A group within the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, known as the Conference of Professionals, CP-PDP, has backed Sunday Ude-Okoye as the party’s National Secretary.

In a statement made available to DAILY POST on Sunday, signed by its Protem National Coordinator, Barr. Obinna Nwachukwu, the group said it took the stand after a review of the issues in the party, as well as the recent Supreme Court judgement.

It said it welcomed the judgement of the Supreme Court which decisively affirmed the supremacy of political parties in the management of their internal affairs, including determination of its officials, membership and even nomination of candidates for election among others, to which the courts have no jurisdiction.

“The Conference notes that the judgment has further strengthened the nation’s democracy by affirming the powers of political parties to internally determine their structures and operations in compliance with the provisions of their Constitutions and Guidelines.

“Against this backdrop, the Conference stands with the stated position of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP in recognizing Rt. Hon. SKE Udeh-Okoye as the substantive National Secretary of the PDP, Okoye having emerged through the internal democratic processes in line with provisions of the PDP Constitution.

“The Conference urges Rt. Hon. Udeh-Okoye to brace up and join hands with other members of the NWC to further stabilize the PDP by instilling discipline, reconciliations, unity of purpose and strengthening our party’s structure across the country for the task ahead.

“The Conference again urges the leadership of the PDP to sanitize the party by immediately expelling the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, from the party,” the statement read

Meanwhile, the CP-PDP expressed shock and dismay over what it called “the manipulative and overbearing action of the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led leadership of the National Assembly in approving the unconstitutional suspension of a democratically elected governor and the legislature of a state by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in violation of the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).”

It described the action of the APC-led leadership of the National Assembly as a total betrayal of public trust and demanded the immediate resignation of the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

“The CP-PDP urges Nigerians to defend the nation’s democracy by speaking out against the constitutional violations by the APC,” the statement concluded.

There was confusion at the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, national secretariat on Friday as Samuel Anyanwu returned to office as the National Secretary.

His return to the PDP national secretariat was captured in a viral video sighted by DAILY POST on Friday.

In the video, Anyanwu, flanked by his supporters, was seen thanking God and PDP leaders for the victory at the Supreme Court.

“I thank my leaders and PDP faithful across the country who stood by the truth,” he said.

This comes amid conflicting interpretations of Friday’s Supreme Court judgement regarding the right occupant of the seat.

DAILY POST reported on Friday that the Supreme Court nullified the judgements of the Court of Appeal and Federal High Court, which sacked Senator Samuel Anyanwu as National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

The apex court, in a judgement delivered by Justice Jamilu Tukur, struck out judgements by trial courts in October and December last year.

However, minutes after the ruling by the Supreme Court, a statement from PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba said the apex court rather upheld Samuel1 Udeh-Okoye as its National Secretary.

The confusion has added more fuel to the chaos in the country’s main opposition party.

The Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal has adjourned indefinitely the judgment in the petition filed against the September 21, 2024, election of Governor Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress, APC, by the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, and its governorship candidate, Mr Asue Ighodalo.

The tribunal adjourned the verdict delivery in the disputed election on Monday in Abuja after taking arguments from the petitioners, comprising Ighodalo and the PDP, and the respondents, which included the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Okpebholo, and the APC.

At the adoption of final written addresses, Justice Wilfred Kpochi, who permitted the petitioners and the respondents some minutes to adumbrate on their arguments, told the parties that the date for judgment delivery in the petition would be communicated to them when ready.

At Monday’s proceedings, a former Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF, Chief Kanu Agabi, SAN, stood for the electoral body, while Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, addressed the tribunal on behalf of Governor Okpebholo, and Chief Emmanuel Ukala, SAN, argued for the APC.

The INEC lawyer said that the petition could not stand the test of time based on the grounds that the tribunal could not annul the September 21, 2024, governorship election because it was not one of the reliefs sought by the petitioners.

The senior lawyer also told the tribunal that it could not declare Ighodalo and the PDP as winners of the election in the light of their own assertion that the election was invalid.

Speaking on the claim of non-compliance pleaded by the petitioners, Agabi said it was weak as it was not accompanied by the appropriate relief, which was the nullification of the election.

He also said that the claim of a majority of lawful votes pleaded by the petitioners could not avail them since their other claim was that the election was invalid.

He also argued that the number of polling unit agents called as witnesses represented an insignificant or even negligible percentage of the number of polling units in Edo.

Another ground that INEC prayed for the tribunal to dismiss the petition on was that all the polling unit agents called as witnesses signed the result sheets and they could not distinguish between what they heard and what they saw.

“This is a clear indication that the election was conducted in compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022.

“The results were duly collated at all levels of collation.

“The petitioners have not pleaded any alternative results on the basis of which they can be declared as winners.

“The case of the petitioners is based on an analysis undertaken by hired consultants,” he said.

He further argued that the documents upon which the petitioners relied were all dumped on the tribunal and could not be used in their favor.

He therefore prayed for the tribunal to dismiss the petition in its entirety as it had no merit.

On his part, counsel to Governor Monday Okpebholo, Mr Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, told the tribunal to dismiss the petition on the grounds that it had become an academic exercise.

He said that in the course of their research, they carefully extracted the polling units which the petitioners tendered documents on and compared them to the ones they presented, and even at that, his client was well ahead of the petitioners in the polls.

On the contentious Form EC25B, where the petitioners claimed the serial numbers of sensitive materials must be given, Ikpeazu said that all that was required for the form was the quantity of electoral materials received and the quantity returned.

He added that a pronouncement of the Supreme Court said that one could not prove over-voting without the Bimodal Verification Authentication System (BVAS) machines, but that none of the machines were opened to allow the tribunal to look at the content.

According to him, the petitioners, by not tendering the right documents, failed to prove over-voting on the whole.

Speaking on behalf of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Emmanuel Ukala argued that it was clear that the case of the petitioners was based virtually and entirely on non-compliance.

“By the nature of the case they pleaded, the Supreme Court has, over the years, laid down that they need to prove this polling unit by polling unit, ward by ward, and local government by local government.”

He, however, argued that rather than prove this, the petitioners dumped documents on the court.

Arguing the case of the petitioners, Mr. Ken Mozia, SAN, said that with 4,519 polling units in Edo, the complaint in the petition was concerning 765 of them.

According to him, it is established law that successful prosecution of an election petition is not about the percentage of the total polling units in the state but the effect of the successive establishment of the complaint.

He further argued that the petition must be considered holistically and not in parts.

“So the submission of isolating grounds and labeling them alone as academic is not well-founded,” he said.

On the issue of not presenting the tribunal with an alternative result, the senior lawyer said that it was on record that all the results before the tribunal were tendered by his client.

On why the petitioners called only five polling unit agents, he said that the main grievance of his client was with what happened at the collation centers and not at the polling units, so they didn’t need more than five agents to testify.

“We concede that elections took place at the polling units, but how 25 votes metamorphosed into 525 votes at the collation center is what we are contesting,” he said.

Speaking on the claim that they dumped documents on the tribunal, Mozia said that all the documents they tendered were duly certified by INEC and were tendered without objection from the commission, the creators of the document.

He also held that the tribunal had the requisite jurisdiction to hear the petition because their allegations were not pre-election matters.

President Bola Tinubu has been asked to call the chairman of Police Service Commission, PSC, Hashimu Salihu Argungu, a retired Deputy Inspector-General of Police, to order over attempt to review a lawful judgement of court.

In a letter dated January 29, signed by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Terkaa Aondo, SAN, the president was asked to call him to order for allegedly meddling unlawfully in the enforcement of the judgement of the court of competent jurisdiction.

In suit number FCT/HC/CV/330/2018, Alhaji Usman Sarahi, challenged the unlawful and illegal revocation of Plot 1798 Cadastral Zone A2, Wuse District, Abuja, covered by a Certificate of Occupancy, without service of Revocation notice in line with the Land Use Act.

Upon determination of the case, the court delivered its judgment in favour of Alhaji Saraki and nullified the purported revocation and subsequent reallocation.

The court held that the purported revocation of the claimant’s right of occupancy without service of revocation notice is illegal, null and void and of no effect whatsoever.

The judgement was enforced on 19/12/2024 by evicting all the occupants and on 25/12/24, one Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar and his thugs, broke back into the property against the Order of the FCT High Court.

The SAN said, in the petition to the president, “It is pertinent to note that, on the 25/12/2024, one Alhaji Abubakar Yahaya, the brother in-law to a top high ranked official of the Police Service Commission, aided by weapon-wielding thugs, criminally and forcefully broke In and entered into the property in total disrespect to the Order of Court that had evicted them. Following complaint  to the Court and the Police, on 14/1/2025, the illegal occupants were evicted from the property, and our client put back in possession.”

Alhaji Yahaya allegedly paid the sum of N700,000.00 to a staff of the execution unit of the FCT High Court to prevent the court staff from going back to the property to further evict him and his illegal occupants and thugs.

But Alhaji Yahaya, through his Counsel, Barrister Sani Abass, said the money was paid to the Court staff in error. He said, “That issue has been resolved, the money was sent in error and it has been reversed”.

Alhaji Yahaya approached the court in Suit No. FCT/HC/CV/5699/2024, over the enforcement of judgment and secured an injunction to stop further construction work on the property and also petitioned the PSC, following which a panel, chaired by the chairman of the commission, DIG Argungu (rtd) is said to be conducting an investigation into the enforcement of Judgment of a Court of competent jurisdiction over a civil matter.

The senior advocate said in the petition that despite the pendency of the matter before FCT High Court, his client was invited by a letter personally signed by the chairman of the PSC to appear before a panel set up by the PSC chairman over issues relating to the Court judgment and its enforcement which are subject of Suit No. FCT/HC/CV/5699/2024 pending before FCT High Court No. 5, Maitama, presided over by Hon. Justice Mairo Nasir.

According to the senior counsel, when the Panel sat on 27/1/2025, most of the issues raised by the Panel relate to the where-abouts of the judgment creditor; how the plot was allocated and how the Judgment was obtained and enforced, which are all matters that have been decided on merit by a Court of competent jurisdiction in Suit No. FCT/HC/CV/330/2018, and which also form the basis of the pending litigation in Suit No. FCT/HC/CV/5699/2024.

“All efforts by counsel to make the chairman appreciate the fact that the investigation over the plot of land upon which a judgment of court subsists, Is outside the mandate of the Commission, proved abortive. In the course of the sitting on 27/1/2025, in a rather shocking and bizarre twist, the Chairman directed the Panel to pay a visit to the locus in quo for a first hand assessment of the property, and deployed several Police Vehicles and Armoured vehicle, for this purpose.”

A senior official of the PSC, Mr Ikechukwu Ani, said he is not aware of the panel. According to him, ” To the best of my knowledge, I’m not aware of such panel.”

The SAN states that his client feels intimidated by the posture and threats by the Chairman of the PSC, but he is nonetheless, uninterested in any resolution of the matter outside the Court. The SAN concludes that: “It is important to note, Sir, that It is against the hallowed principle of rule of law, which your administration Is poised to protect, for an appointee of an exalted public office to deliberately interfere in the judicial process and the cause of justice. We pray your Excellency Sir, to use your good offices to call the Chairman of the Police Service Commission to order and to cause him to align himself with the mandate for which the Commission was established.”

Abdulrahman Bashar, the founder of Rahmaniya Group and Ultimate Oil & Gas, has vowed to challenge a Dubai court’s judgement against him, describing it as a pressure tactic to threaten his reputation and business.

A Dubai court had sentenced Abdulrahman to one year in prison for an alleged financial crime involving his dealings with CE Energy Company, an oil and gas firm.

But the business mogul kicked against the verdict, insisting he is innocent and taking steps to overturn the ruling with Global law firm HFW as the counsel.

Abdulrahman said: “We refer to the criminal proceedings and recent judgment issued in the criminal courts against us on 30 January 2025. First and foremost, we reject any allegations of criminality.

“There are several ongoing civil disputes between CEE and Bashar. The criminal proceedings have, in our view, been filed against Bashar as a pressure tactic in the context of the commercial proceedings to threaten Bashar’s reputation and business. We will take all available steps available to him to challenge the judgment.”

He alleged that CEE had used similar heavy-handed litigation tactics in the commercial proceedings, including seeking a Worldwide Freezing Order (the WFO) from the English Court against him.

According to Bashar, the WFO was successfully challenged and discharged, while CEE’s application to the Court of Appeal was also rejected.

“It is worth noting that Abdulrahman is currently doing his legal business in Nigeria and not in any prison as presumed,” he maintained.

The Federal Ministry of Works has budgeted N5 billion to pay judgement debts arising from road projects.

The ministry also budgeted N5 billion for payment of legal fees in the year 2025.

The proposal is contained in the 2025 appropriation budget for the ministry in year 2025 reviewed by LEADERSHIP.

The proposal may not be unconnected with the ongoing four legacy projects connecting the six geopolitical zones of the country.

Particularly, the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway which has been faced with series of legal suits following the demolition of some structures on the corridor.

In August 2024, the Minister of Works Engr. David Umahi disclosed that there were over six court cases against the Lagos-Calabar Coastal highway but assured that the federal government will not be deterred.

Speaking on the legal cases against Lagos-Calabar Coastal highway, he said “that is the beauty of democracy and under the guise of democracy we have some fraudulent individuals who want to rip where they did not sow. We have not just one court case, we have over six but we are equal to the task. They want to socket their pipes and that is all that they are doing. We are paying compensation, we are following the gazetted right of way ,we are following the corridor that is legally allowed for federal government so we don’t know why they are taking to court. We have ESIA certificate on the project and the project is listed in 2023 supplementary budget”.

The federal government also budgeted N100,000,000 for the Trans Sahara Superhighway cutting across Calabar-Ebonyi-Benue-Kogi-Nasarawa to Apo in Abuja. The Badagry to  Sokoto State Highway construction got 100,000,000.

While this reporter could not identify the particular budget for the controversial Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, N100,000,000 was said to be allocated to Lagos-Port Harcourt Coastal Highway project which is non-existent.

When contacted, the Director Information, Ministry of Works Mohammed Ahmed insisted that the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway is captured in the budget under the four legacy projects.

He however,did not state exactly where it is located in the budget proposal.