“NO ELECTRICITY, NO VOTE,” SOUTH AFRICANS THREATEN TO SHUN RULING PARTY ANC. (PHOTO)

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 “No electricity, no vote,” South Africans threaten to shun ruling party ANC Residents in Katlehong, a township outside Johannesburg, have resolved to boycott South Africa's upcoming local elections on November 4 due to long-standing failures by authorities to provide basic services like electricity. For over 20 years, around 180 households in the community have relied on illegal electrical connections pulled from neighboring areas to power their homes. Angry over the lack of formal grid infrastructure, residents are directing their frustration at the ruling African National Congress (ANC). "We have made a collective decision: no electricity, no vote," said community leader Lesiba Rankapole, 59. "We know it is illegal, but we had no choice because we cannot live without electricity. Our children cannot progress without electricity." "I was born ANC, but today I do not want anyone to tell me about the ANC because I am suffering," added 57-year-old resid...

SITTING JUDGES SHOULD NOT PRESIDE OVER ELECTION TRIBUNALS- AFE BABALOLA. (PHOTO).


Sitting Judges Should Not Preside Over Election Tribunals – Afe Babalola

Legal luminary and founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Aare Afe Babalola, on Monday, said sitting judges should not preside over election petitions tribunals. 

The nonagenarian Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) said judges who preside over election tribunals should be separate from regular court judges to avoid the halt of cases unrelated to elections.

He suggested that retired judges and respectable SANs should constitute tribunal judges.

The legal luminary, who spoke at an event in Ado-Ekiti to mark his 60th anniversary at the Bar, said the judiciary needs a total overhaul.

“Our judiciary today needs a total overhaul and you cannot do it without a new constitution,” he said. “I have about three cases myself in respect of matters arising from the university.”

“For the past four years, these cases have been on. We have some judges here, the headquarters won’t be able to sit for many months because they are handling what they call election petitions.

“Election petitions should not be handled by sitting judges, they should be decided only by the committee set up consisting of senior advocates and retired judges in that case regular courts would not close down,” Babalola stated.

With the conduct of the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections as well as the March 18 governorship and state assemblies polls, many aggrieved contestants filed petitions at tribunals sitting in Abuja and in states, challenging the declarations by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Dignitaries at the occasion include former President Olusegun Obasanjo; the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Kukah; the Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Ogunwusi; former Commonwealth Secretary-General, Emeka Anyaoku; human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), amongst others.


 

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