Today's Headlines: Tribunal strikes out Atiku’s petition, Curb military coups, cleric urges Tinubu, ECOWAS
Tribunal strikes out Atiku’s petition
The Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Abubakar Atiku on Wednesday suffered a major setback in his legal battle to unseat Bola Ahmed Tinubu as Nigeria’s elected President.
This is as the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal struck out several paragraphs of the petition he relied upon to push for Tinubu’s removal.
Also several exhibits, including witnesses’ statements he tendered to establish his allegations of irregularities, malpractices against the February 25 presidential election were rejected and dis-countenanced by the Tribunal.
Delivering ruling in some objections argued by Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, on behalf of Tinubu, Justice Moses Ugoh held that several parts of Atiku’s petition have no legs upon which they can stand and survive, hence, not competent.
Like the fate that befell his counterpart in the Labour Party’s Peter Obi, the court said several facts fundermentally required to support the petition were not provided by Atiku.
Curb military coups, cleric urges Tinubu, ECOWAS
The Supreme Head of the Cherubim and Seraphim Unification Church of Nigeria, Prophet Solomon Alao, has advised President Bola Tinubu to lead ECOWAS in identifying and fighting the root causes of military coup in Africa instead of threatening war after the collapse of democracy in member-states.
He said no life of a Nigerian soldier should be sacrificed to keep any West African President in power when some of them have violated all tenets of democratic principles in their respective countries.
The clergyman spoke against the military coup in the republic of Niger and Gabon and ECOWAS decision of using military option if negotiations failed in restoring Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum in office.
He said ECOWAS should be more interested in preventing military interventions than fighting the consequences of bad governance and respect for the rule of law by some African leaders.
FG hikes price of electricity meters
The Federal Government, on Wednesday, announced an increase in the prices of single-phase and three-phase pre-paid electricity meters, and declared that the price changes will take effect from September 6, 2023.
It announced this in an order released by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission with the number, NERC/2023/020, and jointly signed by the commission’s Chairman, Sanusi Garba, and its Commissioner, Legal, Licencing and Compliance, Dafe Akpeneye.
In the order, the FG stated that a single-phase meter would now cost N81,975.16k from the previous price of N58,661.69k, while the price of a three-phase meter was raised to N143,836.10k from N109,684.36k.
On why it increased the costs of the meters, the NERC said it was to ensure fair and reasonable pricing of meters to both Meter Asset Providers and end-user customers.
Two suspects arrested over truck driver’s death in Lagos
The Lagos State Police Command in Lagos State has arrested two people suspected of being involved in the killing of a truck driver in the Mile 2 area of the state.
The command’s spokesperson, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the arrest on Wednesday.
He said that the truck had been towed to the Lagos State Transport Management Agency (LASTMA) yard in Oshodi.
“Two suspects have been arrested, and they are helping the police with the ongoing investigation,” he said.
Earlier on Tuesday, there were unconfirmed reports that men of the state task force allegedly killed a yet-to-be-identified person in Mile 2, along the Lagos-Badagry Expressway.
This led to protests by some people, who set up bonfires on the ever-busy road.
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