Kogi: Testimony goes awry as SDP witness renders affidavit allegation baseless with contradictory claims

Published

1 year ago

March 28, 2024

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Kogi: Testimony goes awry as SDP witness renders affidavit allegation baseless with contradictory claims—The testimony of a witness of the Social Democratic Party at the Election Petition Tribunal on the Kogi State governorship election went awry, on Thursday as the witness’ statement before the Tribunal contradicted the documents submitted.

The petitioners had delved away from BVAS, after their star witness claimed he was not in Kogi State during the said election, and alleged that the All Progressives Congress candidate, now the Kogi State Governor, Usman Ododo, forged his age declaration affidavit.

The witness, one Dan Musa Williams from the FCT High Court, in Abuja, who had said the document did not emanate from the Court, upon cross examination, could not substantiate his claims.

When asked whether he checked the record of the registry to ascertain that it was a forged document, he said he just looked at the date, being a Saturday and concluded that it could not have been from them.

It was, however, found that the “declaration of age” affidavit was sworn in Okene, Kogi State, and not in FCT, but the witness claimed that a lawyer forwarded the one he was talking about to him.

Confusion, however, set in when the witness claimed that he also concluded that the affidavit submitted by the APC candidate was fake because it did not have the name and picture of the deponent on it.

At this point, the attention of the SDP witness was drawn to the fact that the affidavit with INEC, which he also annexed, had both the picture of the deponent and name, and that it was sworn in Okene and not FCT.

The contradictions between what the witness said in court and the documents he (the same witness) presented to the court, seemed to have damaged his testimony beyond repair, as he could not give further defence after the discrepancies were pointed out.

Sitting was thereby adjourned to March 30, 2024 for continuation of hearing.

Pius Akubo, SAN, represented the petitioners, while Kanu Agabi SAN, JB Daudu SAN, and DC Denwigwe SAN represented the Respondents.

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Bugaje Accuse APC of Using Money, EFCC Threats To Weaken PDP Through Defections

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2 days ago

April 25, 2025

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Bugaje Accuse APC of Using Money, EFCC Threats To Weaken PDP Through Defections—-Former member of the House of Representatives and ex-presidential adviser Dr. Usman Bugaje has accused Nigeria’s ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), of systematically using money to induce defections from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Speaking in an interview with Arise News, Bugaje claimed that the APC has been aggressively targeting opposition figures, leveraging both financial incentives and potential legal threats.

His words: “Well, for what I know—and I don’t claim to know everything—the APC is basically using money to buy off PDP.

“Some say it’s a carrot and stick approach. The money is the carrot. What’s the stick? Possibly the EFCC. They might do these kinds of things. This has been the practice since the time of President Obasanjo.”

Bugaje argued that the root cause of the ongoing wave of defections is money, warning that such practices pose a grave threat to Nigeria’s democratic system.

He said: “For me, this is a very serious issue. This should be the center of our political discourse. As long as money remains the determining factor, then that’s the end of democracy and the end of politics.”

His comments come in the wake of a major political shake-up in Delta State, where Governor Sheriff Oborevwori and former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, who was also the PDP’s 2023 vice-presidential candidate, defected to the APC. They were joined by members of the National Assembly, State Assembly, and several local government chairmen.

Bugaje stated that he is skeptical about the PDP’s ability to function as an effective opposition.

“There has not been real opposition since the moment Nyesom Wike did what he did,” Bugaje said.

“The PDP missed its chance to be a viable opposition party. Just look at their conduct on major national issues—from emergency rule debates to budget discussions. They failed to act like an opposition,” he added.

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