By Adamu Abuh and Juliet Akoje, Abuja |   25 May 2018   |   4:25 am 



The House of Representatives yesterday aligned itself with President Muhammadu Buhari’s refusal to assent to the Peace Corps establishment bill.

Effort by the Chairman of the House Committee on rules and business, Mr. Emmanuel Orker-Jev to rally the lawmakers to allow the bill scale the second reading stage which would have prepared the ground to override President Buhari’s veto on the Bill met the brick wall during plenary.

Orker – Jev (Benue APC) argued that reasons advanced by President Buhari cannot hold water going by the inability of security agencies to curb the spate of kidnapping, armed robbery, farmers and herders clashes and other heinous crimes in the polity.

He also listed the creation of employment opportunities for the teeming population of unemployed graduates in the country as some of the benefits inherent in the passage of the bill into law.

Others argued that the establishment of Peace Corps would not only help in keeping the peace in the troubled northeast geopolitical zone but would offer gainful employment opportunities for the members of the civilian JTF helping security agents to tackle the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency group.

However, the Chief whip, Ado Doguwa, Aliyu Dau Magaji (Jigawa, APC), Adamu Chika (Niger,APC), Ossai Nicholas Ossai (Delta, PDP), and Musa Sarki Adar (Sokoto, APC) successfully rallied majority members against the bill on the basis that putting in place the Peace Corps was tantamount to having a parallel body with the duties and responsibilities of existing security outfits.

Adar who claimed that there was so much underhand dealings associated with the recruitment process in the Peace Corps was of the view that overriding President Buhari on the Bill was akin to opposing the on-going anti-graft campaign of the administration.

At the end of debate, Speaker Dogara called for a voice vote, which was in favour of those opposed to overriding the president veto on the bill.

The president had in February declined his assent to the Nigerian Peace Corps Bill passed by the National Assembly in 2017.

The House ad hoc panel yesterday summoned the Special Assistant to the President on Anti-Corruption and Chairman, Special Presidential Investigative Panel on the Recovery of Public Property (SPIP), Mr. Okoi Obono-Obla, over allegations of forgery of his O’ level certificate and letter-head papers of SPIP.

Also to appear before the panel alongside Mr. Obono-Obla on June 5, 2018, are the managements of the University of Jos and West African Examinations Council (WAEC), according to the Chairman of the ad hoc panel “investigating the legality and otherwise of SPIP,” Aliyu Pategi (APC, Kwara).

Pategi said facts before the ad hoc panel authoritatively revealed that Mr. Obono-Obla not only used a doctored WAEC result to gain admission into the law faculty of the University of Jos but also has been using different letter-head papers to write to various countries of the world on behalf of SPIP, thereby making mockery of Nigeria and the anti-corruption stance of current government.

Adding that such a character is not fit to hold any public office, especially that of fighting corruption.

https://twitter.com/GuardianNigeria/status/1000123089307537411?s=19

The only sensible thing Buhari has done in his presidency.

Cost Of governance is way way too high.

We need to eliminate agencies not add more.

This Orker Jev is a very useless man, I think Benue is cursed. Since the beginning of the 4th republic Benue have not produced good governors, reps and Senators.
For the NASS, baba will never be tired of sending back your useless bills.

Peace corp to add salt to our collective security wound (injuries)...

Peace Corp must not be National/ Federal, let them go and do community service and work under a Community chiefs...since they want to help fight insecurity, that will be the best place. Man O war have been quietly working particularly in NYSC, Higher institutions and Churches where they help instill discipline. what was Peace corp looking for?

To hell with peace corp.

Akor