The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has upheld the election victory of Senator Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the September 21, 2024 governorship election in Edo State.

The appellate court, on Thursday, affirmed the earlier ruling of the Edo State Election Petition Tribunal, which dismissed a petition filed by Asue Ighodalo of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

Ighodalo had challenged the outcome of the election.

A three-member panel of justices, led by Justice Mohamed Danjuma, ruled that the appeal lacked merit and was therefore dismissed.

A prominent human rights advocate and former lawmaker, Shehu Sani, has revealed an alleged political strategy by former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar and other northern elites to unseat President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 presidential elections.

In a detailed interview with Sunday Sun in Abuja, Sani disclosed that the strategy hinges on exploiting regional disparities and security challenges.

According to him, Atiku, the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) presidential candidate in 2019 and 2023, plans to capitalize on various issues, including the relocation of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) offices to Lagos, the perceived dominance of South-western appointees in Tinubu’s administration, and ongoing security concerns in Northern Nigeria. Sani outlined that Atiku and his political allies intend to paint President Tinubu as favouring his regional base over the broader national interest.

“They are trying to present him [Tinubu] as an ethnicist, a regionalist, and someone who betrayed Northern Nigeria despite receiving significant electoral support from the region,” Sani stated.

He described the move as a calculated attempt to sway Northern voters against Tinubu, framing it as a necessity to reclaim power. Despite revealing these strategies, Sani advised Atiku and his cohort to exercise patience and respect the informal rotational presidency arrangement between the North and the South.

He suggested that Tinubu, representing the South, should be allowed to complete an eight-year tenure, after which power would naturally shift back to the North in 2031.

Sani emphasized the importance of national unity and peace, urging Atiku to consider the broader implications of his actions on the country’s stability.

“Atiku has worked hard to promote peace and unity in Nigeria, and it would be prudent for him to allow the South to complete their tenure,” he added.

Speaking on Atiku’s visit to Daura, he said, “You see, it is a tradition that each time there is a Sallah celebration, people pay homage to former leaders. You pay homage to former leaders so that you get the necessary blessings from them, but in the case of what has happened recently, the fact of the matter is that Northern political leaders are regrouping, and their focal point is Buhari.

“They still want to use Buhari to whip up Northern regional sentiment as it was done in the CPC days and garner the votes they can in order to eject Tinubu from power.

“There is no Northern leader today that can serve as a rallying point. He was the one who was a former president and he used to have a fanatical following. So, what they are trying to do is to present Tinubu as a bad case, as an ethnicist, as a regionalist, as a person who betrayed Northern Nigeria, as a man who was voted by the North, but he is serving his own people and the need for Northerners to wake up and evict him out of power.

“It is their strategy. And they want to do that by making sure that that idea is sold to the Northern masses and then, from there, they seize power. But I have to draw attention to two facts – first of all, Buhari was a colossal failure.

“He has led this country for eight years and he left the North worse than he met it, and the treasury of the country was looted under him; the economy was pillaged under him and the nation was plundered and terrorism and banditry was at the highest peak under Buhari administration.”

Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, has been elected chairman of the Southern Governors Forum.

Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, emerged Vice Chairman.

This followed a meeting of the Southern Governors Forum in Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Monday.

The meeting, which lasted about five hours, had in attendance 13 governors and three deputy governors from the southern states.

The governors are Dapo Abiodun, Ogun, Godwin Obaseki, Edo, Seyi Makinde, Oyo, Alex Otti, Abia, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Lagos, Ademola Adeleke, Osun, Francis Nwifuru, Ebonyi, Peter Mbah, Enugu, Douye Diri, Bayelsa, and Umo Eno, Akwa Ibom State.

Others are Biodun Oyebanji, Ekiti, Bassey Otu, Cross River, Charles Soludo, Anambra, Imo state deputy governor, Chinyere Ekomaru, Delta State deputy governor, Monday Onyeme, and Ondo State deputy governor, Olayide Adelami.