Press zooms in 4 petitions for nullification of Nigeria’s presidential poll, others

APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
Four presidential candidates on Tuesday approached the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal in Abuja with separate petitions, seeking the nullification of the declaration of Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress as winner of the February 25 presidential poll.
The petitioners, seeking nullification of Tinubu’s emergence as President-elect as Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party; Peter Obi of Labour Party; Solomon Okangbuan of Action Alliance and Allied People’s Movement’s Chichi Ojei.
Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party came second with 6,984,520 votes; while Obi came third with 6,101,533 votes.
The petition by Obi and LP, marked CA/PEPC/03/2023, had INEC, Tinubu, his running mate, Shettima Kashim, and the APC as respondents.
In the petition, Obi further contended that Tinubu “was not duly elected by majority of the lawful votes cast at the time of the election.”
Obi claimed there was rigging in 11 states, adding that he would demonstrate this in the declaration of results based on the uploaded results.
The petition read, “The petitioners shall show that in the computation and declaration of the result of the election, based on the updated results, the votes recorded for the second respondent (Tinubu) did not comply with the legitimate process for the computation of the result and disfavoured the petitioners in the following states: Rivers, Lagos, Taraba, Benue, Adamawa, Imo, Bauchi, Borno, Kaduna, Plateau and other states of the federation.’’
The newspaper says that economists have faulted the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria over its decision to increase the benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points to 18 per cent from 17.5 per cent.
The experts spoke in reaction to the lending rate announced by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, on Tuesday.
Emefiele, while reading the communiqué of the second MPC meeting of the year on Tuesday, said the slight increase was meant to mitigate the effect of inflation and other economic challenges.
He said, “The MPC committee voted to raise the MPR by 50 basis points to 18 per cent, retain asymmetric corridor at +100 and -500 basis points around the MPR. Members resolved by a majority vote to raise money policy rate NPR by 50 basis points. In summary, 10 members voted to raise MPR by 50 basis points, one member voted to raise MPI by 25 basis points, and one member voted to hold the MPR.
“All members voted to keep all other parameters constant. The MPC voted to raise MPR to 18 per cent, retain a symmetric corridor plus 100 and minus 500 points around the MPR, retain the CRR at 32.5% and retained liquidity ratio at 30 per cent.”
However, economists who spoke with The PUNCH the increase was needless at a time the country was battling with the effects of the naira redesign policy.
A professor of Economics at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Sheriffdeen Tella, said, “The rake hike is unnecessary. Who is even borrowing from the banks? Can the banks lend anybody money when they don’t have money? The MPR is supposed to be a signal to the banks; if they increase MPR, the central bank is saying, ‘charge more for loans.’ The loans are not even there. It is when the banks receive money that they can create money to give as loans.
“What one expects from them is to leave the MPR as it is presently and work on how the central bank can make the banks work, getting cash, not when banks are still rationing cash. If they had enough cash, they won’t be rationing money.”
A professor of Capital Market at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Uche Uwaleke, supported Tella’s stance, saying, “It’s apparent the MPC is still concerned about rising inflation and the pressure in the forex market against the backdrop of its primary mandate of maintaining price stability.
The Guardian reports that the United States has called on the Federal Government to bring to justice everyone that was involved in violence, including intimidation of voters and suppression of voting during the last election.
It also said it was considering taking all available actions, including additional visa restrictions, on individuals believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining the democratic process in Nigeria.
This was contained in a statement on Tuesday by the United States Embassy in Nigeria, which read: “We call on Nigerian authorities to hold accountable and bring to justice any individual found to have ordered or carried out efforts to intimidate voters and suppress voting during the election process.
“The United States likewise will consider all available actions, including additional visa restrictions, on individuals believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining the democratic process in Nigeria.”
The statement while recalling that Nigeria carried out the second round of its electoral process with gubernatorial and state assembly elections on March 18, stated that the United States was deeply troubled by the disturbing acts of violent voter intimidation and suppression that took place during those polls in Lagos, Kano, and other states.
It added that: “Members of the U.S. diplomatic mission observed the elections in Lagos and elsewhere and witnessed some of these incidents first-hand. The use of ethnically charged rhetoric before, during, and after the gubernatorial election in Lagos was particularly concerning. We commend all Nigerian political actors, religious and community leaders, youth and citizens who have chosen to reject and speak out against such violence and inflammatory language, affirming Nigerians’ commitment to and respect for the democratic process.
“We call on Nigerian authorities to hold accountable and bring to justice any individual found to have ordered or carried out efforts to intimidate voters and suppress voting during the election process. The United States likewise will consider all available actions, including additional visa restrictions, on individuals believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining the democratic process in Nigeria.
“The United States renews its call for any challenges to election results to go through established legal processes, which must not be interfered with. We further call for Nigeria’s people to work together as they participate in and continue to strengthen the country’s vibrant democracy.”
The newspaper says that President Muhammadu Buhari has approved exemption of Digital Economy sector from five per cent excise duty payment to lessen the suffering of Nigerians.
The Federal Government had, on September 5, 2022, suspended the duty on telecommunications services, following intervention of the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Pantami, who has always argued that the sector was overburdened by multiple taxation.
Consequently, government raised a committee to look into the matter and revert to the President.
Unveiling outcome of the Presidential Review Committee on Excise Duty in the Digital Economy Sector, yesterday, in Abuja, the minister recalled that the duty was imposed without due consultation with the ministry and relevant stakeholders, hence his appeal for its suspension.
Pantami explained that even in the Finance Act of 2021, there was no mention of the duty, stressing it was a subsidiary legislation not captured in the law.
He said within the telecommunications subsector alone, there are 41 categories of taxes and charges.
GIK/APA