The Nation Newspaper

Tag: 8th National Assembly

  • NASS crisis: My hands are clean – Oyegun

    NASS crisis: My hands are clean – Oyegun

    The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, on Thursday exonerated himself from the National Assembly crisis.

    He noted that the crisis has assumed an unbecoming dimension with people accusing him of accepting gratification from senators.

    The APC chairman hosted South East/South South Professionals who visited him in his office in Abuja.

    Oyegun said the accusations are strange to him because he has no reason to collect money from Senators since he is not in a position to vote for them in the National Assembly.

    He described those peddling the rumour as devoid of conscience, noting that God will eventually vindicate him and make his opponents regret their actions.

    He said: “So if they are saying you have taken money from a Senator, I am not a Senator. I cannot do it. I cannot at this age be a Senate President or Senate Leader.

    “So what is he giving me money for? And in politics when you throw this into public domain, how many people know me personally? So it is annoying, it is dirty. It is crude, it is unbecoming.

    “It shows the people are so devoid of conscience. It doesn’t make me lose sleep because I have God that is so preventive of me because the people who are doing this will eventually eat their own words. I have no doubt at all in my mind.”

    He expressed surprise that the party is not completely done with the 2015, members are already accusing him of conspiring to favour the north in the 2019 elections.

    Oyegun noted that since he is not from the north and does not organize them for elections, the accusation is meaningless.

  • NASS crisis: My hands are clean – Oyegun

    NASS crisis: My hands are clean – Oyegun

    The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, on Thursday exonerated himself from the National Assembly crisis.

    He noted that the crisis has assumed an unbecoming dimension with people accusing him of accepting gratification from senators.

    The APC chairman hosted South East/South South Professionals who visited him in his office in Abuja.

    Oyegun said the accusations are strange to him because he has no reason to collect money from Senators since he is not in a position to vote for them in the National Assembly.

    He described those peddling the rumour as devoid of conscience, noting that God will eventually vindicate him and make his opponents regret their actions.

    He said: “So if they are saying you have taken money from a Senator, I am not a Senator. I cannot do it. I cannot at this age be a Senate President or Senate Leader.

    “So what is he giving me money for? And in politics when you throw this into public domain, how many people know me personally? So it is annoying, it is dirty. It is crude, it is unbecoming.

    “It shows the people are so devoid of conscience. It doesn’t make me lose sleep because I have God that is so preventive of me because the people who are doing this will eventually eat their own words. I have no doubt at all in my mind.”

    He expressed surprise that the party is not completely done with the 2015, members are already accusing him of conspiring to favour the north in the 2019 elections.

    Oyegun noted that since he is not from the north and does not organize them for elections, the accusation is meaningless.

  • Mixed reactions trail Saraki’s claim on principal officers

    Mixed reactions trail Saraki’s claim on principal officers

    Mixed reactions on Friday greeted the claim by Senate President, Bukola Saraki, that his hands were tied over the appointments of principal officers for the 8th National Assembly held on Thursday.
    The Senate had adopted the elections of principal officers contrary to the directives of the All Progressive Congress, APC.
    “Whilst one is strongly persuaded to toe party line and act in accordance with the suggested party position, regrettably, clear provisions of our extant rules and parliamentary conventions have not given me that leeway to act otherwise.

    “Therefore, my hands are tired in the circumstances and I seek your understanding in this regards,” The Senate President said in a letter addressed to the chairman of APC.

    Some of the reactions include:

    Kayode Ogundamisi on Facebook said: “Senator Saraki’s antics are no longer funny”

  • NASS: Ashafa urges APC lawmakers to unite

    NASS: Ashafa urges APC lawmakers to unite

    Senator Gbenga Ashafa ofLagos East Senatorial District, has urged other senators elected on the platform of his party, All Progressives Congress, APC to close ranks and settle down to work, having come to terms with the enormity of the task before them.

    Ashafa made this statement in reactions to the senate inauguration fallout and how it affects the legislative body.

    He pleaded that members of the APC Senators Unity Forum, the senators of Like Minds and other such caucuses in the 8th senate should collapse their structures and form a united, progressive front that will work with the new leadership of the red chamber for the overall interest of the Nigerian people.

    The second term senator who is well known to be a bridge-builder amongst his colleagues in the senate made the call on the heels of the fallout which trailed the stormy inauguration of the senate on June 9 where Senator Bukola Saraki emerged as the senate president as against Senator Ahmed Lawan, the candidate anointed by APC.

    He furthers, “We have to realize that the hopes of Nigerians are high. The new government has amassed a lot of political capital – having been elected as a result of the massive build-up of goodwill for our various candidates in the elections and the stark disenchantment with the previous administration.

     As a result, the goodwill of Nigerians must not be taken for granted. So I make this call for one Nigeria and it starts with us – One Senate, united for the progress of our various constituents and translating change into policies and laws that will, in turn, yield tangible and beneficial results for everyone.”

    Senator Ashafa urged all party members with various leanings to push aside their personal ambitions for now, noting that whilst the party’s decision is binding on us all, we must see the bigger picture which is a progressive and united Nigeria.

     He concluded saying he will be devoted to pro-people policies and promised a re-invigorated approach to committee oversight functions upon resumption from the current recess embarked upon by the 8th senate.

  • N150bn allocation for lawmakers not over bloated – Deputy Speaker

    N150bn allocation for lawmakers not over bloated – Deputy Speaker

    The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yusuf Lasun, on Tuesday defended the N150 billion budgetary allocation for the National Assembly, saying it is not excessive.

    Lasun spoke at the inauguration of the House ad hoc committee on Welfare where he represented Speaker Yakubu Dogara.

    The Deputy Speaker while reacting to questions from reporters on the public criticism of huge salaries and allowances of the Senators and members of the House of Representatives, noted that the N150 billion received by the National Assembly annually is only 2.67 percent of the national budget.

    He said, “When you talk about salary it has to be tied to something. Let me tell you this, for the last three years with the exception of 2015, the budget of National Assembly has been N150 billion and that is exactly 2.67 percent of the total budget of the federation, so I don’t know where people see this when they said it was 25 percent of the budget of the federation.

    “The budget of the National Assembly is 2.67 percent of the budget of the federation and so it is not overblown. People have suddenly forgotten and don’t know that here are 469 members in the National Assembly with each one having five aides, paid from the N150 billion with their technocrats. We have National Assembly commission all of them draw their salaries and allowances from the N150 billion.

    “So when people talk, they say it’s only the House of Reps members and the Senators that collect the N150 billion. But they forget that in the 2015 budget, the money was reduced to N120 billion and so when you do the calculation.

    “That’s why the Dogara’s Speakership in the last one week has repeatedly made it known to the public that he’s going to engage in what we call NEEDS assessment. With that we are going to call the development partners to sit down and see what it takes for National Assembly to be involved as an arm of government and you might be surprised that we have reasons that we can compare with other legislative houses all over the world.

    “But it is not going to come from us, it will come from that body that is going to sit down.”

     

  • NASS: Tinubu can resolve APC crisis – Majekodunmi

    NASS: Tinubu can resolve APC crisis – Majekodunmi

    A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Femi Majekodunmi, on Friday expressed the confidence that the crisis within the party resulting from the emergence of the leadership of the eighth National Assembly would be resolved soon.

    Majekodunmi,  said the National Leader of APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has the political sagacity to handle the matter and urged him to begin the process of reconciling all the parties involved in the crisis.

    The medical doctor – cum politician who spoke with  reporters in Abeokuta at the weekend, said given the immense contribution of Tinubu to the successes recorded by the party, the onus on him to save the ruling party from what could lead to its factionalisation.

    According to him,  the former Lagos State governor has the skills needed to call a meeting of the major stakeholders of the party where the crisis which erupted over the election of Senator Bukola Saraki as Senate President and Hon. Yakubu Dogara, as Speaker, House of Representatives respectively, can be settled once and for all.

    Majekodunmi, a close associates of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, maintained that going to court by the aggrieved party will bring further damage to the APC.

    He said, ”  It is important for the leadership of the party to learn from and also move a step ahead of what happened when both Hon. Dimeji Bankole and Hon. Aminu Tambuwal were elected Speaker of the House of Representatives even when they were not the preferred candidate of their party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which did not sanction them.

    “With what Asiwaju Tinubu has done in the past, the time has come for him to deploy his political know-how to tilt the leadership of the party towards genuine reconciliation through a meeting of the necessary stakeholders which will make Nigerians not regretting voting for the party in the last general elections.”

    The Baagbile of Egbaland further enjoined the APC National Leader not to have any candidate for any position among members of the party, stating that his role in the present political dispensation should be that of father to all with no preferred or anointed member.

    He said the APC has to be careful not to give room for the opposition to come to limelight, noting that the PDP will always be happy to capitalise on the foibles of the ruling party to catch the attention of Nigerians.

    “It is in the interest of the leadership and teeming members of the party not to play into the hands of the opposition party whose major prayer will be for the APC to fail and disappoint Nigerians through its actions and in-actions,” he said.

  • Saraki, Dogara were wrong – APC Scandinavia

    Saraki, Dogara were wrong – APC Scandinavia


    The All Progressives Congress (APC) Scandinavia Chapter has vehemently condemned the result of the elections held at the National Assembly on Tuesday which produced Senator Bukola Saraki as senate president.
    The APC Scandinavia Chapter condemned  what it called the ‘manner and way, Saraki and his APC cohorts treacherously worked against the party to emerge the president of the 8th Senate and Honourable Yakubu Dogara as speaker of the House of Representatives respectively.
    “It is ignominy and derogatory drama that some APC members could pull together with PDP members to elect a PDP deputy Senate president and majority leader of the 8th Senate.
    “It is a clear pointer that some APC members are still having the mindset of Jonathan led administration in the present APC led administration,” noted Ayoola Lawal, National Coordinator, APC Scandinavia Chapter.
    According to Lawal, the chapter urges the national leadership of the party to weigh in and set the record straight by meting out the appropriate sanction and punishment against any individual or group for any anti-party activity.
    “This is a litmus test and a clear opportunity for the party leadership to send the clear signal that the party’s interest supersedes any individual ambition or interest and this is real change and business unusual,” he maintained.

     

  • Saraki, Dogara: APC diaspora calls for sanctions

    Saraki, Dogara: APC diaspora calls for sanctions

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) Scandinavia Chapter has vehemently condemned the result of the elections held at the National Assembly on Tuesday which produced Senator Bukola Saraki as senate president.
    The APC Scandinavia Chapter condemned  what it called ‘manner and way, Saraki and his APC cohorts treacherously worked against the party to emerge the president of the 8th Senate and Honourable Yakubu Dogara as speaker of the House of Representatives respectively.
    “It is ignominy and derogatory drama that some APC members could pull together with PDP members to elect a PDP deputy Senate president and majority leader of the 8th Senate.
    “It is a clear pointer that some APC members are still having the mindset of Jonathan led administration in the present APC led administration,” noted Lawal Ayoola, National Coordinator, APC Scandinavia Chapter.
    According to Ayoola, the chapter urges the national leadership of the party to weigh in and set the record straight by meting out the appropriate sanction and punishment against any individual or group for any anti-party activity.
    “This is a litmus test and a clear opportunity for the party leadership to send the clear signal that the party’s interest supersedes any individual ambition or interest and this is real change and business unusual,” he maintained.