News
Senate Opposes Troops Deployment To Gambia
The Senate yesterday opposed President Muhammadu Buhari’s deployment of troops to The Gambia without approval of the National Assembly.
The Federal Government had deployed troops to The Gambia, if President Yahya Jammeh refused to leave office and handover to President-elect, Adama Barrow by January 19.
Speaking during plenary, Senator Chukwuka Utazi (PDP-Enugu), who raised a Point of Order said that President Buhari violated the constitution by deploying troops to Gambia without approval of the National Assembly.
”Section 5 of the Constitution stipulates “subject to the provisions of this constitution, the executive powers of the federation shall be vested in Mr President.
“Section 4 notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section, a President shall not declare a state of war between the Federation and another country except with the sanction of a resolution of both Houses of the National Assembly sitting in a joint session.
”Except with the prior approval of the Senate, no member of the Armed Forces of the federation shall be deployed on combat duty outside Nigeria.
He said that it was “an affront to the Constitution to ask that this country will go on a warfare in another country.”
”And we have failed even when the Senate has been co-operating with the executive. But let it be on record that if anything of this nature happens in this country, that this National Assembly has to be informed properly in writing.”
Saraki, while responding, faulted Utazi’s claims and argued that President Buhari was still acting within the confines of the law. He said President Buhari can deploy troops, as long as the operation does not exceed seven days.
Quoting Section 5(5) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, Saraki maintained that until the expiration of seven days, no one can fault the action of the President.
Saraki argued: “The point made is noted, but the explanation concerning the constitution is confusing. I believe the constitution gives room for the president, within seven days for such an action to come before us.”
Section 5(5) quoted by Saraki reads: “Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (4) of this section, the President, in consultation with the National Defence Council, may deploy members of the armed forces of the Federation on a limited combat duty outside Nigeria if he is satisfied that the national security is under imminent threat or danger. Provided that the President shall within seven days of actual combat engagement, seek the consent of the Senate and the Senate shall thereafter give or refuse the said consent within fourteen days. “
Saraki was countered by the Deputy President of the Senate, Ekweremadu. He warned that as parliamentarians, it is wrong to subject the Senate to ridicule, adding that setting a bad precedence will hurt them in the future.
Also relying on Section 5(4)(b) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, Ekweremadu said the President cannot deploy troops outside the country without any prior approval from the National Assembly.
Section 5(4)(b) of the 1999 Constitution as amended reads: “Except with the prior approval of the Senate, no member of the armed forces of the Federation shall be deployed on combat duty outside Nigeria.”
According to the deputy senate president, “This has nothing to do with war and we are not at war with anybody, but for you to send the Nigerian armed forces outside Nigeria, this Senate must be told. But it is happening in The Gambia. They need the approval of the Senate because that is not war.
“War comes in when you are talking about section 5 of the constitution and the president does not need our approval. He can go to war on our behalf and come back later. But for you to deploy them to The Gambia, you must seek the approval of the Senate,” Ekweremadu added.
No official position was taken by the Senate on the issue. Saraki did not allow other lawmakers to contribute to the debate. He did not rule either on the issue, but moved ahead to accommodate other businesses of the day.
Contributing, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu said “the operational one as it affects us here is the (b) which says except with the prior approval of the Senate, no member of the armed forces of the federation shall be deployed on combat duty outside Nigeria’’.
”This has to do with war and we are not at war with anybody, but for you to send the Nigerian armed forces outside Nigeria, this senate must be told.
Ekweremadu said that though it was happening in the Gambia, they needed the approval of the Senate because that was not war.
He explained that a war situation was when you are talking about Section 5 and the president does not need our approval.
”He can go to war on our behalf and come back later. But for you to deploy them to Gambia you must seek the approval of the Senate.’’
Meanwhile, Adama Barrow took the oath of office as Gambia’s President yesterday at its embassy in neighboring Senegal, calling for international support as regional troops prepared to back him in a showdown with incumbent Yahya Jammeh, who has refused to step down.
Barrow’s appeal that could trigger a military push into Gambia by West Africa’s ECOWAS bloc, which has said it is ready to remove Jammeh by force if necessary.
Jammeh, in power since a 1994 coup and whose mandate ended overnight, initially conceded defeat to Barrow following a Dec. 1 election before back-tracking, saying the vote was flawed. Overnight talks to persuade him to stand down failed, despite his increasing political isolation.
“This is a day no Gambian will ever forget,” Barrow said after taking the oath, which was administered by the president of Gambia’s bar association. “Our national flag will now fly high among the most democratic nations of the world.
“I hereby make an explicit appeal to ECOWAS, the (African Union) and the UN… to support the gov and people of the Gambia in enforcing their will, restoring their sovereignty and constitutional legitimacy,” he said.
ECOWAS and the African Union have said they will recognize Barrow from Thursday.
Senegal’s army, which has deployed hundreds of soldiers at the Gambian border, said on Wednesday it would be ready to cross into its smaller neighbor, which it surrounds, from midnight. Ghana has also pledged troops.
A senior military source in Nigeria, which pre-positioned war planes and helicopters in Dakar, told Reuters that regional forces would only act once Barrow had been sworn in.
Barrow gave the oath in a tiny room in Gambia’s embassy in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, and many of those present broke into the Gambian national anthem once he had completed it.
Outside the building on a residential street amid a heavy security presence, dozens of Gambians listened to the ceremony through loudspeakers.
“It’s very sad to be swearing in a president in someone else’s country. I am happy and sad at the same time,” said Fatou Silla, 33, a businesswoman who fled Gambia with her son a week ago.
Fearing unrest, thousands of Gambians have fled the country, the United Nations estimates, and diplomats said its Security Council would on Thursday vote on a resolution backing ECOWAS’s efforts.
A senior aide to Barrow said that, once sworn in, arrangements would be made for him to return to Gambia though it was unclear how he would travel.
At a bar in the Gambian capital Banjul’s popular Senegambia strip, people crowded around a television to watch the swearing in and cheered and danced when it was over.
“I’m so happy there’s a new government,” said a cashier who only gave her name as Fama. “We have been suffering for 22 years and now things will be different.”
During the brief inauguration speech, Barrow asserted his new role as commander and chief of Gambia’s armed services, ordering soldiers to stay calm and remain in their barracks. Those who did not would be considered rebels, he said.
As tour companies pressed on with the evacuation of hundreds of European holidaymakers, shops, market stalls and banks in Banjul remained closed while police circulated in trucks and soldiers manned checkpoints.
It was unclear what Jammeh’s next move would be.
He faces almost total diplomatic isolation and a government riddled by defections. In the biggest loss yet, Vice President Isatou Njie Saidy, who has held the role since 1997, quit on Wednesday, a government source and a family member told Reuters.
Gambia’s long, sandy beaches have made it a prime destination for tourists but Jammeh, who once vowed to rule for “a billion years”, has also earned a reputation for rights abuses and stifling dissent.
He has ignored pressure to step aside and offers of exile.
However, Senegalese troops moved across the border into The Gambia yesterday, an army spokesman said after the UN Security Council backed West African efforts to ensure that the country’s defeated leader Yahya Jammeh hands over power.
“They entered this afternoon” Colonel Abdoul Ndiaye told newsmen after Adama Barrow was sworn in as Gambian President at his country’s embassy in Dakar despite Jammeh’s refusal to stand down.
The Mayor of Housing, My-ACE China, has alerted the Governor of Rivers, Akwa Ibom, and Abia states to what he calls an emerging ‘Economic Triangle’ within their states.
Mr China, a real estate success strategist who has won numerous local and international awards, has thus drawn the attention of the governors of the concerned states to the emerging development and has urged them to intentionally accelerate the emergence of the economic triangle.
Speaking to newsmen in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital at the conclusion of his business trip to the state, Mr China, who is the managing director of the Housing and Construction Mayor Limited, said the envisaged economic corridor would compete favourably with the Lagos economic hub or even better.
He said: “Talking about ‘Economic Triangle’, the only place that can wrest economic power from Lagos is Akwa Ibom, Abia, and Rivers states axis or corridor. This corridor contains more than Lagos has, if they can be interconnected with smooth roads, ports, and if their blue potentials are unlocked. They will not only wrest power from Lagos but would be more lucrative.”
The investor who is behind the emerging Alesa Highlands Green Smart City in Eleme, near Port Harcourt, said the new ‘Economic Triangle’ has a bigger potential due to massive land assets with the corridor plus blue economy and the existing hydrocarbon industry.
Explaining, Mayor of Housing said Aba (Abia State) provides the biggest fabrication capacity in West Africa to supply goods to the Gulf of Guinea; Port Harcourt provides access to the Gulf of Guinea for off-taking Aba products, and the Uyo provides deep sea port at Ibaka and international airport facilities as well as forest reserves for massive agro-economy.
He said with sea ports in Rivers State and deep seaport in Akwa Ibom, and international airports in Rivers and Akwa Ibom, Aba can focus on adequate power supply and fabrication boom to supply a new booming market around the economic triangle.
By doing this, he said, jobs would spill out in huge quantities and more manufacturers would be drawn from all over Africa to boost the fast coming African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). He said Nigeria would thus have two major trade nodes in West Africa; Lagos and the PH/UYO/Aba triangle.
He said goods going to or coming from Chad, Niger, and the rest of Central Africa can head to the Lagos ports or to the Ibaka/PH ports zone in the new economic triangle.
He said with power supply made stable, good roads, excellent security system, and ease of doing business enthroned in the zone, the South-South and South East would become the biggest economic nerve in the near future.
Mayor of Housing called on governors of the three states to be intentional about the new corridor, put away political differences (if any), and create this corridor by agreeing on projects each state would execute with a short period of time so the states would be linked by good roads, communication, security, trade laws, concessions to investors, etc.
He remarked that northerners were already heading to the Onne Port in Rivers State to export goods, saying creating a commission to oversee the development of the ‘Economic Triangle’ would fast-track its emergence.
He observed that people of the three states are peaceful and usually preoccupied with zeal for economic prosperity, saying that if they are linked to such huge opportunities staring at them in the emerging economic triangle, they would totally shun violence and focus on prosperity.
Mr China insisted that the emerging economic triangle would form a big node not only into the Gulf of Guinea economic zone but into Africa because AfCFTA is about production, certification, market availability, and easy transport nodes by sea and air. He said the new economic triangle boasts of all the factors.
“They can only realise this by working together, through collaboration. One state cannot do it but a triangle of the three will create it through seamless interconnection, ports, industrial park, etc. The people will be the richest and internally generated revenue (IGR) will be the biggest in the country,” he said.
President Bola Tinubu has sent the names of 32 ambassadorial nominees to the Senate for confirmation, days after he sent the first batch of three names.
Among them are the immediate past chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Mahmud Yakubu, an aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Reno Omokri (Delta), and former Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, among others.
“In two separate letters to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, President Tinubu asked the Senate to consider and confirm expeditiously 15 nominees as career ambassadors and 17 nominees as non-career ambassadors,” read a statement on Saturday by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
In the statement titled, ‘Tinubu nominates 32 additional ambassadors,’ Onanuga noted, “There are four women on the career ambassadors’ list and six women on the non-career ambassadors’ list.”
“Among the non-career ambassador designates are Ogbonnaya Kalu from Abia, a former presidential aide, Reno Omokri (Delta), former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmud Yakubu, former Ekiti first lady, Erelu Adebayo, and former Enugu governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.
“Others are Tasiu Musa Maigari, the former speaker of the Katsina House of Assembly, Yakubu N. Gambo, a former Commissioner in Plateau State and former Deputy Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission.
“Professor Nora Ladi Daduut, a former senator from Plateau; Otunba Femi Pedro, a former Deputy Governor of Lagos State; Femi Fani-Kayode, a former aviation minister from Osun State; and Nkechi Ufochukwu from Anambra State are on the nomination list,” the statement read.
Also on the list are former First Lady of Oyo, Fatima Florence Ajimobi, former Lagos Commissioner, Lola Akande, former Adamawa Senator, Grace Bent, former governor of Abia, Victor Okezie Ikpeazu, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, businessman, lawyer and Senator from Ondo State, and the former ambassador of Nigeria to the Holy See, Ambassador Paul Oga Adikwu from Benue State.
Among the nominees for career ambassador and high commissioner-designates are: Enebechi Monica Okwuchukwu (Abia), Yakubu Nyaku Danladi (Taraba), Miamuna Ibrahim Besto (Adamawa), Musa Musa Abubakar (Kebbi), Syndoph Paebi Endoni (Bayelsa), Chima Geoffrey Lioma David (Ebonyi) and Mopelola Adeola-Ibrahim (Ogun).
The other nominees are Abimbola Samuel Reuben (Ondo), Yvonne Ehinosen Odumah(Edo), Hamza Mohammed Salau (Niger), Ambassador Shehu Barde (Katsina), Ambassador Ahmed Mohammed Monguno (Borno), Ambassador Muhammad Saidu Dahiru (Kaduna), Ambassador Olatunji Ahmed Sulu Gambari (Kwara) and Ambassador Wahab Adekola Akande (Osun).
“The new nominees are expected to be posted to countries with which Nigeria maintains excellent and strategic bilateral relations, such as China, India, South Korea, Canada, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, South Africa, Kenya, and to Permanent Missions such as the United Nations, UNESCO, and the African Union.
“All the nominees will know their diplomatic assignments after their confirmation by the Senate,” it read.
Last week, Tinubu sent three ambassadorial nominees for screening and confirmation.
The nominees were Ambassador Ayodele Oke (Oyo), Ambassador Amin Mohammed Dalhatu (Jigawa), and Retired Colonel Lateef Kayode Are (Ogun).
All three are in the pot for posting to the UK, USA, or France after their confirmation.
“More nominees for ambassadorial positions will be announced soon,” Onanuga revealed.
The Secretary to Rivers State Government, Dr. Benibo Anabraba, has reiterated that the administration of Governor Siminalayi Fubara remains committed to improving access to quality education at all levels.
Dr. Anabraba gave the assurance while receiving the Deputy Registrar/Zonal Coordinator of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Mr Ayanfemi Adeniran-Amusan in Port Harcourt during a courtesy visit.
He emphasised that Governor Fubara remains resolute in sustaining investment in the education sector to improve the quality of teaching and learning.
According to him, “We appreciate the work you are doing and know that our students are amongst the highest in ranking.
“His Excellency, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, takes education very seriously. He is sponsoring the free registration of students for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in Government Schools.
“Also, Governor Fubara has approved the establishment of Computer-Based Test (CBT) Centres across the State’s three senatorial districts and the 23 LGAs. The project is intended to improve access to digital learning and examination facilities for students so that our children are at breast with digital literacy, a prerequisite for today’s students.
“We are currently working assiduously to get those centres, both mega and mini, across the three senatorial districts and the 23 local government ready in order to meet up with your deadline,” he said.
The SSG also conveyed the assurances of the Governor to WAEC on Government’s willingness in providing land for its Zonal Office.
Earlier, the Deputy Registrar/Zonal Coordinator of the West African Examination Council, Mr Ayanfemi Adeniran-Amusan, promised to collaborate with the State Government in matters concerning education development.
In another development, the Secretary to State Government, Dr Benibo Anabraba, also met with officials of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, led by the Assistant Director of Intelligence, Rivers State Command, Barr. Ikediashi Nwamaka.
The SSG while appreciating the Agency for its effort in the protection of vulnerable persons, also raised Government’s concern on the activities of orphanages and care homes in unwholesome practices such as child trafficking, abuse of underaged girls also known as baby-factory, and the lack of regulations on surrogacy.
He however assured that the Rivers State Government has already put plans in place towards legislation to regulate these acts against vulnerable persons, particularly women and children.
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