Tag: BUHARI

President Muhammadu Buhari has written to Senate President Bukola Saraki, seeking the screening and confirmation of the Service Chiefs – one week after they were announced.

The development has laid to rest the controversy over whether or not it is necessary to screen the new team.

The Service chiefs are: the Chief of Defence Staff, Maj-Gen. Abayomi Gabriel Olonishakin; the Chief of Army Staff, Maj.-Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai; the Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas and the Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Monday Riku Morgan.

According to a reliable source in the Presidency, Buhari’s letter was sent to the Senate last Thursday,  in anticipation that the National Assembly will resume tomorrow.

The President said the new appointments were made in line with the Armed Forces Act 2004.

In the letter, he specifically sought the “confirmation of the following nominees for appointment as the Chief of Defence Staff and Service Chiefs for the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in accordance with Section 18(1) of the Armed Forces Act, Cap. A. 20 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004”.

The section reads: “The President may, upon consultation with the Chief of Defence Staff and subject to confirmation by the National Assembly, appoint such officers (in this Act referred to as ‘’Service Chiefs’’) as he thinks fit in whom the command of the Army, Navy and Air Force, as the case may be, and their Reserves shall be vested.”

The presidency source said Buhari was also exercising his power as enshrined in Section 218 (2) of the Constitution

The section reads: “The powers conferred on the President by subsection (1) of this section shall include power to appoint the Chief of Defence Staff, the Chief of Army Staff, the Chief of Naval Staff, the Chief of Air Staff and heads of any other branches of the armed forces of the Federation as may be established by an Act of the National Assembly.”

On the appointment of the National Security Adviser (NSA), Maj.-Gen. Babagana Monguno, and the Director-General of the Department of State Security (DSS), Mallam Lawal Daura, the source said: “Such nominees are within the prerogative of the President; they do not need to be screened and confirmed by the National Assembly.

“What the President has done on the Service Chiefs was to comply with the law in line with his promise to Nigerians.

“And you will recall that a retired judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Adamu Bello, on July 1, 2013 ruled that the appointment of Service Chiefs is subject to confirmation by the Senate.”

But as at press time, it was learnt that the screening and confirmation of the new Service Chiefs may have to wait till the return of Senators  from recess on July 28.

There was no confirmation yesterday that the upper chamber has received the letter.

But a source said yesterday that the Senate will screen the new Service chiefs in camera, it was learnt yesterday.

To be screened are: Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Maj-Gen. Abayomi Gabriel Olonishakin, Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Maj-Gen T.Y. Buratai, Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Rear Admiral Ibok-Ete Akwe Ibas and Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Vice Marshal Sadique Abubakar.

One of the senators close to the Senate President’s Office told The Nation that Saraki will on the floor of the upper legislative chamber when the National Assembly reconvenes on July 28, read a communication from President Buhari seeking the confirmation of the Service chiefs.

 The senator noted that after reading the presidential memo containing the names of the nominated Service chiefs, Saraki will proceed to set ad-hoc screening committee.

Setting up ad-hoc committee to screen the Service chiefs, he explained, became necessary in the absence of Standing Senate Committees.

He noted that the Senate Joint Committee on Defence and Army, Air Force, Navy, National Security and Intelligence, would have been mandated to screen the Service chiefs if they had been constituted.

The source said: “Because the committees are yet to be constituted, ad-hoc committee will screen the Service chiefs on resumption of plenary.”

The source added that the “security nature of the screening is the main reason why the Service Chiefs will not be screened on the floor of the Senate.”

On the members of the screening panel, he said that “those that will screen the military chiefs are purely at the discretion of the Senate President.”

He said that there is no controversy over the screening of the Service chiefs, pointing out that the Senate will not shy away from performing its duties.

President Buhari, who left for the US yesterday, will be staying at the Blair House in Washington D.C during his four-day visit, the presidency said last night. He will be the first Nigerian president ever to stay in an apartment which is the U.S. President’s Official Guest House.

An invitation by a sitting U.S. President to stay in this historic guest house is regarded in America as a honor of highest significance. When visiting leaders stay here, the flags of their nations fly proudly hoisted  over Blair House, a courtesy that serves as both a gracious welcome and a symbol of the home’s crucial role in diplomatic relations. Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the President on Media & Publicity, Shehu Garba shared the photo of him and another Nigerian standing in front of the historic building.

Nactional Deputy President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Mr. Isa Aremu has hailed President Muhammadu Buhari for rejecting N400 million new official cars.

The unionist said the nation needed comprehensive systemic waste reduction programme beyond the exemplary gestures of the President.

Aremu, who doubles as the secretary, National Union of Textile Garment & Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN), spoke with reporters yesterday in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.

He hailed the Nigerian workers for their sacrifices during the Ramadan, adding that “Ramadan is about sacrifice”.

“However, for many workers, it was sacrifice before Ramadan and continuation of deprivations after Ramadan. This is unacceptable. Debtor-governor-employers should pay up or face the wrath of workers everywhere. President Buhari should ensure bailed-out state governors sign performance/service delivery bonds with firm commitment to use the money for what it is: pay workers’ salaries.

“Incessant delay and non-payment of salaries have deepened the worsening poverty in Nigeria. The working poor have been turned to working beggars. Nigeria cannot guarantee productivity and prosperity with this level of deprivation and poverty of workers.

“Nigeria government at all levels should immediately initiate emergency and sustainable policies to reduce the current worsening poverty, failing which mass poverty can lead to mass uprising capable of undermining Nigeria’s nascent democracy. Unpaid workers are hungry workers.

“Hungry workers are angry workers. With already frustrated millions of the unemployed, and insurgency fuelled by suicidal desperately poor, Nigeria risks mass national revolt of the poor, if nothing is done to urgently alleviate the worsening misery of the majority in the face of the opulence of the ruling class.”

He also hailed Buhari for timely working its plans to revive textile and garment industry by immediately directing the inauguration of a special committee to look into the revival of cotton and textile industry.

President Muhammadu Buhari needs prayers to conquer insurgency, a former House of Representatives member, Opeyemi Bamidele, has said.
In his Eid-el-Fitr message, the ex-Chairman, House Committee on Legislative Budget and Research, praised the Muslims for their condemnation of the insurgents and their sacrifices during the 30 days of fasting and prayers.
Bamidele praised the resolve of all sections of the country to work with Buhari’s government.
He said Muslims had made sacrifices for sustained unity and peaceful co-existence of the nation, saying it was wrong and callous for some faceless groups to be hiding under Islam to wreak havoc on the nation and its innocent citizens.
“Islamic clerics and members in some of their sermons have shown their disdain and resentments for Boko Haram. They have shown that insurgents are mere vampires fighting for selfish interests and not the interest of Islam.
“With their sacrifices and prayers during Ramadan, I share the belief that Boko Haram’s days are numbered in Nigeria.
“I plead with Muslims to continue to sustain their prayers as they did during Ramadan for President Buhari. Nigeria needs prayers at the moment to be able to check this group.”

A Southern group, The Southern Nigeria Peoples Mandate (SNPM), has urged residents of the region, especially those in the Southeast, to stop condemning President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

The group’s President Augustine Chukwudum told our reporter yesterday in Calabar, the state capital, that it was not justifiable that former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governments squandered the nation’s resources in the past 16 years and put the heat on the Buhari administration, less than two months in office.

The group consists of Concerned Southsouth Movement, Southwest Business League, Southeast Peoples Agenda and Ndigbo Unity Forum.

Chukwudum said: “This government has been in office for less than two months and every Nigerian, who has conscience and is honest, would notice that there is a difference between this government and the past leadership of the PDP, which squandered our resources for 16 years without achieving anything for this country.

“President Buhari’s government has brought sanity, as everyone can see. Now, we want Nigerians to appreciate the good things that would come out of this government, not by continuing to do tribal politics. Our advice is going to the people of Southsouth and Southeast, the Ndigbo in particular. They should stop attacking this government. They should give all the support the government needs so that from there, they can contribute their quota to the development of this country. The country belongs to all of us.”

On the crisis in the National Assembly, he said: “We want to remind the leadership of the National Assembly, led by Senator Bukola Saraki and House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara, that they should respect the decision of their party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), which made them to become members in the first place. They do not have any right to go against the will of the party. We want to condemn them and let them know that without APC, they would not be in the National Assembly.

“So, we are calling on them to obey party supremacy. We want to commend Senator Bola Tinubu, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu and President Muhammadu Buhari for the mature way they have been handling the issues. We call on Saraki and Dogara to resign with immediate effect since the party does not want them.”

The spokesman urged the government to expedite action on the country’s refineries and stop fuel subsidy.

Chukwudum said: “The government should expedite action on refineries and fuel subsidy. If $2 billion can give us a refinery that can refine 200,000 barrels of crude oil, then there is no need importing fuel into this country and selling it at N110 per litre. Kerosene, at N130, is too expensive for the ordinary man to buy. We are appealing to the President to stop this subsidy, because nothing is subsidised for us. We want to appeal that within 12 months, fuel importation should end. Let our refineries be revived.”