Chief Emami in a terse statement, said, “Some of us are against the meeting because it is uncalled for. For the last six years when Tompolo enjoyed juicy contracts from Federal Government through NIMASA, pipeline surveillance, maritime security and other forms of undue favours, why did he not convene such a meeting? I must use this opportunity to stress once more that Niger Delta does not belong to one ethnic nationality.”

WARRI- TWO Itsekiri and Urhobo leaders in Delta State, Chief Ayirimi Emami and Olorogun Egbo Jaro, yesterday, urged President Muhammadu Buhari rebuff the attempt by some members of the splintered Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger-Delta, MEND, led by High Chief Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, to distract him from probing the Amnesty programme.

Chief Emami in a terse statement, said, “Some of us are against the meeting because it is uncalled for. For the last six years when Tompolo enjoyed juicy contracts from Federal Government through NIMASA, pipeline surveillance, maritime security and other forms of undue favours, why did he not convene such a meeting? I must use this opportunity to stress once more that Niger Delta does not belong to one ethnic nationality.”

“Members of the fractured MEND have been granted amnesty long ago by the Federal Government and whatever the agenda of that meeting would be should be disregarded by the Buhari administration, which has shown absolute focus. People like us are determined to give the Buhari administration total support.

“All the speculation of tomorrow (today) meeting being convened to agitate for the payment of monthly stipends of ex-militants is to distract the Buhari administration from probing the amnesty programme so as not to expose the financial irregularities and lopsidedness of the amnesty programme,” he asserted.

National leader, Urhobo Nationality Council, UNC, Olorgoun Jaro Egbo, stated, “The Urhobo ethnic nationality of Niger Delta are seriously against the purported meeting of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta , MEND, as it is self-serving, misconceived and likely to bring the peace we now enjoy into disarray.”

“We must strongly warn the so-called commanders of MEND that their properties in Urhobo land will be in serious jeopardy if they go ahead with the meeting. We fully support the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

“The Urhobo will resist any attempt by MEND and their co-travelers if they resort to arms,” he added.

chukwudi44:


Fighting the senate leadership would be one mistake Buhari would make.The senators can life very difficult for him.

The Presidency on Friday said that President Muhammadu Buhari would not short-change any part of the country on account of the voting pattern in the March 28 presidential election.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, said this in an interview withSaturday PUNCHin Abuja.

He stated that contrary to the news making the rounds on a
statement made by the President in the United States, no part of the country would be denied of the dividends of democracy.

But the Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, advised the President against neglecting any part of the country, no matter how insignificant the contribution of such area to his victory.
The spokesperson for the group, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, stated this in a telephone interview withSaturday PUNCHon Friday, when he commented on a statement attributed to Buhari in the US.

Buhari, had during a question and answer session with journalists in the US on July 22, said, “(Going by election results), constituencies that gave me 95 per cent cannot in all honesty be treated, on some issues, with constituencies that gave me five per cent.

I think these are political realities. While, certainly there will be justice for everybody but the people who voted, and made their votes count, they must feel the government has appreciated the effort they put in putting the government in place.”

But the Presidency said those who have been making issues out of the comment had deliberately refused to include the President’s concluding statement on the issue.

He said the balanced perspective of what the President said was that it is natural politically to give more to those who supported him but then those who did not support him would not get anything less, because the constitution already protected them.
The presidential spokesman said, “People should just have been patient to listen to the entire trend.

“The President said it truly that people who gave him 95 per cent may get more attention in terms of reward and all that.

“But he also said that fortunately, the constitution has guaranteed the rights of every part of the country.

“What that means then is that even those who voted five per cent will get their dues and will not get things commensurate with five per cent votes.

“Some people deliberately decided to take part of what he said and refused to balance it.

“The balanced perspective of what the President said is that it is natural politically to give more to those who supported him but then those who did not support him will not be given the shorter end of the stick because the constitution already protected them.”

A member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, on Friday met briefly with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Gbajabiamila is one of the principal actors in the leadership crisis rocking the House.

He was the preferred choice of the leadership of the All Progressives Congress for the position of the Speaker ahead of the election of the leaders of the 8th National Assembly.

Yakubu Dogara, however, emerged the Speaker after he defied the party leadership to contest the election against Gbajabiamila.

Efforts by the party leadership to also ensure that Gbajabiamia emerges the House Leader is also currently not going down well with the Dogara group.

The Friday’s meeting was the second one Gbajabiamila has so far held with Buhari.

Unlike the first one during which the President met with the lawmaker and about 29 of his colleagues loyal to him, only Gbajabiamila visited Buhari on Friday.

After his brief meeting with the President, the lawmaker refused to answer reporters’ questions.

He simply said he was in a hurry “to see the Chairman”, obviously referring to the APC national chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun.

The Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brig. Gen. Johnson Olawunmi, has said prospective corps members with first class degree and their counterparts, who graduated with distinction from the polytechnics, would henceforth be posted to tertiary institutions for their primary assignment.
The NYSC chief disclosed this in Kaduna on Wednesday at the opening ceremony of 2015 Batch ‘B’ Pre-Mobilization Workshop.

The Director of Corps Mobilisation, Mr. Anthony Ani, also explained that workshop would critically “look at the data entry used for the exercise for the Senate approved list, the list of approved corps producing institutions and the list of accredited courses.”

Olawunmi, who enumerated his reform programmes aimed at improving service delivery and efficiency in the NYSC, said if fully implemented, the NYSC programme would go through a seamless process and add value to young Nigerian graduates.

He also disclosed that Nigerian universities have been banned from offering post-graduate admission to serving corps members.

DaGC:



You probably didn't read the entire article. Else you would have seen that it was dropped by the previous administration, but resurrected by the present administration.

Shalom

FormerVice President of Nigeria in the Second Republic, Dr. Alex Ekwueme has said that the plan to bring Boko Haram detainees to Aguata Prisons in Ekwulobia, Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State, was hatched during the former President Jonathan’s administration, but was resisted and protested against by the people which made the past administration to drop the idea.

Speaking with newsmen at Aguluzigbo, Anaocha Local Government Area of Anambra State during the end of tenure Thanksgiving Ceremony of Chief Victor Umeh as APGA Chairman,

Chief Ekwueme said, “I am aware that the plan of bringing Boko Haram detainees to Aguata prisons in Ekwulobia came up a while ago and there was reasonable protest to the then President Jonathan against it and he dropped the plan.

“I was out of the country when I heard that Boko Haram detainees were brought to Aguata Prisons in Ekwulobia, Anambra State.

I started wondering how the idea of bringing them to the South East and my local government area came up again after the people thought the matter has been rested.

“I am sure the new President must have seen the records and proposal and decided to implement it, but since there was initial protest against the relocation of the detainees to the South East, I’m sure President Buhari will do something to assuage the feelings of the people of the South East,” he said.

On the alleged delay in appointing ministers, Chief Ekwueme said he cannot start passing judgment now on the President because

“every leader has his leadership style, everybody will not approach that exalted office with the same style. You have to watch and assess each person based on his style. The important thing is that we get the right result.

“Another important thing is that we have peace, prosperity and unity, and better quality of life as Nigeria attains her God given-position as a great nation and leader in the comity of nations.

“So, I wish the President well in running the affairs of Nigeria. I cannot start assessing his performance now, it is too early,” he said.

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday in Washington DC, United States, assured that his administration will not go back on the ongoing privatization programme in the country.

Stressing that the government will embark on the exercise with improved moral architecture, the President said the privatization programme will be expanded to include other areas such as aviation, telecommunication, energy, gas, solid mineral, health and infrastructural development.

He spoke during a business forum organized by the U.S Chamber of Commerce and the Corporate Council on Africa.

Buhari also challenged American Investors to take advantage of the liberal trade and investment climate to do profitable businesses in Nigeria.

He said: “It is my intention to create the necessary environment for future investment in Nigeria. We are the most populous nation with largest market in Africa with vast human and natural resources and blessed with abundant young and skilled workforce

“We are therefore a proud candidate to become the destination of choice for United States’ investments in Africa.

“I work assiduously to welcome new investors to ur country. I will like to remind you all that we are continuing in major privatization programme with sectors ranging from telecommunication, energy, gas, solid minerals, aviation, health and infrastructural development, but with improved moral architecture.

“We will also simplify visa procedures based on principle of reciprocity. May I therefore, seize this opportunity to formally invite the American business community to take advantage of our liberal trade and investment climate to do profitable business in Nigeria.”

He went on: “While I recognize the pivotal role of government in facilitating and promoting economic growth, the private sector must assume an increasing role as part of the engine of growth.
“We will welcome genuine investors who are willing to come to Nigeria for solid mineral exploitation.”

His administration, Buhari said, would fulfill its key campaign promises which included creation of employment opportunities for millions of Nigerian youths.

“Generating employment was one of my key campaign promises. I will do my best to keep this promise.

“There is no other way to expand economic opportunities and create employment opportunities for millions of our youths than boosting domestic manufacturing, undertaking infrastructural development and industrialization.

“Let me repeat, Nigeria will partner with genuine investors who are willing to join us to achieve our economic objective and at the same time realize handsome returns to recoup their investments

“There is more to Nigeria than oil. This is why I will continue to stress the need for increased United States investments in our non-oil sector.

“In this respect the present administration will be attentive to the needs of the business community and pursue policy that will strengthen the sectors that drive the growth,” the President added.

Yoruba tops list of languages required by the Metropolitan Police

Scotland Yard has come under fire today after placing an advert demanding that anyone wanting to join as a police officer be able to speak a second language.

The Metropolitan Police wants to bolster the number of officers able to speak and understand 14 languages which are widely used across London.

As part of a month-long trial which started today, new recruits must speak English and one of Yoruba (Nigeria), Hebrew, Arabic, Hindi, Punjabi, Italian, German, Turkish, Greek, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, Sinhala (Sri Lanka) or Bengali to join as Met Police officers.

But the move has sparked criticism from a former officer and members of the public on Twitter.

Retired Met Police officer Chris Hobbs wrote: “I’ve kept reading and re-reading it. Can’t believe it. What about potential BME (black and minority ethnic) recruits who only speak English.”

He added: “Won’t this also adversely affect the recruitment of guys and girls from the black community whom we would like 2 [sic] see more of?”

After Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe set an ambitious target of having 40 per cent of all officers from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds, only 18 per cent met that criteria when the latest intake passed out in March.

According to a report published by the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee in December 2014, before the most recent recruitment campaign, only 11 per cent of officers serving in the Met were from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic background, compared with approximately 40 per cent of the population of London. The current BME figure in the Met is now 12 per cent.
Members of the public also appeared less than enthusiastic about the new initiative.


Simon Holdaway tweeted: “The Met’s lack of understanding of the problems it faces is stunning’, while another user wrote: ‘the lunatics have finally overtaken the asylum.”

Meanwhile, Carole Hawkins tweeted: “For £19,000 a year, this country is now getting really stupid.”

Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said:
“We know that almost 300 languages are spoken in the capital. We need to recruit and deploy officers with second languages in areas where those languages are spoken.

“I believe it will help boost confidence, help to solve crime more effectively and support victims and witnesses.”

A Met Police spokesman said: “It’s a pilot scheme for four weeks. We will review it after four weeks and see what the take-up is and how successful it has been in terms of the number of people expressing an interest.

“With so many languages spoken in London we recognise that some of our victims, witnesses and others who come into contact with the police may not be fluent in English.

“This is about strengthening our capability to match the needs of some Londoners. We know there is a demonstrable link between the skills and capabilities of our workforce and public confidence in London’s police.

“The language requirement is the latest in a number of initiatives the MPS has introduced in a bid to make the MPS more reflective of London’s communities.”

Chairman of the Metropolitan Black Police Association, Janet Hills, said: ‘This is about the cultural competency of officers within the organisation and those they are looking to recruit.

“The MetBPA are broadly supportive of the intention but recognise that more needs to be done to effectively utilise the existing skills of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic officers by consciously placing them into communities where they will have the greatest impact.

“Language is just one of the competencies that the MPS can utilise but unless officers with the right skills are placed in the right locations these attributes will be wasted.”

chukwudi44:


I only related that analogy but that dosent mean he is right though!!! The fact is that the status quo will remain till the final court (supreme court) rules on it.

Call me a child of hate or whatsoever I don't care I would always say my mind not minding whoose ox is gored

barcanista:
Question for the House:

Which Senate created the inhouse standing rule of 1999?

Senators who served in the 7th Senate, on Saturday, disowned the 2015 edition of the Senate Standing Orders as amended.
The senators who are from different political parties, said they were not aware of any amendments to the 2011 Senate Standing Orders.

Acting on a petition by Senator Sulaiman Hunkuyi (All Progressives Congress, Kaduna State), the police had on July 6 quizzed the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, and the Clerk of the National Assembly, Mr. Salisu Maikasuwa, over an alleged forgery of the standing orders.
The ‘forged’ orders were said to have been used in the election of Ekweremadu and the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki.

The PUNCH had exclusively reported on Thursday that the police said that they would release the report on their investigation into the alleged forgery this week.

The petition alleged that some parts of the 2015 Senate Orders were different from the one ratified by the 6th Senate in 2010, which was used by the 7th Senate as Standing Orders 2011.

One of our correspondents who perused both orders, reports that in the 2015 Senate orders, Rule 3 as contained on page four of the standing rule, which has to do with the election of presiding officers, is different from the 2011 Senate Order.

Rules 3(e) (I) and (ii) have been included in the 2015 document to accommodate electronic voting and secret ballot, whereas secret ballot and ballot papers were not specifically mentioned in the 2011 Standing Orders.

The Senate Order 3 (E ii) of 2011 states, “Voting shall be conducted by the Clerks-at-the Table, using the Division List of the Senate with the Tellers in attendance. The Clerk of the Senate shall submit the result of the division to the Clerk of the National Assembly.

“(iii) The Clerk shall then declare the Senator-elect who has received the greater number of votes, elected as President of the Senate.”

The same section in the 2015 Senate Order however reads, “Voting by secret ballot which shall be conducted by the Clerk-at-Table using the list of the Senators-elect of the Senate, who shall each be given a ballot paper to cast his vote with the proposers and seconder as Teller. The Clerk of the Senate shall submit the result of the voting to the Clerk of the National Assembly who shall then declare Senator-elect who has received the highest number of votes as Senate President-elect.”

The open ballot procedure was adopted by the Senate to produce the past Senate President, David Mark and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu. Senators were called, one after the other, and they openly identified with the candidate of their choice.
Apart from ‘alteration’ to the procedure for election, the order 95 of the 2011 rule on the chairmanship and membership of the Committees is also different in the 2015 version.

In the 2011 document, provisions in Order 95 reads, “The membership of all committees shall not be less than 11 and not more than 13 senators. (2) No senator shall serve in more than three committees (3) No committee chairman shall serve in more than one other committee.”

However, a new insertion in the amended version reads: “The appointment of Senators as Chairmen and members of committees shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the six geopolitical zones of the country and there shall be no predominance of senators from a few geo-political zones.”

A large number of the Peoples Democratic Party Senators refused to comment on the topic but the few who spoke withSUNDAY PUNCH, said they were not privy to any amendments to the standing rule.

Senator Victor Lar (PDP, Plateau South) declared, “As at the time we left the Senate, there were no alterations (to the Senate Standing Orders).”

He said, “The Senate did set up a committee to amend the provisions of the Standing Rules of 1999, that amendment was adopted and so the Senate rules as at 2003, 2007, and 2011 have been the same.”

Similarly, a former high ranking member of the PDP in the Senate, who spoke on condition of anonymity said, the controversy over whether or not the rules were altered was unnecessary.

According to him, the bureaucracy of the National Assembly is in the best position to explain what happened if at all there was any infraction.

He said, “Usually, at the beginning of any new session, you are given a copy of the Rule Book (Senate Standing Orders) which is printed by the management. If any change needs to be done, senators agree on it. I will give you an example, we used to have a rule called rule 101 that was introduced towards the end of the 5th Senate but when we came back in the 6th Senate, we realised that that rule ran contrary to Section 64 even though we had approved it at plenary, in another plenary we agreed to remove it.”

However, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business in 7th Senate, Senator Ita Enang, explained that the Standing Orders that should have been used for the inauguration of the 8th Senate is the Standing Orders that was used and closed within the 7th Senate.

Enang was in the PDP when he was in the Senate, but he later defected to the APC.
He said, “I made proposal for amendments between 2011 and 2015, I laid the report on the floor, but we did not consider the report. We did not amend the Standing Orders.

“Before we left, I had approved the reprinting of the Standing Orders and the reprinting did not include inserting anything which was not in the old one. Reprinting is, simply reproduce what we have because there are no more copies,” he added.

Also commenting on the development, Senator Babafemi Ojudu (APC), who represented Ekiti Central in the 7th Senate, said,
“There were no amendments at all. I spoke with Senator Ita Enang, who was the custodian of the rules and he expressed shock.

“Any amendments done to the Senate Rules which we used in the 7th Senate is criminal and perpetrators should be charged for forgery.”

Senator Adesoji Akanbi, (Oyo Central, APC); Senator Solomon Adeola, (Lagos West, APC); and Senator Gbenga Ashafa, (Lagos East, APC) said they were not aware of any such amendments when contacted on Saturday.

*It is a forged document— Marafa

Senator Kabir Marafa, (Zamfara Central, APC ) who was a member of the 7th Senate and had been re-elected into the 8th Senate alleged that order 3 (2) (iv) had been added into the new rule book which now made it compulsory to spread committee members and chairmanship across the six geopolitical zones.
Marafa, who is a member of the present 8th Senate, was also in the 7th Senate.

He also said that a careful study of both the old and new standing rule at its disposal, showed that the insertion of order 3 ( 3e i – iiii ) was done deliberately to accommodate a member of the opposition party as deputy senate president.

Marafa said, “The problem is that the senate was inaugurated using a forged document. Who forged that document? We can’t gloss over or sweep that criminality under the carpet, Nigeria is not a Banana Republic!”

“The insertion of order 3 (2 iv) & 3 (3e i-iiii) in the 2015 edition is a deliberate act perpetrated by fifth columnists operating within the National Assembly to sabotage the government of President Muhammadu Buhari.

“It was done to cause friction, disaffection and generate bad blood among senators from different zones and provoke confusion in the senate with the sole aim of stagnating government business to give them time to perfect their agenda.”

He further alleged that the insertion of order 3 (2 iv ), was done to favour the PDP caucus in the senate who supported Senator Saraki, to become the Senate President.

He said, “For 16 years of PDP leadership, the presiding officers and committee headship was skewed in favour of the zones that produce more PDP senators but suddenly they introduce equality of zones in the distribution of these offices because they lost out, this is unacceptable by APC senators.”

Senator Dino Melaye, representing Kogi West, in the current 8th Senate, neither denied nor confirmed whether the rules were ammended legally or illegally when contacted on phone.
Although Melaye is in the APC, he belongs to the group, Like Minds Senators, loyal to Saraki.

He simply said, “The issue will be sorted out on resumption of plenary. There is no cause for alarm.

*Procedure for amending orders

Another senator from the South-West geopolitical zone, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there was no time that the 7th Senate made such amendments.

The senator, who was a member of the Senate Committee on Rules and Business, which has the responsibility to initiate such amendments described the new 2015 Senate Standing Order as a forgery and called for the immediate prosecution of the perpetrators.

He said, “We did not change anything in the rules used for the 7th Senate. The procedure for such amendments are clearly stated even in the rule itself and none of the process took place throughout the life time of the 7th Senate.

“Even in the proposed amendment, we did not include the issue of secret ballot system. Who inserted it? When the ballot box did become a matter of the chamber?

“The only thing we inserted in the proposed one was to insert the Committee on MDG. There was the Committee on Commerce and Industry, the Senate President abolished it and created Committee on Investment. There was a dispute between Senators Nenadi Usman and Odion Ugbesia, so we created the committee on investment and deleted the committee on trade and industry.

“We then assigned more functions to the Committee on Special Duties. Apart from these amendments, we didn’t touch any other aspect. The resistance of Senator David Mark to approve the aspect which would assign specific productive functions to the deputy senate president delayed deliberation on the proposed amendments.

Special Adviser to the Senate President, Mr. Yusuph Olaniyonu, said he was not in a position to answer whether the rule was properly amended or not and he consequently directed our correspondent to the management of the National Assembly who inaugurated the 8th Senate.

He said, “I cannot speak on the issue because Senator Bukola Saraki was not yet the Senate President when the Standing Order was produced. I think you should direct your enquiries to the management of the National Assembly for further information”
The Clerk to the National Assembly, Salisu Maikasuwa, also declined comments when contacted.

Attempts to speak with the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to former Senate President David Mark, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, were unsuccessful as his mobile phone was switched off when our correspondent called him on Saturday. Also, the Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Paul Mumeh, did not pick his calls when contacted.

Also, attempts to reach the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, were unsuccessful.
Repeated calls to the mobile telephone number of his Special Adviser (Media), Mr. Uche Anickuwu, indicated that it was switched off.

A response to a text message sent to him was still being awaited as at the time of filing this report (8:00pm).

House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara is battling to fend off allegations that he blew N66 million on chartered aircraft.

His aides and associates yesterday said about N3.9million was spent on an 80-minute return trip from Abuja to Delta State.
They said the money was Dogara’s and not the National Assembly’s.

The Speaker last week chartered an aircraft to attend the inauguration of a church.

It was learnt that the Speaker decided not to use any aircraft in the presidential fleet because the trip was “private”.
A few days after the trip, some House members are claiming that such “a tasty lifestyle” is not in line with Dogara’s “Legislative Agenda”.

Although House members are on holiday, the matter is being circulated among them.

A pro-Dogara source described the insinuations as “politically motivated” because of the intrigues in the House.
Some lawmakers queried the sources of funding such trips since the movement of the Speaker is bankrolled by the National Assembly.

A member of the House, who spoke in confidence, said: “The chartered aircraft palaver is being circulated among House members because of the alleged N66 million cost. We do not know whether the amount was real or imaginary. But it remains in the realm of allegation.

“The challenge is that he who comes to equity must do so with clean hands. With the robust Legislative Agenda put in place by Dogara, this is no time for such a luxury. The same House of Representatives joined issues with the immediate past Minister of Petroleum Resources on the charter of a Bombardier aircraft.

“Dogara needs to explain to members what really transpired. No APC member is expected to indulge in this type of luxury because the party came into office with an austere agenda.”

Dogara, who is said to cherish Christian ethics, is reportedly weighed down by the allegation .

The row over the chartered aircraft was said to have disturbed Dogara who felt there was a deliberate attempt to rubbish his image by some “political detractors”.

The Speaker was said to have reached out to as many members
as possible to explain that he did not dip his hands into the National Assembly’s coffers.

Dogara’s aide said: “I am under instruction not to comment because it appears that those behind the allegation of N66million have another motive.
“As at the time the Speaker made the trip to Delta State, there
was no commercial flight at all.

“It became necessary for him to use a chartered aircraft. The cost of the service was only N3.9million for a 40-minute flight to and from Delta State. Altogether, it was 80 minutes. And the aircraft only dropped the Speaker and returned to pick him and his entourage after his church assignment. Let me also clarify that the Speaker does not own a private jet.”

A Non-Governmental Organisation, the Credible Alternative Alliance (CAA), under the national leadership of former Kaduna State Governor Balarabe Musa has cautioned “political merchants and enemies of good governance” against joining issues with Dogara “in their desperation to pull him down”.

Speaking to journalists at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja, the spokesman of the organisation, Mallam Sanusi Muhammad, said the recent financial allegation against Dogara was “meant to ridicule his personality and portray him as a scandalous leader that should not be trusted”.

Sanusi added that the allegation that the Speaker blew N66 million on a chartered aircraft was an imagination of the social media and sponsors of the story to achieve a hidden agenda against Dogara.

He said: “We investigated the allegation from the airline operators and found it to be false and malicious. No airline charges such a colosal amount on chartered aircraft anywhere in Nigeria and the case of Dogara cannot be different.

“The aircraft was chartered from his personal savings not as mischievously reported. He deserves the right to make a judicious use of his personal resources for his comfort. Political detractors and agents of doom were behind the news story that should be ignored. We should learn to say the truth no matter what.”

Muhammad said although Dogara is yet to be fully recognised as the duly elected Speaker of the Honorable House by a select few within the ruling party who have their reason (s), but an attempt to ridicule his reputation through baseless allegations is not the solution to the leadership crisis threatening the unity of the ruling party and the Honorable House.

“APC leaders should strive to bury their imaginary differences to forge ahead as the formidable party it is. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and other leaders should act fast to arrest the situation in the interest of democracy of good governance while planning for future encounter”, he added.

ABUJA – A member of the House of Representatives, Rep. Igariwey Iduma Enwo has dragged President Muhammadu Buhari to an Abuja High Court challenging the legality of the bail out of N413.7 billion for payment of backlog of salaries to civil servants.
Enwo is seeking for a declaration by the court that Buhari’s approval of the bailout funds was “unconstitutional, illegal, unlawful and null and void.”

He is seeking an order of perpetual injunction restraining the President from further allocation, distribution, and disbursement of public revenue from Nigeria’s distributable pool account to federal, state and local government without the prescription of the National Assembly.

Rep. Enwo who represents Afikpo North/South federal constituency of Ebonyi State on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, faulted the action of the president without recourse to the National Assembly when he single handedly took the decision.

Also joined in the suit alongside President Buhari are the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, the federal ministry of finance, the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, the Accountant General of the Federation as well as Auditor General of the Federation.

The lawmaker is praying the court to determine whether President Buhari can by way of fiat issue a lawful directive to the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th defendants to appropriate, distribute, allocate and disburse public revenue from the distributable pool account to the federal, state and local governments without prescription from the National Assembly.

He is also seeking to know whether having regards to the combined effect of section 162, 163, 164 and 168 of the 1999 constitution as amended the president can carry out such an action without National Assembly approval.

Speaking to newsmen in Abuja yesterday, he said his decision to sue Buhari was not “political” but was in defence of the constitutional provision for separation of powers.

He said the power of appropriation rests squarely with the National Assembly and that the federal government cannot appropriate public funds without recourse to the National Assembly.

According to him, “To do so will be for the federal government to act in a cavalier or perfunctory manner and I believe that that is not what the drafters of the constitution intended when the constitution of this country was predicated on the separation of powers.

“Section four of our constitution clearly vests the power of appropriation on the National Assembly. Section five vests the Executive with its own powers and Section six vests the Judiciary with its own powers. So, there is a clear separation of powers.”

Relying on the Constitution of the country, he said section 160 of the Nigerian constitution clearly made it mandatory for the National Assembly to be involved in any form of revenue distribution in the country.

He said for President Buhari to have unilaterally taken the decision on the bail out amounted to boycotting the parliament and alienating it in the scheme of things in a constitutional democracy.

He said, “I am doing this because I feel that this is a constitutional democracy. If you allow this kind of thing not matter the good intention of the federal government, the country’s democracy will be threatened.

On the likely reaction by Nigerians on the matter, the lawmaker said, “this is a country of laws. Everything the government does ought to emanate from the 1999 constitution of Nigeria. Every step the government intends to take must be backed up by the constitution.

“Any day we set ourselves away from the constitution we will be inviting anarchy. What I am saying is that you cannot sacrifice constitutionalism on the alter of political expediency.

“The constitution does not say that our president should be a Father Christmas. Our president is a democratically elected president who swore to abide by the dictates of the constitution.

“We did not elect an Ayatollah or a monarch who would sit in his office and do good to,all manner of men the way he or she desires. Every act of the president, the legislature or the judiciary must emanate from this constitution and other statutes and legal instruments.

“No matter how well intentioned the action of government may be, the moment it is not backed up by the constitution it is a nullity.”

chukwudi44:


The Senate standing rule is not Nigeria's constitution and hence is subject to amendment by the NASS bureaucracy. The standing rules of 99,2003,2007,20011and 2015 are unique in each own ways.This fools are fighting a lost cause. There was no constitutional amendment or Senate sitting before the 99 Senate rule came in force,if other other NASS decided to adopt similar house rules as the 99 house rules does not mean it cannot be changed in 2015.

Their only recourse would be to go to court to challenge the amendments if there are not satisfied with it.There are just wasting their time involving the police. The police would never arrest any principal officer as the stakes are very high and in reality no criminal activity have been carried out.

The only person who could complain of forgery in this case is the house clerk whoose responsibility it is to make the rules. Ekweremadu ,Saraki and David Mark are just too big to be intimidated by police. These man are very powerful men in their own ways

A former Federal Lawmaker in the Seventh Assembly, Senator Ita Enang says at no time did the Seventh Assembly amend its standing rules.
Speaking in an interview with Channels Television, Senator Enang, who chaired the Committee on Rules and Business in the Seventh Assembly, discredited reports that the Senate standing rules ended with the Assembly.
The Senate has been tangled in controversy as federal lawmakers in the Unity Forum wrote a petition to the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, alleging that some sections of the 2015 Senate rules had been forged by certain Senators from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The contention was that the Senate standing rules for 2015 was secretly amended to replace the use of open ballot system with secret ballot system in the election of the principal officers in the Senate.

A National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Bola Tinubu has denied claims that he has been making demands of President Muhammadu Buhari on whom the latter should appoint to his government.

Speaking to State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa last night after breaking fast with the president, Tinubu said he respects Buhari and remains loyal to him.

Ostensibly, the dinner with the president was held in furtherance of the peace initiatives by the ruling party to reconcile the warring factions in the National Assembly.

APC lawmakers in both chambers of the federal legislature have been at loggerheads since the elections last month that threw up Senator Bukola Saraki as Senate President and Hon. Yakubu Dogara as Speaker of the House of Representatives, in defiance of the preferred nominees of the party for the posts.

The former Lagos State governor said: “I have no demands. If you understand what party politics and leadership is all about, it is about loyalty and commitment to the values, which the leadership believes in.

“I believe in what the president believes in. I respect him and I stand firmly loyal to his cause. So you can go to any length of speculation that you might want, I have not responded to all of that because I understand the president and the president understands me clearly.”

When asked about the crises in the National Assembly, Tinubu was evasive in his response, stating: “That is an area where I am very cautious of my position and my utterances. I still want to keep my side of the interpretation or analysis to be able to achieve a resolution of the matter as quickly as possible.”

He stated that he was in support of what the president had carefully enumerated and articulated to the party on the issue, adding: “The party is supreme. The party must have disciplined leadership and followers. The party’s process must be respected because that is the confidence and the trust of the people.


“However in every environment, we could have conflicts and conflict resolution mechanisms would be applied to resolve all the problems so we are there.

“There is honour in every struggle and every competition, there must be honour in victory too.”

Tinubu also asked Nigerians to ignore the claim by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that Buhari was too slow, adding that Buhari could not be expected to clean up the mess left behind by the PDP's 16 years of bad governance in 30 days.

“We are different, we cannot be PDP, we are APC, we will not repeat their mistakes. We know their mistakes, errors, we understand what Nigeria wanted and Nigerians gave this party victory because of our manifesto,” he said.

“We are pro-people, we are progressives. We have had a conservative government in the last 16 years, this is a progressive party, just coming in barely 30 days.

“We understand the hopes of Nigerians, we understand the expectations of Nigerians, we believe in that expectation and in our promise of prosperity to the people. We will not change that,” he said.

Buhari, during the dinner with the APC leaders, which also had the former Rivers State Governor Chibuike Amaechi and Publisher of the Leadership newspaper, Sam Nda-Isaiah in attendance, appealed to the warring members of the APC to reconcile their differences in order for the party to deliver on its campaigns to the ‎electorate.

He also called on them to exert their influence both in the party and the country, in order for the party to achieve its campaign manifestos of addressing security, economy, employment and corruption.

He recalled the difficulties the party ‎went through to emerge strong enough to dislodge the PDP, and asked the APC stalwarts to bury their differences and unite for the sake of the country.

Buhari commended Tinubu for his support and words of encouragement, noting that it was important to reflect on their journey in order for them to appreciate how lucky they are as a political group.

He said: “I always like to go down memory lane to show how lucky we are as a political group. At no stage was the decision taken by chance, it was all deliberate.

“The leaders of the parties felt the only way to wrest power from the PDP was for us to come together. I in particular was scared after previous failures in the elections of 2003, 2007 and 2011.

“We dissolved our various parties to form APC then we applied to INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission), for once I was grateful to INEC.

“We had gone with nine people to INEC to apply and INEC advised us that we needed at least 25 people across the country to form a political party. We were able to go back and raised 35 members across the country and then successfully registered the party.

“INEC then informed the federal government that we had met the requirements, hence we could not be denied registration. Many doubting Thomases said a merger had never succeeded in Nigeria but here we are.”

Buhari explained that he decided to go down memory lane so that the party’s leaders would appreciate how far they had come, adding: “For a society as ours, if we respect the constitution, then all the greed and problems will be a thing of the fast.”

“We should just look at Nigeria as Nigerians, no matter the level you are, lose your influence so that we can help achieve the manifestos – security, economy, employment and corruption, because if we don't kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria. We have to ensure that people we bring forward are those that will move the society forward,” he said.

Responding, Tinubu‎ described the APC as the armoured personnel carrier (APC), saying it represented the diversity of Nigeria.

While thanking Buhari for the opportunity to break fast with him and for bringing together people for various background regardless of religious affiliations, he said: “We believe this diversity will continue to propel us for economic growth under your leadership.

“This is the first Ramadan after the election, we thank God for cutting down the opponents’ 60 years of fake promises to 16 years.

“I heard them say we are slow. Yes, we didn't campaign to be fire fighters, but planners and meticulous ones at that. A latrine pit of 16 years can’t be cleaned up in 30 days because the mess is much.

“Mr. President you started well, you hit the ground running. You promised Nigerians that you will address security and your first meeting to ECOWAS was on security because we cannot fight it alone.

“You have been to other places; if they think it is a game of Ludo, we will say it is serious business. If they forgot G7 we will remind them.

“We have faith in you Mr. President, we have faith in your
capacity and uprightness. I’m here filled up and not fed up.
“We promise to continue to be with you and support you, no matter what they are saying we are not re-running the election until four years time.

“We pray to God to give us four more years of this month and pray to Him to forgive our misdeeds and for peace and stability.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday confirmed the recall of non-career ambassadors and ambassadors extraordinary and plenipotentiary on tour of duty abroad.
This was contained in a statement issued by the Public Communication Division of the Ministry, made available to NAN in Abuja.

It stated that the exercise was in line with routine movement in the diplomatic service.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs wishes to reconfirm the recall of non-career ambassadors, ambassadors extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic on tour of duty abroad,” it stated.

Prominent among them are widow of the late Ikemba Nnewi, Chief Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Bianca (Spain); former Foreign Affairs Minister, Chief Ojo Maduekwe (Canada); Chairman of the Jonathan Presidential Campaign Organisation in the 2011, Dr. Dalhatu Tafida (UK); Professor Ade Adefuye (USA) and former deputy governor of Oyo State, Mr. Taofeek Arapaja (Jordan).

The rest include a former aviation minister, Mrs. Fidelia Njeze (Switzerland);ex-General Manager, Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Ibadan, Mr. Yemi Farounbi (Philippines); a one-time governorship aspirant in Lagos State, Mr. Olatokunbo Kamson (Jamaica); a PDP front liner in Ondo State, Mr. Cornelius Oluwateru (UAE); Alhaji Abubakar Shehu Bunu (Saudi Arabia); a former Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General in Benue State, Mr. Chive Kaave (Argentina); a former financial secretary of the PDP, Alhaji Tukur Mani (Iran);and former permanent secretary, Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA Biodun Nathaniel Olorunfemi (Namibia).

Also on the list are: Chief Asam Asam (SAN), (Russia); Mr. Okwudili Nwosu (Burundi); Mr. Okeke Chukwuemeka (Vatican); Mr. Eric Aworahbi (Italy); Dauda Danladi (Pakistan); and Mrs. Katherine Okon (Czeck Republic); Mr. Nwofe Alexander,; Princess Victoria Bosede Onipede (Republic of Congo); Senator Haruna Garba (Kuwait); Mrs. Nonye Rajis-Okpara (Singapore); Chief Eddy Onuoha (Hungary); Mr. Adamu Babangida Ibrahim (Syria); Dr. Sam Jimba (Poland).
They were among the 93 envoys posted out in June 2012.

feldido:
Is Amaechi now a Muslim?

The last has not been heard of the demolition crisis rocking the Ladipo Auto market in Mushin. We reported earlier how thugs and policemen were used to demolish the market recently. The traders have alleged that the roof of their shops were forcefully removed and rain destroyed goods worth millions of naira.

The traders have however hired the services of Barr. Femi Falana, SAN to institute legal action against Mushin Local. Government and the said developer. They are suing for malicious damage and illegal eviction from the market.

mbolajide2010:
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At the bolded, you see my brother the Ndigbo brought all the problems they are facing in Nigeria upon themselves. Ahmad Bello and Awolowo were never in support of one Nigeria from the begining, but Azikwe then believed that since the north were not that educated back then, he could use that as an advantage for the Ndigbo to dominate Nigeria, the reason he went into alliance with the North. But unfortunately the North proved him wrong that they are not fools.

Imagine if Azikwe was never in support of one Nigeria from the begining? Biafra would have been a thing of the past. Imagine if Ironsi had never truncated regionalism? Imagine everybody is still controlling their resources by themselves?

Though the Igbos are not lacking behind in anything in this country, except politically. Both locally and internationally they are doing very fine.

But Azikwe think the Igbo would be the greatest winner in the scheme of one Nigeria, but the Igbo now seem to be the worst loser politically in the scheme of one Nigeria.

You wanted one Nigeria when others didnt want it, but you forced them into it. Now it is their turn too to force you into it.

You cant eat your cake and have it.