736 petitions filed against 2019 elections, says Appeal Court

The figures released by the headquarters of the Court of Appeal
in Abuja showed on Thursday that 736 election petitions have been
filed to challenge the outcome of the 2019 general elections,
including the presidential election, at various states and
levels.

The Court of Appeal is the coordinating secretariat for all
election petition affairs, including the selection of judges
participating in the election tribunals across the country.

The data released by the office of the Chief Registrar, Election
Petitions Tribunal, Court of Appeal, Mrs. Rabi Abdulazeez, showed
that four petitions were filed to challenge the All Progressives
Congress and President Muhammadu Buhari’s victory at the February
23, 2019 poll.

It also showed that the senatorial elections, held in only 109
senatorial districts, had attracted 207 election petitions, almost
doubling the number of districts where the polls held.

The House of Representatives elections conducted in 360 federal
constituencies had given rise to 101 petitions.

Giving a breakdown of petitions so far filed as of April 4,
2019, the data released by the Information Officer of the Court of
Appeal, Saadatu Musa Kachalla, stated:

House of Representatives elections: 101
Senatorial elections: 207
Governorship elections: 101
State House of Assembly election: 381
Presidential election: 4.

Copies of the petition were on display at the premises of the
Court of Appeal in Abuja, venue of the Presidential Election
Petition Tribunal.

The petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party and its
candidate, Atiku Abubakar, on March 18, was marked
CA/PEPC/002/2019.

Another of the petitions was filed on March 7 by Hope Democratic
Party and its National Chairman/presidential candidate, Ambrose
‎Owuru.

The other petition with number CA/PEPC/004/2019 filed ‎on March
19, was by Aminchi Habu and his party, the Peoples Democratic
Movement.

The fourth petition was by Geff Ojinika and Coalition for
Change, who both contended that “the election was vitiated by
substantial non-compliance with mandatory statutory provisions
which irregularity substantially affected the election such that
the 1st respondent (Buhari) was not entitled to be returned as the
winner of the presidential election.”

The petitioners all joined INEC, Buhari and the APC as the
respondents.

But the Coalition for Change ‎and Ojinika added Vice-President
Yemi Osinbajo to their list of respondents.

Kidnappers of Buhari’s Prayer Warrior
Nabbed
…. ‘We fought, killed one another after releasing Sheikh’— Gang
Leader Confesses

A notorious kidnapper, Lawal Ibrahim and members of his gang who
abducted Sheikh Ahmad Sulaiman and other clerics in Katsina State
have been arrested by security operatives while trying to flee the
den.

While being interrogated by security operatives, in a video
obtained by PRNigeria, the gang leader said some members of the
terror group brutally attacked and killed one another after
releasing the popular Quranic reciter and other Islamic
clerics.

Ibrahim, a middle-aged man and another accomplice who gave his
name as Isiyah, said ten of them were involved in the abduction of
the renowned Islamic scholar who supported and offered prayers at
political rallies for the re-election bid of President Muhammadu
Buhari in the build-up to the 2019 general elections.

Ibrahim disclosed that he never met or physically saw one Alhaji
Dogo Nalade who he claimed was their ringleader but said Nalade
regularly communicate with them via phone from an undisclosed
hideout.

The notorious kidnapper said they were arrested while trying to
flee their abduction’s den to Obajana town in Kogi State, in search
of legitimate unskilled jobs after quitting their ‘heinous’ trade
of kidnapping.

He disclosed that the weapons they used for operations were
supplied by persons who asked them to use it for their ‘obnoxious
profession’ and thereafter request for commissions.

“Mallam’s release is somehow mysterious. This is because despite
our unyielding resolve to collect ransom from his people and
well-wishers, we later decided to allow him go.

“However, a violent fight broke out between members of our gang.
Two gang-members were initially killed in the forest by some of our
colleagues. Though, the two of us that were arrested luckily fled
the forest to avoid been killed, seven other kidnappers among us
were shot and killed by our aggrieved members,” he added.

Sheikh Ahmed Sulaiman and others regained freedom from
kidnappers on March 27, 2019 after spending about two weeks in the
kidnappers’ den.

The cleric and other victims were kidnapped along Sheme to
Kankara road in Katsina, on their way back to Kano State, after
attending a religious activity in Kebbi State.

By PRNigeria