Tag: Jonathan

President-elect Muhammadu Buhari will receive the hand-over note from the outgoing government on May 28, a day before his inauguration, the Federal Government said yesterday.

He will be hosted to a dinner in what will be President Goodluck Jonathan’s last official engagement on May 28 and be given the notes, Minister of Information Patricia Akwashiki said.

She briefed reporters after the meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) presided over by President Jonathan.

According to her, May 29 has been reserved for the incoming government.

Other activities have been lined up “to showcase what Jonathan’s administration has achieved”.

She said the President has also directed all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to submit their transitional briefs to the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) on Monday.

The MDAs have also been directed to submit latest by May 13, anything requiring President Jonathan’s approval.

The FEC will hold its valedictory session on May 20.

“Also, you know May 29 is our Democracy Day.  So we have activities lined up all through that week, showcasing all what we have achieved and all other things we do normally on our Democracy Day, except that this year is special with the inauguration of our new President on May 29,” Mrs. Akwashiki said

According to her, a format has been developed for all the MDAs to follow in preparing the notes.

She said: “So we are going to be very busy this weekend, putting our handing over notes together. The President also emphasised that he would require another little briefing from all MDAs to indicate inherited projects, how far it has been executed and initiated projects by his administration and the level of completion, whether completed, ongoing or abandoned.

“If they do that, it will be easier for the President to compile everything. The format is to ensure you submit everything before they are passed to the incoming government.

“We discussed other issues but we are particularly paying attention to the transition and how to make it effective. As you are all aware, we have transitional committee already set up by President, headed by the Vice President. Other than that, we have an inaugural committee that is headed by the SGF.

“So everything we are doing we are doing to achieve smooth transition, getting all our notes together.

“That is not to say that governance has stopped. Of course, we are in government until the day the president-elect takes oath of office.”

“There is no space vacuum, there are things happening. And if you have any pending contract approval, it has to be submitted before the 13th of May. Everything that requires the President’s approval should be submitted before May 13th.”

“We also do not want the incoming administration to accuse us of rushing projects, which is normal. So, we are guided by that. And if you have approvals, we are going to have Federal Executive Council every week. The last one that will be the valedictory one will be on May 20th.”

“So governance is not stopping, we are still working and in the event you have approvals it must be concluded before 13th,” Mrs. Akwashiki said.

THE build up to the looming face-off between President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Assembly over the former’s refusal to endorse the fourth alteration of the 1999 Constitution gathered momentum yesterday.

Senators were furious after Senate President David Mark read a letter containing Jonathan’s refusal of assent to the constitution alteration.

Already, the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on Constitution review has summoned emergency meeting to discuss the development.

The meeting was scheduled for yesterday and today.

Apart from the emergency meeting, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu-led committee will also hold a retreat.

Some of the senators angered by the president’s withholding of assent on the Bill are already up in arms, threatening to mobilise their colleagues to override the veto.

The senators, who felt that they did the right thing in the alteration of relevant Sections of the constitution, said that one option open to them was to mobilise members of the two chambers of the National Assembly and the required number of state Houses of Assembly to override the president.

One of the senators said there were salient alterations made in the constitution that were aimed at moving the country forward.

“The work we did painstakingly for months cannot just be thrown to the waste bin with a stroke of the pen. We know how to overcome this sweeping rejection of the work of 109 senators, 360 members of the House of Representatives and over 23 Houses of Assembly.

There was pin drop silence in the Senate chamber as Mark read the seven page memo entitled: “Re: Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Fourth Alteration) Act 2015.”

For effect, Mark took his time to read the lengthy document, ensuring that he placed emphasis where Jonathan stressed.

Immediately the Senate president was done with the memo, Senator Sadiq Yar’Adua (Katsina Central) raised a motion to urge his colleagues to set aside relevant Senate rules to enable them to discuss the presidential memo.

Yar’Adua said the president’s memo was so weighty that its discussion should not be delayed.

Mark, however, countered.

The Senate president, who agreed that Jonathan raised weighty issues in the memo, said first thing should be done first.

The first thing, he said, was to circulate the memo to senators to study it with the hope of enabling them make informed decisions on the issues raised by the President.

Mark also said the appropriate committee, in this case, the Senate Committee on Constitution Review, should consider the presidential memo.

He said the committee had already scheduled to meet. He then referred the memo to it.

It was learnt that aggrieved senators have started mounting pressure on Senate leadership to allow the chamber to override the President’s veto.

But the Presidency is insisting that any override of the veto could only become applicable if there is a legal threshold for the amendments to the constitution.

According to a source in the Senate, Ekweremadu and members of his committee from both chambers were shocked by the rejection of the amendments.

They said the 12 issues raised by the President were “legal technicalities”, which can be mutually addressed.

Some of the senators alleged that the “errors” spotted by the President might have been the handwork of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN).

They vowed to deal with Adoke by invoking the power to override the President’s Veto.

A top source said: “The mood in the Senate and the House of Representatives was shocking and glooming. Ekweremadu and his team were just unhappy that the amendments were thrown away by the President.

“Senators are threatening fire and brimstone to stop the President from vetoing the amendments. Some of them are pushing for the invocation of the power to override the President’s veto as enshrined in the constitution.

“The anger of the senators stemmed from the fact that time is no longer on the side of the National Assembly to meet the thresholds in Section 9(3) of the 1999 Constitution to make the Fourth Alteration Act 2015 legal.

“They are unhappy that all their efforts have been wasted. As it is now, only the 8th National Assembly can complete the process for the ongoing amendments to the constitution.

The source added:  “The Senate leadership is calling for calm to open up talks with the Presidency.”

Another source said: “We told the Ekweremadu’s Committee that there was no basis rushing to pass the amendments into law. We said they should be careful, but they did not follow due process.

“There must be legal basis for amendments to the constitution. If there was no compliance with due process, do you want the President to assent to it?”

The power of the National Assembly to override the President on any bill is contained in Section 58 (1-5) of the 1999 Constitution.

The section says: “The power of the National Assembly to make laws shall be exercised by bills passed by both the Senate and the House of Representatives and, except as otherwise provided by subsection (5) of this section, assented to by the President.

“A bill may originate in either the Senate or the House of Representatives and shall not become law unless it has been passed and, except as otherwise provided by this section and section 59 of this Constitution, assented to in accordance with the provisions of this section.

“Where a bill has been passed by the House in which it originated, it shall be sent to the other House, and it shall be presented to the President for assent when it has been passed by that other House and agreement has been reached between the two Houses on any amendment made on it.

“Where a bill is presented to the President for assent, he shall within 30 days thereof signify that he assents or that he withholds assent.

“Where the President withholds his assent and the bill is again passed by each House by two-thirds majority, the bill shall become law and the assent of the President shall not be required.”

But the position of the presidency, however, yesterday was that the veto had no personal undertone.

Jonathan had said he would not assent to the alterations because they did not satisfy the strict requirements of Section 9(3) of the 1999 Constitution.

In what appeared a last-minute face-off, President Goodluck Jonathan has rejected amendments to the 1999 Constitution by the National Assembly.

He said he would not assent to the amendments because they do not satisfy the strict requirements of Section 9(3) of the 1999 Constitution.

He queried the decision of the National Assembly to whittle down some Executive powers of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

He also faulted some amendments which will give Executive powers and duties to the Legislature and the Judiciary.

Jonathan made his position known in a seven-page letter to Senate President David Mark and House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal.

The return of the Constitution Amendment Bill jolted Senators and members of the House.

The President listed 12 errors in the amendments.

They are as follows:

•Non-compliance with the threshold specified in Section 9(3) of the 1999 Constitution on amendments;

•Alteration to constitution cannot be valid with mere voice votes unless supported by the votes of not less than four-fifths majority all members of National Assembly and two-thirds of all the 36 State Houses of Assembly;

•Right to free basic education and primary and maternal care services imposed on private institutions

•Flagrant violation of the doctrine of separation of powers,

•Unjustified whittling down of the Executive powers of the Federation vested in the President by virtue of Section 5(1) of the 1999 Constitution;

•30 days allowed for assent of the President; and

•Limiting expenditure in default of appropriation from 6months to three months

The others are: •Creation of the Office of Accountant-General of the Federation distinct from the Accountant General of the Federal Government

•Empowering National Economic Council to appoint the Accountant-General of the Federation instead of the President;

•Allowing NJC to now appoint the Attorney-General of the Federation rather than the President;

•Unwittingly whittling down the discretionary powers of the Attorney-General of the Federation.

The President said he has no choice than to veto the amendments to the constitution as forwarded to him by the National Assembly.

He said: “In view of the foregoing and absence of credible evidence that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Fourth Alteration) Act 2015 satisfied the strict requirements of Section 9(3) of the 1999 Constitution, it will be unconstitutional for me to assent to it.

“I therefore withhold my assent and accordingly remit Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Fourth Alteration) Act 2015 to the Senate /House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

The letter reads: “May I draw Your Excellency’s esteemed attention to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Fourth Alteration) Act, 2015 that has been passed by the National Assembly and transmitted to me for assent.

“I have accordingly examined the substance of the provisions and the procedure adopted by the National Assembly to pass the Act and wish to observe as follows:

“Section 4 of the Fourth Alteration Act, 2015 seeks to alter Section 9 of the 1999 Constitution by the insertion of a new subsection 3A, which dispenses with the assent of the President in the process of constitutional amendment.

“However, this alteration can only be valid if the proposal was supported by the votes of not less than four-fifth majority of all the members of each House of the National Assembly and approved by a resolution of the House of Assembly of not less than two-thirds of all the States as provided by Section 9 (3) of the 1999 Constitution.

“ This is a fundamental requirement of the Constitution and in the absence of credible evidence that this requirement was met in the Votes of Proceedings of the National Assembly, it will be unconstitutional for me to assent to this Bill.

“In light of the above, I am of the respectful view that I should withhold assent until it can be shown that the National Assembly has complied with the threshold specified in Section 9 (3) of the 1999 Constitution.

“However, assuming without conceding that the necessary thresholds were met by the National Assembly, there are a number of provisions in the Act that altogether constitute flagrant violation of the doctrine of separation of powers enshrined in the 1999 Constitution and an unjustified whittling down of the executive powers of the federation vested in the President by virtue of Section 5(1) of the 1999 Constitution.

The said Section 45A of the Fourth Alteration Act 2015, which guarantees the right to free basic education is too open ended and should have been restricted to government schools.

He added: “This is because, a right unless qualified or restricted must be observed by all. It follows therefore that the right to free basic education under this provision if taken to its logical conclusion, will invariably apply to private schools, which could not have been the intendment of the legislature.

“This same argument applies to Section 45B, which guarantees unqualified right to free primary and maternal care services. The implication of this is that private institutions will be obliged under Constitution to offer free medical services since it is a right and this is not only impracticable, but also could not have been the intention of the law giver.

“ There is therefore the need for these provisions to be redrafted to restrict the enjoyment of these rights and place the obligation to provide the conditions necessary for the enjoyment of the rights on the government.”

Jonathan also queried the limitation of the power of the President to withhold assent to bills to 30 days.

He said 30 days might not be sufficient for a President to go through such bills.

He said: “The power vested in the President to withhold his assent to Bills passed by the National Assembly is part of the checks and balances contained in the Constitution. “Withholding of assent therefore constitutes a check on the exercise of legislative powers in a constitutional democracy especially as the Executive Branch has the responsibility of enforcing laws passed by the National Assembly. However, some of the Acts of the National Assembly emanate from Private Members’ Bills, which in many cases, the Executive may not have had sufficient input.

“ It is also instructive to note that in some cases, more than one Bill is transmitted to the President for assent and that the President requires the advice of relevant agencies of government before he can assent to the Bill.

“Against this background, the 30 days allowed for assent of the President may not be adequate in some cases for the President to make a decision as to whether or not to assent.”

The President disagreed with the lawmakers for restricting the President’s right to spend funds in default of appropriation to three months instead of six months.

He said the amendment by the lawmakers does not take into  cognizance unforeseen circumstances the nation might go through any time.

He added: “This alteration seeks to limit the period when expenditure can be authorized in default of appropriation from the 6 months provided in the Constitution to 3 months.

“I am of the view that this provision has the potential of occasioning financial hardships and unintended shutdown of government business  particularly where four unforeseen reasons and exigencies in the polity, the National Assembly is unable to pass the Appropriation Act  do not justify the reduction of the six-month time limit in the Constitution. I am of the respectful view that the current position should have been maintained.”

He blamed  the National Assembly for recommending that the National Economic Council(NEC) should henceforth appoint the Accountant-General of the Federation.

He said: “The provision of section 84A that creates the new Office of Account-General of the Federation distinct from Accountant- General of the Federal Government has not addressed the funding requirement for the establishment of the office.

“ It is necessary to clarify for instance, who staffs and funds the office of Accountant General of the Federation and from whose budget he will be paid since he serve the three tiers of Government.

“ It is also important to state who will exercise oversight powers over the office. Furthermore, the National Economic Council, which is mainly an advisory body, is now charged with the responsibility of recommending those to be appointed to the Office of Accountant General of the Federation.”

Jonathan described the amendment on the separation the Office of Attorney General of the Federation from the Minister of Justice as ambiguous.

He said: “These alterations encapsulate wide-ranging provision that seek to separate the Office of Attorney General of the Federation from the Minister of Justice and the Attorney General from the Commissioner for Justice in the respective States of the federation. They also provide for the independence of the Office of Attorney General by guaranteeing tenure and funding.

“However, as desirable as the separation is, there are some provisions that validate the doctrine of separation of powers and also negate the age-long independence and absolute discretion that the office has enjoyed for centuries since it creation in middles ages. The potential challenging provisions are discussed below:

“The first noticeable set back is that the Fourth Alteration Act 2015 is silent on who is the Chief Law Officer of the Federation/State. This is serious lacuna, which may create implementation challenges.

“It will be recalled that the Attorney- General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice and the Attorney General and Commissioners for Justice in the respective States of the federation are under sections 150 and 195 of the 1999 Constitution, the Chief Law Officers respectively.

“Apparently, it is the fact that the AGF is the Chief Law Officer has the power to guide the MDAs on legal issues by way of legal advice and represent the Government on other legal matters including civil litigations, contract, treaty obligations, legal drafting, etc., is derived.

“With this amendment, which limits the power of the AGF to criminal prosecution and silent on whom who is the Chief Law Officer, it appears to erode the constitutional and legal basis for the current structure and functions of the Ministry of Justice and the Law Officers employed therein, in the absence of a Statute that provides for the exercise of these powers and functions.

Consequently, if it is the intendment of the National Assembly to make the Minister of Justice, the Chief Law Officer, it should be expressly stated. This will enable these functions to continue to be traditionally performed by the Ministry under the supervision of the Minister of Justice while the Office  of the AGF, which is to be independent and separated from the Ministry, concentrate on prosecutions.”

 

The All Progressives Congress (APC)   yesterday alleged a grand plan by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to  force its way through in today’s  governorship election in Lagos State.

The  PDP plan, according to the APC,includes gun running,use of fake result sheets, outright  bribing of voters and deployment of the  police to intimidate and harass its top members.

Controversial Assistant  Inspector General of Police Joseph Mbu is said to be in charge of the police  operation .

Addressing reporters in Lagos,the National Publicity Secretary of  the APC,Alhaji Lai Mohammed,   said  President Goodluck Jonathan  flew into town on Thursday  with  “ a war chest of 10 billion naira  specifically for the Lagos elections.”

Foot soldiers of the PDP are said to be under instruction  to  “storm polling units in areas where the APC is strong either to disrupt voting by attacking voters or simply carry away voting materials,” while  a PDP point man  “has been driving around designated pick-up points to drop fake NYSC and military uniforms, guns and cash.”

“In a clandestine and brazen operation in Lagos, this point man and his team have also added the distribution of fake result sheets to PDP agents,” Alhaji Mohammed said.

 He said further:“At a popular Maryland vendor stand, which is one of the muster points for the PDP thugs, three  big bags containing NYSC polo shirts, as well as fake Police and Army uniforms, were handed over to some PDP thugs by the agents.

“Then at 5:30 am this morning (yesterday), at exactly the same location, the vendor stand in Maryland close to Mobil Filing station, two white Hilux trucks pulled up and dropped 60 medium size rectangular cartons.

“On hand were the same men who collected the bags of fake NYSC  t-shirts some days back. Their conversation, which took place in the Yoruba language, revealed a lot. The four men asked from the person, delivering the cartons ‘owo nko’ (where is the money). The man in the car said both the money and the guns were inside the box. He also explained to the four men that later in the evening of today (yesterday), the four men should return to the same point to collect fake result sheets from Bajulaiye (the hub of printing in Lagos) that will be wrapped up in newspapers and delivered just like the way newspapers are delivered.

 “The men who collected the guns, fake uniforms and result sheets are those designated to storm polling units tomorrow. They will also instigate violence across the state, with a view to scaring away voters, especially in APC strongholds.

 “The PDP has turned today’s elections into a do-or-die affair. The plan is to use thugs and militants who have also been imported into the state to intimidate voters, snatch ballot boxes and provide cover for the PDP to announce false results tomorrow. Fake ballot papers as well as result sheets are already being issued to the PDP.”

 Alhaji Mohammed said  that President Jonathan,soon after his arrival in Lagos on Thursday  to  “oversee the PDP’s rigging plans,”  met with  Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Musiliu Obanikoro,PDP governorship candidate in the state,Mr. Jimi Agbaje, and the OPC factional leader, Gani Adams, in the presence of AIG Mbu.

He said the meeting perfected plans to rig the election after the PDP chieftains complained that the state Police Commissioner  Kayode Aderanti  refused to co-operate with them.

The CP was thus sidelined and Mbu given the go-ahead to take charge of the security aspect of the elections by allowing the PDP to announce fake election results .

 “Acting on Jonathan’s directive, Mbu stormed the Lagos Police HQ today  (yesterday) and took over the CP’s office, claiming he is now in charge of the election in Lagos.

“Meanwhile, the IG of Police, Suleiman Abba, had posted the DIG in charge of training in Abuja, Mr Argungu, to oversee the election in Lagos. Mbu had been posted to take charge of affairs in Ogun State. The President by his directive has overridden the directives of the IG without his knowledge,” the APC spokesman said.

“The PDP is attempting to use Mbu and the GOC – who is Jonathan’s relation – to force a false result on the REC.

“It is interesting that despite their failure, in view of the dollar rain that fell on the South-west, to capture the region, they have not relented in wasting public funds to swing the outcome of elections,” he pointed out.

 “Nigerians have shown that they cannot be swayed by bribery. If money were to be the determming factor, the PDP would not have lost the presidential elections. Just as they failed on March 28, they will fail again tomorrow (today).”

Besides, Alhaji  Mohammed said key leaders of the APC have been targeted for arrest, harassment and intimidation as part of measures to destabilize the party today, while PDP  point men have been designated to invade the residences of the leaders, starting from last night.

He said: “Having milked its cash cow to death on March 28, the PDP has decided that it would grab new cash cows. Such cash cows are economically-viable states like Lagos and oil producing states like Rivers.

“The PDP has vowed not to lose any of such states, hence the desperate acts we have enumerated above. They do not care about the votes of the people, and are not interested in counting votes or making them count. All they want is to capture any state that catches their fancy.”

The party urged its  members and supporters not to be intimidated, but be “ extra vigilant and to document all cases of voter harassment and intimidation as well as election malfeasance.”

 Local and international observers  were told to “pay a very close attention to the conduct of the elections in Lagos and River states.”

Earlier yesterday,Alhai Mohammed in a statement   warned   that “the people will resist any attempt to rob them of their votes.”

He spoke of a PDP rigging machine headed by President Jonathan to rig the Lagos elections, and drew attention to “ the airlifting from Abuja to Lagos of a Black Kia Mohave SUV, with  the number plate DHQ 340 which was packed with election materials (especially

result sheets).”

The APC spokesman said that the SUV  “will be free to move around (because of its  number plate) despite the restriction on the vehicular movement during the elections.

”It is sad that the same President, who conceded defeat in the presidential election and then followed up with a speech in which he said he would like his ‘legacy’ of free and fair elections to endure,is the one who is presiding over a desperate move to steal the people’s votes.

”How can President Jonathan’s ‘legacy’ endure when one of his last acts in office is a seeming vengeance mission to lead his party to capture Lagos because the PDP sees the state as a cash cow that they can milk to death with the party’s gravy train at the federal level having derailed?” the party queried.

”In their desperation over the Lagos elections, they have shamelessly divided the people along ethnic, religious and regional lines, thus setting the stage for the condemnable hate speeches to which they have in turn latched on to further whip up primordial sentiments.”

The APC advised the President to desist from any vengeance mission that will only rubbish whatever is left of  “his so-called legacy of  free and fair elections.”

It urged all APC members and supporters, and indeed all the good people of Lagos, to be extra vigilant today to “ thwart the evil machinations of the fallen behemoth called the PDP.”