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HDP Seeks S’Court’s Reversal Of Verdict In Suit Challenging Buhari’s Election
The Hope Democratic Party (HDP) has returned to the Supreme Court with a motion urging it to reverse itself in the judgment delivered on October 3 dismissing its appeal filed against the election of President Muhammadu Buhari in the February 23, presidential election.
In the said motion, the party claimed that the judgment delivered by Justice Mary Peter Odili in favour of Buhari was invalid and unconstitutional on the ground that it was based on technicalities of law rather than merit and justice.
In the motion brought pursuant to Order 8, Rule 2 of the Supreme Court Rules and Sections 6 and 36 of the 1999 Constitution as well as Section 22 of the Supreme Court Act, the party and its presidential candidate, Chief Ambrose Owuru, pleaded with the court to restore their appeal for fresh hearing on merit.
Besides, counsel to the appellants, Chukwunonyerem Njoku, who filed the motion, insisted that the dismissal of their appeal on October 3 on technical ground was without compliance with the mandatory procedure of law.
The fresh motion, predicated on eight grounds, indicated that the appeal dismissed on preliminary objection of Buhari without requisite applications after it filed briefs and incorporation of notice of objection without leave of the apex court was a nullity and liable to be set aside.
Other ground is that by virtue of Order 8 upon which the dismissal was based, an appellant whose appeal has been dismissed under the rule may apply by notice of motion that the appeal be restored and heard on merit.
The appellants maintained that there were exceptional circumstances as required by law to cause the restoration of the appeal having been dismissed on technical ground without respondents first applying for or granted leave to prevent ambush or surprise to them to prevent the hearing of the appeal on merit and affirm their claim as winners of February 16 presidential referendum election.
They further claimed that the decision of the court arising from respondents’ ambush, intimidation, misdirection of court and non compliance with the strict rules and procedures for hearing notice of preliminary objection is invalid and a nullity in law and liable to be set aside.
A 10-paragraph affidavit in support of the motion with number SC/1110/2019 and deposed to by one Odion Peter Olhoaye, a legal practitioner in the law firm of AA Owuru, claimed that the appellants filed notice of appeal dated August 28, 2019, from the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal to the Supreme Court from their personal record when judgment was withheld, held back and delayed by the tribunal.
They averred that following the last minute release of the judgment by the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal, additional grounds were hurriedly filed and mistakenly titled “Notice of Appeal” instead of “Additional Grounds”.
The two appellants insisted that a mere mistake in the title “Notice of Appeal” instead of “Additional Grounds of Appeal” was not enough ground for Supreme Court to dismiss their appeal on that technicality.
Besides, the appellants further claimed that the Supreme Court jurisdiction had not been fully activated because motion for substituted service on Buhari who up till September 27, 2019, evaded service of court process was yet to be moved or withdrawn in the court’s record before the court was misled into dismissing the appeal on technical objection.
Appellants further contended that the Supreme Court was under a duty in the interest of justice to first dispose of all outstanding applications and motions before determining any issue that touched on the substantive appeal.
The Nigeria Immigration Service has officially ended passport production at multiple centres, transitioning to a single, centralised system for the first time in 62 years.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this yesterday while inspecting Nigeria’s new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja.
He stated that since the establishment of NIS in 1963, Nigeria had never operated a central passport production centre, until now, marking a major reform milestone.
“The project is 100 per cent ready. Nigeria can now be more productive and efficient in delivering passport services,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He explained that old machines could only produce 250 to 300 passports daily, but the new system had a capacity of 4,500 to 5,000 passports every day.
“With this, NIS can now meet daily demands within just four to five hours of operation,” he added, describing it as a game-changer for passport processing in Nigeria.
“We promised two-week delivery, and we’re now pushing for one week.
“Automation and optimisation are crucial for keeping this promise to Nigerians,” the minister said.
He noted that centralisation, in line with global standards, would improve uniformity and enhance the overall integrity of Nigerian travel documents worldwide.
Tunji-Ojo described the development as a step toward bringing services closer to Nigerians while driving a culture of efficiency and total passport system reform.
He said the centralised production system aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda, boosting NIS capacity and changing the narrative for better service delivery.
The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has disbursed N2.225 trillion as federation revenue for the month of August 2025, the highest ever allocation to the three tiers of government and other statutory recipients.
This marks the second consecutive month that FAAC disbursements have crossed the N2 trillion mark.
The revenue, shared at the August 2025 FAAC meeting in Abuja, was buoyed by increases in oil and gas royalty, value-added tax (VAT), and common external tariff (CET) levies, according to a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting.
Out of the N2.225 trillion total distributable revenue, FAAC said N1,478.593 trillion came from statutory revenue, N672.903 billion from VAT, N32.338 billion from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), and N41.284 billion from Exchange Difference.
The communiqué revealed that gross federation revenue for the month stood at N3.635 trillion. From this amount, N124.839 billion was deducted as cost of collection, while N1,285.845 trillion was set aside for transfers, interventions, refunds, and savings.
From the statutory revenue of N1.478 trillion, the Federal Government received N684.462 billion, State Governments received N347.168 billion, and Local Government Councils received N267.652 billion. A further N179.311 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) went to oil-producing states as derivation revenue.
From the distributable VAT revenue of N672.903 billion, the Federal Government received N100.935 billion, the states received N336.452 billion, while the local governments got N235.516 billion.
Of the N32.338 billion shared from EMTL, the Federal Government received N4.851 billion, the States received N16.169 billion, and the Local Governments received N11.318 billion.
From the N41.284 billion exchange difference, the Federal Government received N19.799 billion, the states received N10.042 billion, and the local governments received N7.742 billion, while N3.701 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) was shared to the oil-producing states as derivation.
The Governing Council of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, has decried the inadequate power supply and poor state of infrastructural facilities and equipment at the institution.
The Council also appealed to the government, including Non-Governmental Organisations, agencies, as well as well-meaning Rivers people to intervene to restore and sustain the laudable gesture, dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers of the polytechnic.
The Chairman of the newly inaugurated Council, Professor Friday B. Sigalo, made this appeal during a tour of facilities at the Polytechnic, recently.
Accompanied by members of the team, Prof Sigalo emphasised the position of technology, technical and vocational education in sustainable development.
He noted that with the prospects on ground, and the programmes and activities undertaken in the polytechnic, there is no doubt that the institution would add values to the educational system in our society and foster the desired development, if the existing challenges are jointly tackled.
This was contained in a statement signed by Deputy Registrar, Public Relations, Kenpoly, Innocent Ogbonda-Nwanwu, and made available to The Tide in Port Harcourt.
The chairman who restated the intention of his team of technocrats to ensure that KenPoly enjoys desirable face-lift, said the Council would deliver on its core mandates, accordingly.
Earlier, the Rector, KenPoly Engr. Dr. Ledum S. Gwarah, commended the appointment of Professor Friday B. Sigalo as Chairman of the KenPoly Governing Council.
He described him and his team as seasoned technocrats and expressed confidence in their ability to succeed.
The Rector pledged the management’s support to the Council to ensure that KenPoly resumes its rightful place in the comity of polytechnics in the country.
Facilities visited by the Governing Council include KenPoly workshops, laboratories, skills acquisition centre, library, hostels and medical centre.
Chinedu Wosu
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