₦airaland Forum

Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has broken the National Assembly record, by endorsing the 2017 National Assembly budget open to the public, thereby ending 8 years of secrecy, instituted by his predecessors.
Recall, that former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, was among the agitators, among others, that the National Assembly budget be made open to the Nigerian public.
The decision was reached at the meeting of the joint leadership of the Senate and the House of Representatives, which commenced late Monday, and ended moments after midnight, on Tuesday.
Following the resolution, the proposed 2017 budget of the National Assembly, is to be laid in both Houses on Tuesday, when the Lawmakers reconvene for business.
“It is now certain”, one source said, “the budget of the National Assembly will be laid this morning, the leaders of the National Assembly, Senate and the House of Representatives have decided. The Speaker was also here.”

The source did not however, disclose the total sum of the budget, which stood at N115 billion, in.......http://www.mcebisco.com.ng/2017/05/breaking-nationwide-jubilation-as.html

At last, members of the heartless Baddo Gang terrorising the Ikorodu area of Lahos were nabbed on Friday after they executed another family of 4 at Oke Igbodo area of Ikorodu. Angry residents of the area pounced on them and battered them seriously. More photos and video... http://www.mcebisco.com.ng/2017/05/badoo-gang-killing-families-in-lagos.html

Doyin Okupe, the former Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan, has said that it is very insensitive, the way some Nigerians are making unsavoury comments about President Muhammadu Buhari’s illness.
In a statement on Friday, Okupe said though he is not a supporter of Buhari, it is embarrassing how some Nigerians “outrightly deride him, wish him dead, as if they themselves are not human.”
“Sickness and ill-health many times are not things you can blame individuals for, and certainly not deride them about. Both young and old do fall ill, and death certainly is not exclusively restricted to the old, or young, or rich, poor, or powerful,” the ex-Presidential Aide said.
He said the political implication of President Buhari’s health, “is neither simple, nor straight forward, in a country as complex and convoluted politically as Nigeria.”

He noted that political leaders must bear in their minds, that since the return of democratic rule in 1999, in the last 18 years, the Southern part of the country has occupied the position of President for approximately 14 years, while the North has had only four years.
“This calls for sensitive and careful navigation and negotiation, to uphold equity, justice, and fairness, if our country must maintain political stability, without which our nation can hardly make progress”, Okupe said.
Okupe further stated that, the North-West should produce the President in 2019.
He said: http://www.mcebisco.com.ng/2017/05/breaking-i-am-not-supporter-of-buhari.html

President Muhammadu Buhari’s Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, has been named as the architect of the president’s controversial letter to the National Assembly informing legislators that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was to be the “coordinator” of government activities during Mr. Buhari’s latest trip to Britain to undergo urgent medical care. The phrasing of the letter, a departure from President Buhari’s previous ones where Mr. Osinbajo was explicitly named “Acting President,” has generated widespread discussion and a measure of political tension within Nigeria.
Several high-ranking sources at the Presidency confirmed to SaharaReporters that the decision to use the phrase, “the Vice President will coordinate the activities of the Government,” instead of expressing what the Constitution stipulates, that the Vice President becomes “Acting President” with the transmission of the letter, was singularly taken by Mr. Kyari.
Our Presidency sources added that they were not even certain that Mr. Abba Kyari bothered to seek the opinion of the Attorney General, Abubakar Malami, before drafting the much-discussed memo to the National Assembly. However, the sources said President Buhari had in the past insisted that the Attorney General should at all times be informed about such important constitutional communication between him and

http://www.mcebisco.com.ng/2017/05/chief-of-staff-abba-kyari-inserted.html

THE Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has revealed the source of weapons with which Fulani herdsmen unleash terror on farmers and other victims across Nigeria and beyond.
He made the disclosure while delivering a lecture at the opening session of the ECOWAS parliament in Abuja on Wednesday.
However, Saraki said the weapons used by herdsmen for launching attacks are acquired illegally from neighbouring countries as the Global Terrorism Index labels Fulani hedsmen as the fourth deadliest terror group in the world.

Saraki while speaking urged the ECOWAS parliament to put every machinery in place to deal with the problem of insecurity in the region in the area of proliferation of

http://www.mcebisco.com.ng/2017/05/no-longer-at-ease-senate-president.html

As shared by a Facebook user, Victor …
Maybe you are wondering if he is a bokoharam terrorist undergoing punishment. No my brother he is not. This is an innocent Father and
husband who did nothing wrong but to answer just a phone call at army checkpoint. The lecturer as I later found out simply ask the soldiers who ask him to submit his handset and go just because he was seen answering call inside the vehicle to show him where its warned that no one should answer call here. He was tortured, strip and our vehicle was ordered to go leaving the victim behind…. http://www.mcebisco.com.ng/2017/05/just-in-lecturer-brutalized-by-soldiers.html

The Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt Division, has upheld the legality of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry established by the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, to probe the sale of valued asset by the Appeal Court in a lead judgment by Justice O. F. Omoleye also held that the Rivers State House of Assembly has the power to make the Commission of Inquiry Law (CAP 30) under which Governor Wike established the Judicial Commission of Inquiry.
Delivering judgment on Suit Number CA/PH/342/2015, the court in a unanimous decision dismissed the appeal filed by the former governor, Mr. Amaechi, challenging the constitution of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry.
The court held that Justice Simeon Amadi of the Rivers State High Court was right when he ruled that the Judicial Commission of Inquiry had the power to sit and make recommendations.
The Court of Appeal ruled that anybody who holds public office should be ready to be accountable to the people, even after leaving office.
The Appeal Court, however, resolved that Mr. Amaechi has the locus standi to file the suit, since it had to probe his administration.
Addressing journalists after the judgment, Dejo Laminkara, counsel to the Rivers State Governor, said that the Appeal Court by its decision stressed that the law http://www.mcebisco.com.ng/2017/05/breaking-appeal-court-validates-rivers.html

Sen. Ibrahim Gobir (APC-Sokoto) has assured Nigerians that the National Assembly will pass 2017 on May 9.
“The delay in its passage is to allow the effective harmonisation of the documents by both the Senate and the House of Representatives,’’ Gobir told newsmen in Sokoto on Saturday.
Gobir said that the National Assembly was committed to further improving the general welfare of Nigerians.

“The National Assembly members would, therefore, intensify oversight functions, ensure timely releases of funds, as well as ensure their judicious utilisation.
“The National Assembly is for the entire country, but, we will continue to provide checks and balances, and will always advise properly,’’ he said
Gobir further said that the National Assembly was trying its best to ensure peace and harmony among all arms of government.

According to him, the lawmakers are not oblivious of the principles of separation of powers as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution.
“We will continue to operate as partners and will always have mutual respective for all the

http://www.mcebisco.com.ng/2017/05/national-assembly-will-pass-2017-budget.html