News

Constitutional Review: Lawan Solicits Role For Monarchs In Governance

Published

5 years ago

March 12, 2021

President of the Senate, Dr Ahmad Lawan, has identified the exclusion of the traditional rulers in governance and security architecture of the nation as one loophole in the 1999 Constitution which had largely aided the growth in Nigeria’s security challenges.

In same vein the National Council of Traditional Rulers in Nigeria (NCTRN) have described the neglect of the traditional rulers in governance as a disrespect to the nations roots capable of creating dangerous gaps, misunderstandings and avoidable conflicts between the grassroots and the government.

Lawan made the disclosure, yesterday, in his speech as he declared open a meeting between the Constitution Review Committee of the Senate chaired by the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege-led and the National Council of Traditional Rulers in Abuja.

The Senate President, in his remarks, called for roles for traditional rulers in the Constitution linked to specific functions for them in guaranteeing the safety of lives and properties within their various jurisdictions.

According to Lawan, the worsening activities of insurgents, bandits and criminals have placed Nigeria in a dire situation that demands an urgent review of the 1999 Constitution along the lines of reorganizing the structure of governance to give specific roles to traditional rulers in various communities, as well as the incorporation of traditional institutions as part of the security architecture of the country.

Lawan said, “I’m here to show the commitment of the National Assembly in its entirety, to listening and supporting our royal fathers on the Constitutional Review currently going on, and in what many of us believe that is the right thing; that we have our royal fathers properly and formally given some roles in the governance structure or the administration of our country.

“The pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial history of our royal fathers gives us indication of how important our traditional institution was in those days.

“In fact, at the risk of going into some avoidable history, in 1947 the British created a single traditional institution for the Tivs by creating the title of Tor Tiv. This was because they knew that the traditional institutions were playing very critical and crucial roles in running the affairs of those they governed.

“Probably, the 1979 Constitution had envisaged specific functions for the traditional institutions, but I think we missed it after that, and maybe the 1999 Constitution did not take account of certain things that could have been helpful.

“Maybe before the 1976 local government reforms, the traditional institutions might have played some roles in ensuring that our communities were secured and safe.

“So, what do we need to do to bring our country into a safer climate and more secured life for our people and their property?

“I believe that we need to take a holistic assessment of our situation. Every community, every people makes law for itself to specifically deal with some challenges, and you don’t have to copy what works elsewhere, because your history may be different. So, we have a very peculiar history when it comes to our traditional institutions playing some roles in the affairs of our people.

“This is an opportunity for our traditional institutions to ask for specific roles, but our desire as a National Assembly is to undertake this Constitutional Review because it is part of a very important legislative agenda, and also our desire to continuously work as a Legislature with the Executive arm of government to create a safer and more secured Nigeria.

The Senate President noted that the current security architecture should not be limited to the armed forces, police and other paramilitary organizations alone.

“If our traditional institutions would be part of our security architecture, so be it. Actually, what we need is to secure the lives and properties of our people. How do we achieve that? This is where the meeting of today, between our Constitution Review Committee headed by the Deputy President of the Senate, and the National Council of Traditional Rulers would be very critical”, Lawan said.

Presenting a memorandum of the National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria signed by the Chairman and the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar; and the Co-Chair and the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, to the Constitution Review Committee, the Etsu Nupe, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar, recalled that the Nigerian First Republic Regional Governments had bi-cameral Legislative arrangement with the Houses of Chiefs serving as the Upper chambers to those of the elected Houses of Assemblies.

“The society was at that time progressive, peaceful, decent and full of beautiful traditions and cultures. Lives and properties were sacrosanct and accountability and honesty were the hallmarks of the traditional local Administrations,” he said.

According to him, “General Ironsi 1966 Unitary Government Decree, General Gowon’s and General Obasanjo’s 1967 and 1976 Local Government Reform Decrees, respectively stripped traditional rules of their powers and gave same to the local government council thereby giving birth to the present insecurity and corruption, constitutionally and protocol wise, traditional rulers are relegated to the background.”

The Etsu Nupe lamented that under the present arrangement, “Traditional Rulers do not have the constitutional or other legal backing to perform effectively as they are not even mentioned in the 1999 Constitution.”

“This is a great departure from all earlier Constitutions that recognised them and even gave them some functions to perform.

“Indeed, all the Nigerian earlier Constitutions gave the chairmen of the States Councils of Chiefs seats in the National Council of State alongside former Presidents, Chief Justices, etc. For example, this is clearly provided for under Section 140 (l) and under Part 1 of the Third Schedule of the 1979 Constitution,” he added.

The traditional ruler, however, emphasized that “no community or nation would thrive successfully without due consideration of its historical evolution, customs, values and beliefs”, adding that, “the Nigerian Nation evolved from the amalgamation of several empires, kingdoms, caliphates, chiefdoms and autonomous communities.”

“Undermining the traditional institution through unsavoury politically motivated actions will reduce the respect accorded it by the citizenry.

“This will translate into its ineffectiveness in performing its roles. It will also affect its capacity to mobilize the people towards government programmes and projects and in managing communal, ethnic and religious conflicts and crisis.

“This will certainly not augur well for the envisaged peace, progress and wellbeing of the Nation and its people as the government will lose a respected willing partner in these regards”, he warned.

The Etsu Nupe while calling on the National Assembly to intervene in safeguarding the sanctity of the traditional institution by ensuring its insulation from politically motivated actions that run afoul of the well-established traditional settings advised that traditional rulers should be accorded specific responsibilities for conflict and security management in their domains.

He added that, “Nigeria needs to explore all available means of conflict resolution, intelligence gathering and containment of insecurities that will complement the conventional security outfits.”

The Chairman of the Constitution Review Committee, and Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, in his speech, raised questions on why the institution was expunged in the Constitution in the first place, if it had fostered peaceful coexistence and safety of lives and property.

His words, “What you’re seeking here today, is the reinstatement of the Council of Traditional Rulers that we had in all of our previous Constitutions which was omitted in the 1999 Constitution. The question becomes, why was there that omission?”

“With respect to this request, it shouldn’t be very demanding because we all come constituencies and we are all your subjects.

“At a time like this when we have so much insurgency in the North-East, banditry in the North-West and most of the North-Central, the same challenges we also have in the South-South, South-East and South-West; with religious tension everywhere, if His Royal Highness said that in Colonial and Pre-Colonial and Post-Colonial times, that there was need to maintain the status of traditional institutions to help us preserve peace, now is even more apt today than it was.

The NCTRN was represented by traditional rulers drawn from the six geopolitical zones of the country.

By: Nneka Amaechi-Nnadi, Abuja

News

Drug Party: NDLEA Arrests Over 100 Suspects At Lagos Night Club

Published

2 days ago

October 27, 2025

The Tide

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) yesterday arrested over 100 suspects at Proxy Night club located at No. 7, Akin Adesola Street, Victoria Island, where a drug party was going on.

Spokesman of the Agency, Femi Babafemi, who disclosed this yesterday, said the suspects arrested include the owner of the club, Mike EzeNwalieNwogu, alias Pretty Mike, who was taken into custody for screening.

“Cartons of illicit substances, including Loud and laughing gas, were recovered from suspects at the party and the club’s store,” Babafemi said.

The raid followed intelligence about the drug party. NDLEA operatives who were embedded in the party between 11 pm on Saturday, 25th October, however, disrupted the gathering at 3 am on Sunday, 26th October, in line with Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

Similarly, NDLEA said a total of 70 parcels of cocaine factory packed in walls of cocoa butter formula body cream containers heading to London, United Kingdom, were uncovered at the export shed of the MurtalaMuhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, with three suspects arrested in a series of follow-up operations across Lagos.

According to the statement, “The cocaine consignments weighing 3.60 kilograms were discovered on 14th October 2025 during examination of cargoes packaged as personal effects going to London, UK on an Air Peace flight.

“A cargo agent, Lawal Mustapha Olakunle, who presented the consignment for airfreight, was promptly arrested while investigations stretching into two weeks led to the arrest of two principal suspects linked to the attempt to export the concealed Class A drug to the UK.

“In a follow up operation on 18th October, a female healthcare worker OgunmuyideTaiwo Deborah was arrested following which Mutiu Adebayo Adebiyi, the Chief Executive Officer of a travel agency, MutiuAdebiyi& Co, was arrested at his 23 LadokeAkintola Street, Ikeja GRA Lagos office on Monday 20 th October”.

In a similar development, an attempt by a 35-year-old Lesotho national, Lemena Mark, to export 103.59 grams of methamphetamine concealed in a diabeta herbs coffee tea pack to the Philippines on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from the AkanuIbiam International Airport (AIIA) Enugu on Wednesday, 22nd October, was thwarted by NDLEA officers who arrested him and recovered the illicit drug.

No fewer than 21,950 capsules of tramadol 250mg concealed inside a 100-litre water heater were recovered from a suspect, Umar Abubakar, 40, who was arrested by NDLEA operatives at Bode Saadu, Morro local government area of Kwara state, following credible intelligence on Tuesday, 21st October.

In Taraba, the duo of Auwal Musa, 26, and SalihuBala, 22, were arrested on Tuesday, 21st October, with 450,000 pills of tramadol and Exol-5 at Dan-anacha checkpoint while conveying the consignment in a truck loaded with building materials from Onitsha, Anambra state, to Mubi, Adamawa state.

Also, NDLEA officers on patrol along the Okene/Lokoja highway, Kogi state, seized 162.200kg skunk, a strain of cannabis, from a truck on Friday, 24th October. Operatives in Nasarawa state on Wednesday, 22nd October, recovered 128kg of the same psychoactive substance from a suspect, Abubakar Muhammad, 55, in the Keffi area of the state.

A mother of two, Oyonumoh Glory Effiong, who is a major distributor of Canadian and California Loud, both strong strains of cannabis, in Lekki, Ajah, Ikoyi, Victoria Island and VGC areas of Lagos, has been arrested by NDLEA operatives on Friday, 17th October, during a raid at her Lekki home, where 500 grams of the illicit substances were recovered.

In the Ikorodu area of Lagos, NDLEA officers on Thursday, 23rd October, raided the home of a suspect, OgunyaboAdenigbigbe, at Solomade estate, where 275 litres of skuchies, a new psychoactive substance produced with black currant drink, cannabis and opioids, were recovered.

A 75-year-old grandpa, EchenduOnuoka, was arrested on Wednesday, 22nd October, at Ovum village, Obingwa LGA, Abia state, with 4.7kg skunk seized from him, while a 60-year-old grandma, Aukana John, was nabbed with 225 grams of the same substance at Apanta village, in the same LGA.

While a 150kg skunk was recovered during a raid operation at Lot camp, IkunAkoko, Ondo state, two suspects: Bashir Mohammad, 50, and Samini Ahmed Tijjani, 35, were nabbed with 234.5kg of the same substance at Yan aya ,Saminaka in Lere LGA, Kaduna on Friday, 24th October, just as another set of suspects: IsahUsman, 50, and Salvation Okoler, 18, were arrested with 8,600 pills of tramadol 225mg and rohypnol along Abuja/Kaduna highway.

At the Seme border area of Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Wednesday, 22nd October nabbed Jacob Ojugbele with 55kg skunk at Ashipa area of Badagry, while AmusaOluwabukola was arrested with 121.3 litres of skuchies at ItogaBadagry.

In Zamfara state, NDLEA operatives on patrol along Gummi-Anka road on Monday, 20th October arrested a suspect, Abubakar Ibrahim, 30, in possession of an AK-47 rifle and 1,746 assorted calibres of ammunition, for AK-47 and GPMG rifles while moving them from Sokoto to Bagega forest, Anka LGA, Zamfara. Both the suspect and the exhibits have since been handed over to the appropriate security agency for further investigation.

With the same vigour, Commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization activities in schools, worship centres, workplaces, and communities, among others, in the past week.

These include: WADA sensitization lecture to students and staff of Asabari Grammar School, IluwaIsaleOke, Saki West LGA, Oyo; Government Day Girls Secondary School, BirninKebbi, Kebbi; St. Mark’s College, Nsude, Enugu; Kusaki Secondary School, Gboko North, Benue; Government Day Secondary School, Serti- Baruwa, Gashaka LGA, Taraba; Police Children School 2, Port Harcourt, Rivers and Hajara Ahmad International School, Tudun Wada, Kano state, among others.

While commending the officers and men of MMIA, AIIA, Lagos, Kwara, Abia, Nasarawa, Kogi, Ondo, Anambra, Taraba, Kaduna, Seme and Zamfara Commands for the arrests and seizures, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed BubaMarwa (Rtd) urged them and their colleagues across the country to continue the Agency’s balanced approach to drug control efforts.

News

SERAP Demands NNPCL Account For Oil Revenues, Threatens Legal Action

Published

2 days ago

October 27, 2025

The Tide

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), BayoOjulari, to provide a detailed account of oil revenues reportedly flagged by the Auditor-General of the Federation in the 2022 annual report.

The report, published on September 9, 2025, raised questions over the management of multi-billion-naira transactions, including over N22 billion, $49 million, £14 million, and €5 million in oil-related revenue, handled by the national oil company.

In a letter dated October 25, 2025, and signed by SERAP’s Deputy Director, KolawoleOluwadare, the organisation called on Ojulari to ensure transparency by identifying those responsible for any unaccounted funds and forwarding the findings to the appropriate anti-corruption agencies.

“These findings raise serious concerns about transparency and accountability in the management of public resources,” SERAP said.

The group urged the NNPCL to recover any unremitted or misapplied funds and return them to the national treasury, stressing that proper management of oil revenues was crucial for national development.

“The allegations, if not promptly and transparently addressed, could undermine public confidence and economic stability,” SERAP stated.

According to the organisation, the Auditor-General’s report drew attention to issues such as irregular payments, uncompleted projects, and documentation lapses relating to oil sector transactions.

SERAP argued that corruption and financial mismanagement in the oil sector had long hindered Nigeria’s ability to channel its vast petroleum wealth into improved public services.

“Despite the country’s enormous oil resources, citizens continue to face hardship due to a lack of accountability and transparency in revenue management,” the statement noted.

The organisation maintained that if the flagged funds were properly accounted for, more resources could be made available for sectors such as education, healthcare, and social welfare.

It added that the NNPCL must take proactive steps to comply with audit recommendations, including closing identified loopholes and enhancing oversight on contract execution.

SERAP also warned that it would take legal action should the NNPCL fail to respond within seven days.

“We would be grateful if the recommended measures are taken within seven days of the receipt and publication of this letter.

“If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall consider appropriate legal actions to compel compliance in the public interest,” the organisation said.

The group cited Section 15(5) of the Nigerian Constitution, which mandates public institutions to prevent corrupt practices and abuse of power.

News

N’Assembly Committee Approves New State ForS’East

Published

2 days ago

October 27, 2025

The Tide

The Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Representatives on Constitution Review has approved the creation of an additional state in the South-East geo-political zone.

According to a statement by the media unit of the committee, the resolution was reached on Saturday at a two-day retreat in Lagos, where it reviewed 55 proposals for state creation across the country.

The session, chaired by the Deputy Senate President, BarauJibrin, and co-chaired by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, resolved that, in the spirit of fairness and equity, the Federal Government should create another state for the region.

Kalu, who joined other lawmakers to champion additional state creation for the region, argued that a new state would give the people a sense of belonging.

When created, the South-East will be at par with the South-South, South-West, North-Central, and North-East zones, each having six states.

The South-East is the only geo-political zone with five states comprising Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo.

The North-West comprises seven states: Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, and Jigawa.

According to the statement, Senator Abdul Ningi (Bauchi Central) moved a motion for the creation of the new state, which was seconded by Ibrahim Isiaka (Ifo/Ewekoro, Ogun State) at the retreat.

“The motion received the unanimous support of committee members and was adopted,” the statement read in part.

Similarly, the committee also established a sub-committee to consider the creation of additional states and local government areas across all six geo-political zones, noting that a total of 278 proposals were submitted for review.

Speaking at the event, Jibrin urged members to rally support among their colleagues at the National Assembly and state Houses of Assembly to ensure the resolutions sail through during voting.

“We need to strengthen what we have started so that all parts of the country will key into this process.

“By the time we get to the actual voting, we should already have the buy-in of all stakeholders—from both chambers and the state Houses of Assembly,” the Deputy Senate President was quoted as saying.