• SAYS PRESIDENT BUHARI USURPED CBN POWERS WHEN HE ISSUED THE DIRECTIVE BANNING THE OLD NAIRA NOTES OF N1, 000, N500 AND N200 NOTES FROM FEBRUARY 10, 2023
The Supreme Court has invalidated the new naira design policy initiated by the Federal Government on the grounds that it was not done with due consultation and in line with constitutional provisions.
The apex court also ordered that the old naira notes shall continue to be used side by side with the new naira notes till December 31, 2023.
The court held that the three months’ timeline was also not in tune with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Act and as such unconstitutional.
Besides, the apex court argued that the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), usurped the powers of the CBN when he issued the directive banning the old naira notes of N1, 000, N500 and N200 notes from February 10, 2023.
Delivering judgement, the court considered the defendants’ argument that the court lacked jurisdiction to decide on the case.
Justice Agim stated that the act of the president and government of Nigeria is an act of the federation.

The court held that the dispute is between the states and the government of the Federation and within the original jurisdiction of the court
It held that the government of the federation should have held adequate consultation to avoid massive disruption of government operations and trades.
It invalidated the argument that the CBN was the proper party to be sued, maintaining that it was not the action of the CBN that is being challenged but the validity of the decision of the President to redesign the naira, release the new notes into circulation and withdraw the old notes without consultation with Nigerians through the council of states and the National Economic Council.
The court held that the CBN does not have to be joined as a party in the suit as the CBN had no power to carry out the policy without the directive of the president and that the suit is not an action against the banks or the CBN.

Speech of Mr. Dele Alake, Special adviser on media and communication of the APC PCC at a Press Conference in Abuja on 3 March 2023
Gentlemen of the press.
It has become necessary to address you again today to respond to both the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, following their separate press conferences which held yesterday.
We must thank the two of them for finally opting for the rule of law as against the initial belligerent posture as they continue their baseless journey of chasing after a mirage. Those who lay claim to democratic credentials are expected to be conscious of those inimitable minimum requirements of law and order even in the face of a perceived injustice. The initial knee-jerk and hothead call for anarchy by their proxies was ill-advised and would in no way serve any noble cause. It is good to know that reason has prevailed.
Let us say, unequivocally, that we welcome the decision of both the PDP and LP and also the NNPP candidates to test their claims, as ridiculous as they are, in the court of law as provided for by our constitution. This is without prejudice to the conciliatory efforts of the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He has reiterated in his post declaration speeches the need for all Nigerians, irrespective of whom we all voted for, to rally quickly together for the good of our country.
We must say, however, that listening to both Atiku and Obi yesterday left us in the APC family confounded. We understand that there has been an orchestrated campaign by the acolytes of PDP and LP in the media to discredit the Presidential election. What we did not expect is that the two presidential candidates and, indeed, their political parties, would shamefully re-echo the puerile and unimaginative arguments that are being canvassed by political illiterates and mischief-makers who are crying wolf on the social media.
As we all can see, these two otherwise experienced politicians are pinpointing lack of adherence to the guidelines as basis for discrediting the votes lawfully cast by Nigerians. We shall examine the so-called process that was purportedly breached by the electoral body and how it, in their wild imagination, undermined the credibility of the election.
The claim that INEC did not use the BVAS is false. Those who voted across Nigeria, including Atiku and Obi, were accredited by BVAS. Save for bad losers that these two people have proven to be, we should rather be celebrating the tremendous improvement the use of BVAS has brought to our electoral process.
The complaint over the electronic transmission of the result is not supported by law.
Section 38 of the Electoral Acct 2022 referred to by the PDP and LP has nothing to do with transmission of election results. Section 60, subsection 2 of the Act deals with transmission of results and it is at the discretion of INEC. The Act does not contain any mandatory provision regarding the transmission of results.
In any case, the process of transmitting results from polling units, whether real-time, two days later or at any time, cannot in anyway change the results that have been announced right after the counting in the presence of the parties’ agents and to the hearing of the voters. It is, therefore, nonsensical to insinuate that time variation in uploading results would cause a change in the figures.
The 2023 Presidential election is a watershed as it produced unprecedented outcomes and defied conventions. The deployment and use of BVAS is the only reason the elections produced these strange outcomes and upsets in many cases. The loss of Katsina and Lagos to PDP and LP respectively were contrary to expectations. BVAS brought the intended credibility to voters’ accreditation such that many governors and well-established politicians lost elections in what should be safe bet areas. The era of ghost-voting and stuffing of ballot boxes is gone. As the experience in the last governorship election in Osun State has shown, over-voting would automatically lead to outright cancellation of the results of the polling units based on the provision of the new Electoral Act. The same PDP that is trying to pull the wool across the face of Nigerians was the culprit in the Osun State governorship election. Did they try to do it this time and it failed? Or did they do it in the areas they unexpectedly won? Did they have a grand plan to hack the INEC server if results were uploaded in real time? Nigerians will soon find out.
Contrary to the false claims of Atiku and Obi, the reasons for losing the elections were foretold. Besides the delusional expectations created during the campaigns to hoodwink the public, most PDP leaders knew their party had been decimated by Mr. Peter Obi. The South East and South South that were traditional strongholds of PDP constituted the core support base for the Labour Party. PDP went into this election without its limbs and lied to itself that it could win the race. It is worthy of note that Atiku also accepted this fact during his press conference yesterday, when he lamented that his party’s votes in the South East and South South regions were carted away by the LP.
The PDP also found itself in No.3 in Kano, with a former member, Kwankwaso running away with over 900,000 votes.
How far could the PDP have gone with what was left of it? Not so far as the results of the elections have shown. The members of G5 were key leaders of the party who had substantial political influence. They also went away with their own pound of flesh, leaving a crippled PDP to scavenge for crumps of votes.
For Obi, he would go down as Nigeria’s most dangerous and divisive politician. He elevated his well-known clannish mentality to a most unfortunate height by openly anchoring his campaign on religion and ethnicity. He presented himself as a poster boy for and a champion of our country’s fault lines. He took advantage of our youths whose expectations are fast paced, who are uninterested in excuses, and who were in search of a hero. He pumped up their sentiments and rode on their emotions while grandstanding as a saviour. It was a false pretence. Obi’s credentials are eternally stained as a former governor with no remarkable legacy.
Not a few of our youths thought Peter Obi looked like the leader they wanted and many of them could not tolerate any form of scrutiny of their newfound hero. They chose wilfully to canonise him while insisting no one should ask questions. The combination of the disgruntled youths, the ethnic champions, and commercial clerics were the reason Obi thought he could win a presidential election in Nigeria. Such illogic is not strange to the Labour Party.
If Labour Party could not fill up its quota for polling booth agents with a shortfall of over 40, 000, how did it intend to compete with political parties like APC and PDP? It would be interesting to see what evidence of rigging Labour Party will present before the court when the party could not appoint agents to monitor nearly a quarter of the venues of election.
As we look forward to an encounter with both the PDP and LP at the court, we want to enjoin the two of them to pursue their grievances with decorum. They should encourage their members, supporters, and ethnic and religious consultants to follow the path of the rule of law.
We note that both Atiku and Obi are claiming victory, wouldn’t it make sense for them to agree who the actual winner is before challenging APC in court?
Meanwhile, the APC train has left the station as we continue our effort to make Nigeria better for all Nigerians.
Thank you all for listening.

PRESS RELEASE

LAGOS GOVERNORSHIP: OHANAEZE NDIGBO PLEDGES SUPPORT FOR SANWO-OLU

•Distances self from Isiguzoro’s inciting statement on Governor, Oba of Lagos

Ahead of next Saturday’s governorship and House of Assembly elections, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has pledged their support toward the re-election of the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, saying Igbo people living in the State will ensure that the governor is re-elected for another term.

The leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Lagos State said Igbo people in the State will gladly vote for Governor Sanwo-Olu come March 11 because the governor represents everything Ndigbo needs to prosper and execute their businesses and professional calling.

Lagos State chapter of Ohanaeze Ndigbo leaders gave the assurance on Thursday during a joint press conference with the leadership of the Yoruba Council Worldwide in Lagos, held at Ikeja.

Speaking during the press conference, the President-General of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Lagos State, Chief Sunday Osai, also distanced the group from the statement credited to one Okechukwu Isiguzoro, calling on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to resign and inciting Igbo in Lagos against the Governor, the Oba of Lagos, Oba Riliwan Akiolu and others.

The Ohanaeze Ndigbo leaders stated that Isiguzoro who is claiming to be the National Secretary-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, was unknown to them and he is not speaking the mind of Igbo in Lagos State, adding that Isiguzoro has no relationship with Igbo in Lagos State but wants to capitalise on current political atmosphere to score a cheap political point by instigating violence.

The Lagos Ohanaeze Ndigbo President, who described Governor Sanwo-Olu as friendly, peace-loving, and accommodating sued for a continued cordial relationship between the Governor, Lagos residents, and Ndigbo in the State.

The leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo who commended Governor Sanwo-Olu leadership style and Yoruba in Lagos State for making them feel at home promised to reciprocate the kind gesture of the governor and his people by voting massively to secure Sanwo-Olu’s re-election bid.

“As the President of the Lagos State Ohanaeze, I represent the mouthpiece of Ndigbo in Lagos and I hereby debunk the so-called Ohanaeze Ndigbo asking Governor Sanwo-Olu to resign.

“Governor Sanwo-Olu is a friendly governor to the Ndigbo, hence a very cordial relationship has existed between Ohanaeze and Governor Sanwo-Olu. If Ndigbo is rooting for anybody to become a governor of Lagos State; that person is Sanwo-Olu because of the cordial relationship that we have enjoyed together.

“Sanwo-Olu represents everything that Ndigbo needs to prosper and he has been very kind and implemented friendly policies that enable us to execute our businesses and professional calling without fear or favour. So, why should we tell him to resign? Even if the constitution permits a third term, Ndigbo will accept Governor Sanwo-Olu.

“I thank the Lagos State Governor and I want to let him know that with Ndigbo, he should go and sleep with his two eyes closed. Ndigbo will gladly vote for him come March 11, 2023,” Chief Osai said.

In her address, the Woman Leader of Ohaneze Ndigbo in Lagos State, Chief (Mrs.) Jane Okoro assured Governor Sanwo-Olu that the entire women structure in the 57 local governments and Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) of the state will be mobilised to support his re-election.

Okoro appealed to Women not to allow their children to be used as political thugs in the forthcoming elections.

Also speaking, the President of Yoruba Council Worldwide, Aare Oba Oladotun Hassan appealed to all Igbo people in the State, to reach out to their brothers and sisters to disregard all the unfounded allegations against the Governor, saying it is a move to arouse people’s emotional sensibility and political ideology.

“I am appealing to all our wonderful Igbo people in Lagos State, to please ensure and reach out to their beloved brothers and lovely sisters and let them know and confirm to them that all those spurious allegations were nothing but satanic intrigues and orchestrated lies from a pit of hell and that it is just a premeditated antics in futility at casting aspersions against our dear Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu and give a dog a bad name in order to hang it,” he said.