₦airaland Forum

Electorates will determine

Thank God for his released

fear

President Muhammadu Buhari has withheld assent to the amendment passed by the National Assembly which changed the sequence of elections in the country.

The president cited constitutional reasons for his rejection in a letter he sent to Senate President, Bukola Saraki and the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara.

The letter was read by the presiding officers at both chambers during yesterday’s session.

The letter tagged, ‘Presidential decision to withhold assent to the Electoral amendment bill 2018,’ gave three reasons for the president’s action.

These are: “ A. The amendment to the sequence of elections in Section 25 of the principal act may infringe upon the constitutionally guaranteed discretion of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to organize, undertake and supervise elections provided in Section 15(A) of the third statue to the Constitution;

“B. The amendment to Section 138 of the principal act to delete two crucial grounds upon which an election may be challenged by candidates unduly limits the rights of candidates in elections to a free and fair electoral review process;

“C. The amendment to Section 152 Subsection 325 of the Principal Act may raise constitutional issues over the competence of the National Assembly to legislate over local government elections.”

To override the President, 2/3rd majority of both chambers of the National Assembly is required.

Section 58(5) of the 1999 Constitution reads: “Where the President withholds his assent and the bill is again passed by each House by two-thirds majority, the bill shall become law and the assent of the President shall not be required.”

While the 2/3rd of the Senate is 72, that of the House is 240. Since 1999, the National Assembly had only overruled the President once. It was during President Olusegun Obasanjo on the establishment of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

We’ll block override – Ndume

Contacted, Senator Ali Ndume (APC, Borno) said any move to override the president would be thwarted, as it would amount to overriding the yearnings of the masses.

Ndume is a member of a pro- Buhari group that came up following the controversies that trailed the passage of the amendment to the electoral act.

He said in a telephone interview with Daily Trust, “If they make any move to override the president we will block them. We are over 43 and more persons have indicated interest today. We are calling on our colleagues not to push the issue further because it is not in public interest.”

He said the amendment would double the cost of the conduct of the elections and expose Nigerians to associated risks.

“If the elections are conducted twice, the security implications would be less than when it is spread to three weeks as proposed by the bill,” he said.

But Ndume’s statement was faulted by a northern senator who claimed that they had more than the required 2/3rd to override the president.

The lawmaker who objected to being named said the camp of Nudme had only 10 senators.

“The president will override because all those who are with Senator Abdullahi Adamu are 10. And it is a game of numbers. Those who are with the president in the Senate are now with Saraki because of the exigencies of the parliament,” he said.

No action taken yet – Spokesperson

Speaking at an interview session at the Senate, the spokesperson of the Senate, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, said no action had been taken on the matter.

“The Senate has not taken any action on the letter vetoing the 2010 Electoral (Amendment) bill 2018 for now because there are processes and procedures of taking such actions. “First, having received the letter yesterday (Monday) as read on the floor by the Senate President, the next line of action would be to approve it in our votes and proceedings tomorrow (today) after which it will be properly studied for any possible line of actions,” he said .

We are glad with Buhari’s action – Kaita

A member of the APC in the House of Representatives from Katsina State, Ahmed Babba Kaita, said they were glad that the president declined assent to the bill.

He said from the beginning, they knew that the president would not sign the bill into law because it was self-serving.

Asked if those in support of the bill could gather the required number to meet the constitutional two-third to override the president, Kaita said there was no way any such thing could happen.

“We’re waiting for them. The bill is intended to give the opposition an advantage, but we knew from the beginning that it wouldn’t scale through. We’re very glad that the president didn’t sign it into law. Let’s now see what they’ll do,” he said.

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/electoral-act-how-buhari-s-rejection-divides-lawmakers.html

hmm

No hope for Apc in Benue state again

sad

hmm

chai

hmm

.

The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ‎has assured Nigerians that it would be fair and transparent in choosing the party's presidential candidate for the 2019 general elections.

The party also ‎flayed President Muhammadu Buhari for withholding assent to sequence of election bill as proposed by the National Assembly.

The opposition party in a statement through its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, on Tuesday said ‎it was not afraid of the general polls, claiming that Nigerians had already rejected the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

"The PDP assures to provide all the members of our great party a level playing ground to choose a presidential candidate in a National Convention that promises to be open, free, fair, credible and transparent.

"We know that with the support of Nigerians, any candidate that emerges on our platform ahead of 2019 will clinically defeat President Buhari at the polls and lead our nation back to the path of progress, national cohesion and a vibrant economy.

‎"The PDP is not surprised that President Muhammadu Buhari withheld his assent to the legislation by the National Assembly, reordering the sequence of general elections in the country, particularly given the tendencies he has continued to display as a politician.

"The PDP believes in democracy and subscribes to all its tenets including the respect for the powers of the National Assembly to make laws and to amend such laws as occasion demands.

"In the light of this development, the PDP, and indeed all well-meaning Nigerians, now eagerly await the final decision of the National Assembly on this amendment.

"As a party, we are not afraid of the 2019 general elections because we know that Nigerians have already rejected President Buhari and his dysfunctional All Progressives Congress (APC)," The party said.

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/2019-polls-we-ll-be-fair-in-choosing-presidential-candidate--pdp.html

serious beating

Congratulations

The Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) on Tuesday arrested a Methodist Reverend, Mr Chuka Egwuonwu, for allegedly extorting N126,000 from candidates to aid malpractices.
Mr Patrick Ukpan, Commandant, NSCDC, FCT Command, while presenting the suspect to newsmen in Abuja, said the suspect who owns a CBT centre called Diamond ICT Centre was arrested in Abia State.

Ukpan said that the arrest was made possible through the help of CCTV mounted in the centre and controlled from the Abuja headquarters of the JAMB.

“It was observed that they were extorting money from candidates. The centre have extorted about N126,000.

“Each candidate was asked to pay N1,000 for what we do not know but this is a criminal act.

“Based on that, he was arrested; JAMB examination that is being conducted now has camera and live transmission of activities are taking place there straight to the headquarters of JAMB.

“Whatever activities are taking place at the centres are being monitored live and based on those monitoring devices that they we were able to corroborate their intelligence regarding the extortion of money.

“The suspect was subsequently arrested and brought down to Abuja.”

He added that the corps would continue its investigation to get to the route of the alleged crime, adding that other collaborators would also be arrested if there are any.

In his response, Egwuonwu admitted that some coordinators collected money from the students but found out in his investigations that the act was committed outside his centre.

The suspect said those who extorted the money from the candidates were not his staff.

“While trying to make inquiry, I discovered the crime was committed but before I could take further action to unravel it, the NSCDC was already there to arrest me.”

Also, Mr Fabian Benjamin, Head of Media, JAMB, said there was a link between the suspect’s centre and the tutorial centre that extorted money from candidates.

Benjamin, who recalled an incidence of protest by some centres in Lagos demanding the extension of registration till May, said the tutorial centres were there to extort the students which informed their protest.

“These centres want to have enough time for the registration of JAMB so as to have enough time to extort the students,” he said.

He said the arrest had confirmed the board’s suspicious that the tutorial centres were after exploitation.

The JAMB spokesman added that the tutorial centres were damaging the integrity of education in the country.

He called on stakeholders to take interest in education, develop interest in the activities of JAMB to curb malpractices and change the narrative of education.
In a similar development, the Corps had also arrested one Miss Udoh Akpabio and her accomplice for alleged examination malpractice in the ongoing Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

Akpabio was caught with a phone concealed in her underwear, while the examination was on at Baptist Academy, Karu.

Also, caught was Andrew Etziuzala, who was said to be aiding Akpabio in the cheating process.

The two suspects were caught with the aid of Close Circuit Television Cameras (CCTV), which sends live transmission of activities going on within the examination halls to the JAMB headquarters. (NAN)


https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/utme-2018-nscdc-arrests-rev-d-for-extortion.html

Policemen on Monday, staged a protest at the Mechanised Salary Section (MSS) of the Lagos State Police Command in Oduduwa, in the Ikeja area of the state over “outrageous and unexpected” deductions from their salaries.

They said between N5,000 and N35,000 were deducted from their February salaries, while others lamented that they had not been paid for the month.

The policemen are made up of rank and files and officers.

Some of the affected policemen, who spoke to journalists on condition of anonymity, blamed the development on the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) of the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation which pays their salaries.

The majority of the cops, who complained that their salaries were meagre, stated that the deductions had dealt a blow to them as they could not meet up with their needs.

Officials at the MSS office were said to have told the aggrieved policemen that the centre was not responsible for the deduction and gave them forms to lodge their complaints.

A police inspector said he was amazed when he received an alert for his February salary and discovered that N19,800 had been deducted.

He said, “I got the alert on March 8. My salary is N70,000. They deducted N19,800 from it and I was paid about N50,000. It is a fraud. That was why I came here [MSS office] to complain. We were told that the deduction was made by the IPPIS.

“I am almost 20 years in service and I have a wife and children to cater to. The N70,000 is not enough for our upkeep in the first place. This is criminality of the highest order and we want it to stop.”

A policeman and father of three children, who is attached to a police unit in the Ikeja GRA, said he was also surcharged by N20,000, adding that the MSS had promised to send their complaints to Abuja.

He said when he arrived at the MSS office around 9am to lodge his complaint, he met over 300 policemen who had come for the same issue.

“Some of them said they got there at 7am. The IPPIS is responsible for the deduction without giving us any explanation. Even some officials at the MSS were also affected. I am aware that there is a circular regarding the delay in salary payment, but the deduction is strange and outrageous.” he added.

The Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Moshood Jimoh, in a statement on Monday said the command finance officers in the 42 MSS centres across the country had been trained to ensure that issues arising from the salary payment were collated and referred to the budget office at the Force headquarters for resolution.

“However, some challenges such as underpayment, omission of names on payroll, non-payment and overpayment of some police personnel currently being experienced in some state commands enrolled on the platform of the IPPIS in the payment of February 2018 salary, have been taken up with the office of the Accountant General of the Federation and it is being addressed…no policeman protested in any state of the country over migration to IPPIS,” the statement read in part.

The Head of Media Office of Accountant General of the Federation, Mrs. Kene Offie told journalists she was not aware of the deductions.

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/policemen-protest-salary-deductions.html

ok

good one, God bless him

President Muhammadu Buhari has urged the people of Benue State to apply more restraint and continue to live peacefully together with other residents.

Buhari made the appeal yesterday in Makurdi at a stakeholders meeting during his visit to the state, urging leaders of various groups to go back to their various constituencies and build peaceful co-existence.

“It behooves on us as leaders to keep encouraging people to continue to live together peacefully. Why did God put us together? I have friends from here and there is no way I can deliberately overlook security issues happening here or elsewhere in the country. I’m doing my best,” he said.

Responding to an accusation raised against the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, he said he was not aware that the police chief disobeyed his directive to proceed immediately to Benue State in the wake of killings on New Year day by suspected herders.

Earlier, Governor Samuel Ortom appealed to the president to upgrade the military exercise, Cat Race, to an Operation so that they would effectively secure the deserted rural areas to enable over 170, 000 displaced people return to their homes.

The governor who asked the federal government to support the state’s anti-grazing law, said apart from the 73 slain victims buried on January 11 this year, 65 more people had been killed in Guma and Logo while 26 more were killed in Okpokwu with over 5000 displaced in Mbatoho community of Makurdi local government area.

The president who on his arrival at the Makurdi airport proceeded to a meeting with major stakeholders at the Government House which commenced exactly 11:18am and ended 1:41pm, immediately returned to Abuja.

But complaints trailed his departure, as people who had expected him to proffer solutions to insecurity concerns by making definite statements on matters raised at the stakeholders meeting expressed disappointment that the president never reacted to the ‘crux of the matter.’

A coordinator of a non-governmental organisation, Jireh Doo Foundation, Ms Josephine Habba, said, “I’m not just disappointed but confused. He didn’t console the people of Benue or condemn the killings, nor did he say anything about our grazing law.”

Barr. Amali Amali, the National President of Idoma National Forum, said, “The visit only afforded us opportunity to bare our minds. We were able to let him know that we stand by our anti-open grazing law as the only solution to the crisis. We spoke our minds about the IGP. Otherwise he didn’t say anything for us to take home because he wanted to be careful. I won’t say I am disappointed about him coming at all.”

On his part, the President-General of Tiv Youth Organisation (TYO), Timothy Hembaor, said, “The visit was a sham, apart from being belated... He didn’t take a stand for the law nor visit any IDPs camp.”

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/buhari-to-benue-leaders-encourage-harmony-between-farmers-herders.html

hmm

President Muhammadu Buhari said he quietly reprimanded the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, over the killings in Benue State.

Buhari said this at the Government House Makurdi yesterday during a town-hall meeting with leaders of various groups in the state.

Presidential spokesman, Mr Femi Adesina quoted Buhari as saying that he was not in the habit of publicly rebuking his appointees as many would desire.

The president said he preferred to quietly “read the riot act” as he did to the Inspector General of Police when the Benue attacks began.

He disclosed that he even shared the IGP’s security report on the Benue crisis with Senators George Akume and Barnabas Gemade from the state.

He appealed to leaders of various groups in the state to convince their constituents that the Federal Government was doing its best to end the recurring attacks by armed herdsmen in various parts of the country.

Responding to remarks by various stakeholders during the meeting, Buhari urged them to show restraint and allow the security agencies to handle the untenable situation.

“The governor and I, and others here know that we will leave one day, but the relationship between farmers and herders will continue. I urge you to keep in touch with them and advise them to live peacefully. Nigeria has over 250 ethnic groups with different cultures and nobody can question God for putting us together,” he said.

Reacting to what he called a “shopping list” by some stakeholders, the President enjoined them to pray for the economy to improve, noting that he would not make any promises during this trip. He, however, stressed that, “When coming back on campaign, if coming back on campaign, I may promise.”

Governor Samuel Ortom said the recent attacks had displaced 170,000 people with children of school age constituting 60 per cent.

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/amplite/benue-killings-i-reprimanded-igp-quietly--buhari.html

APC empty promises

Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State has carpeted the Nigerian Senate for describing him as a threat to democracy.

He also told the senators to be careful in making sweeping and derogatory statements when sensitive matters were brought before them.

Bello, who spoke yesterday through his Director General, Media and Publicity, Kingsley Fanwo, was reacting to Wednesday’s plenary of the senate where he came under barrage of condemnations for his alleged involvement in the recent political violence unleashed on Senator Ahmed Ogembe and his supporters in Okene.

Fanwo, who cleared the governor of having any hands in the alleged violence, said an investigation had already been launched into the matter to unravel the perpetrators.

“I think it is high time the senate discovered that they are the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and not the senate of the senators.

“They should protect every Nigerian; including the Governor of Kogi State or Kaduna State or whichever state where they think their people are at loggerheads with their chief executives.

“They should be very careful in making sweeping statements. What happened in Kogi State was condemned. The Governor of Kogi State has invested billions of naira to ensure there is peace and security in the state.

“They should wait for police investigation. When that of Dino Melaye happened, the senators used all forms of language on their floor to condemn the governor and used derogatory statements against the people and the Government of Kogi State; only for investigations to now find out that the whole thing was concocted.

“Now, the same senator has been charged to court for misleading the police. If Dino Melaye could do that, who says that Ogembe cannot organise his own event and also sponsor thugs to cause crisis there so that they can finger the governor and position Kogi as an unsafe place?” Fanwo asked.

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/kogi-gov-tackles-senate-over-sweeping-remarks.html

wicked pastor

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Sports, Senator Obinna Ogba (PDP, Ebonyi), yesterday, tendered evidence of the alleged plot by a former Governor of Nasarawa State, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, to destabilise the senate.

Adamu’s travails at the senate started last month when he led 10 senators to protest the change in the sequence of elections.

The former governor, who chairs the Senate Committee on Agriculture, was removed as the Chairman of the Northern Senators’ Forum (NSF) on February 21, over alleged financial misconduct.

Senator Ogba, yesterday, said, “There is a plan by some people in this senate, maybe under the leadership of my distinguished colleague, particularly Senator Abdullahi Adamu.”

Contacted through the telephone, Senator Adamu faulted the claim that he was plotting to cause confusion in the Senate, saying it was a wild allegation.

“For anybody to be trying to shut me down by alleging that I’m trying to destabilize the Senate, it is up to that person to prove it,” he said.

He said he would continue to stand against anything that he was not satisfied with based on the country’s constitution, rules of the Senate and his conviction.

Senator Ogba recalled in his submission that in January, Senator Hamma Misau had made a comment that there was a plan to remove the senate president and the Senate leadership.

“Now, I have reliable information that some people are already planning to destabilise the senate, including the senate leadership, by organising demonstration for which money is already exchanging hands.

“I believe that all of us are leaders in this country and anybody who sees something that will destabilise the country or the senate, or even the democracy, should avoid it,” he said.

He said market women were being mobilised to storm the National Assembly to demonstrate against the leadership of the senate.

“Mr. President, I want this senate to investigate this matter properly. I have evidence to show what I’m saying. There is a telephone conversation going on which any other person can also print it out, between Senator Abdullahi Adamu and some other people,” he said.

Acting on Ogba’s allegations, the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over the plenary, referred the matter to the Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions Committee.

The committee was given two weeks to submit its report.

Ekweremadu said: “The difference between military, autocratic regime and any other oppressive regime is the parliament. Once we remove the parliament, there is going to be problem.

“In whatever we do, we must continue to preserve the sanctity of the parliament. I want to appeal again that anyone planning to destabilise this country is not doing us any good.”

Recall that Senator Ovie Omo-Agege (APC, Delta) was referred to the ethics committee over his comment that the change in elections sequence was targeted at President Buhari.

The two weeks’ timeframe given to the panel to investigate the allegation elapsed on Wednesday.

It was gathered that the committee, chaired by Sam Anyanwu (PDP, Imo), has not gone far on the assignment.

The first senator that was referred to the ethics committee in this senate is Mohammed Ali Ndume. He was suspended last year in March for six months.

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/sen-adamu-risks-probe-over-alleged-plot-to-destabilise-senate.html

hmm

RIP