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2023: Resign, Pursue Your Ambition, APC Chieftain Tells Buhari’s Ministers

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A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna State, Yusuf Ali, has said that the continuous stay in office of President Muhammadu Buhari’s ministers seeking to contest for various elective positions is unethical and immoral.
Ali, who made the remarks while speaking with newsmen in Kaduna, said the honourable thing for them to do is to resign and pursue their political ambitions.
“I am aware that some of Buhari’s ministers have ambitions to contest for one office or the other. In fact, some have even openly declared their interest to contest for elective positions yet they are pretending to be unaware of the moral burden on them to resign and prosecute their campaigns.
“Hiding behind the court judgement on the provision in the electoral act for them to resign before the party convention is neither here nor there because there was a precedent even in the Jonathan administration when seven ministers tendered their resignation months to the PDP’s primaries to contest for various offices,” he said.
The APC chieftain said the concerned ministers don’t need any presidential directive or court judgement to resign, stressing that they should be conscious enough to know that their continuous stay in office is a liability to the party and the government.
“At the moment some of them are distracted already and government functions that have to do with the security and welfare of citizens are suffering. Take the issue of the Transport Minister, who has literally turned himself into the Minister of Railways, we need someone who can concentrate on supervising the operations and construction of the rail-lines without any distraction at least up to the end of the Buhari administration.
“In another clime, he could have even resigned without prompting because of his failure to ensure security of the rail-lines, which caused calamity to many families as I am talking now.
“While Nigerian students are languishing at home because of the protracted strike by Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the man in charge of negotiating to ensure that the strike is called off is busy consulting across the country to run for office.
“This is immoral and we should not continue to run our country like this. There has to be the irreducible minimum we should not cross,” he said.
Ali however, commended state governments for getting it right by directing those with political ambition to resign, saying the reverse is the case at the federal level.
He said it will be difficult to convince Nigerians that those Ministers are not using public funds to pursue their political ambitions.
“With N100 million pegged for presidential nomination form, what’s the salary of a Minister of the Republic? While they remain in office, how are we sure that they are not going to use the public funds at their disposal to buy the presidential nomination form and pursue and their electoral ambition,” he said.
He said the main reason why public officials are encouraged to relinquish their offices before contesting elections is to ensure that they do not take undue advantage of their offices to pursue personal ambitions to the detriment of public interest.
He called on President Buhari to do the needful by directing the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to issue a circular directing all public officials at the Federal Level to relinquish their offices in order to pursue their political ambitions.

 

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NBA Blames Political Actors’ Selfishness For Rivers Crisis

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The President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Afam Osigwe (SAN), has linked the political imbroglio in Rivers State to the ego of the feuding political actors.

The president made the assertion on Wednesday in Abuja during a news conference organised by the association ahead of the NBA Section on Legal Practice’s (NBA-SLP) annual conference.

According to Mr Osigwe, the problem in Rivers State was caused by the ego of the principal actors in refusing to sit down to find a solution that works for the people of Rivers.

“Blaming the Supreme Court or any other body will not solve the problem. If the actors had placed Rivers above their own personal interests and cared about the security and welfare of the people, we would not be where we are. It became an ego fight and an issue of who wins. So, ego is at the base of the problem in Rivers and not the Supreme Court.

“People get judgements from the court and still decide to go for an amicable solution, so it is not the judgement of the Supreme Court but the principal actors that are to be blamed,’’ Mr Osigwe said.

He added that while the NBA was not in a legal argument with the president, the association was of the view that some of the actions taken might not be supported by the constitution.

“We are of the opinion that Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution cannot be read in isolation from Section 11 of the same constitution. There have been killings in many states in Nigeria and much more breakdown of law and order than we have seen in Rivers but no state of emergency was declared in those states. We are of the view that the problem in Rivers can be solved by the principal actors swallowing their egos and putting the welfare and security of the people of Rivers above their personal interests.

“This declaration may not solve the problem in Rivers and it worries me that an administrator can be appointed and worse still, a retired military officer to administer the state. It is unconstitutional and should not be supported because we may be setting a dangerous precedence,’’ Mr Osigwe said.

Earlier, the Chairman of the Conference Planning Committee, Paul Harris Ogbole, (SAN), said that the theme for the 2025 NBA-SLP Conference was “Uncommon challenges in a rapidly changing legal environment.’’

Mr Ogbole said the conference aimed to explore the contemporary challenges evolving in the legal environment.

He said they would also explore the impact of global interconnectedness on legal systems, the growing demand for specialised legal services and provide insights into navigating the legal frontiers.

The conference will also highlight great opportunities for legal practitioners including the development of legal technological solutions, the expansion of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms and the increasing focus on access to justice and legal empowerment.

The conference will hold in Jos from April 24 to April 27.

 

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Rivers Elders Speak Against Emergency Rule

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In a national broadcast, President Bola Tinubu announced the suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, Deputy Governor Ngozi Odu, and the state lawmakers due to their failure to resolve a political impasse.

The president also cited the destruction of pipelines by suspected militants as a contributing factor to the declaration.

However, Anabs Sara-Igbe, a chieftain of the Pan Niger Delta Forum, disagreed with the president’s action on the emergency rule.

He stated that all avenues for mediation should have been exhausted before resorting to an emergency rule.

“President Tinubu’s invocation of Section 305 of the Nigerian Constitution at this time is inappropriate. The president claims to have declared a state of emergency to restore peace, but the real question is: why is the FCT minister Nyesom Wike, the key figure in the crisis, not suspended?”, he queried.

Chief Sara-Igbe said the president’s suspension of Rivers’ elected officials from office was unconstitutional.

“Unlike in Sokoto, Borno, and other northern states, there is no war or loss of lives in Rivers that warrants the declaration of emergency rule in a peaceful state,’’ Chief Sara-Igbe explained.

He, however, accused the president of not being sincere with the people of Rivers State and had taken sides in the crisis through his actions and comments.

Ann-Kio Briggs, a prominent environmental and human rights activist, also decried President Tinubu’s justification for the emergency declaration, particularly his claim that Gov Fubara failed to brief him or condemn the pipeline explosions.

She stated that Gov  Fubara had, on multiple occasions, informed the president of developments in the state.

“On March 11, PANDEF met with the president to brief him and seek his intervention; the group had also made efforts to mediate peace between Fubara and Wike,” Ms Briggs said, adding, “So, for President Tinubu to give the impression that no efforts were made to resolve the crises is misleading.”

Ms Briggs said the president’s reference to pipeline attacks as a basis for the state emergency was not convincing since pipelines had been vandalised for decades in Niger Delta without such drastic measures being taken.

She acknowledged that while the president had the power to declare a state of emergency, he did not have the constitutional authority to suspend an elected governor.

“This decision is hasty, rash, and premeditated, posing a grave threat to the people of the state; it is a targeted plot against Governor Fubara. It is unacceptable,” Ms Briggs added.

She also referenced Chief Wike’s past remarks on TV, where he allegedly claimed to have the capacity to sabotage pipelines, and questioned why the minister was not suspended.

“Why wasn’t the minister suspended, considering he is a major player in the crises and the one the 27 lawmakers take instructions from?” Ms Briggs noted.

Tonye Cole, the APC governorship candidate in the 2023 Rivers election, blamed all political actors involved.

“Today is a dark day in Rivers politics; the president had no choice but to step in to address the situation. I believe the president made some attempts to resolve the issues, but he did not push hard enough to bring the matter to a peaceful conclusion,” Mr Cole said.

 

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Reps Clash Ahead Rivers Emergency Rule Debate

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Members of the House of Representatives engaged in a heated exchange as the green chamber prepared to debate the emergency rule in Rivers State on Wednesday.

The Tide source reports that two female members shouted at each other over the political crisis in the South-South State.

The two female lawmakers, Marie Ebikake (PDP, Bayelsa) and Blessing Amadi (PDP, Rivers), engaged in a shouting match on the constitutionality of the President’s decision to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State.

This happened before the commencement of the plenary.

It took the intervention of other lawmakers in the chamber to prevent the issue from snowballing into an uncontrollable situation.

Recall that President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday declared a state of emergency in Rivers State following the prolonged political crisis in the state.

The president also suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, Ngozi Odu, and members of the state assembly for six months.

President Tinubu also nominated a former Chief Of Naval Staff, Vice-Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd), to administer the state.

Reacting, the spokesperson of the House of Representatives, Akin Rotimi, said President Tinubu informed the national assembly through a letter before the emergency proclamation.

Hon. Rotimi added that President Tinubu’s letter informing the House of his decision and seeking approval on the state of emergency in Rivers in line with section 305 of the Constitution had been transmitted to the green chamber and would be read during plenary on Wednesday for further legislative action.

He said President Tinubu met with the leadership of both chambers, and the National Security Adviser and Service Chiefs before the broadcast.

 

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