National Assembly leadership elections.

“We also thank the Almighty Allah for keeping you alive and we pray that He keeps you alive in good health for more contributions to the development of the youth of this country.

  “As I have been saying, the 10th National Assembly will support the President Bola Tinubu-led administration to succeed. We will put laws in place to support the Renewed Hope agenda of this administration in the overall interest of national peace, unity and development.”

  Responding on behalf of the leadership of the party, Adamu charged NASS members to collaborate with the executive arm of government in the overall interest of Nigerians. 

  He stated: “I congratulate you and your deputy on your emergence as the President of the Senate and Deputy President of the Senate, respectively. Your emergence was a great relief to the party.

“Contests for offices are over, it is now time for governance. There must be effective collaboration between the Legislature and the Executive in the overall interest of our people.

  “Nigerians expect a lot through you and that can only be achieved through a united legislature and the executive working in sync in bipartisan manner.

“As the President of the Senate and Chairman of the National Assembly, you have the knowledge, experience and what it takes for the two arms of government to work in harmony for the peace and development of our country.”