News
Reps Kill Peace Corps Bill …As Court Nulifies Jubrin’s Suspension …Ekiti Assembly Impeaches Deputy Speaker, Chief Whip …Gombe Suspends Four APC Members Over Mace Theft
The controversial Nigerian Peace Corps Bill has finally been jettisoned as attempts by the House of Representatives to override President Muhammadu Buhari failed, yesterday.
The bill failed to pass the second reading at the House of Representatives, yesterday.
The House of Representatives, which boasted that it would override the veto of Buhari could not achieve its aim.
The bill seeks to turn the Peace Corps, currently a non-governmental organisation, into a government para-military agency.
The bill, which was passed by the National Assembly amidst controversy, was rejected by President Muhammadu Buhari, who refused to sign it into law.
Buhari, in February, refused to assent to the bill because it was a duplication of duty and could conflict with the functions of the existing security outfits – the police and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).
The bill was sponsored by Emmanuel Orker-Jev (APC, Benue) and passed by the National Assembly in 2017.
In separate letters to the Senate and House of Representatives, Mr Buhari also cited security concerns and financial implications amongst reasons for his decision.
The bill was transmitted to the president in December, 2017 by the Clerk to the National Assembly, Sani Omolori.
The Nigerian police had remained opposed to the legalisation of the corps.
On February 17, 2017, it stormed the organisation’s headquarters in Abuja and arrested its head, Dickson Akoh, and about 49 other members.
The police accused Akoh of using the Peace Corps, registered as a non-governmental organisation, to swindle young job seekers and operate as a para-military agency.
Akoh, who denied the allegations, was later granted bail.
Meanwhile, an Abuja Division of the Federal High Court has nullified the suspension of a member of the House of Representatives, Abdulmumin Jibrin.
Mr Jibrin was suspended in September 2016 after he exposed alleged budget fraud by the speaker of the house, Yakubu Dogara, and other top members.
Mr Jibrin had accused the leadership of the house of padding the 2016 budget with fraudulent figures created for the benefit of Mr Dogara and his allies.
No anti graft agency probed the allegations. Mr Jibrin was later suspended for 180 legislative days based on the recommendation of the Nicholas Ossai’s House Committee on Ethics.
Although Mr Jibrin has since resumed sitting, he continued his legal battle against his suspension resulting in yesterday’s ruling.
Mr Jibrin had instituted a fundamental rights suit alleging an abuse of his rights to freedom of expression and demanding the nullification of his suspension.
Delivering a ruling on the motion on Thursday, the judge, John Tsoho, ruled that Mr Jibrin’s application was meritorious and that his suspension amounted to a nullity.
The judge said the actions of Mr Jibrin were in conformity with his constitutional responsibilities as a member of the house.
He condemned the house for suspending the lawmaker, describing the suspension as an “abuse of democracy”.
Mr Tsoho also ordered the immediate restoration of Mr Jibrin’s earnings during the period of his suspension.
“The suspension was an interruption of his earnings which will be automatically restored especially when it has been decided that the action was a nullity by virtue of granting prayers 1 and 3 of the originating summons,” he said.
“When an action is declared nullity it is deemed that it never happened.”
The Deputy Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Hon. Adesegun Adewumi has been impeached.
The House, at its plenary, yesterday, also removed the Chief Whip, Hon. Akinniyi Sunday.
The member representing Ekiti West Constituency 11, Hon. Animasaun Adesina, was elected as deputy speaker to replace him.
The member representing Ekiti South-West Constituency 1, Hon. Onigiobi Olawale was also appointed as the new chief whip.
Adewumi was removed as deputy speaker after a motion moved by the Leader of the House, Hon. Akinyele Olatunji and seconded by Hon. Olayanju Olanrewaju.
Akinyele alleged that Adewumi was found to have indulged in activities capable of bringing the dignity and integrity of the House to disrepute.
The impeached deputy speaker was accused of “gross misconduct, lack of leadership quality and acting in a way that could destabilize the state.”
The Speaker of the Assembly, Rt. Hon Kola Oluwawole announced that 18 members of the Assembly signed the notice of impeachment of the deputy speaker in accordance with Section 92 (2c) of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
Members present at the plenary unanimously agreed that Adewumi exhibited high level of disloyalty and lacked patriotic spirit, and as such, should be impeached.
The Chairman of the House Committee on Information, Hon Samuel Omotoso nominated Adesina as the new deputy speaker and was seconded by Hon Afolabi Akanni.
The nomination was unanimously accepted by members while the Speaker announced Olawale as the replacement for the chief whip in accordance with the directive of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State.
In his acceptance speech, the new Deputy Speaker, Hon Animasaun Adesina said, he was honoured by the appointment, and promised to perform his duties according to the Constitution.
Adewumi hails from Erijiyan Ekiti.
Similarly, there was drama, yesterday, at the Gombe State House of Assembly during plenary when an All Progressives Congress (APC), member representing Akko West Constituency, Abdullahi Abubakar, took away the mace in an attempt to impeach the minority leader.
It was learnt that the Minority Leader, Mohammed Usman Haruna, was reported to have held a press conference on May 5, soon after the ward congress, where he condemned the processes of the ward congress of the All Progressives Congress in the state.
It was learnt that following this development, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), dominated assembly, felt aggrieved with the move by the minority leader and began the process of impeaching him.
However, during the process for the impeachment, it was gathered that five out of the eight members who signed for the impeachment, one signed for and against the impeachment, and when asked why he did so, he said he was forced to sign the motion for the impeachment under duress.
Following this development, which split the members equally, it was obvious that the impeachment would not hold.
This led one of the members, Abdullahi Abubakar, to take the mace, at about 1:12pm.
Abubakar was said to have been assisted by another member, Mohammed Bello, from Gombe South State Constituency to escape with the mace.
Bello was reported to have escaped through the door with the mace, while Bello held the door to keep the other members of the assembly from rescuing the mace from him.
The officials of the assembly were yet to address the press as at the time of filing this report.
Reponding to the situation, the Gombe State House of Assembly has suspended four All Progressives Congress members for four legislative days.
The sanction is over their alleged roles in unlawful removal of the mace by a member from the chamber at a plenary of the House yesterday.
The Assembly also asked a committee to investigate the incident and report back on Monday.
Majority Leader of the House, Fabulous Amos, who represents Shongom constituency, disclosed this while briefing journalists on the incident.
He said the suspended members took away the mace to an undisclosed place while plenary session was going on and without the authority of the House.
According to Mr Amos, APC members prayed to the House to change their principal officers but only four out of the members signed the notice for impeachment of the Minority Leader, Ahmed Haruna of Gombe North constituency.
Mr Amoss who is also the Chairman, Committee on Information, named the four suspended members as Abdullahi Abubakar, Mohammed Bello, Ibrahim Sadiq Abubakar and Walid Mohammed.
He said they were suspended for four legislatives days.
Mr Amos said the House also set a committee to investigate the matter and report its findings to the House on Monday.
The Minority Leader refused to respond when journalists sought his clarification.
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
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.