Tag: Sokoto

Supreme Court Dismisses Appeal Challenging Tambuwal’s Victory As Sokoto Governor

 

The Supreme court has dismissed an appeal filed by Ahmed Aliyu challenging the election of Aminu Tambuwal as Governor of Sokoto state.

The petitioners, Aliyu and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) alleged non-compliance with the electoral act in the conduct of the election.

In a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, the apex court dismissed the appeal on the ground that the appellant failed to prove his allegation of non-compliance with the electoral act and issues of over-voting.

READ ALSO: Supreme Court Affirms Election Of Governor Ganduje

Mr Tambuwal was re-elected for a second term after supplementary polls were held.

He polled a total of 512,002 votes after the 25,515 votes he got from the supplementary elections were added to the number of votes from the first exercise held on March 9.

Aliyu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who is a former Deputy Governor, polled 511,660 after his 22,444 votes from the supplementary election were added to that of the March 9 election.

Sokoto Governorship Appeal: Supreme Court To Rule On Monday

 

The Supreme Court has set judgement for the Sokoto Governorship election appeal to Monday, January 20, 2020.

The apex court had suspended the hearing of the appeal filed by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Ahmed Aliyu, over the inability of the security operatives to control the crowd and the noise level in the court.

Mr. Aliyu is challenging the victory of Aminu Tambuwal as governor of the state.

READ ALSO: Supreme Court Nullifies Election Of Ihedioha, Declares Hope Uzodinma Imo Governor

Meanwhile, at the resumed hearing, the Sokoto state police command deployed over one thousand officers to ensure that there is no breakdown of law and order after the judgement by the apex court.

Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad, presided over a seven-man panel on Tuesday decided to fix Monday after nullifying the election of Emeka Ihedioha as the governor of Imo state.

Asides Sokoto state, the Supreme Court also adjourned ruling on the governorship petitions in Bauchi, Benue, Kano, and Plateau.

Supreme Court Hears Governorship Appeals From Sokoto, Kano, Four Other States

Supreme Court Strikes Out APC's Appeal On Exclusion From Rivers Elections

 

The Supreme Court has begun hearing of the appeals from the governorship elections in Imo, Bauchi, Sokoto, Kano, Plateau and Benue States.

The hearing of the appeals, brought by various aggrieved candidates in the March 9 polls in the affected states, took place on Monday at the apex court in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.

The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad, presided over a seven-man panel hearing the appeals.

The appeals were brought before the court by various aggrieved candidates in the March 9 polls in the affected states.

The apex court is hearing the appeals filed by the governorship candidates 10 months after the elections held in the affected states.

The governors returned elected by the independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the states are Emeka Ihedioha (Imo), Bala Mohammed (Bauchi), Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto), Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano), Simon Lalong (Plateau), and Samuel Ortom (Benue).

Shortly after the court commenced sitting, Justice Muhammadu suspended the hearing of the appeals over the inability of the security operatives to control the crowd and the noise level in the court.

As part of efforts to decongest the court, the CJN directed counsels representing the parties not to appear with more than five lawyers.

He, however, granted the parties in the case to witness the proceedings and until that was done, Justice Muhammad ordered that the hearing be put on hold.

Thereafter, politicians who were not parties in any of the appeals were asked to leave the courtroom as the police deploy a dog to assist in the decongestion process.

After carrying out the directive of the CJN to decongest the courtroom, the court resumed proceedings.

Justice Muhammad, however, announced that a member of the panel was sick after which he adjourned all the appeals until Tuesday.

Police On Red Alert As Supreme Court Rules On Sokoto Governorship Tussle

 

 

Sokoto State Police Command has deployed over one thousand conventional and plain cloth officers as the Supreme Court of Nigeria is set to hear the appeal brought before it by the Gubernatorial Candidate of the All Progressives Congress ( APC), in the 2019 Governorship, as well as the Supplementary Elections, Ahmed Aliyu

The State Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Kaoje, who disclosed this in Sokoto, on Sunday through a press statement signed by the Command Public Relations Officer ASP Mohammed Sadiq Abubakar.

He said the measure was to ensure that peace reigns before and after the hearing.

READ ALSO: Army Says Over 100 Bandits Killed In Zamfara And Katsina

Mr. Ka’oje’s particular attention was being focussed on the Sokoto metropolis and its environs, as well as on some strategic locations within their vicinities.

The Commissioner of Police has also vowed that the strategy would be maintained until further notice, in line with the recent directive issued by the Inspector General of Police ( IGP), on a 24-hour, nationwide red alert.

Kaoje expressed delight that zero-violence was witnessed during last Friday’s Congregational prayers, across the state.

Sokoto Election: Tribunal Affirms Tambuwal’s Victory As Governor

 

The Sokoto State Election Tribunal has affirmed the victory of Aminu Tambuwal as governor of the state.

The tribunal on Wednesday dismissed the petition of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, Mr. Ahmed Aliyu for lacking in merit and inability to establish non-compliance.

It also resolved the allegations of non-compliance with the electoral act in the conduct of the election against the petitioners for failure to prove same
the evidence of the petitioners’ witnesses, especially witness number 10 is hearsay evidence that cannot be given any value in court to prove any of the allegations.

The tribunal, sitting at the Wuse Zone 2 Magistrate court after it was relocated from Sokoto State to Abuja for alleged security reasons, declared the petition as ‘proper in law.’

READ ALSO: Tribunal Declares Petition Challenging Tambuwal’s Election As Valid

On the objections raised by the petitioner against the petition urging it to dismiss the petition for lacking in merit, unanimously, the tribunal dismissed the objections and held that the petition was properly filed.

The Justice Abbas Bawale who led tribunal qually ruled that the petitioners, Aliyu and his party, the APC duly paid the filing fees.

It held that against the argument of the respondents that the petition disclosed the substantial cause of action and was properly signed by the petitioners. It further held that the non-joinder of the running mate to the petitioners is not enough to render the petition incompetent.

Justice Bawale held that the application by the respondent lacks merit and constituted a waste of judicial time.

Sokoto Agency DG Arrested Over Alleged Diversion Of Salaries

Alleged $3.5m Fraud: Nine Nigerians Arrested In U.S.
A file photo of an arrested suspect.

 

 

The Director-General of Sokoto Marshal Agency, Abdullahi Sa’idu, has been arrested for alleged diversion of N10million meant for the payment of the salaries of workers.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) confirmed this in a statement posted on its Twitter handle on Monday.

According to the anti-graft agency, Sa’idu was arrested along with an accountant with the agency, Bashar Dodo-Iya, on Friday last week by operatives of EFCC Sokoto Zonal Office.

READ ALSO: Ramaphosa Apologises To Nigeria Over Xenophobic Attacks

It said the two suspects, who are members of the payment committee of Sokoto Marshal Corps, were arrested following a petition jointly signed and presented to the commission by 39 members of the agency.

The petitioners alleged that their three months salaries were being withheld without any reason.

They also claimed that the suspects refused to pay their salaries but diverted the money for their personal use.

The EFCC said preliminary investigation confirmed the alleged diversion of the said sum by the suspects.

It added that the duo would be charged to court as soon as it concludes investigation.

FBI LIST: EFCC Nabs Major Suspect, Five Others In Sokoto

 

The Economic and Financial Crime Comission, EFCC, Sokoto Zonal Office in collaboration with the FBI, recorded a big success, when on the 29th of August, 2019 Operatives of the Commission, from the Zonal Office arrested one Emmanuel Adedeji Oluwatosin, who is on the wanted list of the FBI.

The Zonal Head, Abdullahi Lawal while parading the suspect in Sokoto on Thursday described the arrest as a big success.

He explained that the suspect was arrested in Kaduna in a luxury house believed to be proceed of fraud. Items recovered from the residence include two cars; Mercedes Benz E550, Mercedes Benz C450 and other items include IPhone, laptops, modem and SIM cards.

Lawal added that the suspect and his accomplices both in Nigeria and overseas, acquired retirement account information (RAI) and personally identifiable information (PII) of multiple victims.

“The information was then used to fraudulently wire funds into newly created business bank accounts tied to the fraudulently created business. The proceeds were then converted into crypto currency; Bitcoin precisely. The suspect and his cohorts were identified in an ongoing Computer Intrusion investigation in the United States”

He said preliminary investigation had so far revealed that about N 1, 437, 889, 157.15 passed through the suspect’s accounts and the commission have also traced the sum of N 70, 000,000.00 he invested somewhere. Efforts are on to recover the money.

In a related development, Lawal said the Commission has arrested a wanted suspect, Muzakkir Muhammad, through one of its sister agencies in connection with an alleged case of obtaining money under false pretenses and production of fake currencies.

He said the suspect was reported by one of his victims, Abdullahi Ibrahim after he had defrauded another victim, Samaila Sani a Bureau de Change operator to the tune of $33,850.

“Meanwhile, the first complainant, Ibrahim alleged that Muzakri Muhammad collected the sum of N2, 350,000 from him on the pretext of producing the $100,000 for him, which he has neither produced nor refunded the Naira equivalent given to him.

“However, a search was conducted at his house and several incriminating items which the suspect used in luring and defrauding his victims were found therein. The house was marked by operatives of the Commission.

“His method is to make his victims believe that he possess some form of super natural abilities of communicating with Spirits, while in the actual sense of it, they are just some classic tricks he uses to deprive them of their hard earnings.”

The Commission also paraded four Sokoto, local government officials who defrauded civil servants on the payroll by deducting irregular amount of monies from their salaries through State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) since 2013.

The Suspects are; Ishaka Abdullahi (Education Secretary), Abdullahi Idris (Deputy Education Secretary), Abdullahi Dadi (Cashier), and Idris Wamabai (Accountant) as the culprits.

Investigation commenced in a team of operatives dispatched to Sabon Brini LGEA, which resulted in the recovery of several documents and arrest of the suspects.

The suspects would soon be charged to court.

UPDATED: Armed Men Kidnap Sokoto Assembly Member

A member representing Denge/Shuni State Constituency at the Sokoto State House of Assembly, Aminu Magaji Bodai, has been kidnapped by some armed men.

He was kidnapped around 1:15 am between Dange and Bodai town in the state.

READ ALSO: Boko Haram Ransacks Borno Villages As Army Withdraws

A close relation of the victim revealed that his brother was kidnapped by yet to be identified persons.

The Police spokesperson in the state, Mohammed Sadiq Abubakar confirmed the incident to Channels Television.

He said the police command received a distressed call that “armed men numbering about 10 stormed the residence of the Sokoto State lawmaker. And they kidnapped him.”

“Upon receipt of the information, the DPO let his team to the scene.”

He added that efforts are being carried out to rescue the victim.

On whether there has been any contact from the kidnappers, he says none has been established so far.

“We do not have any communication from them at the moment. I strongly believe we are not hoping to have information from them. We are working hard to make them see us and catch up with them.”

VIDEO: Senator Abbo Questions Ministerial Nominee From Sokoto

 

Mr Elisha Abbo, the senator representing Adamawa North District, was among the lawmakers present at the continued screening of ministerial nominees in the Senate.

The session resumed on Friday with the lawmakers screening more ministerial nominees whose names were forwarded to the Red Chamber by the President.

Some of those who took part in the process were Mr Festus Keyamo, Senator Hadi Sirika, Mr Abubakar Malami, Ms Pauline Tallen, and Mr Muhammadu Dingyadi among others.

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Senator Abbo Questions Ministerial Nominee From Sokoto
Senator Elisha Abbo

 

 

Dingyadi, a political scientist and former permanent secretary in the Ministry of Water Resources, was that last to stand before the lawmakers on Friday.

During his screening, Senator Abbo congratulated the nominee on his selection by the President to represent Sokoto State.

He told Dingyadi that he noticed in his resume that he served as the commissioner for water resources in his state.

The lawmaker then asked what the nominee plans to do to address the challenges of lack of access to clean, potable and drinkable water.

In his response, Dingyadi corrected the senator that he was only a permanent secretary in the ministry, adding that he served as an admin officer and not a water engineer.

He, however, agreed with Senator Abbo on the need to improve water supply in the country.

After screening a total of seven nominees, the Senate adjourned until Monday, July 29.

Buhari Condemns Killing Of Many Villagers By ‘Mass Murderers’ In Sokoto

The President Needs To Rejig His Kitchen Cabinet – Oyebode
A file photo of President Muhammadu Buhari

 

President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday “strongly” condemned recent attacks by cattle raiders on three villages in Sokoto that officials said killed dozens.

He offered commiserations to the survivors and vowed a firm response to “these brutal and remorseless enemies of humanity”.

“These frequent and large scale killings of poor villagers by gangs of mass murderers must be met with the fiercest force the government can mobilise,” presidential assistant Garba Shehu quoted Buhari as saying.

On Wednesday, armed men on motorcycles raided three villages in the district of Goronyo in the Nigerian state of Sokoto, district chief Zakari Chinaka told newsmen.

READ ALSO: Bandits Kill Over 20 In Sokoto

“The bandits opened fire on the villages and set shops and grain stores ablaze. They took away all the cattle in the villages,” he said.

“They operated for two hours unchallenged (by any security forces) because of the difficulty of the terrain which makes it hard to access,” said the chief.

Alu Ibrahim, a resident of the village of Kamitau, where 23 people died, said villagers had pursued the bandits in a bid to recover their stolen cattle — key to survival in the poor, remote region.

“The bandits turned their guns on them and killed many. This was the reason for the high death toll from Kamitau,” said Ibrahim.

Criminal gangs of cattle rustlers have increasingly targeted rural communities in Sokoto state.

Last month, motorcycle-riding bandits killed 43 people in two days of attacks on five villages in Rabah and Isa districts, according police and locals.

Rural communities in the north of Nigeria have for years been terrorised by gangs who raid villages, stealing cattle, kidnapping for ransom and burning homes after looting food supplies.

Villagers have taken up arms to defend themselves, but these vigilantes are now accused of extra-judicial killings of suspected bandits.

The bandit gangs are one of a string of security challenges facing Nigeria, including attacks from a Islamic State-backed Boko Haram faction and renewed clashes between livestock herders and farmers.

This has left the military overstretched and Buhari criticised for failing to protect lives and property, despite promises to boost security.

Bandits Kill Over 20 In Sokoto

Suspected armed bandits have killed over twenty persons in Dan Tatsako village in Goronyo local government area of Sokoto state.

A source in the local government says the assailants arrived in the village at night armed with sophisticated weapons and started shooting sporadically.

He says apart from the twenty persons killed, houses and other properties were destroyed by the bandits.

READ ALSO: Military, Insurgents Lock Horns In Jakana, Borno State

He explains that survivors of the attack fled the village to seek refuge in nearby communities within Goronyo and Isa Local Government areas of Sokoto state.

The Sokoto state police public relations officer, Mohammed Sadiq who also confirmed the attack to Channels Television, says the casualty figures are yet to be ascertained.

Just In: Gangs Raid Villages In Sokoto, Kill 43

 

Gunmen on motorbikes killed 43 people in waves of attacks in northern Nigeria, police said Monday, the latest violence by criminal gangs raiding villages and stealing livestock.

The series of attacks, carried out overnight Saturday to Sunday in Nigeria’s far northwestern Sokoto state, saw the gangs ride out from forest hideouts, speeding into villages and beginning to shoot.

“They opened fire on the village indiscriminately,” said Abdullahi Dantani, from the village of Satiru, where 18 people were murdered.

In Sokoto state’s Rabah district, gunmen rode into four villages — Rukunni, Tsage, Giire and Kalfu — massacring 25 people.

“Twenty-five people were killed,” said Ibrahim Kaoje, Sokoto state’s top police officer. “Several domestic animals were rustled by the attackers.”

READ ALSO: 140 Suspects Arrested As Operation Puff Adder Commences In Kano

Four people were arrested in connection to those attacks, Kaoje said, “including a female informant of the gangs, who disguised as a mad woman.”

In a separate wave of attacks in Satiru village, in Sokoto’s Isa district, the raiders shot 18 people, and then stole animals.

“We lost 18 people in the raid by the gunmen, who came into the village on motorcycles,” said Satiru village resident Umeh Na-Ta’ala.

The gangs have long been a scourge of rural communities in northern Nigeria, raiding villages, stealing cattle, burning homes, looting food, and kidnapping for ransom.

President Muhammadu Buhari condemned the killings, expressing his “deep shock and sadness over the death of scores of people in the banditry attacks,” in a statement issued late Sunday.

“Perpetrators and sponsors of such dastardly acts (will) be held accountable,” Buhari added.

AFP