The traditional rulers across the six area councils of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) yesterday stormed the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) in Abuja to appeal to the military to stem the tide of one-chance criminals in the territory.
The monarchs, led by the Chairman of the FCT Council of Chiefs, who is the Ona of Abaji, Alhaji Adamu Baba, expressed concern over the increasing rate of criminality, particularly the ‘one chance’ criminals in Abuja.
The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen Christopher Musa, received the royal fathers who stormed the DHQ complex on a thank-you visit.
According to a statement by the Director of Defence Information, Brig-Gen Tukur Gusau, the monarchs said they were on the visit to appreciate the CDS, in particular, and the Armed Forces, for their diligence in fighting security in the nation and the FCT in particular.
The Ona of Abaji called on the CDS to do more to make Abuja safer.
In his response, the CDS said although security was everybody’s business, there was a need for traditional rulers to sensitise their subjects to divulge information to enable the military to take decisive actions.
Musa also implored the leaders to take community policing seriously to address issues of criminality in FCT.
By Deborah Onyofufeke, Abuja
President Bola Tinubu yesterday asked the Supreme Court to throw away the appeal of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, against the September 6 judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC).
In his reply to the appeal filed by Tinubu through his lawyer, Wole Olanipekun, SAN, the president told the Supreme Court that Atiku’s petition were mere blockbuster with thrilling suspense and hide-and-seek.
Tinubu, in his response, further stated that the case of the former Vice-President “has no legs to stand upon and as well have no wings to fly to the direction” being sought by the PDP presidential candidate.
He claimed that he defeated Atiku and the PDP in virtually all the states of the federation, prompting the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to declare him the winner after the lawful collations of the election results in the presence of agents of the appellant.
Tinubu faulted the entire allegations of malpractices, noncompliance with electoral laws, and non-qualifications raised against him by Atiku, stating that the lower court did not find merit in any of the allegations, hence, they were dismissed.
The president also challenged the competence of Atiku’s petition, insisting that what the PDP presidential candidate dressed as statements of facts were mere hearsays with no probate values.
Tinubu asserted that while Atiku claimed to have won the majority of the lawful votes cast at the election, he never gave the figure he scored at the election.
He claimed that what Atiku termed an expert report, was a mere worthless paper having been produced outside the period of the time stipulated by law, making it inadmissible by any court of law.
Tinubu drew the attention of the Supreme Court to the admission of Atiku’s witnesses that the election was free and fair except for the inability of INEC to transmit the results electorally as earlier promised.
The president insisted that the non-transmission of election results electronically did not violate any law because the decision to use the electronic system was just a promise by the electoral body.
Recall that following Atiku’s petition challenging the declaration of Tinubu as the winner of the February 25, 2023 election, at the Presidential Election Petition Court, the five-man panel of justices of the tribunal had dismissed his petition on the grounds that his petition was irritating, vague, unwarranted, and had no known focus or destination.
At the time of this report, the Supreme Court had not fixed a date for the hearing of the appeal marked SC/CS/935/2023.