Author: The Nation

By Agency Reporter

The National Assembly Joint Committee on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has raised concern about the additional budgetary spending of over N503 million by INEC without applying for virement from the National Assembly.

The discovery was made during the 2019/2020 budget defence session by the commission before the committee.

Rep. Ibrahim Babangida from Katsina raised the issue when he asked the INEC Chairman Yakubu Mohmud to explain why the commission unilaterally chose which of the budgetary item to effect extra budgetary spending.

He said that the action of the commission was in contravention of the 1999 Constitution that stipulates that funds should not be expended outside what has been appropriated by the National Assembly.

Rep. Fred Agbedi, representing Bayelsa, also asked the INEC chairman to tell the committee the extant laws the commission relied on to spend money beyond appropriation.

He said that in spite of the emergency necessitating the commission to spend fund beyond appropriation, such extra budgetary spending should be done with request for virement and approval by the National Assembly.

Some of the areas where such extra budgetary expenditure was observed by the committee are: security services in which N150 million was appropriated but the sum of N194.8 million was spent by the commission.

Also, N100 million was budgeted for office rent by National Assembly for the commission but the commission spent N232.1nmillion, just as it spent N440.8 million for general services, whereas the National Assembly budgeted N342,000,000, among other such extra budget spending.

In his defence, the INEC chairman said that the spending was based on emergency situations and in line with the independence of the commission to carryout its responsibilities.

Speaking on the personnel of the commission, the INEC chairman said that the commission had yet to enroll its staff on the Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS).

He explained that it was still waiting for circular to guide them on how it should be implemented in the commission.

Read Also: INEC seeks review of SIECs’ laws

 

Earlier in his remarks, the chairman of the committee, Sen. Kabiru Gaya, (APC Kano), asked the commission to always comply with request from lawmakers to submit their budget details.

He said that the committee had requested the commission to immediately commence the deregistration of political parties that failed to meet up with the constitutional requirements of winning election.

Gaya called for the submission of the list of the parties that failed to meet the constitutional provision of continuous existence as a political party.

He also commended the commission for saving money for the Federal Government by combining the Kogi and Bayelsa elections on Nov. 16.

(NAN)

By Agency Reporter

The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), during overnight operation on Thursday, rescued five victims in another collapse building in Ojuelegba area of Surulere.

The Chief Executive Officer, LASEMA, Dr Oluwafemi Oke-Osanyintolu, who confirmed this to newsmen on Friday in Lagos said the victims were rescued after the building was pulled down to the ground zero about 11 p.m.

Oke-Osanyintolu said the accident occurred at 9.15 p.m., adding that the rescue was in collaboration with the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA).

“The most important thing is that, we rescued five people alive while pulling down the building to save lives and property to the residents.

“When we got to the building, we discovered that the building was highly unstable, LASBCA had marked the building on March 25, 2015 and May 21 while the residents and the landlord were warned to vacate their premises.

“We need to perform, urgently, the construction and re-development of that area because of safety of lives and property.We then have to use our sophisticated equipment to check whether people are under the debris. With our equipment, we pulled down the building to the ground zero,” the chief executive officer said.

Oke-Osanyintolu urged residents in the state to ensure their buildings were properly maintained, adding that emergency was everybody’s business.

Read Also: Collapse Building: Lagos criminal files charge against Lekki boss, others

He, however, announced plans by the agency to conduct test on all buildings within the area, in order to ensure safety of environment in the locality.

Also speaking to newsmen, the General Manager, LASBCA, Mrs Abiola Kosegbe, said the agency had identified and marked the collapsed building in question in 2015 and 2019.

She said that the marking was done after conducting a text which indicated that the property was in a distress.

“Our officers visited the building and sealed it to avoid loss of life, investigation showed that some of the tenants caught off the seal notice and continued living in the premises,” she said.

Kosegbe urged the residents to avoid living in a building in distress in their own good and in the interest of the community in general.

She also advised residents and prospective landlords to ensure that they carryout Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) to evaluate the quality of materials used in the building.

Another government official, Mr Yinka Jonathan, urged the state government to compel building engineers to always go through series of test to ensure solid erection of building.

Jonathan, however, stressed that if government was not satisfied with the standard of a particular building, it should stop people from renting such structure.

The Deputy Leader, Surulere Local Government Council, Mr Adebisi Davis, who expressed disappointment over the sad development, however, thanked God for saving lives in the incident.

News Agency of Nigerian (NAN) reports that a three-storey building at Magodo Phase 1 and a two-storey building collapsed at No 7, Rufai Street, Ojuelegba about 12 days ago. (NAN).

By Robert Egbe

A former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Jumoke Akinjide has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of coercing her to return the N650million that she is accused of laundering.

She prayed Justice Chukeujekwu Aneke of the Federal High Court in Lagos to compel the anti-graft agency to return the money to her.

The EFCC is prosecuting Akinjide alongside two Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftains, Ayo Adeseun and Olanrewaju Otiti, for an alleged fraud of N650m.

The anti-graft agency alleged that she collected N650m from a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, in the build-up to the 2015 general elections.

But in a fresh application by her lawyer, Chief Bolaji Ayorinde (SAN), Akinjide said she had already been coerced by the EFCC to return the N650m.

Read Also: Obaship Tussle: Ekiti community petitions Fayemi over alleged imposition

She prayed the court to quash the charges against her for being an abuse of court processes.

She said no prima facie case of fraud was disclosed against her in the proof of evidence filed before the court by the EFCC.

Akinjide said contrary to the claim by the EFCC that she collected N650m from Diezani, the money was actually from the fundraiser organised by the Peoples Democratic Party to fund the re-election campaign of then President Goodluck Jonathan and Vice-President Namadi Sambo.

She argued that the EFCC was aware that such fundraising was legal and normal under the Electoral Act 2010; and that the All Progressives Congress also conducted a similar fundraiser and realised N50bn, which it used to fund the electioneering campaign of its presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, and his running mate, Prof Yemi Osinbajo.

She said while PDP members were being “harassed, charged or prosecuted” over the money realised from its fundraiser, “none of the members or candidates of the APC was charged from the conclusion of the 2015 general elections till date on the basis of the N50bn fundraising.”

Akinjide said she handled the N650m in her capacity as the Oyo State Coordinator of the Goodluck/Sambo presidential election campaign in Oyo State, adding that “the money was distributed to various groups and sub-coordinators of the PDP in Oyo State as directed by the party in order that the funds may be further distributed to party agents and other workers in the campaign organisation.”

“No single individual received sums in excess of N5m from this political chest,” she said.

She, however, lamented that “soon after the election and the inauguration of a new administration controlled by the APC at the federal level, the respondent (EFCC) was unleashed on leaders of the PDP under the guise of the now well-known ‘fight against corruption’ – which many Nigerians have come to perceive as a persecution of PDP leaders by the APC-controlled administration of the Federal Government of Nigeria.”

Akinjide prayed the court to acquit and discharge her of the fraud charges filed against her by the EFCC.

By Agency Reporter

The Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom on Thursday described as “laughable’’ trending speculation that suggested that he was a wizard.

Ortom said this at the opening ceremony of a two-day Governor’s Retreat for Benue Government Appointees in Makurdi.

The governor noted that he became a child of God after becoming a born- again Christian in 1979, adding that: “since then I have professed Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour’’

He, therefore, said the insinuations making around claiming he was head of wizards in Benue remained a “fallacy and laughable’’.

Ortom also said such suggestion was a misrepresentation of his Christian faith, adding that there was no reason for people to doubt his religious belief.

“I was surprised that at a burial some people even made attempt to stop me from quoting the Holy Bible during my speech.

“I heard some people saying Ortom is the leader of wizards in Benue but it is not true, I am a child of God.

“I became born again in 1979 and since then God has been grateful to me.

“I was at a burial somewhere and people accused me of using Bible to do witchcraft. They said I should not be allowed to quote the Bible that if I did the people will become speechless’’, Ortom said.

According to the governor, no human being makes him governor as God alone anoints him Benue governor as far back as 1992’’, he said.

He said God went on to perfect His plan for him by fulfilling His prophecy in 2015.

Ortom explained that he had experienced numerous challenges and faced persecution before eventually becoming the governor.

Read Also:  Tribunal affirms Ortom’s election

Ortom further said that but for God’s intervention he would have given up on his governorship in 2017 as a result of plethora of difficult administrative challenges.

“In 2017, I almost gave up and decided that I will be a one term governor and not contest again, but God again said otherwise.

“God told me that those castigating me will be those who will work for my re-election and here we are today in my second term.

“This government is not that type that won elections because of good deeds; god-fatherism, federal might, but because of the will of God.

“ No one in Benue and Nigeria can boost that he or she made Ortom governor’’, he said.

The governor further explained that God had used him to cement many people’s election in the past in the state.

Ortom said in a bid to prosecute him further, his Chief of Staff Mr Terwase Orbunde and Special Adviser on Development Corporation, SDGs and NEPAD, Dr Magdalene Dura, were arrested by EFCC for alleged missing N4.7b but that they were vindicated.

He, therefore urged the appointees to be steadfast, dedicated to their responsibilities and stay away from anything that would make anti- graft agencies come after them.

“Protect yourselves now, avoid corruption because I would not defend anyone found short-changing the government’’, he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that this was the second retreat for government appointees in Benue within the week.(NAN)