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Tag: Ekweremadu

  • ‘National Assembly’ll save nation’s democracy’

    ‘National Assembly’ll save nation’s democracy’

    The National Assembly will not allow Nigeria’s democracy to be truncated by impunity, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu has said.

    Ekweremadu said impunity was the No. 1 enemy of the country’s democracy.

    The deputy Senate president traced the failure of previous governments to high-level impunity, power abuse and manipulation of the electoral processes.

    He said the quest to secure Nigeria’s democracy beyond 2015 was a collective struggle stakeholders must fight to secure.

    Ekweremadu spoke in Abuja at the 11th Daily Trust Annual Dialogue.

    According to him, the National Assembly would ensure that the country’s electoral law is reviewed before the 2015 elections.

    Ekweremadu said the electoral system should be strengthened, with incumbency interferences and impunity curbed.

    He said: “I want to assure you that the National Assembly will not stand and watch a few self-serving fellows truncate the nation’s democracy. We will strengthen our electoral system and curb incumbency interferences and impunity.

    “The Nigerian political system is highly skewed in favour of incumbent executives – in particular – most of who exploit it to the detriment of our democracy.

    “I have taken time to point out all these to re-awaken our consciousness to the fact that the quest to secure our democracy beyond 2015 is indeed a collective struggle. It is a struggle no one political party, arm or levels of government, institutions of democracy and any stakeholders should see others as the devil and itself a saint.

    “It is a struggle that calls for soul-searching and the commitment of all. But the political elite, in particular, must discipline their ambitions and place national interest above personal and sectional interest…”

  • Electoral system will be strengthened before 2015 – Ekweremadu

    The Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, said the National Assembly will strengthen Nigeria’s electoral laws before the 2015 general elections to remove all forms of impunity in the electoral system.

    This information is contained in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media, Mr. Uche Anichukwu, in Abuja on Thursday.

    Ekweremadu gave the assurance in a keynote address at the 11th Daily Trust Dialogue with the theme: “Incumbency and Impunity in Politics: Safeguarding Our Democracy Beyond 2015.”

    He expressed regrets that political impunity remained the number one enemy of the country’s democracy.

    He said the political elites were expected to provide exemplary leadership that epitomised respect for the rule of law and electoral sanctity at all times.

    According to him, politicians are Nigerians and events in the nation’s politics reflect the character of the country’s body polity.

    “If politicians are able to manipulate the electoral processes with their power of incumbency, this is because the entire socio-economic and political configurations of the country are conducive for such level of political corruption.

    “The quest to secure our democracy beyond 2015 is indeed a collective struggle,” the News Agency of Nigeria quoted Ekweremadu as saying at the forum.

    He cautioned politicians bent on destroying the nation’s democracy, in the pursuit of their political ambitions, to be reminded that “whenever the house falls, the roof falls with it.”

     

  • Ekweremadu’s dangerous naivety

    Ekweremadu’s dangerous naivety

    Because of the urgency required to address Senator Ike Ekweremadu’s stinging heresy, I am postponing till next week my comment on the passing of the great icon, Nelson Mandela. Senator Ekweremadu is deputy president of the Senate and chairman of the Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution. By virtue of his three positions as a senator, deputy president of the Senate and chairman of the constitution review committee, the 51-year-old lawyer and three-time senator occupies a pivotal position in the National Assembly. He is not only an influential Southeast politician, it is safe to conclude that when he talks and acts, he does so with a fair degree of responsibility and deliberateness. This is why I am reluctant to let his discourse on single term and 2015 elections go unchallenged for more than a few days. To ignore his alarming views for more than a week would be unacceptable, if not unpardonable.

    Distilled into its essential elements, Senator Ekweremadu’s discourse falls under two main headlines judging from an interview redacted by The Punch newspaper – his proposition for a single tenure of either five or six or even seven years for the executive; and his preparedness, enthusiasm even, to countenance postponement of the 2015 elections by two years both as a sop to restless executive power mongers and as a fail-safe measure to take the sting out of the succession battles certain to accompany the next polls. Drawing inspiration from other jurisdictions, as he put it, the senator advocates amendment of the constitution to accommodate the changes he believes would stand the country in good stead, even if the constitution had to be amended again to what it was before the first amendment.

    Senator Ekweremadu simplistically explains the electoral nightmare he thinks the country is certain to encounter in the next polls. Says he: “I believe that the way it could work is, now, people have been elected for four years; let everybody complete the four years tenure for which he or she is elected. And then, through the doctrine of necessity, or a sort of jurisprudential approach, do some kind of transition of two years. In which case, the present occupiers like the President and state governors, who are completing their tenures, maybe, will now do another two years that would end in 2017. You can see that those who are fighting the President, their complaint is that, if the President gets his second term when they are gone, he would start to chase them. So, if we all agree that that is a way to solve the problem, after two years, both the President and other governors will now exit, I believe that the fear would not be there and there would not be much pressure on the polity.”

    If his approach is adopted, suggested the senator, it would be a win-win situation. He did not explain how a hideous attack on the constitution could accord to sensible politics, or how refusal to confront our demons would amount to a win-win. As a lawyer, he talks glibly of jurisprudential approach. But how does yielding to the greed of politicians for power strengthen both the law and constitution? If the power mongers are accommodated today, would there be no other reasons on some hypothetical tomorrow to yield some more in order to sate the pleasures of unconscionable politicians? Senator Ekweremadu holds a disturbingly capricious view of the constitution, and is not averse to having the great document turned hither and thither simply to accommodate the undisciplined politicking of Nigerian leaders. But he gives no guarantees that the experimentation would stop at a determined point. Nor can he.

    It should occur to any lawyer of modest talent, let alone one who has a masters in law and has been thrice elected into the Senate, that law and order in Nigeria is undone not by copious strictures, legal or administrative, but by an undisciplined refusal to advance the cause of justice. As a lawyer, he should understand that. But he seems to have resigned himself, perhaps unconsciously, to the Nigerian president’s inimitable power to whimsically turn the instruments of state against opponents. It is a fact that they do so, as amply demonstrated by Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan. But rather than campaign to turn the Senate into a bulwark for the defence of our freedoms, Senator Ekweremadu advocates creative bastardisation of the law to excuse national indiscipline and lack of will. The senator assumes quite cavalierly that the governors are fighting the president because many of them will be out of office in 2015 and fear they could become victims of politically motivated witch-hunting. His solution, therefore, is to reward their fears rather than dispel them, while at the same time taking the unpleasantness out of the president’s desire for more time in office by adding two unconstitutional and unsolicited years to the warring executives.

    But even this dubious solution is not half as repulsive as his argument that the two years bonus would serve as a breathing space for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and free the electoral body from the pains of organising a cumbersome election into all elective offices at once. Indeed, this stupendous suggestion comes barely three weeks after INEC proved conclusively in the Anambra governorship poll that its problem is not time or magnitude of work, but simply one of competence and staff collusion. Until INEC finds a creative way to run elections, checkmate the tendency of its staff to collude with vested interests, and structure polling in such a way as to enhance transparency which even the law enforcement agencies would not be able to corrupt, elections would continue to fail disastrously.

    In all, Senator Ekweremadu’s suggestions are obviously self-serving. They involve undermining the constitution and rewarding or pacifying the president. Though he tried to spread a veneer of patriotism on his suggestions, the hidden objective is clear. As everyone knows, the president has hungered for either an extended tenure or a second term. Barely a few months after he won election in 2011, Dr Jonathan curiously began a campaign for single-term tenure of seven years without bothering to convince us of the arithmetic benefit of gaining an additional three years in office without the restraining influence of re-election. All he said at the time was that re-election was divisive and costly, but gave no corresponding consideration of the unbearable cost of three additional years in the hands of an incompetent president. Senator Ekweremadu has merely modified the argument by predicating the avoidance of re-election or second term on the disruptive political battles between fearful governors and an imperious and petulant president.

    Senator Ekweremadu has couched his suggestions in altruistic and independent terms. No one is fooled. Not only are the grounds of his argument specious and absolutely unconvincing, they are equally naïve, mischievous and dangerous. The arguments are escapist, for they make the country avoid confronting and solving its problems. More disturbingly, as the Jonathan presidency finds the opposition to his re-election tightening, he and his sounding boards in the states and the national legislature are more likely to embark on subterfuges, many of them so brazen as to be downright annoying, cynical and puerile.

    The Senate, it is clear, and as this column has asserted repeatedly, has become reactionary and imprudently pro-Jonathan. It no longer has a soul it can call its own, and it has become so morally enfeebled by its lack of conviction and strength of character that its leaders poll-parrot the ultra-conservative and anti-people views of the president. The legislature is supposed to be a distinct arm of government, serving as a check on the executive; instead, the Nigerian Senate has become indistinguishable from the presidency and has offered accommodation and camaraderie to the government rather than the restraint and moderation the constitution and even common sense should inspire in them. The senate president, David Mark, a few months ago spoke and behaved disingenuously over the national conference issue, quibbling and genuflecting; now his deputy, Senator Ekweremadu, is engaged in similar conniptions designed to scare us into granting Dr Jonathan and his man Fridays political waivers alien to the constitution.

    Let the inventive Senate keep its troubled peace, and let Dr Jonathan quietly prepare for his party’s primaries. If he wins, as his party’s glowing habit of oppressing the weak makes us to expect, let him boldly stand for election in 2015, losing the poll as our innermost yearnings lead us to hope, for his government has in the past five years led the country to such lows of despair that no literary fecundity can conceivably make worse, not even with the grandest prose.

  • Ekweremadu and the grasshopper mentality

    Ekweremadu and the grasshopper mentality

    Judging from the torrent of criticism that greeted it, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu’s tenure elongation proposal is dead on arrival.

    With the two leading parties – Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC) almost at par in the gubernatorial count, this single tenure dodge could only have assisted the ruling party to hang on to the presidency for another two years, and buy it time to regain the initiative.

    In an increasingly volatile and unpredictable polity we should expect more of such desperate political gambits in the run-up to the 2015 general elections. But it is a shame because it shows the mentality of Nigerian politicians hardly changes.

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his henchmen embarked on a well-orchestrated nationwide campaign to amend the 1999 constitution and insert provisions for a third term when he had barely a year to go in his second term.

    Instead of allowing the system to work, this power-hungry bunch engineered a fake crisis that had the nation on tenterhooks while it lasted. But the moment the proposal collapsed in the Senate, the contrived crisis became like a lanced boil and peace descended on the land.

    It is hard not to see similarities here. Barely one and a half years to the next general elections we’re not only talking of a national conference of dubious value, we are even thinking of throwing the incendiary of tenure elongation gimmick into the mix.

    Back in 2007, it was another Deputy Senate President, Ibrahim Mantu, who was driving the process. Fast forward six years and under the guise of another so-called constitutional amendment process we are being offered a warmed-over Greek gift. Unfortunately the proponents of this sorry idea didn’t even take the trouble to pour paint on it: that’s why we can see it for what it is.

    Last time, a third term was necessary because Obasanjo was the only one who could ‘hold Nigeria together.’ Today, Ekweremadu would have us believe that crises raging in the polity are all down to “the issue of succession.”

    In his estimation a single tenure of six years would be the magic bullet that would sate people’s desire for power and restrain them from heating up the polity in the quest for a second bite of the cherry.

    In reality, there would always be succession crises whether we have a single term or two-term options. The rosy picture painted by the likes of Ekweremadu to sell their scheme is misleading. People might not be fighting themselves trying to taking advantage of the second term the constitution presently allows, but there would be equally fierce battles as incumbents attempt to install their stooges or those who would protect their interests after their one and only term.

    In this environment people’s appetite for power and influence is insatiable because public office is the only game in town. One year in an elective office can alter a man’s financial profile for life. Beyond that, the key thing is to remain relevant and retain access to the powers-that-be at every point in time. That is why transitions would always be tense in Nigeria

    Even more laughable is the suggestion that tenure elongation should be executed because it would give comfort to governors engaged in a free-for-all with President Goodluck Jonathan. Some of them are said to be afraid that a second term for the incumbent would afford him the chance to wreak vengeance on them.

    Never has there been a lower reason for amending a country’s constitution. We are descending to the level of legislating to address the peculiar problems of individuals.

    To compound matters the senator suggests that the changes can be forced through the National Assembly using the so-called ‘Doctrine of Necessity.’ This legal contrivance was swallowed by Nigerians because of the unique circumstances of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua’s disappearance from the country in search of medical treatment. But for the political affliction that Ekweremadu wants to treat, this doctrine is so unnecessary.

    What it all comes down to is our national pastime of seeking shortcuts. We are a nation of grasshoppers – always quick to jump upon the latest bandwagon without truly testing the old. We keep moving the goal post around right in the middle of the game.

    The trouble with our politics is not so much the constitution as its operators. The 1999 document is barely 14 years old and we have dissected it more times than a teenager playing with a rat in a biology laboratory.

    There are no perfect constitutions. Indeed, there are countries like the United Kingdom where there’s no written constitution. These things are to be tested and this can only be done over time – by subjecting them to legal processes. It is not the document on its own that shapes a country, it is what people do with the document they’ve been handed.

    The present politicians in power delude themselves that they have superior solutions to Nigeria’s problems. But people forget that what we now operate as a constitution didn’t drop from the sky.

    It is the result of long and costly deliberations beginning with the constitution drafting committee of the late Chief FRA Williams,’ Justice Udo Udoma’s Constituent Assembly right down to the General Sani Abacha’s national political conference. What emerged from those processes was further tinkered with after much thought by those in power in 1999.

    In a country with more patient people the 1999 Nigerian constitution would probably work like a charm. Rather than fooling ourselves into believing that tenure manipulation would cause peace to break out in our politics, we should first determine what the problem is and what we want.

    Are we tampering with the constitution because our politics and electioneering generate heat? If that is the case then we are confused. You cannot separate conflict from political contests because they involve multiple parties and ideas.

    Two months ago the United States government was shut down because of the political conflict in Washington D. C. No one suggested a constitutional amendment, rather everyone knuckled down to work out compromises that moved the country forward.

    A constitution is not a plaything. Let’s give ourselves time to master what we have.

  • Enugu 2015: Chime, Ekweremadu’s battle gets messier

    Enugu 2015: Chime, Ekweremadu’s battle gets messier

    The battle between Governor Sullivan Chime and Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, over the governorship seat of Enugu State in 2015 is getting out of hand, reports Associate Editor, Sam Egburonu

    Before May 29, 2013, the disagreement between Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State and Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, over the ticket of the People’s Democratic Party ( PDP) for the next governorship election, was a well managed secret.

    But on that day, in a town hall meeting held at Nike Lake Resort Hotel, Enugu, to mark this year’s Democracy Day, Chime let the cat out of the bag when he announced publicly that the people of Nsukka Zone would produce the next governor of the state in 2015. The zone, according to available records has seven out of the 17 local government areas in Enugu State. They are Igbo-Etiti, Igboeze North, Igboeze South, Nsukka, Isi-uzo, Udenu and Uzo-Uwani.

    The governor had told the town hall meeting that the issue of zoning had remained an internal arrangement in PDP, and that for 2015, the party has zoned the governorship position to Nsukka zone, adding, “It is already being discussed at the caucus level of the party in the state…we work towards it, the issue of who becomes governor is in the hands of our people…There is an understanding that it goes to Nsukka…It is a PDP affair, all things being equal, our candidate will come from there, and whoever emerges the PDP candidate will be governor.”

    Coming shortly after the well-publicised appearance of governorship posters of Ekweremadu in Nsukka zone and in Enugu capital city, observers said it was Chime’s blunt way of saying he would not allow Ekweremadu to succeed him as governor. Although Ekweremadu, before and after the appearance of the said posters, had repeatedly denied having the ambition of contesting the governorship seat in 2015, insiders insist he is working hard to realise the long held ambition and that Chime would not hear of it.

    So, since Chime’s declaration at the town hall meeting, the disagreement between him and Ekweremadu over the governorship ticket has become a public issue. Both Chime and Ekweremadu hail from Enugu West Senatorial Zone, and so if Chime would make good his promise to Enugu North, it means the alleged governorship ambition of Ekweremadu in 2015 would be truncated.

    As close associates

    At the return of democracy in 1999, Ekweremadu and Chime found themselves in a common political family, called Ebeano, which was headed by the then governor of Enugu State, Dr Chimaroke Nnamani. The two were, according to members, very close confidants of the governor and so became political associates themselves. While Chime began as Personal Adviser to Nnamani on Legal Matters and later became the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General of the State, Ekweremadu served as the Chief of Staff to the governor and was later appointed the Secretary of the State Government (SSG).

    While the Ebeano political empire reigned, Chime and Ekweremadu worked harmoniously well. But in 2006, when it was time to anoint Nnamani’s successor, the first crack was noticed as Nnamani left the deputy governor, Ezenwata Okechukwu Itanyi and Ekweremadu, who some Ebeano members said were better positioned and more politically experienced and settled for Chime.

    As Nnamani personally led the gubernatorial campaign train, and Chime’s declaration as winner of that election, there were reports that both Itanyi, Ekweremadu and some other better positioned people within Ebeano felt betrayed.

    In the case of Ekweremadu, Nnamani had in 2003, drafted him to the Senate to replace Senator Collins Ndu, whose crime was his loyalty to Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, then PDP National Secretary.

    So, the choice of Chime did not bring permanent crack in his relationship with Ekweremadu as the later soon became the Deputy President of the Senate.

    The two, therefore, continued to work together as associates.

    This claim may be sustained by the fact that they have fought many political battles together since then.

    In 2010 for example, at the build up for the 2011 elections, when Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo emerged the National Chairman of PDP and dissolved the party’s state executive then led by Vita Abba, Ekweremadu and Chime joined forces to battle Nwodo. At the end of the encounter, Nwodo lost his plum seat at Wadata Plaza, while Chime and Ekweremadu returned to their seats at Enugu Government House and the Senate respectively.

    It would be recalled also that the two allegedly turned their back on the Ebeano political family after the exit of Nnamani and were accused of overseeing the demise of the political empire.

    “Although they benefitted more than any of us from Ebeano, together they destroyed the political structure just because of greed and ambition of establishing separate and personal power base. We know them to be associates in this respect, said a member of Ebeano family, who begged not to be named

    Genesis of the awry relationship

    Our investigation confirms that the Chime and Ekweremadu’s face off over the PDP ticket for the 2015 governorship election can be traced to a comment allegedly made by Chime in a crucial stakeholders’ meeting in Enugu sometime in May, 2013. Our source confirmed that Chime had told the meeting that federal lawmakers from the state, who have served at least two terms should not be encouraged to go back but that they ought to give others chance to go and focus their attentions on new areas.

    Given that only about three out of about 11 federal lawmakers at the said meeting would qualify if Chime’s theory was to be implemented, it led to hot exchange of words, as some lawmakers openly told the governor not to attempt lording it over any of them.

    One lawmaker particularly accused Chime at the meeting of targeting Ekweremadu, who he alleged, the governor was plotting to replace with his younger bother.

    The meeting ended in a very bad mood but insiders said Chime has not regretted making the statement as he actually believes some lawmakers have overstayed and must be replaced.

    Since that meeting, the Enugu State political theatre had become more intriguing and it seems the governor is out to put down his foot. For example, during the primaries for the November 2, 2013 local government election in the state, Ekweremadu’s camp and that of other Abuja politicians from Enugu alleged that the governor shut them out of any arrangements. The result of the election suggest that most of them no longer have strong political base.

    Another incident that confirmed that Chime and Ekweremadu had since parted ways and that what is left is he actual political contest was what transpired during the last South-East Zonal Executive Committee’s meeting of PDP. In that meeting, Chime was not present but the State delegates, according to an insider, were properly briefed by the governor to oppose the existing zoning formula, which will ensure the return of Olisa Metu as the National Publicity Secretary of PDP. Given that Ekweremadu was known to be in support of the return of Metu, he was said to have been embarrassed by the position of his state delegation. Although Enugu delegates’ position was defeated at the meeting, as Metu returned, the encounter confirmed that the political battle between these two allies had just began.

    The game is up!

    Today, the battle for the PDP’s governorship ticket in Enugu State seems to have been narrowed to the face-off between Chime and Ekweremadu. Nobody is pretending about it anymore. Although Ekweremadu is yet to officially declare interest in the governorship position in 2015, his disagreement with Chime’s alleged zoning arrangement as been clearly articulated.

    What is more, the battle ground has been expanded as sources said that Chime is not only bent on handing over to somebody from Enugu North but is now interested in replacing Ekweremadu as the senator representing Enugu South.

    These new resolves have necessitated a lot of moves, consultations and restrategising from the two camps. While Ekweremadu has been inaugurating many projects and making wide consultations within and outside the senatorial zone, Chime has not been sleeping.

    A recent advertorial, published on Sunday, December 1, 2013, and signed by Bethel Onyenyiri, a Special Adviser to Ekweremadu, said, “I have it on good authority that the governor (Sullivan Chime) held a clandestine meeting with some government functionaries in the state to not only initiate a campaign to discredit the Deputy President of the Senate (Ike Ekweremadu), but also to sabotage and possibly destroy the numerous projects attracted by the Deputy President of the Senate.

    “We do not care about their pull-him-down campaign, for while you may fool the blind that there is no palm oil in the soup, you cannot fool him/ her as to whether or not there is salt in the soup.”

    Reacting to the allegation, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Chime,

    Mr. Chukwudi Achife, told The Nation on Friday that there was no face off between Chime and Ekweremadu. He however described the allegation that Chime was planning to destroy federal government projects in the state as laughable.

    Asked if it was true that Chime has ordered the destruction of some federal projects in Enugu State, he said: “The allegation as contained in an advertorial published by Bethel Onyeyiri, Special Adviser on Projects to Ekweremadu is that the governor is planning to sabotage or destroy projects attracted by the Deputy Senate President and not that he has ordered it. We have said and I repeat that the allegation is fallacious and baseless as it is puerile and laughable. We have challenged them to mention the projects and show how a state government can destroy a federal project.”

    He added: “There is no face-off between Governor Chime and Ekweremadu but we understand that some people are desperately trying to provoke one in pursuit of political ambitions. Enugu has been an epitome of peace since the advent of the Chime administration and it is not about to change no matter the antics of some people. We refuse to be dragged into any mindless and unnecessary war.”

  • Ekweremadu, Tinubu preach selfless service

    Ekweremadu, Tinubu preach selfless service

    Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu has urged Muslims to emulate the virtues of total obedience and selfless service demonstrated by Prophet Ibrahim.

    In his Sallah message, Ekweremadu said Nigeria’s major challenge was not lack of virtuous religious injunctions, state laws and regulations, but willful disobedience and poor attitude to the rule of law.

    He said: “Eid-el-Kabir, which is the celebration of sacrifice and obedience, is an opportunity to reflect on our attitude to religious injunctions, such as obedience, service, peace, selflessness, love and unity, as well as our attitude to the rule of law.

    “No nation makes the desired progress unless citizens live by the laws and regulations set for the orderly conduct and progress of the society, irrespective of their social status.

    “The apparent preoccupation with the politics of 2015 at the expense of service is a sad commentary on our democracy and an apparent disregard for the teachings of our religious faiths, which stipulate that power comes from God alone.”

    Ekweremadu urged Muslims to pray for peaceful elections in 2015.

    The Vice-Chairman of the Senate Committee on Labour, Employment and Productivity, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, said the festival offers a special opportunity to thank God and renew ones faith in God.

    The senator, who represents Lagos Central District, urged Muslims to continue to pray for the country.

    She said: “I felicitate with Muslims as we celebrate this year’s eid. The celebration offers a special opportunity to offer special thanks to God, build our spiritual lives and pray for ourselves, others and the nation.

    “It is a time to renew our faith in the Almighty and ponder on the significance of commitment and personal sacrifice towards ensuring peaceful co-existence. This will bring about positive changes in our collective circumstances.

    “Indeed, in the face of some tragedies and other challenges that have confronted our nation in recent times, we should count ourselves lucky as we pray for the strength to carry on.

    “Today, Nigeria totters, due to uncertainties and palpable anxieties that assail the lives of many, such as poverty, insurgency, kidnapping, accidents on the roads and in the air, deteriorating infrastructure, poor health care delivery, insensitive leadership and other problems, which hold back national development.

    “Our children in the universities have been at home for months without any effective effort to resolve lecturers’ strike. In almost every sector, there are various indices of gross backwardness and underdevelopment.

    “This is a period to not only celebrate, but to reflect soberly on how we can promote peaceful co-existence and a sense of empathy, especially for our fellow citizens, who are displaced and have become victims of needless suffering and deprivation across Nigeria.

    “We have to pray steadfastly for Nigeria’s situation to be reversed for good. At this period, we should renew our faith in the possibility of changing our dear country.”

     

  • Mark, Ekweremadu, others survive PDP crisis

    Mark, Ekweremadu, others survive PDP crisis

    Ahead of today’s resumption from recess, Senate President David Mark and his deputy Ike Ekweremadu and most of the principal officers would remain in office in spite of the factionalisation of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    About 45 out of the 55 PDP Senators last night resolved not to tamper with the leadership.

    Ten others could not make it to the meeting from their vacation bases abroad because of the emergency nature of the session.

    Investigation by our correspondent revealed that a meeting of the PDP Caucus was convened following cracks in the ruling party which also control the majority.

    It was learnt that most PDP Senators were recalled from vacation abroad to close ranks following fears that the ruling party might become the minority in the National Assembly as a result of the emergence of a New PDP led by Alhaji Kawu Baraje.

    There were concerns that with 22 Senators in the New PDP joining forces with the opposition, the principal officers of the Senate, including Mark, might be asked to step aside for a new leadership.

    Although the presidency and the Senate leadership had initially underrated the threats from the New PDP, it was gathered that Mark and his team decided to launch a counter-plot by keeping the PDP Caucus united.

    The two-hour meeting was alleged to be a response to curtail rebellion from the New PDP in the Senate.

    A top source said: “It was a pre-emptive meeting. It got to a stage that they had to recall members of the PDP caucus in the Senate from vacation abroad.

    “They are working on a permutation of a simple majority in the Senate to retain the leaders.  Though Mark has not been part of the crisis, he is seen as the sustaining power of President Goodluck Jonathan in the National assembly.

    “With a radical House of Representatives, the presidency and Mark decided to consolidate in the Senate.

    The Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, who read the resolution of the caucus last night, said: “The Senate will remain united and alive to its responsibility of stabilizing the polity.

    “That the PDP is the biggest party in Nigeria; its problems would have consequences on the polity.

    “That the Senate must remain available to stabilize the nation as it has always done. The Senate is not a Senate of parties but the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    “Other parties have had their problems in the past but such problems have never been imported into the Senate.

    “That the leadership has our support and we will continue to provide the required support to navigate the situation till it becomes normal.

    “The Senate has a historical place in time of crisis in our nation and it will continue to perform this role because the Senate is conscious of the need for the nation to remain stable and united.”

     

  • Emergency rule succeeding – Ekweremadu

    Emergency rule succeeding – Ekweremadu

    The ongoing state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States has so far been a success story, the Speaker ECOWAS Parliament, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has said.

    Ekweremadu stated while commending the Federal Government on the successful war against terrorism and insurgence in the country and other West African nations.

    A statement issued by his media Adviser, Uche Anicgukwu, said that Ekweremadu spoke at the opening of the 2013 Second Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament in Abuja on Monday.

    It quoted Ekweremadu as saying that “the success of the subsisting state of emergency in some parts of the country has left no one in doubt that Nigeria does not have space or any iota of tolerance for terrorism and insurgency.

    “It has demonstrated that Nigeria has the might and firepower to sack the merchants of terror as well as the profound compassion to forgive those who truly repent and turn away from willful destruction of lives and property.”

    Ekweremadu, who is also the Deputy Senate President of the Senate added that Nigeria’s progress in the war against terrorism was particularly important to the sub-region given the country “strategic position as a key player in the integration project and indeed a pivot of political, social, and economic development in the sub-region.”

     

     

  • Ekweremadu seeks more powers for ECOWAS Parliament

    The Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS Parliament has made case for the enhancement of its powers to enable it to serve the sub-region better.

    It said that the enhancement of its powers was in line with global best practices, which had seen regional parliaments around the world transformed into full legislative bodies.

    The Speaker of the Parliament, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, is credited to have made the call in Abidjan, Republic of Cote d’Ivoire, at the opening of the meeting of ECOWAS Attorneys-General and Ministers of Justice which is considering the Draft Supplementary Act on the Enhancement of the Powers of the ECOWAS Parliament.

    This is contained in a statement by Special Adviser (Media) to Ekweremadu, Uche Anichukwu released in Abuja.

    Ekweremadu was quoted to have said that “the enhancement of the powers the Community Parliament is certainly not aimed at competing with the national parliaments of member States or sister organizations and organs within the ECOWAS family, but simply the powers to enable the parliament to serve the Community better, deeper, and more meaningfully.”

    Senator Ekwremadu who also doubles as the Deputy President of the Nigerian Senate was said to have listed the specific powers sought by the Community Parliament as powers to co-legislate with Council of Minister on all matters relating to ECOWAS Economic and Monetary Integration policies, exercise budgetary functions jointly with the Council of Ministers, and consider Supplementary Acts before their adoption by the Authority of the ECOWAS Community.

    Others are powers of Mandatory Assent in specified areas such as the confirmation of statutory appointees, Mandatory Referral in specified areas, parliamentary oversight functions over the activities of the organs of the Community and powers to consider any matter concerning the Community, especially on particular issues relating to human rights and fundamental freedoms.

    While also admitting the wider financial, administrative, political, and legal implications of the enhancement of the powers of the Community Parliament on the sub-region, Ekweremadu emphasized that the “the gains are worth the challenges and the sacrifices”.

    The Meeting, the statement added, which will consider the legal sufficiency of the Draft Supplementary Act on the Enhancement of the Powers of the ECOWAS Parliament in line with the Accra Roadmap for the purpose is being chaired by the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire, Mr. Gnenena Nanadou Coulibaly with the Vice President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Toga McIntosh, and the President of the ECOWAS Court of Justice, Hon. Justice Nana Awa Daboya also in attendance.

  • Malian election, a boost for democracy, says Ekweremadu

    Malian election, a boost for democracy, says Ekweremadu

    The Speaker of the Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States, (ECOWAS), Senator Ike Ekweremadu, yesterday commended ECOWAS and the people of Mali for the success recorded so far in the Malian presidential election.

    Ekweremadu described the election as “free, fair, and credible.”

    He noted that the peaceful conduct of the poll was a boost for democracy and peace in Mali and the entire West Africa.

    The Speaker said: “The peaceful election in Mali justifies the huge human and material sacrifices made by ECOWAS and friends of the sub-region to ensure that peace and democracy are secured in the country.

    “It is a clear testimony to the capacity of ECOWAS to resolve internal crises, defend and consolidate democracy in West Africa.

    “ECOWAS Parliament is particularly proud of the government and people of Mali for the record turnout of voters and their peaceful and orderly conduct during the poll.”

    He however warned against complacency as Mali prepares for the August 11 run-off between the two leading candidates, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and SoumailaCisse.

    “Though the job is already half done, it is not over yet as all stakeholders must work together relentlessly to ensure a peaceful, free, fair, and credible conclusion of the presidential election,” he stressed.

    It could be recalled that a clear winner could not emerge in the July 28 presidential election, the first since the 2012 military coup.

    Keita, a former Prime Minister and Speaker of the West African nation, garnered about 39.2 per cent of the 3.1 million votes to lead the other 27 candidates but fell short of the majority vote required to emerge as President.

    He faces former Finance Minister, Cisse, who polled 19.4 of the votes, in a run-off.