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Presidency Can’t Re-nominate Magu For EFCC Job – Senate

Based on extant Senate rules, the upper legislative chamber will not reconsider Mr. Ibrahim Magu as the substantive Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) should he be re-nominated.
Citing Senate Rules, Order 131, Senator Dino Melaye (Kogi West) said President Muhammadu Buhari could not validly re-nominate Magu for the job again as the provision would not allow members consider his nomination, having been rejected at a senate session.
Order 131 of the Senate Rules states that, “nominations neither confirmed nor rejected during the session or within 21 working days in the case of ministerial nominees shall be returned by the Clerk to the National Assembly to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and shall not again be made to the Senate by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.
Magu was rejected by the Senate after he was screened on Wednesday – exactly three months after the parliament first rejected him at its December 15, 2016 closed-door session, citing damning corruption allegations against him by the Department of State Services (DSS).
Buhari had on January 24, 2017, represented Magu for confirmation, noting he had been cleared of the allegations of corruption leveled against him.
Magu was however considered for screening the second time because he had not been rejected at an open session. His rejection of December 15, 2016 was done at an executive session, a move which generated criticisms and apparently prompted Senate’s decision to accept his nomination the second time.
Following divergent views on the rejection of Magu by the Senate and strident calls in some quarters on the President to re-nominate him or continue to keep him in acting capacity, Melaye, in a statement issued Saturday, urged the President to consider nominating a fresh candidate with the qualifications, experience, integrity, knowledge and temperament to head the EFCC.
“Those suggesting to the President that after failing to scale the confirmation process twice, the President should leave Magu to be acting, are only recommending violation of the law, disrespect for due process and perpetration of illegality. All these will only undermine democracy and constitutionalism in our country,” he said.
“Those drafters of the law who made the provision that the Senate should confirm the nomination of the EFCC chairman did not make any mistake and nobody should observe the law in the breach by getting a person into that office who has not been confirmed. Magu is not greater than the law creating EFCC. Magu is not the last messiah. He can’t be the only competent person for the job out of 170 million Nigerians. Should he voluntarily decline the appointment today, will EFCC fold up?”, Melaye queried.
Meanwhile, the Senate has formally communicated last Wednesday’s rejection of the nomination Magu as the substantive chairman of EFCC to President Buhari.
Our sources revealed last Saturday that the correspondence to the President was signed by Senate President Bukola Saraki on Wednesday after the plenary where Magu was screened and rejected.
It was also gathered that the correspondence was handed to Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly (Senate) Matters, Senator Ita Enang, for onward delivery to the President last Thursday, March 16.
An impeccable source who did not want to be named told newsmen that votes and proceedings of Wednesday, March 15, 2017 were transmitted to the president in accordance with legislative practice.
“On the screening of EFCC nominee, Ibrahim Magu, the President of the Senate has sent a communication to President Muhammadu Buhari. In compliance with standard of legislative practice, the President of the Senate has forwarded the votes and proceedings of Wednesday to the president because the standard of legislative practice is that every request sent to the National Assembly by the president when completed, has to be reported back to the president,” the source said.
The source however, declined to state the exact date the transmission was made.
Last Thursday, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, said the presidency was yet to receive any communication on Magu’s rejection.
When contacted on the phone last night, Enang told newsmen that though there had been a communication between the Senate and the Presidency, he was not privy to the content of the letter. “Yes, there has been a communication between the Senate and the Presidency but the content there-of is privileged,” he stated.
Following his re-nomination by the President, Magu was screened last Wednesday but was again rejected by the senate, citing a second DSS report which showed that he “failed integrity test.”
Consequently, the Senate said Magu should henceforth cease to act as the commission’s chairman. It also advised Buhari to send the name of a fresh nominee to the parliament for consideration.
While announcing Magu’s first rejection on December 15, 2016, after about two hours of closed door meeting, Senate’s spokesman, Sabi Abdullahi, had cited unfavourable security report as the reason for Magu’s rejection.
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I’m Committed To Community Dev – Ajinwo
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RSG Tasks Rural Dwellers On RAAMP …As Sensitization Team Visits Akulga, Degema, Three Others

Rivers State Head of Service, Dr (Mrs) Inyingi Brown, has called on rural communities in the State to embrace the Rural Access and Agricultural marketing project (RAAMP) with a view to improving their living conditions.
This follows the ongoing sensitization campaign by the State Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) visits to Degema, Abonnema, Afam headquarters of Degema, Akuku Toru and Oyigbo Etche and Omuma local government areas respectively.
Dr Brown who was represented by the Deputy Director, Special Duties in her office, Mrs Dein Akpanah, said RAAMP was initiated by the Federal Government and World Bank to economically empower rural dwellers.s
She said the World Bank understands the plights of rural farmers and traders in the State, and therefore came up with the programme to address them.
According to her, RAAMP will improve the conditions of farmers, traders and fishermen, and therefore, behoves on every rural communities in the State to embrace the programme.
The Head of Service also said the programme would support the youths to be gainfully employed while bridges and roads will be built to link farms and fishing settlements.
Also speaking, the State project coordinator, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the programme has the potential of creating millionaires among farmers and fishermen in the State.
Kpakol who was represented by Engr. Sam Tombari, said RAAMP would help farmers and fishermen to preserve their produce.
According to him, the project will build cold rooms and Silos for preservation of crops and fishes while access roads will also be created to link farmers and fishermen to the market.
He, however, warned them against any act that will lead to the suspension of the projects by the World Bank.
Kpakol particularly warned against acts such as kidnapping, marching ground, gender based violence and child labour, adding that such acts if they occur may lead to the cancellation of the project by the World Bank.
During the visit to Oyigbo local government area, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the team was there to let them know how they will benefit from the Raamp.
The coordinator who was personally at Oyigbo said the World Bank introduced the project to check food insecurity in the State.
He said already 19 states in Nigeria are already benefitting from the project and called on them to embrace the project.
Meanwhile, stakeholders in the three local government areas have commended the World Bank for including their areas in the project.
They, however, complained over the incessant attacks by pirates on their waterways.
At Degema, King Agolia of Ke kingdom said land was a major problem in the kingdom.
King Agolia represented by High Chief Alpheus Damiebi said many indigenes of the kingdom are willing to go into farming but are handicapped by lack of land.
Also at Degema, the representative of the Omu Onyam Ekeim of Usokun Degema kingdom, Osoabo Isaac, said Degema has embraced the programme but needed more information on the implementation of the programme.
Similarly, while High Chief Precious Abadi advised that the project should not be narrowed to only crop farming, a community women leader, Mrs Orikinge Eremabo Otto, called for the construction of cold rooms in all fishing settlements in the area.
At Abonnema, Mr Diamond Kio linked the problem of the area to incessant piracy along waterways.
He also expressed fears over the possibility of the project being hijacked by politicians.
Also at Abonnema, a stakeholder, Ikiriko Kelvin, called on the World Bank to design an agricultural project that will suit the riverine environment, while at Oyigbo, HRH Eze Boniface Akawo expressed satisfaction with the project.
John Bibor
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Senate Replaces Natasha As Committee Chairman

The political mudslinging between the Senate leadership and Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan continued yesterday as the Senate named Senator Aniekan Bassey as the new Chairman of the Committee on Diaspora and Non-Governmental Organisations.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the appointment during yesterday’s plenary, confirming Bassey’s replacement of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who is currently on suspension.
Akpoti-Uduaghan was reassigned to the Diaspora and NGOs Committee in February after she was removed as Chair of the Senate Committee on Local Content during a minor reshuffle.
Bassey is the senator representing Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District.
Although no reason was given for her removal yesterday, the change is believed to be connected to her unresolved suspension.
In May, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court ordered her reinstatement and directed her to tender an apology to the Senate.
However, the Senate has insisted it has not received a certified true copy of the court judgment.
Akpoti-Uduaghan who represents Kogi Central, has yet to resume her legislative duties despite a recent court ruling that voided her suspension.
In a televised interview on Tuesday, Akpoti-Uduaghan said she was awaiting the Certified True Copy of the judgment before officially returning to plenary, citing legal advice and respect for institutional process.
Although the Federal High Court described her suspension as “excessive and unconstitutional”, a legal opinion dated July 5 and attributed to the Senate’s counsel, Paul Daudu (SAN), argued that the ruling lacked any binding directive to enforce her reinstatement.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, one of only three female senators in the current assembly, said the continued delay in allowing her return was not only a denial of her mandate but also a blow to democratic representation.
“By keeping me out of the chambers, the Senate is not just silencing Kogi Central, it’s denying Nigerian women and children representation. We are only three female senators now, down from eight,” she said.
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