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Tag: Lasun

  • Osun: Lasun, Omisore join forces with APC to fight PDP

    • PDP for court today

    • PDP agents ‘cloning PVCs’

    • INEC is right, say SANs

    HOUSE of Representatives Deputy Speaker Yussuff Lasun yesterday joined the battle to ensure victory for All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate Gboyega Oyetola in tomorrow’s supplementary governorship election in Osun State.

    The APC lost in Orolu Local Government Area, which is believed to be Lasun’s stronghold. He is known to be aggrieved with APC leaders.

    The supplementary election will hold in three units in the local government due to cancellation over hijacking of materials by thugs.

    There are 987 registered voters in the three units.

    Also joining forces with the APC is Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate Senator Iyiola Omisore.

    The election will determine the winner between Oyetola and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Ademola Adeleke.

    Saturday’s election was declared inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which ordered the supplementary election in seven polling units in four local governments – Osogbo, Orolu, Ife North and Ife South.

    There are 3, 498 registered voters in the polling units where the elections were cancelled due to various reasons, including hijacking of election materials, abscondment of presiding officer, disruption of election by hoodlums who were shooting sporadically, manual accreditation and over voting.

    The supplementary election is a straight fight between Oyetola and Adeleke.

    Adeleke has a marginal 353 votes advantage in the election in which Omisore finished third.

    Omisore hosted an APC delegation of Ekiti State Governor-elect Dr Kayode Fayemi and Dr Olu Agunloye at his home in Ile-Ife.

    On Monday, he received Senate President Bokola Saraki, who came to lobby him to support the PDP.

    Omisore, who left the PDP for the SDP because the PDP ticket was skewed in favour of Adeleke, declined to give Saraki his commitment.

    But after his meeting with the APC team, Omisore twitted under a photograph of himself with Fayemi and Agunloye: “With @OfficialAPCNg Ekiti state governor elect @kfayemi during his visit today. #goodgovernanceinosunstate #OsunDecides2018.”

    In another tweet, Saraki Presidential Campaign Council spokesman Doyin Okupe said: “Omisore I’m told caved in to pressure from APC…”

    It was learnt that Omisore, whose dad is the traditional ruler of Olode in Ife South where the election will hold in unit 07, 012 Adereti village with 812 registered voters, joined the APC for a campaign yesterday.

    Also yesterday, the police confirmed the arrest of three people for allegedly buying Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and breach of the public peace.

    The suspects, Alhaji Fatai Diekola, 61, Sikiru Lawal, 54 and Adekilekun Segun, 54, were arrested on Monday at Adewale Street, Alekuwodo area, Osogbo.

    Spokesperson for the Osun State Police Command Folasade Odoro, a Superintendent (SP), said the suspects were arrested by the teams drafted to the state for election duties.

    Odoro said: “The three suspects were arrested at Adewale Street, Alekuwodo area, Osogbo at one of the polling units where a re-run election is scheduled to take place on Thursday, September 27.

    “They were said to be soliciting to buy additional PVCs from one Olawale Kazeem of 4B, Adewale Street, Alekuwodo area, Osogbo and Azeez Sulaiman of 3A, Akinlade Street, Alekuwodo. It was gathered that when the duo declined to sell their PVCs, they were allegedly attacked by the supporters of the suspects.

    “However, timely intervention of the police operatives led to the arrest of the three suspects after they were attacked and wounded by the mob. “However, the wounded were taken to the Police Hospital for medical treatment and currently assisting the police in investigation into the crime and the recovery of the PVCs alleged to have been bought from other people in Osun State. The outcome of the investigation will definitely be made public.

    “In the meantime, the Nigeria Police Force is assuring the good people of Osun State and other critical stakeholders of its renewed commitment and resolve to ensure adequate security for a free and fair re-run election as announced by INEC in Osun State.

    “Members of the public are however advised to desist from any action that may elicit violence as any person arrested will be made to face the full wrath of the law.”

    The brickbats continued yesterday between the APC and the PDP over the Osun State governorship election.

    The governor-elect will emerge tomorrow after the supplementary election in seven units in four local governments.

    The PDP plans to file a suit today on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s declaration of Saturday’s election as inconclusive.

    But the APC Campaign Council urged voters in the areas where the supplementary election will hold to ignore the “ranting’’ of the PDP and turn out en masse to vote for the ruling party.”

    The Chairman of the Council’s Media Committee, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the PDP’s threat to challenge in court  INEC’s declaration of Saturday’s election as inconclusive  was “  nothing but sheer bravado’’.

    Mohammed said the threat was because the opposition party was afraid of losing the rerun.

    The chairman, who said the PDP might also have contrived the court threat as a way of distracting the APC and its members ahead of the rerun, called the  strategy “dead on arrival”.

    ”The PDP knows that the so-called court challenge which it has threatened to mount will not fly, especially because the highest court in the land has already pronounced on the issue of whether or not INEC has the powers to declare an election inconclusive.

    ”The PDP is not unaware of the pronouncement of the Supreme Court in the case of James Abiodun Faleke Vs INEC and others.

    “The apex court held that INEC has the duty of conducting elections and that, besides the constitutional provisions, it is guided by the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) and the Election Guidelines and Manual issued for its officials in accordance with the Act,” he said.

    Mohammed said that since the PDP had boasted that its candidate would win if  the Osun Governorship Election was conducted over and over again, the party “ should stop being jittery and put its money where its mouth is by willingly participating in the rerun.’’

    He, however, said that if the PDP chose to boycott tomorrow’s rerun out of fear, the party’s right to do so would be respected.

    ”The PDP, after its failed mission to win Saturday’s election at all cost, is shopping for an illegal shortcut to victory by threatening a court action over an issue that has been settled.

    “It’s a sheer waste of time. Let the PDP drop its pretension and get ready to be defeated in Thursday’s rerun.

    “Alternatively, it can withdraw to save face,” the chairman said.

    The APC also accused the PDP of cloning Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) with the intention of using them to rig the rerun election.

    The statement said: “The APC has received fresh reports from our field agents on the ongoing cloning of PVCs by PDP agents. We view this development as bizarre and a sign of the desperation of the PDP to takeover Osun State by all illegal means.

    “While we call on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to urgently investigate the development and promptly arrest persons behind the cloning, we strongly advise INEC to ensure that its voters’ register is not tampered with.

    “Also, we call on INEC and security agencies to speak publicly on measures being taken to stop the ongoing vote buying by PDP agents, which has become widespread in the state.

    The APC called for calm in the face of the already tense situation caused by the alleged PDP’s rigging plot.

    “The Osun electorate must remain alert and resist any plot to subvert the people’s will and manipulate the rerun election.

    “Commendably, the police already have in its custody a PDP stalwart who led other PDP leaders to buy up voters’ cards ahead of Thursday’s governorship rerun. There, however, remains much to be done to ensure the credibility of the forthcoming rerun election.”

    Spokesman of the party in Osun State Kunle Oyatomi, said tomorrow’s supplementary poll “cannot be bought”.

    In a statement, he said: “Sen Ademola Adeleke  can’t win on the popular votes. First, he is the least educated and qualified candidate Osun has ever raised in its history of political contest.

    “The fraud that brought him to this lever (manipulation of card readers and purchase of the PVC of ill-informed voters) that we are now discussing him as a potential governor, marks us as essentially an illiterate and backward democracy.

    “Such a person should not have qualified to be taken as ‘O’YES Cadet.

    ‘The PDP and Adeleke family would be disappointed on Thursday.

    ‘That vote can’t be bought, and would not be bought.

    ‘The PDP insists on going to court and contesting the rerun election at the same time. That is evidence of desperation.  If they have confidence they could win, they have no business to be in court at this stage.

    ‘The people of Osun will decide on Thursday (tomorrow) in closely monitored and protected votes where the likes of moneybags and fraudsters will be neutralised’

    The PDP, however, demanded the immediate resignation of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.

    The opposition party also called for  the immediate resignation of INEC Director of Operations Mrs. Amina Zakari who is also in charge of commission’s Information Communication Technology (ICT) Department.

    At a media briefing in Abuja yesterday, the PDP, through its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan called out the INEC chair over his “controlling role in the fraudulent manipulations” in the September 22 governorship election in Osun State.

    The opposition party accused Mrs. Zakari of altering election figures in favour of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

    INEC had declared the election inconclusive, following the cancellation of the election in some local government areas. The commission has slated a supplementary election in the affected areas for tomorrow.

    Rejecting the inconclusive verdict on the election, the PDP insisted that the polls were concluded, adding that the party and indeed well-meaning Nigerians no longer have confidence in the INEC chairman.

    The party said, “With INEC’s fraudulent conduct in the Osun governorship election, and approval that a concluded election be declared inconclusive, it is completely inexcusable that Prof. Yakubu presides over an atrocious and compromised electoral umpire that manipulates electoral processes, doctors figures, allocates fictitious votes and subverts the will of the people in an election.

    “The PDP has additional documentary evidence of how this compromised INEC, through its Operations and ICT Department, doctored results from polling centres, directly shortchanged the PDP with no fewer than 4,387 votes by slashing votes cast for the PDP at the polling centres while allocating fictitious figures to the APC.

    “The PDP has facts on how INEC slashed over 1000 votes freely cast by the people for our candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke, in Ayedaade Local Government Area, just to reduce our votes from our legitimate 10,836 votes cast at the polling centres to 9,836 votes so as to give APC the lead with a 1000 vote margin in the local government.

    “Also, the PDP has evidence of how INEC, while collating results, directly allocated over 1,367 fictitious votes to the APC in Olorunda Local Government Area, to fraudulently shore up the APC votes to duplicitous 16,254 votes. This is in addition to evidence of how INEC awarded over 2,000 fictitious votes in favour of the APC in Osogbo to push APC’s vote to 23,379 against the actual 21,479 votes scored by the defeated party.

    “Such writing of results by INEC in collusion with the APC occurred in many other areas leading to INEC’s ill-fated directives to its junior officials, including the one apprehended in Ayedaade, to destroy results already displayed at polling and collation centers.

    “It was after INEC and the APC realised that despite their manipulation of figures, our candidate still scored the highest number of votes, making him the clear winner of the election, that they decided to fraudulently apply unconstitutional grounds to declare the election inconclusive.

    “From the facts available to us, INEC robbed our party of over 4,387 votes. Our actual winning margin stands at 4,740 votes against the 353 votes declared by INEC.

    “Furthermore, while the PDP, in rejecting INEC’s declaration, is resolute in the decision to seek legal redress and take our mandate, freely given to our candidate by the people of Osun State, our party has also discovered schemes perfected by INEC to rig its planned supplementary election in favour of the APC.”

    “The PDP is already aware that INEC has increased the original number of voters in the affected polling centers by over 850 so as to expand its latitude to manipulate results with uncollected Permanent Voter Card (PVCs), a development, which further shows INEC’s determination to rig the election for APC.

    “The PDP holds that the shenanigan that has characterised the Osun governorship election is a testing measure by the APC in collusion with INEC to rig the 2019 general elections, particularly the Presidential election, which they plan to plunge into similar controversy immediately it becomes obvious that APC is losing”.

    The PDP expressed fears that the alleged complicit role of the electoral body could push the nation into an irretrievable state of anarchy and spell doom for the country’s democracy.

    “While Prof. Mahmood Yakubu can no longer be trusted to conduct the 2019 general elections, it is public knowledge that Mrs. Amina Zakari, the INEC Director in charge of Operations and ICT is a direct blood relation of Mr. President and as such, we believe that she cannot be an impartial arbiter in an election involving her uncle.”

    “The PDP therefore calls on all patriotic Nigerians to join in the demand for the resignation of Prof. Yakubu and Mrs. Zakari so as to avert this dangerous path, where INEC is leading our nation.

    “As a law abiding and people-oriented political party, all that the PDP is demanding for is the return of our candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke, as the duly returned candidate at the September 22, 2018 Osun Governorship Election.

    “We call on INEC to guarantee free, fair and credible election at all levels of engagement, as we will not allow unpatriotic individuals to destroy our nation with their inordinate and selfish aspirations”.

  • Lasun won’t dump APC, says House spokesman

    The House of Representatives spokesman, Abulrazak Namdas (APC, Adamawa), has said there is no truth in the report that Deputy Speaker Yussuff Lasun has dumped the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Namdas, the chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, said there was no truth in the report, adding that it was a ploy by the opposition to destabilise the ranks of the ruling party in the House.

    It was gathered that Lasun’s defection might be the fallout of a statement by the spokesman of a pro-Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) group in the House, the Parliamentary Democrats Group (PDG) that the Deputy Speaker’s defection to the opposition was a forgotten issue.

    In a statement on Saturday in reaction to the alleged plan to remove Yakubu Dogara as Speaker following his reported defection to the PDP, PDG’s spokesman Timothy Golu (PDP, Plateau) said: “As it is now, not only Speaker Dogara; we have many other members, including a principal officer, who have signified interest to join the bandwagon.

    “So, we can effectively say that on resumption, Dogara will be presiding over a House with PDP in the majority.”

    Namdas, who said the report was only a mischief, was also supported by the media aide to the Deputy Speaker, Wole Oladimeji, who refuted the claims in a statement yesterday.

    Namdas, responding to The Nation on the subject of Lasun’s defection to the PDP yesterday, said there was nothing of such.

    He said the possibility of Lasun’s defection should be discarded.

    “There was nothing like that. I am telling you authoritatively that the Deputy Speaker did not defect, he has not defected and he will not defect.

    “Although I don’t know what those spreading this rumour want to gain, I wish that won’t come true.

    “The Deputy Speaker has said it several times that he belongs here and will never contemplate leaving the party.

    “He is a committed man; he has been tested several times and found to be a man of his words.

    “Lasun is a member of APC. This I am telling you authoritatively.”

    Oladimeji said the report was a “machination of the detractors of the Deputy Speaker.”

    The statement reads: “The defection story of Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt Hon Sulaimon Lasun Yussuff, to PDP is highly misleading and highly uncalled for.

    “The Deputy Speaker has said it repeatedly that he is a progressive to the core and remains in APC.

    “It is the machinations of his political detractors, who are bent on maligning his political image. They are the ones spreading the rumour.

    “A silence does not mean that he has left the party. The rumour is spread by his political detractors.”

  • Lasun refutes dumping APC

    The Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Mr Yussuff Lasun, on Sunday, denied reports going the round that he has dumped the All progressives Congress (APC).

    It would be recalled that a pro-Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) group in the House, under the auspices of Parliamentary Democrats Group (PDG), had described Lasun’s defection to PDP as a forgotten issue.

    The PDG Spokesman, Rep Timothy Golu (PDP- Plateau), while reacting to the alleged plan to remove Mr Yakubu Dogara as Speaker, following his alleged defection to the party, had said in a statement that a principal officer, including many other members had signified interest to join the bandwagon.

    “As it is now, not only Speaker Yakubu Dogara, we have many other members, including a principal officer, who have signified interest to join the bandwagon. So we can effectively say that on resumption, Dogara will be presiding over a House with PDP in majority,” Golu had said.

    Lasun, who represents Irepodun/Olorunda/Orolu/Osogbo Federal Constituency in the National Assembly, described the reports as the handiwork of his political detractors.

    He spoke in a statement made available by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Wole Oladimeji, in Abuja.

    The statement reads: ”The defection story of Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt Hon Sulaimon Lasun Yussuff to PDP is highly misleading and highly uncalled for.

    ”Deputy Speaker has said it repeatedly that he is a progressive to the core and remains in APC.

    ”It is the machinations of his political detractors, who are hell bent in maligning his political image that are spreading the rumour.

    ”A silence does not mean that he has left the party, the rumour recently being spread is by his political detractors.”

    Corroborating Oladimeji’s statement, the Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Abulrazak Namdas (APC-Adamawa), said that there was no truth in the reports.

    He said it was another ploy by the opposition members to destabilise the ranks of the ruling party in the House and urged Nigerians to discard the report.

    ”’There was nothing like that. I am telling you authoritatively that the Deputy Speaker did not defect. He has not defected and he will not defect.

    ”I don’t know what those spreading this rumour wants to gain, but this is a mere wish that won’t come true. The Deputy Speaker has said it severally, at different fora that he belonged here and will never contemplate leaving the party.

    ”He is a committed man, he has been tested severally and found to be a man of his words.

    ”Lasun is a member of APC, that, I am telling you authoritatively,” he said. NAN

  • INEC budget: It’s unfortunate NASS failed to reconvene – APC lawmakers

    Leaders of the All Progressives Congress ( APC ) in the National Assembly said on Tuesday the lawmakers’ failure to reconvene for debate on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) 2019 election budget would spark constitutional crisis in the country

    Speaking at a meeting with the members of the National Working Committee of the party in Abuja, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yussuf Lasun, Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan and the Majority Leader in the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, said presiding officers must reconvene the National Assembly immediately to avoid any form of sabotage for the party.

    However, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, was absent at the meeting.

    Lasun said it was unfortunate that the National Assembly could not reconvene on Tuesday as earlier agreed by the presiding officers.

    He said: “I am not particularly happy that we are not able to reconvene the National Assembly today (Tuesday) because we decided few days back that we are going to seat and consider those items that are very important and may likely hamper the function of INEC and other programs without which the implementation of the capital component of the 2018 budget would have been slightly difficult.”

    Lawan said the APC Senate Caucus and the House Caucus would continue working towards averting constitutional crisis by ensuring that the National Assembly reconvened and pass the INEC budget.

     

  • No to military interference, says Lasun

    No to military interference, says Lasun

    House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Yussuff Lasun yesterday urged the military to restrain itself from truncating democracy.

    He spoke in Abuja at the opening of the public hearing on the amendments to the 12 bills on the Electoral Act No. 6 of 2010, organised by the House Committee on Electoral Matters.

    Lasun said: “It might be trivial or right but what we have heard in the last two weeks, not because of the position we occupy but because of the level we are in Nigeria today. Having participated in democracy for 18 unbroken years, I wouldn’t know why some military people want to think that it is time again to come back to the governance of Nigeria.

    “It is going to be a little difficult. Democracy at its worst is still the best form of government,” he said.

    House Speaker Yakubu Dogara, opening the public hearing, said  to avoid anarchy, regulatory agencies and stakeholders must ensure adherence to electoral regulations.

    “A flawed electoral system is a huge threat to any democracy and can constitute an invitation to anarchy,” Dogara said.

    A new amendment to Section 150 seeks to empower the Commission to prosecute any offenders either through its legal officer or any lawyer appointed by the Commission or a police officer.

    Section 199 seeks to impose five years imprisonment on conviction or a fine of N500,000 against any person or group of persons who wilfuly interrupt the announcement of election result by staging any kind of demonstration or protest in a collation centre, with intention to incite people against the returning officer or other officials present or to stop the announcement of results.

    Dogara said: “Experience has shown that a good electoral system governed by an efficient and effective legal framework is an inescapable prerequisite for the conduct of free, fair and credible election, enthronement of good governance, which will ensure peace and stability in the polity.

    “While we continue to acknowledge the reasonable improvements recorded during the 2015 general elections in Nigeria where the ruling political party lost the election and accepted the outcome of the process, we cannot pretend that the election was without flaws some of which bordered on lacuna in the legal framework.

    “The case in Kogi State governorship election in which a candidate died after the ballot but before the declaration of results present a classical example of such limitations in the Electoral Act, among others, that require reform in the law. The issue of legal framework for electronic accreditation (Card Reader); electronic voting and announcement of election results; the place of INEC guidelines/regulations vis-a-vis the procedure for elections contained in the Electoral Act itself, Diaspora voting, the role of political parties in the nomination process etc are some of the matters that should be settled in time before the 2019 general elections.”

     

  • Osun 2018: My life under threat – Deputy Reps Speaker

    Osun 2018: My life under threat – Deputy Reps Speaker

    The Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives Lasun Yusuf has raised the alarm over threat to his life.
    His Special Adviser on Constituency, Dr Remi Ajala, told reporters in Osogbo he has received threats since he declared interest in the Osun 2018 governorship race.
    The representative of Osogbo/Olorunda/Irepodun/Orolu federal constituency claimed various public instances and actions that followed his declaration have indicated some elements were after his life.
    He asked the public ignore the statement credited to the Osun caucus of the House comprising Jibola Famurewa, Mojeed Alabi, Gaffar Amere, Ayo Omidiran and Olufemi Fakeye shortly after the tribute on the late Senator Isiaka Adeleke at the plenary that his expression of fear was built on emotion.
    He also alleged a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has warned him and the late Adeleke to forget their governorship ambitions.
    The Deputy Speaker pointed out his plan to attend the birthday of a progressive leader at Ikirun on January 27 was aborted by a text message linked to a thug.

  • 2017: Be resilient, hopeful, Dogara, Lasun tell Nigerians

    2017: Be resilient, hopeful, Dogara, Lasun tell Nigerians

    Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has urged Nigerians to be resilient in the face of the current hardship in the country, saying 2017 will bring succour to their sufferings.
    Also, his deputy, Sulaimon Lasun Yussuff, has enjoined Nigerians to remain committed and hopeful in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
    In a New Year message to Nigerians, issued by his Special Adviser on Media & Public Affairs, Turaki Hassan, the speaker assured that some positive results of the new policies and initiatives of the present government will begin to manifest in the new year leading to an improved quality of life for the citizens.
    His words: “The All Progressives Congress government of President Muhammad Buhari is fully aware of the hardship faced by Nigerians. As members of the same government, we can assure that in the new year, succour will come the way of our people as we work to provide long lasting solutions to the myriad of problems.
    “On our part, the National Assembly shall also go to work as the central institution of democracy through which the will of the people is expressed. As parliamentarians we cannot afford to be observers or mere onlookers but actors. Our work is more urgent now than ever before because the change we seek must not be anchored on the quicksands of expediency but on the enduring solid rock of legislative frameworks that deal with corruption, eliminates gender based violence, strengthens democratic institutions, reinforces human rights and good governance.
    “We shall also not fail the nation in ensuring effective scrutiny of the National government for effective implementation of all legislative frameworks especially the 2017 budget.
    “Be assured that the House of Representatives is not resting on its oars to pass legislation that will provide support for the actualisation of the lofty ideas of the change promised by this government,” Dogara said.
    The Deputy Speaker, Sulaimon Lasun Yussuff, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Wole Oladimeji, assured that 2017 will be better, adding that the House of Representatives will cooperate with the executive in ensuring that the standard of living of Nigerians is improved.

  • Lasun preaches perseverance, hope

    Lasun preaches perseverance, hope

    The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yusuf Lasun, has urged Nigerians to be patient and understanding in this period of economic recession.

    In a Sallah message by his Chief Press Secretary, Wole Oladimeji, the deputy Speaker appealed to the Muslim faithful to reflect on the spirit of  Eid El- Kabir by being their brother’s keeper.

    It reads: “The deputy Speaker, who felicitates with Muslims on the  occasion of Eid el-Kabir, also called for patience and perseverance, especially in this period of economic recession.

    “The deputy Speaker urged Muslims to emulate the practice of Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) by extending hands of fellowship to friends and neighbours.

    “At this period of recession, the deputy Speaker implored Muslims to pray for the improvement of our economy and to support the administration of President Muhammed Buhari.

    “He enjoined Nigerians, irrespective of tribal, religious or party affiliation to pray for peace and unity as there can never be development without peace.

    “By God’s grace, there will be light at the end of the tunnel, he promised.

    “He also called on Nigerians to cooperate with the administration of President Buhari in his drive to re-engineer the economy.

    “The deputy Speaker appealed for cooperation ‘’towards the fight against corruption, which has put the nation where it is now”.

     

  • Jibrin to EFCC: Arrest Dogara, Lasun, others now

    Jibrin to EFCC: Arrest Dogara, Lasun, others now

    … Sacked chairman excluded us from budget work – Committee

    Former Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, on Friday asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to immediately arrest Speaker Yakubu Dogara for allegedly “padding” the 2016 Budget.

    Jibrin also called for the arrest of Deputy Speaker Yusuf Lasun, Chief Whip Ado Doguwa, Minority leader Leo Ogor and 10 Committee chairmen by the anti-graft agencies for their involvement in the alleged “padding” on a day nine members of the Appropriation Committee accused Jibrin of not carrying them along in completing work on the budget.

    Jibrin, who took to his Twitter account on Friday, claimed that Dogara and the others he asked the anti-graft agencies to arrest  for allegedly padding the budget  have been running to high places for protection.

    He said: “This is 24 hours after my lawyers requested the EFCC and ICPC to grant me a date and time to personally deliver my petition on Mr. Speaker and three others.

    “EFCC and ICPC are yet to revert to me. I decided to go personally so that in addition to the petition I can provide some further insight to them.

    “EFCC and ICPC must arrest the Speaker, the three others and few others members in my petition immediately.

    “They are running to high places, looking for cover.”

    Nine members of the Committee led by the Deputy Chairman, Emeka Azubogu, on Friday told journalists in Abuja that Jibrin hijacked the 2016 budget from them and worked on it all alone.

    They said the action of the sacked committee chairman prompted them to lodge a formal complaint with the Speaker for his removal.

    Azubogu said while there was nothing criminal in the action of the former committee chairman, it was wrong of him to have edged them out.

    He said: “He was the Chairman of the Committee, he was carrying out the job the best way he could. If you are in the open, you can’t do the work.

    “If people are calling him from everywhere making demands he would not be able to do the work. So he went in where he will.

    “When he finishes the report, it is easy to present it to the Committee and then to the leadership. If they go through and approve, it’s binding on the House.

    “He didn’t commit a crime. There are times you need to work and you need to be in a secluded place.”

    They also took exception to Jibrin’s allegation that 10 committee chairmen inserted 2,000 projects worth N284 billion into the budget.

    “He who alleges must prove. He was the Chairman of the committee. It was a personal information that he had to himself,” Azubogu said.

     

  • Dogara, Lasun :happy times ‘ll be here

    Dogara, Lasun :happy times ‘ll be here

    House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara and his deputy, Yussuff Lasun, have assured Nigerians of the National Assembly’s readiness for a New Year that offers real opportunity for change.

    Dogara, in a New Year message by his Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Turaki Hassan, praised the unshakable commitment of leaders at all levels of government to a better Nigeria.

    He cited the pro-people 2016 Budget of President Buhari’s administration which is before the National Assembly and said: “When passed into law and faithfully executed, will not only lift the common man from abject poverty, it will also usher in the much-needed opportunities for innovation and investment that are the engines of economic growth and prosperity.

    “The Speaker, who expressed hope that happy times will be here again,  however, maintained that the people must go to work to make it happen as government alone cannot solve all our problems”

    “Democracy and governments do not build nations, but it’s the citizens who must take up the tools of democracy and embrace the opportunities created by their government to build the nation of their dream.

    “The Speaker urged all Nigerians to abhor the culture of passivity and apathy which only produces docile citizenry.”

    “Dogara advised that  it’s time Nigerians take responsibility for their own lives and work towards making Nigeria great again to avoid overdependence on government.”

    He added: “On our part, the National Assembly must also go to work as the central institution of democracy through which the will of the people is expressed.  As parliamentarians, we can no longer afford to remain observers or mere onlookers but actors.

    “Our work is more urgent than before because the change we seek must not be anchored on the quick sands of expediency but on the enduring solid rock of legislative frameworks that deal with corruption, eliminates gender-based violence, strengthens democratic institutions, reinforces human rights and good governance.”

    In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Wole Oladimeji, the Deputy Speaker said Nigerians should be assured from the determination of President Buhari to tackle security and economic challenges facing the country.

    It reads: “Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives has said that there is serious hope for a better Nigeria, if the people of this country support and cooperate with President Buhari in his crusade at tackling corruption and other vices bedeviling the nation.

    “The Deputy Speaker said that the stage is set by the All Progressive Congress-led government to give a radical approach to the development of this country so that Nigeria could compete with other developed nations.

    “Lasun stated that with the budget presented to the National Assembly by Buhari, there is an indication that infrastructure would be provided and the standard of living of the people would be improved tremendously.

    “Nigeria is on the threshold of regaining its full potentials because that is what we deserve and the signs are beginning to show.”