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It’s not impossible for S’Court to nullify Tinubu’s election – Falana
All the parties need to do is to prepare adequately for the cases and present watertight arguments to convince the justices, Femi Falana, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), said on Sunday, as he weighed in on the legal tussle over the victory of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the February 25 presidential election.
Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), is being challenged by the both Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), who were his major opponents at the election, in which he was declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
There had been a wild-spread doubt in the Nigerian polity that the legal challenge would be futile, given that no presidential election had ever been upturned by a tribunal in the history of the country, no matter the level of obvious electoral infractions.
But putting a lie to the contention, Falana, a human rights activist and fiery social justice crusader, while vowing not not to join his colleagues to rubbish the integrity of Nigerian courts, which he said had become rife of recent, told his host, while appearing on Sunday Politics, a current affairs programme on Channels Television, described as fallacy of generalisation, what many commentators had embarked on recently.
He said: “I’m not going to join some of my colleagues who are rubbishing the court. I go to court on a daily basis. If I have a problem with any court or any judge for that matter, what I’m required to do is to write a petition to the National Judicial Council. But I cannot for goodness sake embark on what I call a fallacy of generalisation to say ‘Oh, Nigerian courts are bad, Nigerian judges will not dispense justice.’
“For me, once you prepare your case, I don’t think there should be any cause for alarm. Elections have been annulled in Nigeria by our courts. Our courts have ordered rerun elections. One of them, I think the case of Buhari and Yar’Adua; the president-elect then escaped narrowly. It was a decision of four to three justices of the Supreme Court… the elections of 2007, the winner of the election, the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, did say the election was highly flawed. In some of the states, not less than five elections were annulled and rerun elections were ordered.”
He however, joined in the demand for the proceedings of the legal battle at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) to be beamed live on television, saying: “I have always campaigned for that. That is the trend in Africa — in Ghana and Kenya — the proceedings are televised because judges should have nothing to hide.
“Invite the media and members of the public. Once there is order in the court, everybody should be part of it because we were all part of the election. So the decision of the court on the election should not be shrouded in secrecy. For that reason, I support the call by the president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Yakubu Maikyau (SAN), that the proceedings should be televised. It is in the interest of our judges, and the public.”
“They apologised to me privately. I said they should put it on social media. They said they will not put it on social media, it will affect their credibility, because it’s not just them, but their other programmers at the Al Jazeera network too.”
These were the words of Daniel Bwala, while giving further insight into what has transpired along the line since his controversial interview with Mehdi Hasan of Al Jazeera, a global television network in March 2026, stating that the station privately apologised to him.
Bwala, who appeared on The Morayo Show, a private talk-show programme, hosted by Morayo Afolabi-Brown, a popular television presenter, however said because both Mehdi and Al Jazeera, refused to make the apology public, he was prompted him to instruct his lawyers in England to sue for defamation.
Clips on the controversial outing in which Bwala, spokesman for the campaign of Atiku Abubakar during his presidential bid in 2023, were in the public domain for several weeks after where a groundswell of commentators believed his performance was not only underwhelming, but he was outrightly disgraced.
He added: “The substance of the apology was that they should have told me that part of what they discussed with me was a talking point, that they were also going to interrogate me on my credibility for supporting the person I had attacked before.
“By their own ethics, they ought to have told me that, but they said they were sorry they didn’t. If you’re bold, if you call yourself a journalist, a fact-checker, you run your programme live and let people judge live.
“If you’re thinking straight, that’s what you’d do. You took creative control of the programme. You made a recorded programme. Ethics demanded you publish it exactly as it was recorded.”
Informing that the programme ran for one hour and 30 minutes but Al Jazeera published only 49 minutes, he accused the network of skewing the footage in Hasan’s favour, adding: “The deeper point is that they cut out the parts where I was fact-checking him and the crowd was clapping for me, and instead kept the parts where he was speaking and people were clapping for him. He’d ask me a question, I’d deny it, then he’d play the old clip. We call that ‘cut and joined’ in media. After doing that, which amounts to a smear campaign, he didn’t give me the chance to react to it.
“Instead, he let it appear that I was simply asked a question, denied it, was shown the clip, denied it again, was shown another clip, and denied it again. He removed that part, because if he’d left it in, anyone watching would understand that I had already answered the question upfront, and that my later denials were a response to his repeated bringing it up. That’s where the unethical conduct of a professional issue arose.
“When they apologised, I said no, put it on social media. They refused. So, I instructed my lawyers in England to go to court. The case is currently in court. Because my advisers in England said it’s defamation of character.”
More successes are being recorded by Nigerian forces trying to rout out terrorist in parts of the country, with emerging reports indicating that the perpetrators are currently running scared from the hot onslaughts they are getting from the operatives.
Channels Television, is quoting military authorities at the Operation Hadin kai (OPHK) conducting military blitzkrieg against the terrorists in the North East as saying that the troops received six Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP), one of the major terrorist groups operating in the area, who surrendered alongside their families, at the 192 Battalion (Main) Sector 1 of the body.
Quoting a statement on Wednesday by Mohammed Goni, spokesman of the military operation, with headquarters in Maiduguri, Borno State, the report, said that among the items recovered from the terrorists and their families included a cumulative sum of more than N1.5 million, two Tecno mobile phones, and other items.
Th statement, added that troops of 115 Task Force Battalion, while conducting ongoing search and rescue operations in Askira/Uba Local Government Area of Borno State, on July 7, rescued two additional abductees from a terrorist hideout, where they also recovered cash of N1.2 million suspected to be proceeds of criminal activities, food items, and other logistics believed to have supported terrorist operations.
The rescued victims have since been evacuated to a secure location where they are receiving appropriate medical care and psychosocial support, the report said, adding that during the same period, the troops noted that it contained a coordinated attack by ISWAP terrorists in Borno, and one of the soldiers was killed.
“Although the insurgents briefly exploited a section of the base’s defensive perimeter during the intense firefight, the troops rapidly regrouped, mounted a determined counter-offensive and decisively expelled the attackers, inflicting significant casualties and forcing the surviving terrorists to flee with varying degrees of gunshot wounds.
“Regrettably, one gallant soldier paid the supreme price, while two gun-trucks and some combat enablers sustained damage during the engagement. The situation at FOB Logomani remains firmly under the control of Operation HADIN KAI troops, with reinforcements deployed, exploitation operations ongoing and additional measures being implemented to further strengthen the defensive resilience of the location.”
Detailing how troops of 232 Battalion apprehended a notorious criminal in Gombi Local Government Area of Adamawa State, the statement, said: “Follow-up exploitation of the arrest led to the recovery of one AK-47 rifle, two magazines, and twenty-eight rounds of 7.62mm special ammunition.
“The suspect and recovered items are currently in military custody, while further investigations are underway to identify and apprehend other members of the criminal network.”
Similarly, the statement said troops of the 149 Battalion arrested two suspected terrorist logistics suppliers in the Mobbar Local Government Area of Borno State.
The recovered items include cash sums, a Volkswagen Golf vehicle, construction materials, household items, and other supplies suspected to have been destined for terrorist elements.
The suspects are currently undergoing interrogation, while the recovered items remain in military custody as investigations continue.
As part of ongoing offensive operations, troops of 24 Task Force Brigade, in conjunction with members of the Civilian Joint Task Force, conducted a clearance operation on known terrorist enclaves around Wulgo.
During the operation, the troops said they exploited the terrorists’ hasty withdrawal and recovered a sack containing assorted illicit drugs abandoned by the fleeing insurgents.
“The recovery further underscores the sustained pressure being mounted on terrorist elements, denying them freedom of movement and disrupting their operational capabilities.”
Relatedly, the troops apprehended a suspected BHT/ISWAP logistics supplier at the Molai checkpoint in possession of large quantities of medical supplies without due clearance. The suspect and items recovered are in custody for further interrogation.
Again, in Sector 2 Area of Responsibility, Troops of 233 Tank Battalion, in conjunction with local hunters, intercepted and arrested a suspected BHT/ISWAP terrorist logistics supplier from Ngirya village of Tarmuwa LGA with five motorcycle tires. The suspect and items are in military custody for investigation.
“These latest operational gains underscore the effectiveness of sustained offensive operations, actionable intelligence and the seamless collaboration among security agencies and auxiliary forces in dismantling terrorist logistics networks, disrupting criminal activities and protecting vulnerable communities across the North East”, the statement added.
Headquarters Operation HADIN KAI assured the public that ongoing search and rescue operations will continue with unwavering resolve until every abducted person is accounted for and safely reunited with their families.
“The Theatre Command also issues a stern warning to individuals involved in supplying food, fuel, construction materials, transportation or any other form of logistics to terrorist groups to immediately desist. Anyone found aiding, abetting or collaborating with terrorist elements, directly or indirectly, will be identified, apprehended and prosecuted in accordance with the law.”
Peter Obi, candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), in the 2027 presidential election, is insistent President Bola Tinubu has so battered the Nigerian economy that Nigerians with thriving businesses are now selling kulikuli – a local groundnut cake snack.
Obi, former Governor of Anambra State, who contested the same election in 2023, where Tinubu was declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), told Chude Jideonwo, a popular social media programme host, while appearing in his #WithChude podcast, that the way things were going today, the President had nothing more to offer Nigeria than more misery.
Citing a situation in which Tinubu had taken Nigeria from the 87 million poor people to the current figure of 140 million in his three years of governance, Obi, said the idea of Renewed Hope the President sold the country through his All Progressives Congress (APC), indicated a total collapse of the economy and a complete mess of the system that must result in him throwing in the towel and going home to take his rest.
Hear him: “Those who jumped into Tinubu’s experimental things that this man did this or did that and is going to create a future, have seen that the whole thing has become a mess. Renewed Hope has now become Renewed Hopelessness.
“When President Tinubu came into power, 87million Nigerians were living in poverty, today it is 140million. We were number five below where we are today in hunger-list. Today, it has increased. Everything has gotten worse. We are no longer talking about ghost workers now, you can see where we’ve gotten.
“So, everything – insecurity – everything is getting worse. Which hope are they going to renew again? You can’t renew failure. So, the only thing to do now is to plead with them – there is a way you fail in school and they’ll ask you to leave the school.
“Tinubu’s supporters have joined my supporters. They have, because they’ve seen it themselves. Nobody can tell you that things are moving well. What are you going to do now? Those who had businesses – people who had businesses before he came into power – they’re now the people who’re selling kulikuli.”
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