By Suleiman Yakubu

The National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in the Minna High Court Complex on Thursday dismissed the petition filed by Mohammed Nazeer of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) against the election of Shehu Saleh of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Justice Angela Otaluka of the National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal dismissed the petition, describing it as lacking substance and merit.
Mohammed Nazeer of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) approached the Tribunal challenging the election of Shehu Saleh, who was declared the winner of the February 25 National Assembly Election. He claimed that the election was manipulated in favour of the respondent and he should be declared the rightful winner of the election.
He alleged that the election was also marred with irregularities and non-compliance with the electoral act, arguing further that the respondent did not score the rightful vote cast at the polls.
Nazeer, in his petition, prayed the Tribunal to upturn the election of Shehu Saleh and return him as the rightful winner as he scored the majority and rightful votes cast at various polling units across the Magana/Rijau Federal Constituency.
Justice Angela Otaluka, while reviewing the petition during the judgement, asserted that all the issues raised and the evidence tendered before the Tribunal are immaterial, inconsequential, and lack merit.
She averred that the petitioner failed woefully to prove the allegations of overvoting and manipulation of voting as well as non-compliance with the electoral act, among others, claimed in his petition, and the petition was accordingly dismissed as lacking merit.
Justice Otaluka, while dismissing the petition, awarded a cost of N300,000 to be paid to the respondent.
Also, a petition filed by Saidu Isah of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) of Agaie Federal Constituency challenging the election of Mahmud Abdullahi of the All Progressives Congress (APC), suffered another setback as the petition was dismissed by the Justice Angela Otaluka-led Tribunal.
Saidu Isah had approached the Tribunal to declare him the rightful winner of the February 25 National Assembly Election to represent Agaie/ Lapai Federal Constituency, claiming that he scored the majority of votes cast at most of the polling units in Agaie and Lapai.
According to the petitioner, the election was marred by unprecedented crises and irregularities at most of the polling units across the two federal constituencies of Agaie and Lapai, claiming that his polling and ward agents were chased away from the polling units.
Saidu Isah prayed the Tribunal to return and declare him the winner of the February 25 National Assembly Election unconditionally and upturn the election of the respondent as he did not win the majority of votes cast at the February 25 National Assembly Election to represent Agaie/ Lapai Federal Constituency.
In her four-hour judgement, Justice Angela Otaluka stated that the petitioner failed in totality to substantiate his claims as contained in his petition, and he also failed to prove the allegations of non-compliance, and she dismissed the petition with a cost of N300,000 to the respondent accordingly.

By Suleiman Yakubu

The Niger State Commissioner of Housing and Urban Renewal, Hon. Abubakar Umar, has said that the administration of Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago was ready to address the issue of housing deficit through the construction of affordable housing units across the state.
Addressing staff of the ministry and other agencies under the ministry, the commissioner said they were ready to hit the ground running in order to meet the target of the governor.
He therefore called for the support and cooperation of the staff of the ministry, adding that his doors would remain open for suggestions on better ways to achieve the mandate.
The Permanent Secretary in the ministry, TPL Habiba Ahmed, had earlier explained that a lot of developers have shown interest in partnering with the state government in respect to the construction of housing projects for the people of the state. "We already have lots of memos, some of which have gotten approval from the governor, so that is not a problem; we are on top of it.
"People should expect a lot of housing development; we are going to address the issues of urban renewal. You already know the kind of challenges we are facing in terms of the physical environment, and that is the focus of this administration.
"To ensure that we also meet up with the best practices in the world, so that we can redress some of these things, regenerate, redevelop some of the places, and also renew, those are our watchwords. We are going to be on that very soon; we are going to hit the ground running," she declared.
The permanent secretary stated that with the plan for the construction of new roads and expansion of the existing ones, the ministry would ensure that what comes up along these new road corridors is controlled to avoid distortion.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Renewal was among the new ministries created by Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago of Niger State to provide an adequate and affordable housing scheme, whose provision is dependent on the active participation of both the public and private sectors.