Senate To Make Election Debates Mandatory …Moves To Locate NEDC Office In Maiduguri …Summons MTN, Banks Over $13.9bn Illegal Transfers

The Senate has commenced moves to make it mandatory for those seeking elective positions to participate in pre-election debates.
The moves by the Senate followed the presentation of a bill by Sen. Abdulfatai Buhari (APC- Oyo North) which was read for the second time.
The upper legislative chamber referred the bill to the Committee on Establishment and Public Service as well as Committee on INEC.
The bill is entitled: “Nigerian Political Debates Commission Bill, 2015.”
If passed, those seeking election as president, governor, lawmakers and other elective positions, including their running mates, would have to go through a debate which would be organised by a proposed commission.
Presenting the lead debate, Buhari said that the bill would give legislative backing to the establishment of a commission that would be charged with organising the debate.
“The bill, if considered and passed by this hallowed chamber, will strengthen our democracy and bring it in conformity with the practice in other renowned democracies of the world,” he said.
He said that the United States was a good example where debates were properly used to reach out to the electorate.
The senator said that political parties and aspirants were already accustomed to the debates which had now become mandatory since it began in 1960 between then Democratic nominee, John Kennedy and his Republican rival, Richard Nixon.
He urged his colleagues to support the bill for passage.
“The debate is the de facto election process in the United States as results of elections are predicated on the candidates’ performance at the debates.
“An analogous experience of this crucial indispensability of electoral debate is the current presidential debate between Hillary Clinton of the Democratic Party and Donald Trump of the Republican Party”, he added.
In another development, following the presentation of the report on the Committee of the North East Development Commission (NEDC) by Senator Sam Egwu (Ebonyi North) to the Senate on Tuesday, the Senate has resolved to take the headquarter of the commission to Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
The report recommended that 3 per cent of Value Added Tax (VAT) be paid to the commission’s vault for the next 10 years to enable the reconstruction of wanton destruction of the zone by Boko Haram insurgents.
However, Senator Biodun Olujimi (Ekiti South) objected to VAT remittances on the ground that part of VAT is derived from alcohol, which remains a banned substance in the North on religious grounds.
Reacting, Senate Leader, Ali Ndume, argued that VAT remittances should be sustained as recommended, saying the people in the North East are ‘heavy drinkers.’
“My President, Distinguished Colleagues, even in the North East, they are heavy drinkers of alcoholic beverages and in a way, they are also contributing to VAT. I, therefore, ask that the recommendations should be upheld,” Ndume said.
In his ruling, the Senate President, while upholding the recommendations of the report referred it to Ad-hoc Committee with a mandate to report back in a week time.
Meanwhile, the Senate has launched a probe into the allegation that MTN Nigeria repatriated a total sum of $13.9billion from Nigeria to other countries between 2006 and 2016 by summoning the management of the telecoms service provider, their bankers and some businessmen over alleged violation of the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous) Act.
During its plenary, yesterday, the Upper Chamber requested MTN and the others to appear before its Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions next week.
Recall that the lawmaker representing Kogi West, Senator Dino Melaye had revealed that “between 2006 and 2016, the MTN Nigeria, in collaboration with four commercial banks and with the help of a serving minister, has moved over $12billion out of this country”.
Melaye later claimed that the illegal repatriation was allegedly facilitated by the Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Elenemah, naming banks allegedly involved as: Stanbic IBTC, Standard Chartered Bank, Citi Bank and Diamond Bank.