The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Mr. Kombowei Benson.

  • Dickson nominates CPS as commissioner

    Dickson nominates CPS as commissioner

    The Bayelsa State Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson, has sent the name of his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson to the state’s House of Assembly as a commissioner-nominee.

    The governor in a letter addressed to the Speaker, Mr. Kombowei Benson, and read in the floor of the House by the Clerk, asked the lawmakers to consider his request.

    Following unanimous acceptance of the letter, the House asked Iworiso-Markson to appear before it on September 14th for screening.

    He was asked to come along with photocopies of all his relevant credentials for the exercise.

  • Appeal Court confirms Bayelsa Speaker’s sack

    The Court of Appeal sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has confirmed that it nullified the election of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly Speaker, Mr. Kombowei Benson.

    The court’s affirmation has ended weeks of denials by Benson on the December 9, 2015 judgment in a case filed by candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state House of Assembly election, Mr. Ebifaghe Orunimighe.

    The court on that day declared Benson’s election null and void.

    Benson refused to relinquish the Southern Ijaw Constituency 4 seat and his speakership position, insisting that the written judgment was different from the court’s records of proceedings which dismissed the appeal.

    He continued to retain his seat and also chaired the House that received the state’s 2016 Appropriation Bill from the state Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson.

    But on February 10, the court ruling on a fresh application filed by Benson validated its earlier judgment that nullified the election of the former speaker.

  • Controversy in Bayelsa over Speaker’s sack

    Controversy in Bayelsa over Speaker’s sack

    The Speaker of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Mr. Kombowei Benson, Saturday, said he would not vacate the Southern Ijaw Constituency 4 seat following controversies surrounding the Court of Appeal judgement that declared his April 11, 2015 election null and void.

    Benson remained adamant insisting that the purported written judgement was different from the record of court’s proceeding on December 9, 2015.

    The Court of Appeal sitting in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, in a written judgement delivered on December 9, 2015 nullified the April 2015 election that returned Benson.

    The court in a copy of the ruling, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a fresh poll within 90 days to fill the seat.

    The Speaker was sacked in a case filed by Mr. Ebifaghe Orunimighe, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the seat of the House of Assembly in Southern Ijaw Constituency 4.

    According to a copy of the judgement, Justices Mohammed Lawal Garba, Ejembi Eko and Stephen Jonah Adah, sat on the three-man panel that nullified Benson’s election.

    The judgement which resolved issues 1,2 and 3 in favour of the APC candidate, was delivered by Justice Ejembi Eko and signed by other justices on the panel.

    Eko said: “I allow the appeal in substantial part. My findings on issues 1, 2 and 3 justify the declaration that the election/return of the first respondent Hon. Benson Friday Kombowei, as the purported winner of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly seat for Southern Ijaw Constituency 4 elections held on April 11, 2015 was null and void.

    But about 60 days after, Benson faulted the authenticity of the written judgement saying the record of proceeding on that day showed that the appeal of the APC candidate was dismissed in the open court.

    Addressing journalists in his office at the House of Assembly complex Yenagoa, Benson insisted that the ruling of 9th December upheld his election and dismissed the appeal filed by the APC candidate.

    He said: “On the 9th of December, the appeal court dismissed the appeal by Orunimighe challenging my election. On January 14th, a purported judgement alleging that my election has been declared null and void emerged. This is strange and untrue.

    “What transpired in the open court in the presence of lawyers was outright dismissal of the appeal brought by my opponent. The judgement was delivered in the open court thereby upholding my election in the House of Assembly.”

    Benson said to further clarify the issues and put the record straight, he had through his team of lawyers filed a motion on notice praying the Appeal Court to set aside the judgement that was not in conformity with its declaration in the open court on December 9.

    He said the motion on notice further prayed the court to make an order directing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to stay execution on the judgment pending the determination of the motion on notice.

    “This motion has been served on the National Judicial Commission (NJC), President of the Appeal Court, the Department of Security Service (DSS), Commissioner of Police, Clerk of the House and other officers and some important personalities.

    “My team of lawyers and other lawyers who were in court have also in the same vein have also sworn to the affidavit to the fact that the judgement delivered in the open court was dismissed,” he said.

    Benson said he remained the speaker and would continue to preside over the affairs of the House of Assembly pending the resolution if the case.

    But the APC candidate for Southern Ijaw Constituency 4 accompanied by his Media Aide, Bodmas Debekeme and his lawyer, in a separate press briefing, called on Benson to respect the judgment of the Court of Appeal and stop playing to the gallery.

    Oruminighe warned Benson to stop parading himself as Speaker or risk going to prison for contempt.

    At the news conference entitled, ‘Contemptuous conduct of Kombowei Benson – former Speaker’, Oruminighe noted that his lawyers had begun a process of filling a contempt suit against Benson.

    He said: “Our attention has been drawn to recent reports credited to Kombowei Benson where he unequivocally stated that he still remained the Speaker of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly because the judgement declared by the Court of Appeal in open court on December 9, 2015 affirmed his victory.

    “Ordinarily, we should not have reacted to such fallacious publications, but our reticence may mislead the unseeming minds from discerning between reality and fiction.

    “It is based on this realisation that we are indeed compelled to react. It is unfortunate that Kombowei Benson is accentuated by greed and desperation to disseminate such deliberate falsehood to mislead members of the society including his pastors and church members.

    “Elementary intelligence, logic and commonsense suggests that a person who claims to win a case should produce the judgement of the court confirming his victory. Where is the judgement delivered on December 9, 2015, where Konbowei claimed victory?

    “For the avoidance of doubt, let it be established right away that the unanimous judgement of the court of appeal delivered by Justice Ejembi Eko, JCA on December 9, 2015 declared the election of Benson as the purported winner of the House of Assembly seat for southern Ijaw Constituency 4, held on the 11th April, 2015 as null and void.

    “Therefore, the Appeal Court ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct elections within 90 days from the date of judgement.”

    He noted that the Court of Appeal did not give two conflicting judgements as falsely claimed by Benson.

    He said that the judgement which sacked Benson was the only subsisting judgement adding that speaker, his team of lawyers, had copies of the same ruling.

    According to him Benson in utter defiance to the judgement of the Court of Appeal, presided over the 2016 budget presented on the floor of the House by Governor Seriake Dickson on January 15, 2016.

    Orunimighe said: “It is worrisome that the conduct of Benson borders on contempt of court and wanton disregard for the rule of Law.

    “As you are aware, the illegality perpetrated by the ex-Speaker of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly and members of the PDP-led Government is an absolute display of lawlessness reminiscence of the Hobberisan state of nature.”

    He urged the members of the public to disregard the innuendoes of Benson and advised the embattled Speaker to stop engaging in acts that were tantamount to disobeying the lawful and valid judgement of the Court of Appeal.

  • Anger in Bayelsa Assembly over Speaker’s comments on Jonathan

    Members of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly are at daggers’ drawn with their Speaker, Mr. Kombowei Benson, over statement credited to him against President Goodluck Jonathan.

    The lawmakers were said to have expressed their displeasure to the speaker for making what they described as “degrading and inciting” comments against the President.

    The angry lawmakers were said to have held series of secret meetings in Yenagoa where they discussed and condemned the speaker’s tirade against President Jonathan in an interview he granted a regional tabloid.

    The Nation gathered on Wednesday that they were agitated that the speaker made statements suggesting that President Jonathan was plotting to impose candidates on members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state’s party primaries.

    They were said to have disassociated themselves from the offensive comments saying, “the speaker is on his own.”

    It was gathered that the aggrieved lawmakers further frowned at the speaker’s verbal tirade against the Senator representing Bayelsa Central Senatorial District, Mr. Emmanuel Paulker.

    One of the lawmakers who attended the meeting said the speaker goofed for joining voices with persons who were bent in bringing down Mr. President.

    The lawmaker who pleaded anonymity said as a speaker of the House in President’s state, Benson was expected to galvanise support for the President instead of making enemies for him.

    “We are not happy with the disposition of the speaker and we have resolved in our meetings that he should retract every statement he made against Mr. President.

    “President Jonathan has full support of all the constituencies in the state including the constituency of the speaker. Jonathan was once a deputy governor and a governor in this state, so he has large following.

    “The evidence of this following was recently demonstrated in the state when his wife, Dame Patience, visited Yenagoa,” he said.

  • Gunmen abduct Bayelsa Speaker’s brother

    Gunmen in the early hours of Monday abducted Mr. Iniokpoemi Benson, a younger brother to the Speaker of Bayelsa House of Assembly, Mr. Kombowei Benson.

    The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hilary Okpara, who confirmed the incident, said the victim was abducted at about 3am at his residence in Korokorosei village in Southern Ijaw local government area of the state.

    Okpara told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in a telephone interview in Yenagoa that the police special anti-kidnap squad was on the trail of the kidnappers.

    “We have got information on the incident, the DPO in the area and the Assistant Commissioner of Police have briefed me and the good thing is that we have known the direction the hoodlums are heading to so we shall round them up,” Okpara said.

    The commissioner assured that the gunmen would be apprehended and the victim rescued.

    NAN had gathered that Benson was the immediate past chairman of the community’s development committee.

    The commissioner also commented on the fate of 90-year-old Madam Florentina Paulker, mother of Senator Emmanuel Paulker representing Bayelsa Central, who was abducted in July.

    “We have made some progress on that incident, we arrested one of them within hours and the next day we arrested three more subjects who are helping us and we are still making more arrests.

    “It is a syndicate from what we have found out, we have cut off the communication link between the suspects in our custody and those holding the woman. So we are hoping that soon we shall free her,” he said.