The 2025 federal budget, amounting to N48 trillion with a revenue forecast of N35 trillion, resulting in a deficit exceeding N13 trillion or 4% of GDP reflects a continuation of business-as-usual fiscal practices. This represents a persistent trend under the APC-led administration since 2016, wherein budget deficits have been consistently presented, accompanied by an increasing reliance on external borrowing.

To bridge this fiscal gap, the administration plans to secure over N13 trillion in new borrowings, including N9 trillion in direct borrowings and N4 trillion in project-specific loans. This borrowing strategy mirrors the approach of previous administrations, resulting in rising public debt and exacerbating the attendant risks related to interest payments and foreign exchange exposure.

The 2025 budget’s capacity to foster sustainable economic growth and tackle Nigeria’s deep-rooted challenges is questionable. Key issues arise from several factors:

1. Weak Budgetary Foundations: The 2024 budget’s underperformance signals poor budgetary execution. By Q3 of the fiscal year, less than 35% of the allocated capital expenditure for MDAs had been disbursed, despite claims of 85% budget execution. This underperformance in capital spending, crucial for fostering economic transformation, raises concerns about the execution of the 2025 budget.
2. Disproportionate Debt Servicing: Debt servicing, which accounts for N15.8 trillion (33% of the total expenditure), is nearly equal to planned capital expenditure (N16 trillion, or 34%). Moreover, debt servicing surpasses spending on key priority sectors such as defence (N4.91 trillion), infrastructure (N4.06 trillion), education (N3.52 trillion), and health (N2.4 trillion). This imbalance will likely crowd out essential investments and perpetuate a cycle of increasing borrowing and debt accumulation, undermining fiscal stability.
3. Unsustainable Government Expenditure: The government’s recurrent expenditure remains disproportionately high, with over N14 trillion (30% of the budget) allocated to operating an oversized bureaucracy and supporting inefficient public enterprises. The lack of concrete steps to curb wastage and enhance the efficiency of public spending exacerbates the fiscal challenges, leaving limited resources for development.
4. Insufficient Capital Investment: After accounting for debt servicing and recurrent expenditure, the remaining allocation for capital spending, ranging from 25% to 34% of the total budget, is insufficient to address Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit and stimulate growth. This equates to an average capital allocation of approximately N80,000 (US$45) per capita, insufficient to meet the demands of a nation grappling with slow growth and infrastructural underdevelopment.
5. Regressive Taxation and Economic Strain: The administration’s decision to increase the VAT rate from 7.5% to 10% is a retrogressive measure that will exacerbate the cost-of-living crisis and impede economic growth. By imposing additional tax burdens on an already struggling populace while failing to address governance inefficiencies, the government risks stifling domestic consumption and further deepening economic hardship.

In conclusion, the 2025 budget lacks the structural reforms and fiscal discipline required to address Nigeria’s multifaceted economic challenges. To enhance the budget’s credibility, the administration must prioritize the reduction of inefficiencies in government operations, tackle contract inflation, and focus on long-term fiscal sustainability rather than perpetuating unsustainable borrowing and recurrent spending patterns. A shift towards a more disciplined and growth-oriented fiscal policy is essential for the nation’s economic recovery.

*Atiku Abubakar (Vice President of Nigeria (1999-2007) and Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (2023))

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Since his defeat in the last election, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has shown more interest in undermining President Bola Ahmed Tinubu than in addressing his party’s implosion. We suspect he is envious of Tinubu’s position—an office he has unsuccessfully sought six times.

It is perplexing that he would elevate his untested, hypothetical proposal, which Nigerians soundly rejected during the 2023 Presidential Election, and seek to present it as a superior alternative to the multi-faceted reform programmes implemented by the Tinubu administration. If his plan lacked popular appeal, he must acknowledge that merely repackaging it will not resolve the social and economic challenges his People’s Democratic Party (PDP) bequeathed after 16 years in power.

Atiku’s economic analysis demonstrates a significant misunderstanding of Nigeria’s realities. His narrative, “What We Would Have Done Differently,” indicates an inability to engage with the pressing economic realities being revitalised multidimensionally under President Tinubu’s leadership.

What reforms would Atiku propose at the onset of his hypothetical and fabled presidency? While he suggests a consultation period upon assuming office, the reality is that the Nigerian economy requires immediate and decisive action. A leader must be prepared to tackle challenges from Day One, as President Tinubu has done.

Atiku, going further to accuse President  Tinubu of “stealing his presidency,”  exposed his sense of entitlement and his disconnect from the electorate. The truth is that Tinubu rightfully won the presidency, a position Atiku was simply unqualified for due to his arrogance, insensitivity to Nigeria’s diversity, and the decision to disregard his party’s power rotation arrangement between the North and the South after eight years of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Atiku’s idea of a consultation period upon entering office shows a troubling lack of awareness regarding the state of the economy, which was in dire need of urgent action. The Tinubu administration came prepared with a firm action plan to address the shortcomings that persisted during President Olusegun Obasanjo’s time when Atiku was vice president.

We can only speculate what detrimental impact Atiku’s proposed lengthy town hall and Village Square meetings would have had on Nigeria’s economy if he had been elected president and taken such an approach. The country needed a proactive leader such as Tinubu, who immediately set to work on addressing economic challenges rather than one who would have squandered precious time on consultations and a questionable privatisation agenda.

Atiku’s critiques of Tinubu’s presidency are mere harebrained propositions devoid of realistic alternatives. He must reckon with the decades of mismanaged economy inherited by the current administration, including exorbitant subsidy expenditures far exceeding government earnings from crude oil. As of mid-2023, the landing cost of fuel was between N500 and N600, while it was sold nationwide at an average of N200. The 2023 budget allocated N3.36 trillion for fuel subsidies until June 2023 against a projected N2.23 trillion in oil revenue for the year. The Nigerian state was on life support.

READ ALSO: Biden to meet Trump at White House on Wednesday

Instead of conjuring imaginary scenarios, we expect the former vice president to engage with these urgent realities.

The estimated N5.4 trillion savings from subsidy removal in 2024 are being actively directed toward infrastructure development and social intervention programmes, initiatives that will benefit all tiers of government and enhance Nigerians’ quality of life.

We expect Atiku to commend what the Tinubu administration has done concerning revenue generation for the Federation. Without factoring in oil sales, revenue proceeds generated by the Federal Inland Revenue Service almost doubled in the first half of 2024, compared with the level Tinubu met in 2023. The states and councils are more prosperous because of it, as many states have increased the minimum wage for their workers to between N70,000 and N85,000.

Atiku’s proposal to privatise the four government-owned refineries, which collectively can only meet a fraction of the nation’s daily fuel consumption when activated, lacks originality.

In 2007, investors were only willing to offer $160 million for 51% equity in the Port Harcourt Refinery, while the Kaduna Refinery had an offer of $102 million. According to industry experts and the late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua, Nigeria’s Head of State at the time, who cancelled the sale of the refineries by the Obasanjo-Atiku government, the offered bids were considered scrap value.

As vice president, Atiku oversaw the sale of the nation’s assets to private individuals and cronies at low prices. Today, most public enterprises Atiku sold have been stripped and become dead assets.

The model of farming the completely rehabilitated refineries to private sector managers at an agreed-upon rate of return to the government, as adopted by Tinubu’s government, is more practical and value-laden than selling our national patrimony to some private interests that are not technically capable of operating the refineries. The Tinubu administration focuses on revitalising these refineries while supporting modular refineries and the Dangote Refinery, which has greater capacity.

This approach will guarantee domestic production and stabilise retail prices by reducing foreign exchange challenges. It includes selling crude oil to the refineries in Naira, enabling potential cost reductions that could reflect in retail prices.

Regarding Atiku’s allegations of corruption within the NNPC, the fuel subsidy has historically been the leading corruption enabler in the state-owned oil company. President Tinubu’s removal of this subsidy eliminated the most significant incentive for corruption within the NNPC. During his eight-year tenure as Vice President, Atiku and his boss had an opportunity to address this issue but failed to make any significant reforms in the oil sector.

In any case, is it not ironic that an Atiku, who was entangled in corruption allegations, including one in which his wife was indicted and his business associate, former US Congressman William Jefferson, was jailed for 13 years, is now talking about corruption matters?

The suggestion of phased-out subsidy removal is an outdated approach that has historically led to fiscal challenges for countries like Indonesia, which Atiku references. Nigeria has gradually phased out subsidies since 1978, with numerous adjustments made. Fuel prices were adjusted 22 times between 1978 and 2020. Rather than pushing for unrealistic timelines, Atiku should recognise the necessity of President Tinubu’s bold reforms.

Notably, while Atiku peddles his economic fantasies, he has yet to denounce President Tinubu’s removal of the fuel subsidy because he knows that the reform was necessary and correct. We can only urge him to purge himself of the petty, derisive politics of a sore loser.

To alleviate the effect of the fuel subsidy removal on the very poor and vulnerable, the Tinubu administration has embarked on an active social intervention campaign involving cash transfers and the distribution of palliatives. So far, 20 million Nigerians are being targeted for direct cash transfers, an established social protection mechanism described as economically transformative by the World Bank and many development partners. The Tinubu administration has designed well-targeted social inclusion programmes, including student loans, consumer credits, and the Presidential CNG Initiative, all initiated within the first 12 months.

In his foreign exchange management proposal, Atiku declared that a fixed exchange rate system was out of the question. Yet his managed float proposal, another gradualist approach, is still the same as the old fixed exchange rate system, which stagnated the national economy by subsidising forex up to $1.5 billion monthly to a privileged few.

Atiku should remember that a managed float is also known as a dirty float because of its inherent flaws. The system combines elements of fixed and floating exchange rates. The CBN will still have to set the exchange rate and make it available to people and businesses. Access is not guaranteed to all, as it is now.

In conclusion, Atiku’s economic proposals fail to present a viable alternative to Tinubu’s decisive reforms. We encourage him to reassess his approach and repair his reputation as a statesman. The rejection of his proposals in the 2023 election indicates that Nigerians will be reluctant to entertain his future political ambitions.

President Tinubu remains focused on leading Nigeria toward a prosperous future and addressing our nation’s real challenges. Atiku Abubakar should abandon his politics of distraction and fantasies and focus on constructive discourse.

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The All Progressives Congress (APC) is unfazed by the press conference addressed by former Vice President and Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar earlier today. The press conference lacked purpose and delivered nothing except the pitiful regurgitation of lies, mindless distortions and deliberate falsehood on his infantile obsession with the academic record of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

For several weeks now, Nigerians and the world have watched with incredulity Alhaji Abubakar’s display of utter desperation in his failed bid to become the President of Nigeria.

Earlier today, he put his desperation in overdrive during his press conference where he addressed some of the issues in his appeal at the Supreme Court and bandying unproven charges against the President of Nigeria, His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in a calculated attempt to shamelessly whip up public sentiments and inordinately pressure the Supreme Court.

We believe Atiku should have known better than to demonstrate gross contempt of the highest court by making public comments on a matter that he has submitted to the court for adjudication.

The major takeaway from his Yar’Adua Centre show, especially at question time, was that Atiku harbours deep animosity towards Tinubu whom he believes was responsible for his electoral woes in 2007, 2015, 2019 and this year.

In desperation, unbecoming of a statesman who once occupied the second highest office in the land, the PDP candidate in the last election has thrown every decency, decorum, dignity and national respectability out the window on his purposeless judicial voyage of discovery to the United States in search of a magic wand for taking power against the will of the Nigerian electorate loudly expressed in last February’s presidential election.

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar holds the unenviable title of Nigeria’s most prolific election loser  and longest running presidential candidate in history, and we see his recent US fishing expedition as the last kick of a roundly rejected presidential aspirant.

READ ALSO: Dismissed police officer, others arrested for ‘criminal offences’

While we sympathise with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar for spending a lifetime pursuing unrealised dream, we strongly condemn the perfidious road he has taken and the needless negative exposure of Nigeria and the institution of the Presidency in foreign land.

Just for the record, we wish to provide some clarity on the matter of the deposition of Mr. Caleb Westberg, the Registrar of Chicago State University, last Tuesday under oath at the Chicago office of Atiku’s lawyer, Angela Liu, to save unsuspecting Nigerians from barrage of untruths, distortions and campaign of misinformation being dished out by Atiku and his PDP

Mr. Westberg was unmistaken and unambiguous in his deposition as to the fact that President Bola Tinubu graduated with honours from Chicago State University. He also emphatically provided clear answers on all other issues raised which we can sum as follows:

1. That the person who is Nigeria’s president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is the same person who attended Chicago State University.
2. He confirmed that a certain gentleman called Adeniji who had come forward to say he was Tinubu’s classmate was in fact a student at CSU at the same time and they both ran for student union positions.
3. Mr. Westberg said the diploma certificate, on which the PDP and Atiku seek to gaslight Nigerians and the whole world, is just a ceremonial document and what proved studentship at Chicago State University and in any American university is transcript, not certificate.

Furthermore, he stated that the ‘F’ on the Southwest college certificate, a feeder institution to CSU, which President Bola Tinubu used to gain admission into CSU was a clerical error which could of course happen. He reiterated that Southwest College was a major feeder source for CSU.

4. He said the person admitted based on the transcript from South West College, was a male Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Westberg also added the courses taken by President Bola Tinubu at Southwest College were consistent with the courses he took at CSU.

Westberg further deposed that Accounting is a rigorous field of study. Anyone who did not take the requisite courses at the lower levels could not have done well at CSU.

In President Tinubu’s case, he did excellently well at CSU. He graduated with High Honours. That to him point to the fact that the person who attended and graduated from CSU was the same person who went to Southwest College

5. He pointed out that CSU has had at least six Registrars since 1979 and in an affidavit at an Illinois court prior to the deposition said “Chicago State University provided a diploma to Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and subsequently provided a certified (or official) copy of that diploma. Both are valid and authentic diplomas of Chicago State University”.

“He said further that the difference in the date of award on the diploma versus the certified copy is likely the result of human error. The graduation date on the certified copy is typed in manually by a person and can be inaccurate”.

6. Mr. Westberg noted that by practice, CSU does not replace certificates for students as they are issued by 3rd party vendors which is also a common practice by other US universities. The proof of attendance and graduation remains the transcripts.
7. There is also no part of Mr. Westberg’s deposition where he said that the certificate President Bola Tinubu presented to INEC for his election is fake or was forged. All the insinuations and innuendos in this regard are pure mischief and should be disregarded. President Tinubu could not have forged a University degree he honourably earned because there is no advantage to derive from such and no incentive to do so.

It should now be clear to all Nigerians that despite Atiku’s lies before the Illinois Court that he wanted to use the discoveries in pursuit of his appeal at the Supreme Court, he has rather chosen to use same as an instrument of mischief and blackmail in clear contempt of the highest  court of the land.

We want to urge former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to graciously accept his defeat and quietly lick his political wound with some dignity. Nigerians rejected him at the polls, and he cannot get by subterfuge what he failed to get through the ballot box.

Nigerians validly elected President Tinubu to revamp our economy, restore security, create jobs, provide transformative infrastructure, improve electricity supply and enhance the living conditions of the masses.

President Tinubu has undertaken to serve Nigerians and he will not be distracted by a man who has consistently failed to achieve his self-serving and brutal quest to become  Nigeria’s president.

*Morka is the National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

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Abubakar disclosed this in Bauchi  while commissioning a 4.2 kilometres Gombe Road- Maiduguri Bypass named after him by the state governor, Mr Bala Mohammed.

“Today, I read with emotions your birthday greetings to me. I don’t normally like celebrating birthdays but here you are today, making me celebrate birthday with a birthday cake and birthday bull.

“I never had it in my life like this. Your Excellency, words alone are not enough for me to describe how I feel today.

“I want to appeal to the good people of Bauchi State to support their governor. Give him all the support that he needs as you can see that if you give him the support, he will also serve you very well.

“He is not a governor that is actually ruling or governing you, he is a governor who is serving you,” he said.

Abubakar also commended the state House of Assembly for its continued support to the executive, despite the fact that it’s being controlled by an opposition party, the All Progressives Congres, APC.

“It is a working opposition party. In other words, the development of the state is far more important to them than the differences in political beliefs.

“Mr Speaker, I want you to convey my appreciation to  members of the state assembly for the cooperation you have been giving to the governor and I believe you will continue to give him,” Abubakar said.

The former vice president also appreciated the state governor and the people of Bauchi State for inviting him to inaugurate the road as well as naming it after him.

He called on all and sundry in the state to keep supporting the state government.

He added that their support would pave way for creation of more economic empowerments due to the antecedent of the governor when he was the FCT minister under former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Source: NAN

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The plaintiff instituted the suit in 2019 challenging Abubakar’s eligibility to contest for president.

When the matter was called, counsel to the plaintiff, Mr Akinola Oladimeji told the court that he was not prepared to go on with the matter.

Oladimeji told the court that it was only on Wednesday that he got wind of the fact that the matter had been slated for hearing on Thursday since the next adjourned date known to him was September 20.

The judge, Justice Inyang Ekwo, then sought to find out from the court registrar if parties had been informed of the date and the registrar responded in the affirmative.

The judge in a short ruling said that he was not happy that he gave a date for hearing which had become a subject of controversy.

He, however, adjourned the matter until September 27 and warned the plaintiff that it would be the last adjournment for his client.

The plaintiff, a civil society organisation in suit no. FHC/ABJ/CS/177/2019 is challenging the citizenship of Abubakar on the grounds that he was not born in Nigeria.

The plaintiff joined the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and the Attorney-General of the Federation as co-defendants in the suit.

The plaintiff formulated the following questions for determination by the court:

“Whether Section 25 of the Constitution is the sole authority that spells out ways by which a person can become a Nigerian citizen by birth.

“Whether by the provisions of Section 131(a) of the constitution, only a Nigerian citizen by birth can contest for office of the president.

“Whether by the combined interpretation of Section 25(1) (2) and 131(a) of the constitution, and giving the circumstances surrounding the birth of Abubakar, he can be cleared by the PDP and INEC to contest for office of the president.”

The plaintiff held that if the answers to the questions were resolved in its favour, it should be granted the following reliefs:

“A declaration that by provisions of Section 131(a) of the constitution, only a Nigerian citizen by birth can contest for the office of president.

“A declaration that by the combined interpretation of Sections 25 (1) (2) and 131(a) of the constitution, and giving the circumstances surrounding the birth of Abubakar, he cannot be cleared by PDP and INEC to contest for president.

The plaintiff also asked the court for any order which it may seem fit to make in the circumstances of the application.

However, Abubakar and the PDP, on which platform he contested the last election asked the court to dismiss the suit for lacking in merit.

In their notice of objection filed jointly, they insisted that the former vice president was a bonafide citizen of Nigeria.

Abubakar also said that besides serving as Nigeria’s vice-president from 1999 to 2007, he held many public and private offices, including serving as governor of Adamawa  and was a commissioned officer of the Nigerian Customs Service.

He said his parents, grandparents and great grandparents were born in Nigeria and they lived, died as Nigerians and were buried in Nigeria.

He told the court that the suit was filed in bad faith in an attempt to malign his person and integrity.

Abubakar also objected to the plaintiff’s right to challenge his nationality, arguing that it failed to show the interest it had above other citizens of Nigeria to be entitled to approach the court on the issue.

Source: NAN

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With the court verdict, the appeal by Atiku over the victory of Buhari during the election was dismissed.

Atiku and his party, PDP, had alleged irregularities in the election that saw Buhari return to office for a second term.

In his reaction to the court verdict as contained in a statement which he personally signed, Atiku declared that “the judicial route I chose to take, as a democrat, has come to a conclusion.”

The statement titled “Supreme Court Judgement, Part of our Democratic Challenges,” reads:  “It is said that the Supreme Court is not final because it is infallible, but that it is infallible because it is final. While I believe that only God is infallible everywhere, and only Nigerians are infallible in our democracy, I must accept that the judicial route I chose to take, as a democrat, has come to a conclusion.

“Whether justice was done, is left to the Nigerian people to decide. As a democrat, I fought a good fight for the Nigerian people. I will keep on fighting for Nigeria and for democracy, and also for justice.

“I thank all Nigerians who have stayed the course since the commencement of trial in the petition on the February 23 presidential election.

“The judgement is part of democratic challenges we must face as a nation.

“The Nigerian judiciary, just like every estate of our realm, has been sabotaged and undermined by an overreaching and dictatorial cabal, who have undone almost all the democratic progress the Peoples Democratic Party and its administrations nurtured for sixteen years, up until 2015.

“Can Nigeria continue like this? Recently, former United States Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, averred that Nigeria had rolled back the democratic gains she made in 2015. When democracy is rolled back, the economy, the society and the judiciary will not be far behind. Today, the nail has been put on the coffin and the gains we collectively made since 1999 are evaporating, and a requiem is at hand.

“In a democracy, you need a strong judiciary, a free press and an impartial electoral umpire. Nigeria has none of those three elements as at today.

“One man, one woman, one youth, one vote, should be the only way to make gains in a democracy. And when that is thwarted, the clock starts to tick.

“Two and a half millennia ago, Sophocles said ‘If we are to keep our democracy, there must be one commandment: Thou shalt not ration justice.’ Nigeria will do well to observe this warning.

“To those who think they have broken my spirit, I am sorry to disappoint you. I am too focused on Nigeria to think about myself. I gave up that luxury twenty years ago. The question is not if I am broken. The question is if Nigeria is whole?

“This is not a time for too many words. It will suffice for me to remind Nigeria of this – we are an independent nation and we are the architects of our fate. If we do not build a free Nigeria, we may end up destroying her, and God forbid that that should be the case.

“I was a democrat, I am a democrat, and I will always continue to be a democrat. May God bless Nigeria.”

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Atiku Abubakar in a statement he issued on Friday in Abuja, said it was also to ensure that democracy was seen to be done in Nigeria.

He said that “nothing good comes easy”, and that hard work was needed in the task to rid Nigeria of the forces of fascism.

Besides, he said that the route he had adopted for reclaiming his mandate was also for the full restoration of the rule of law and democracy in Nigeria.

“I owe so much to this great land of Nigeria that took me from the streets of Jada, where I sold firewood, to the heights I have attained, by God’s benevolence, in the civil service, in corporate Nigeria, and in public service.

“If I do not play my part in making it possible for other orphaned children, indigent youths and the less-privileged, to replicate and even surpass my path to significance, I will have failed my Maker.

“If I do not ensure that the ladder I climbed remains accessible to those at the bottom, middle and top tiers of society, I will not have fulfilled my purpose.

“And only by ensuring that democracy is not just done, but seen to be done, can Nigeria and Nigerians have a sense that this our dear land is indeed a land where unity, faith, peace and progress reside.

“It is for this, and other patriotic reasons, that I am pursuing this judicial route: To ensure that the votes of Nigerians count and are counted,” he said.

The former vice president said those who did not want Nigeria to be a reality, would use every trick in the book to undermine, discourage, misinform and mislead the populace.

He, however, said that with God’s help and the support of Nigerians, he would ensure that Nigeria was on course towards genuine democracy.

“We must return to being Africa’s bastion of democracy, where the rights to freedom of speech and freedom after the speech, are guaranteed.

“We must stand together to pursue this just cause all the way, so that our judiciary are not afraid to do their jobs and have to be wary of blackmail, intimidation, and victimisation,” he said.

Atiku Abubakar appreciated Nigerians’ support for shared common goal and the solidarity he enjoyed from all walks of life and every strata of society, right from July 21, 2018, when he declared his intention to contest the presidential election.

He said that the support continued to September 11, when the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal rendered its verdict.

Abubakar noted the immense outpouring of goodwill from ordinary Nigerians in every nook and cranny of Nigeria and from all regions, religions and relationships.

“I also thank the governors elected on the platform of my party, the PDP, as well as the National Executive Committee, for their unanimous and unambiguous support for the judicial phase of this struggle, especially after it was announced that we would go on to appeal,” he said.

He urged all Nigerians to continue their support for that recourse to constitutional order via the courts.

“Even if there is little or nothing you can do to ensure that justice is done in Nigeria, just believe that it will happen. Let us never underestimate the effect of our belief in Nigeria.

“Finally, I say to all concerned, that we will all die and give account of our lives to our creator,” he said.

Source: NAN

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The declaration was in dismissal of the efforts by the opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to seek the disqualification of Buhari who represented the All Progressives Congress in the last general election.

The court, in its verdict, declared that Buhari possessed the West African School Certificate Examination, WASCE,  which is a requirement to contest the 2019 presidential election.

The court said the petitioners could not prove that Buhari did not obtain WASCE.

That, it said, was apart from other certificates he obtained which made him well qualified for the presidential contest.

Against the backdrop of the declarations, the chairman of the tribunal, Garba Mohammed, struck out the case against Buhari that he was not qualified to contest the election.

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He was arraigned on Wednesday by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over alleged involvement in money laundering of over $140,000 during the last general elections.

Justice Nicholas Oweibo presided over the court.

Babalele pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, but was ordered detained in EFCC custody pending the bail application on Thursday.

As part of the bail conditions granted, he was to provide one surety in like sum.

The surety, it was stated, must be resident in Lagos and must produce evidence of means through an affidavit.

Babalele was also ordered to deposit his passport with the court.

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The order was given by the Federal High Court in Lagos presided over by Justice Nicholas Oweibo.

Babalele, Atiku’s son-in-law was arraigned over alleged case of money laundering involving over $140,000 during the 2019 election.

Also arraigned was Atiku’s lawyer, Uyiekpen Osagie-Giwa, over $2 million cash said to have been laundered during the election too.

The two men denied the allegation against them by the EFCC.

The court adjourned the case till Thursday when their bail application would be made.

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