Court orders APC to conduct fresh election
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by wandoo sombo2 izunaso had asked the court to declare him winner of the post of nos but the court was of the view that while his complaints were well founded it was better to order fresh elections in the affected states1 justice nnamdi dimgba gave the order in a judgment on a suit filed by sen. osita izunaso the plaintiff and a contestant for the office of nos in the recent apc elective convention1 izunaso had asked the court to determine whether the election into the office of national organising secretary of apc was marred by violence leading to the disenfranchisement of delegates from some states1 he further wanted the court to ascertain whether as a result of the disenfranchisement of some delegates apc was right in declaring mr emma ibediro winner of the election since it was inconclusive1 the independent national electoral commission inec apc and ibediro were named as defendants in the matter. izunaso told the court that some thugs loyal to ibediro numbering up to 100 disrupted the election into the office.1 he said that they broke the ballot box making it impossible for votes of delegates from jigawa adamawa anambra abia and imo to be counted thereby rendering the election inconclusive1 he claimed that if the votes of those delegates were counted they would have bridged the 290 vote margin which ibediro defeated him with1 according to izunaso apc erred by going ahead to announce ibediro as winner of the election in spite of the violence thuggery and irregularities recorded1 the federal high court abuja on monday ordered all progressives congress apc to conduct fresh elections for the office of national organising secretary nos within 30 days1 it further agreed that the election did not follow the electoral act and the guidelines made by the party for the convention1 the court further noted that the defendants had not presented an effective defence to the claims made by the plaintiff and as such it was bound by the evidence before it1 on the allegations that the thugs acted on the authority of ibediro dimgba said it was not clear on whose authority the thugs acted but that what was clear was that their actions disrupted the election1 the court also said that inec failed in its duty as an election monitor adding that its dereliction of duty was evident in its monitoring report1 in the report inec said that the elections were conducted in line with guidelines of the 2018 apc elective convention and so it failed in its monitoring function with respect to election into the office of the nos1 he therefore ordered that apc should within 30 days pursuant to the plaintiffs alternative reliefs conduct a fresh election for the five states that were disenfranchised1 he also ordered inec to monitor the repeat election as the body empowered to monitor the smooth conduct of elections in the country1 according to him the duty of officers of the commission as election monitors is not to entertain themselves but to ensure that the elections comply with provisions of the law1 the court agreed that exhibits before it proved that the election was marred by violence and thuggery irregularities and non-compliance with the provisions of the constitution1

Judges elevation wont stop Suswams N9bn fraud trial Court
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by wandoo sombo2 the offences are said to be contrary to and punishable under various provisions of the money laundering prohibition act 2011 and the advance fee fraud and other related offences act1 justice gabriel kolawole gave the ruling in the n9 billion alleged fraud trial against former benue governor gabriel suswam1 the judge made the clarification as a result of concern raised by counsel to suswam mrs chinelo ogbozor as a result of justice kolawoles elevation1 the issue was objected to by the prosecuting counsel mr aminu alilu1 the news agency of nigeria nan reports that the federal government is prosecuting suswam and two others over diversion of n9.79 billion1 part of the diverted funds was said to be for police reform and subsidy reinvestment and empowerment programme1 those charged alongside suswam in the 32- count charge are omadachi oklobia his former commissioner for finance and janet aluga former accountant benue government house1 in the charge the trio allegedly cornered the said funds between 2012 and 2015 while suswam was governor of the state1 they are also accused of conspiracy conversion of property derived directly from corruption collaboration to conceal property derived from corruption obtaining by false pretence and accepting cash payments exceeding the amount authorised by law1 counsel to suswam mrs chinelo ogbozor told the court that her client had certain concerns with regards to proceeding with the trial1 according to her in view of the recent development which is in public domain even though not yet made official which is with regards to the elevation of my lord we will be asking for the courts direction1 a federal high court abuja on tuesday ruled that the issue of elevation would not stop a judge from carrying out his or her duty1 mr a.o. ochogwu counsel to the second defendant in the matter said that his client shared the same views with that of the first defendant1 ochogwu however added that since the court had also fixed march 15 to hear the matter he prayed the court for an adjournment to enable counsel prepare to commence trial1 alilu however maintained that the reason given by the defence for not being ready to proceed was not tenable as there were provisions in law to take care of instances of elevation of a judge1 if a diligent search had been done the defence will realise that section 396 of the administration of criminal justice act acja has taken care of the issue of elevation1 we also have our concerns we transported our witnesses all the way from benue so how do we take care of their accommodation and feeding until thursday1 kolawole noted that the issue of elevation would not stop a judge from carrying out his or her duty1 in a short ruling he said when the matter came up the defence raised concerns over proceeding with the matter on account of elevation of a judge1 but the prosecution had a different view because of section 396 of acja that says a judge elevated shall return and conclude the criminal matter he was handling1 kolawole however said that he could not hear the matter because he had fixed a pre-election matter and that since he was assured of another date for the case he would adjourn it until the next date1 he subsequently adjourned the matter until march 15 for the trial to commence1 she said that as a result of their concerns they were not prepared to proceed with the matter1