Presidential Candidates Resort to the Supreme Court & more –21st Sep 2023

Bawo Ni from BA ! This is the Rorshok Nigeria Update from the 21st of September twenty twenty-three A quick summary of what's going down in Nigeria.

Starting with the post-election drama that has refused to go away. Candidates of the major opposition parties, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi have filed an appeal at the Supreme Court of Nigeria. Recall that on Wednesday, the 6th both candidates rejected the decision of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to uphold the victory of President Tinubu. They said that the decisions of the Appeal Court were against the Nigerian constitution. Atiku Abubakar and his party, the People's Democratic Party have presented thirty-five grounds for appeal to the Supreme Court, while Peter Obi and his party, the Labour Party have presented fifty-one grounds for the removal of President Tinubu.

Still on election controversy. On Friday, the 15th, The Chicago State University (or CSU) confirmed that President Tinubu had graduated from the University in nineteen seventy-nine. Remember that Atiku Abubakar filed a case in a U.S. court so that the CSU would release the academic transcripts and documents of Tinubu. However, the school didn’t do so because the United States law prevented the university from publishing past student records except by a court order or Tinubu's consent. Meanwhile, the school has insisted that Tinubu had a Bachelor’s degree in Business and Administration.

However, in a twist of events, on Wednesday, the 20th, the United States court ordered the CSU to release the academic transcripts and documents of President Tinubu to Atiku Abubakar. Expectedly, some of the documents that will be released to Abubakar are; Tinubu's diploma certificate issued in nineteen seventy-nine and the copies of the university's certificates given to Tinubu. However, after the declaration, Tinubu's lawyers raised questions about privacy privileges since U.S. law gives individuals the right to some personal information. But, the U.S. court clarified that the University should release only records that are not subject to legal privilege.

Still in politics, the Election Tribunal in Kano State has fired the sitting governor four months after his inauguration. During its sitting on Wednesday, the 20th, the tribunal deducted over 165,000 votes from Governor Abba Yusuf. The tribunal said they were invalid votes. It also said that Nasiru Gawuna, the candidate for the All Progressive Congress party, was lawfully elected . Meanwhile, Governor Abba Yusuf was the only sitting governor from the little-known New Nigeria Peoples Party (or NNPP). His removal would mean that the party no longer has a governor in its name. Nevertheless, the NNPP has rejected the tribunal’s verdict and will head to the court of appeal.

Now, a shocking story from Northern Nigeria. Three communities in Zamfara State have paid about four thousand dollars to Dan Bokolo, a known terrorist in the region, to avoid being attacked—they paid the terrorist a sort of pizzo. Purportedly, Bakolo was angry with one of the three communities because its security agencies arrested his brother. Since they feared possible retaliation attacks, the heads of the three communities met with Bakolo to plead their innocence. The terrorist was able to reach an agreement with the communities on Thursday, the 14th, after demanding a payment of eight thousand dollars. The payment might avoid attacks on vulnerable community members. However, Dauda Lawal, the state governor, has insisted that his administration is against negotiating with terrorists and would continue to fight criminals across the state.

Good news! On Saturday, the 16th, Abdul Samad Rabiu, Chairman of BUA Group, announced that his company would slash the cost of a fifty-kilogram bag of cement from seven to four dollars. Reportedly, this cut is a way of supporting the government’s efforts to deal with the economic hardship in the country. However, the new price is only going to take effect by the end of the year. Many Nigerians have received the news with great excitement, and have called on Africa's Richest man, Aliko Dangote, to reduce prices as well. Recall that Dangote runs the biggest cement production in Africa.

Speaking of Aliko Dangote, on Wednesday, the 20th, he announced that his refinery will be ready for oil production in the coming weeks. Even though he did not give a specific date, many believe that the refinery will solve the problem of rising cost of fuel in the country. Despite its rich crude oil deposits, Nigeria relies on refined oil products from other countries. Dangote's refinery was commissioned in May this year, shortly before the end of former President Muhammadu Buhari's administration. Reportedly, Dangote's refinery is the largest single-train refinery in the world. It is expected to satisfy local demands, and also allow exports to neighboring countries.

Moving on, on Friday, the 15th, The Nigerian Defence Headquarters declared that it would test the authenticity of a video showing soldiers holding a dialogue with bandits.

During the weekend, the footage went viral. The video doesn’t have clear audio, so no one knows what they were talking about. The dialogue was called into question as the bandits might have been in bed with some soldiers, and backing the bandits in causing unrest in some regions in the country. Nevertheless, the Defence Headquarters has come out to state that it was aware that repentant bandits usually approach the military to surrender their arms, and the video would be investigated to confirm the true story behind it.

Next up, Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has come under heavy criticism for the order he gave to traditional rulers. During a commissioning event at the Ladoke Akintola University on Friday, the 15th, Obasanjo rebuked the traditional rulers for not standing up to greet him, since that was the way to welcome a former president. He then commanded them to stand up and, after a while, ordered them to sit down again. The president’s command was put into question as it might have disrespected the culture of the people and the sacredness of the stool of traditional rulers. Some Nigerians also believed that the monarchs should have disobeyed the president’s order.

Now to entertainment news. Late singer Mohbad has continued to be at the center of major discussions in the Nigerian music industry. The Police have promised to investigate the circumstances surrounding his death. Apparently, his corpse will be exhumed to carry out an autopsy. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the 19th, Nigerian youths across the country held processions for Mohbad across different states in the South West region. Mohbad old music currently enjoys high streams and top ratings on major music platforms like Apple Music, Boomplay, and Spotify.

On the economy, Nigeria has continued to experience setbacks due to constant power outages. On Tuesday, the 19th, the country's national grid generated very little electricity, which led to complete blackouts in many parts of the country. It is the third power outage the country has experienced this month. Reportedly, Nigeria will continue to lose billions of dollars due to constant blackouts. The outages have impacted people’s daily lives, students can’t study, and business owners can’t run their businesses properly. Although the Transmission Company failed to give reasons for the grid collapse, many analysts said that it was due to low gas supply and infrastructure problems.

And to close this edition, sports news. On Sunday, the 17th, Nigerian Athlete Tobi Amusan came in first in the Diamond League competition in Oregon, in the US. She has finished first for the third time in a row. On 23rd August, Amusan ended up in the sixth place in the final of the World Athletics Championship despite finishing first in the Semi-Final. However, Amusan completed the 100-meter hurdles in Oregon in 12.33 seconds beating Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, who came in second, and U.S' Keni Harrison, who won the bronze medal.

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