News
Wike Moves To Stop Rivers Election Tribunal From Sitting
From Left: Newly Elected Chairman, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Kaduna State Council, Ephraim James; Deputy Chairman, John Adaji and Treasurer, Danladi Yahaya, at the 11th NLC State Delegates Conference in Kaduna, yesterday
The governorship candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), in Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Ezebunwo Wike, has filed a case against the Governorship/House of Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal.
The governor-elect, Wike, who filed the case at a Federal High Court in Abuja, is challenging the jurisdiction of the tribunal to sit in Abuja instead of Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
In constituting the tribunal for Rivers State which will sit in the premises of Federal High Court, Apo, Abuja, President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachawa, said the relocation in venue was for reason of security.
Apart from Rivers, Election Petition Tribunals for Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, respectively, will also be holding in Abuja.
According to CA, Rivers tribunal will sit at the FCT High Court in Apo; Adamawa tribunal is to sit at FCT High Court in Jabi; that of Yobe will sit in Nyanya.
Wike wants the court to stop the tribunal from holding in Abuja as the matters it shall be entertaining have their locales in the Rivers State capital.
It could not be confirmed whether Wike and PDP will boycott the tribunal’s when hearing opens.
It was reported that Wike, a day to the April 11 governorship, had refused to honour an invitation to attend a peace meeting convened by AIG Tunde Ogunsakin.
Wike was reported to have told Ogunsakin, who is the Assistant Inspector General of Police Zone 6, Calabar he would not attend the meeting, accusing the senior police officer of being anti-PDP.
However, a lawyer based in Port Harcourt argued that if Wike had any reason to challenge the jurisdiction of the tribunal sitting outside Port Harcourt, the only option was for him to raise the issue before the Tribunal.
The lawyer said that Wike’s action amounted to a litigant seeking a judge to disqualify another judge in a case the former judge has no jurisdiction.
“If Wike had any reason to question the jurisdiction of the Rivers State Election Petitions Tribunal holding in Abuja, the proper thing is for him to first appear before the tribunal, then, challenge its jurisdiction there.
“But come to think about it, one can reason that it is already a futile mission. The tribunal will only be holding in Abuja; not sitting. A similar scenario played out in Rivers State where the state High Court, Okrika was relocated to Port Harcourt over similar reason of security. It was addressed as ‘Rivers State High Court, Okrika Holding in Port Harcourt’.”
Nigerians may experience an increase in the prices of premium energy products diesel and petrol as the Dangote Petroleum Refinery temporarily halts the sale of petroleum products in Naira.
“This decision is necessary to avoid a mismatch between our sales proceeds and our crude oil purchase obligations, which are currently denominated in US dollars,” the company said in a statement yesterday.
The $20billion refinery based in Lagos said the sales of its products in Naira have exceeded the value of Naira-denominated crude it has received from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
“As a result, we must temporarily adjust our sales currency to align with our crude procurement currency,” the company explained.
The refinery said it remained committed to serving the Nigerian market and would resume the sale of its product to the local market in Naira as soon as it received crude cargoes from the NNPCL in Naira.
“As soon as we receive an allocation of Naira-denominated crude cargoes from NNPC, we will promptly resume petroleum product sales in Naira,” it said.
The announcement by the refinery comes amid its price war with the NNPCL.
As part of moves to reduce the strain on the US dollars, and guarantee price stability of petroleum products, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in July 2024, directed the NNPCL to sell crude oil to Dangote Refinery and other local refineries in naira and not in United States’ greenback.
In the beginning of March 2025, the NNPCL said its Naira-denominated crude sales agreement with the Dangote Refinery was structured for six months with March 2025 as the expiration date.
The state company, however, said that talks were on to replace the contract, and that over 48 million barrels of crude oil have been made available to Dangote Refinery since October 2024 under the Naira-denominated arrangement.
The NNPCL also said it had made over 84 million barrels of crude oil available to the private refinery since it commenced operations in 2023.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, faces energy challenges, with all its state-owned refineries non-operational for decades until 2024. The country was heavily reliant on imported refined petroleum products, with the state-run NNPCL being the major importer of the essential commodities.
Fuel queues are commonplace in the country. Prices of petrol more than quadrupled since the removal of subsidy in May 2023 by President Bola Tinubu, from around ¦ 200/litre to about ¦ 1,000/litre, compounding the woes of the citizens who power their vehicles, and generating sets with petrol, no thanks to decades-long epileptic electricity supply.
Last December, the billionaire industrialist commenced operations at the facility situated in Lagos with 350,000 barrels a day. The refinery, which was initially bogged by regulatory battles, hopes to achieve its full capacity of 650,000 barrels per day by the end of the year. The refinery has begun the supply of diesel and aviation fuel to marketers in the country and now petrol.
Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna has overtaken Egypt’s Omar Assar to become Africa’s highest-ranked player in the world, now sitting at 18th in the week 12 ranking released on Tuesday.
Aruna moved up from 19th place in week 11 to 18th in the latest ranking, while Assar dropped from 17th to 19th.
Denmark’s Jonathan Groth took over Assar’s 17th place, moving up from 18th.
Despite finishing as runner-up at the 2025 ITTF Africa Cup, Aruna’s impressive performances at the WTT tournaments this year have boosted his ranking.
Aruna remains the only African male player to have reached the semi-finals of the WTT Contender Doha, repeating his 2023 feat earlier this year in January.
This achievement has propelled him ahead of Assar, who beat him to become the champion of the 2025 ITTF Africa Cup.
Aruna’s next tournament is the WTT Contender Chennai which serves off in India from March 23 to 20.
In the women’s singles, Egypt’s Hana Goda maintained her top spot in Africa, moving up one place to 26th in the week 12 ITTF ranking. Her compatriot, Dina Meshref, remained static at 33rd, holding her position as the second-best-ranked female player in Africa.
China’s Wang Chuqin retained his position as the second-best player globally, behind his compatriot Lin Shidong, who continues to hold the top spot. Japanese superstar Tomokazu Harimoto dethroned China’s Liang Jingkun as the third-best player in the world after his semifinal finish in Chongqing.
In the women’s ranking, the top five remained unchanged, with China’s Sun Yingsha holding onto her top spot after retaining her WTT Champions Chongqing title.
