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Tag: NASS

  • Our decision on NASS leadership supreme – APC

    Mr Yekini Nabena, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has said that the party’s decision on the selection and zoning of principal officers for the incoming 9th National Assembly is supreme.

    Nabena stated this while speaking with newsmen on Wednesday in Abuja.

    He said that the party’s decision must be respected by its legislative caucus and opposition lawmakers in the National Assembly.

    He, therefore, cautioned the outgoing President of the Senate,Dr Bukola Saraki and Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara to steer clear of the leadership in both legislative chambers.

    “The APC has learnt its lesson from the outgoing National Assembly when impostors masquerading as party men sabotaged our party and hijacked our mandate; affliction shall not rise up the second time.

    “The efforts by the Adams Oshiomhole leadership of the party are commendable in achieving a fair selection and zoning arrangement that appeals to a greater section of the party stakeholders.

    “APC has overwhelming majority in the National Assembly and has a legitimate right to make its choices on the selection and zoning of principal offices.

    Read Also: APC, Niger South Senatorial seat and travesty of justice

    “The APC family is in agreement on the party’s supremacy and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other opposition parties should focus on their minority positions,”he said.

    According to Nabena, the outgoing President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, Speaker Yakubu Dogara and the PDP NASS caucus have been moving from pillar to post to frustrate the plan of APC.

    He said the PDP had a hidden evil plot to interfere in the emergence of incoming National Assembly leaders.

    Nabena said that the APC was aware of the scheming by Saraki, Dogara and the PDP caucus to interfere with the emergence of the incoming National Assembly leadership.

    “Their plans are bound to fail as the APC is a strong party with unity of purpose,” he said.

  • NASS: CAN seeks religious balance in principal positions

    Ahead of the inauguration of the 9th National Assembly, the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria ( CAN ) on Monday pleaded with the incoming leadership to balance the appointments of Principal officers across religious divides.

    Yielding to the advice, CAN said it will avoid domination and marginalisation of any kind in the interest of equity, justice, and fair play as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution.

    The religious body also urged both the Presidency and the leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to: “support the position of the Association in its quest to find an enduring peace, unity and development for our Fatherland. Doing this will go a long way in fixing some of the problems confronting our country today that are rooted in religious, tribal suspicion, domination and marginalisation at every level of the government.”

    A statement issued in Abuja by Pastor Adebayo Oladeji, Special Assistant, (Media & Communications), to the CAN President, Rev Dr Samson Ayokunle reads: “The leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) congratulates all the newly elected members of the National Assembly on their victory at the recently conducted general election. It is our prayers that God who granted you the victory will not let you down. You will experience a successful tenure of office. You will not disappoint God and the people who gave you the mandate.

    “As you prepare for your inauguration, CAN urges you to balance the appointments of your Principal Officers across religious divides to avoid domination and marginalisation of any kind in the interest of equity, justice, and fair play as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution (as amended). We, from the Christian Association of Nigeria, recognize the importance of the National Assembly to the stability and growth of our polity.

    “It is in this regard that we call for ethnic and religious balance with depth in picking the leadership of that great institution of democracy. To ensure that this happens is to remove any apprehension and suspicion harboured towards the leadership of this country.

    “Although both the Senate and the House of Representatives have several principal officers but our focus here are the Senate President, the Deputy Senate President, the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker. As it has been the practice since 1999, whenever the Senate President is a Christian, the Speaker of the House has always been a Muslim and vice- versa. And the same thing happens to their deputies.”

  • How APC can avert repeat of 2015 NASS leadership crisis – Shehu Sani

    Senator representing Kaduna Central zone in the upper chamber of the National Assembly, Senator Shehu Sani, bared his mind on how the ruling APC can avert repeat of the 2015 leadership crisis in the NASS. In this interview with Abdulgafar Alabelewe, Sani also tells Buhari what to do in his second term. As he speaks on security challenges in Kaduna and his battle against his opponent in the election petitions tribunal. Excerpt

    THE 2019 General Elections have come and gone. As a player in the election, what is your assessment of the whole process?

    Well, let me say we have passed the first phase. We are now in the second phase, which is the litigation aspect of it, where the candidates have gone to the court to challenge the outcome of the polls. We cannot say this election was perfect; actually there is no perfect election anywhere in the world. But the expectation on this election was very high, in view of the standard that was set in 2015. Many things have come into electoral lexicon of Nigeria today, which have to do with inconclusive elections and some issues that have to do with lack of clear definition of which election could be termed inconclusive. There is also the violent aspect of the election; the killings that have happened during these elections are something that we have to all condemn.

    I think if we are to score these elections, we can say that achievements have been recorded, but there are areas that actually need to be put straight; the issue of money politics was a case of incumbents clearly buying votes. And also the role played by the Police and the Army in most parts of the country is condemnable. There is also the very fact that the foundation of these crises also has to do with the inability of the politicians to play the game fairly and squarely. These are all fundamental issues that have seriously undermined the integrity of this election. But, I believe we cannot throw the baby away with the bath water. We now have a judiciary that has started doing a wonderful job in some certain places and the outcome of the cases that are before the courts will further either give credit to the elections or seriously prove how worthless the process is.

    Compared to the 2015 elections, which one would you say is better?

    Well, there are elements of 2015 elections, many things were introduced now, that were not introduced in 2015. First of all, we must commend the fact that Jonathan made it very clear that, no blood of any Nigerian is worthy of his own ambition, and he went further to demonstrate it by conceding defeat. But, as of now, we have seen desperation on the side of the governors in their attempt to hold on to power. We have seen how public resources were used to buy votes. We have seen how the security agencies became the armed wing of the state government. We have also seen how electoral officials themselves were intimidated and manipulated.

    There is no political party that can say the election has been free and fair. The APC in Akwa Ibom are complaining that they have been rigged out, that the Army and Police sided with the ruling party in the state. The APC in Rivers are raising the same issue. And in other states like Kano, the PDP are saying that they have been short-changed and that violence was used. So, if you look at it, in the area of vote buying, in the area of violence and manipulation of and use of security agencies, the election has not proven to be better than that of 2015.

    But, in the general sense like I have said, whether what was done was right or wrong, will also be dependent on what the judiciary will be able to do in the coming election. It is natural for those who won to say the election was free and fair, while those who lost will say it is not fair. But, we have seen that the political elite have carefully embraced and included thugs and thugery as part of the political institution. And if we continue to use violence to achieve our political objective, we will continue to do serious damage to the integrity of our democracy itself. A society like ours that is desirous of good leadership cannot get it right when leaders have to buy their ways into power or use violence to assume the position of leadership.

    As a legislator, what would you be recommending to better this democratic process?

    You see, what we are facing today is a direct result of the failure of the successive administrations in Nigeria to implement the much needed reforms that could have addressed some of these issues and advanced us forward. The Nnamani report was dumped, the Awesu report was also dumped. You see a systematic pattern of disregard and also refusal by different governments to implement electoral reforms. Why most governments refuse to implement electoral reforms is because they benefit from the failure and weaknesses of the electoral system as it exists today. They don’t want to reform the election because if they do it, it is going to undermine their power base and make it difficult to retain power.

    For now, the task before the next Assembly is to implement the much needed electoral reforms, to establish electoral offences commission, and to remove the burden of registering political parties from INEC and leaving it with only the responsibility of conducting elections and not arresting electoral offenders. When we unbundle INEC, it would be able to concentrate more on the responsibility of conducting elections.

    So, as far as I am concerned, electoral reform is very important for us to have better elections in the future.

    Can’t electronic voting address all these challenges?

    You see, we learn as we move forward; electronic voting, the use of card reader, the use of PVC, punishment for those who unleash mayhem and buy votes, are all necessary tools that we need to take, in order to millions of voters? So, I think we need to adopt and include the necessary technological instruments that are needed for us to have a perfect election difficult for anyone to manipulate. When people get into office by simply manipulating the electoral process, they will not represent the people; they will be representing a certain class of people to the detriment of the overall interest of the people. perfect our electoral process. We are living in a technological world. Questions need to be asked, if banks can handle over hundred million in their data base and they are not having system failure and they are able to account for every kobo, why should we live in the same century where an electoral body is still having problem dealing with few millions of voters? So, I think we need to adopt and include the necessary technological instruments that are needed for us to have a perfect election difficult for anyone to manipulate. When people get into office by simply manipulating the electoral process, they will not represent the people; they will be representing a certain class of people to the detriment of the overall interest of the people.

    Let’s come back to your own election. You are challenging the victory of the ruling party candidate, what are issues you are taking to court?

    Yes, we have made it very clear that the National Assembly election in Kaduna was marred with fraud and corruption. We have cases of places where election did not take place; they simply thumb-printed, with the assistance of the security agencies in Birnin Gwari and Giwa. We have cases where even the INEC officials were denied, they were simply removed and replaced by certain persons. We have cases of where we had over voting. We have cases where people were disenfranchised from voting. We have cases of vote allocation. So, to us, this election was a complete fraud. We have evidence and documents. We are going to court to demand for justice.

    Considering your popularity and the way the election went, would you say leaving the ruling party is part of the problem?

    No. My position is that, every vote I have gotten, people voted me for my credibility, my principles, and my ideals. They voted me for what I stand for. But, every vote the APC candidate got was given to Buhari. What this implies is that, people who voted for the APC candidate voted for Buhari, but those who voted for me, voted for the candidate. So, I am proud of every vote that I have gotten, because it is genuine and it is from the heart. So, there is a sense of satisfaction. Where we have problem is if you don’t count my votes, if you suppress my votes and count the votes of people you prefer, that is very wrong.

    Any regret leaving the APC?

    There is no regret, because the party has treated us badly. We gave our lives, our blood, our sweat to build the party. I reached out to every nook and corner with people who we worked together. Even in 2015, they didn’t like us but it was impossible for them to stop us because they were not in position of power. But now, the governor of the state now has the state resources, he has contacts more than he had in 2015.

    What is responsible for banditry around Birnin Gwari, ethno-religious crisis in Kajuru, as well as farmers/herders clashes in other places? And what is the way out?

    In Birnin Gwari, bandits have driven away villages and people can no longer go to their farms. Women, children and the elderly have been kidnapped and the place has become so lawless. In Kajuru, Muslims and Christians are at war with each other. In Southern Kaduna, herdsmen wiped out villages and kidnapped people. The fundamental problem is that the government has not provided adequate equipment and security personnel to really tackle these problems. Secondly, the governor of the state has openly sided with one party of the conflict against the other. He is being perceived to be in support of people from his own ethnic and religious background. If you are a leader presiding over a state that is multi-cultural and multi-religious, for you to be able to strike a balance and bring about peace, you must treat everyone with justice, with equity and fairness. Peace is impossible in a state with a divisive leader, a leader that has shown he is on one side of the crisis. Even if you want to help your own people, you must show the other side that you can also be fair to them.

    What can be done to remedy the situation?

    The remedy is, for areas where you have ethno-religious crisis, you need justice, fairness and equity to everyone above everything, and for areas where you have banditry, you need to fund our security agencies, support the local vigilante groups, provide materials for them to be able to fight.

  • Approve draft National Tobacco Control Regulation, NASS urged

    The 8th National Assembly has been urged to approve the draft National Tobacco Control Regulation as a legacy before the end of its tenure.

    Speaking at a briefing in Lagos yesterday, the Coordinator, National Tobacco Control Alliance, (NTCA), Oluseun Esan, said the National Tobacco Control Act was a legacy left by the 7th National Assembly and signed into law in the twilight of the last administration on May 28, 2015.

    Esan enjoined NASS to approve the Regulations as it is, without watering down the provisions. Nigeria is one of the least regulated countries in Africa when it has to do with tobacco. We call on the House of Representatives to speedily consider the regulations and approve it with all the clauses intact without delay.

    Speaking on efforts taken by other bodies to ensure tobacco control enforcement on the parts of Nigerians, the Board Chairman, African Tobacco Alliance, Akinbode Oluwafemi, pointed out that only the Consumer Protection Council, partnering with the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and the Nigeria Police are enforcing some provisions in the NTC Act.

    On her part, Oluchi Robert of Environmental Rights Action (ERA) said government should be concerned about the health of Nigerians, noting that the tobacco companies’ main focus is on profit and not the welfare of consumers.

  • NASS leadership: APC won’t repeat mistakes of 2015, says Oshiomhole

    National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole on Monday gave indication of what to expect from the 9th National Assembly, insisting that the party will not allow the mistakes of 2015 to reoccur when the new national assembly is inaugurated in June.

    Addressing newly elected members of the House of Representatives at the Shehu Yar’adua Centre in Abuja, Oshiomhole said the APC was not prepared to share offices of principal officers of the House and headship of critical committees with the opposition, Peoples Democratic Party, except for position reserved for minority members.

    Oshiomhole told the lawmaker that Nigerians have reposed confidence in the APC, giving it overwhelming majority in the House and will use the numerical strength to its advantage, and sought the collaboration of the legislators for the party programmes.

    He said: “The first is the challenge of ensuring that this time around we ensure that we have a leadership of the National Assembly that shares the vision of the executive. Although we speak to separation of power but there is only one government and unless the various arms pursue the same agenda it is difficult for the executive to realise it purpose because legislative backing is often required for the executive actions.

    “So I will expect that you bear in mind that we are one family joined together as shown in our broom, with a share commitment to bail Nigeria out of the condition in which we find it in 2015.

    “And that you have the numbers and we will use those numbers to ensure that we have a leadership that command the trust and the respect of all the members of the House of Representatives. There will be contestation, that is why we are in democracy but after the contestation and debate we have to agree, and once you have agree you move forward.

    “We have the numbers to produce the Speaker and we will produce the Speaker, who must be a member of the APC. We have the numbers to produce the Deputy Speaker and we will use the numbers to produce the Deputy Speaker, who must be a member of the APC. We have the number and we must use the numbers to elect a House Leader who must be a member of APC.

    “We have the numbers and we will use the numbers to produce a Chief Whip and a Deputy Whip who must be members of the APC. I think the only position that we are not interested in is the Minority Leader. Let it remain minor in the hands of the minors in the opposition.

    “We will not share power in the House of the Representatives and the leadership must ensure that critical committees that drive government are chaired only by APC members. If the Nigeria people wanted to be chairmen of committees they would have voted for them.

    “So all the chairmen of committees, except one that is statutory reserve for opposition, which is Public Account, they can have that. So, we would not do the kind of thing that happened the last time in which some APC members as members of the leading party became distance spectators in the management of committees, when PDP had majority of the strategic committees in the House that will not happen in the next Assembly.

    “We are aware that they believe they can use the divide and rule by sponsoring many people within our ranks to contest for which of the position so that they then become the king maker and in return the person will offer them some chairmanship seats.

    “Hon members and comrades I’m sure are not going to do business with them. We will see them as partners in progress but in democracy the rule is, and it is a universal rule, majority must have their way but minority must be allowed to have their say.

    “So PDP and other minority can have their say but working together APC must have it way in legislative agenda, in the leadership of the National Assembly and the leadership of the committees in the National Assembly. I thought we should make this thing clear so that those who may not understand what is happening don’t fall into the trap.”

    While calling on the new federal lawmakers not to allow anybody to divide that, Oshiomhole assure that his leadership will carry out an extensive consultations with President Muhammadu Buhari and all the leaders of the APC.

    “We will work out a sensible zoning formula that sees to carry everybody along and give people chances to demonstrate their capacities and their capabilities. We are working on that.

    “Somebody told me the opposition party people are already doing something, raising money to bribe people and I said no we are anti-corruption, we cannot be corrupted. If they bring One Billion Naira to each member, PDP person will not be Speaker, a PDP person will not be Deputy Speaker, a PDP person will not be Whip, a PDP person will not be Leader and a PDP person will not take any of the Committee that are meant for the ruling party. We are determining to achieve that and be rest assured that the party will stand by you.”

    While congratulating them for their success, he said “We are proud that Nigerians in your various constituencies have reposed confidence in the APC. I was looking at the number this morning and I realised that at the level of the House of Representatives, the Nigerian people gave the APC a resounding vote of confidence.

    “Before the election, we had about 190 members. The Nigerian people elected and re-elected 223 members off the House of Representatives on the platform of the APC. This has given us overwhelming majority, almost two third that we need even if we can’t to amend the constitution.

    “I like to, on your behalf to thank the Nigerian people for reposing confidence in our party. I would like to say that by the same token, the Nigerian people has reposed less confidence in the major opposition who went into the election with more members and returned with 111 members.

    “It is easy the first time to ask people to give you the benefit of the doubt. But when you have occupied an office for four years, and the people choose to favour your party to the extent to which they have favoured the APC, it is a thing of joy. We are grateful to the Nigerian people for giving us the number we need to carry through our legislative agenda.”

    Alluding to party supremacy, Oshiomhole said “for us to be able to enjoy our numerical strength in the House of Representative, we must recognise that we were elected on a party platform. Over the last couple of weeks, I have been invited by INEC to forward names rising from court decisions to the effect that APC has won in a certain constituency even when there is dispute about who is the candidate.

    “I am sure that when you went to vote, you did not see the portrait of any candidate, but the logo of the APC which is the broom. Something unique about the broom is that when you pick a stick of broom, you can easily break it. But when it is together as it is in our logo, it will be difficult to break.

    “The essence of that broom is to remind us that when you are together, we share ideas together, make decisions on the basis of inclusion and we carry everybody along, we encourage debate, contestations and agree that at the end of the day, agreement reached are binding on all, then we will be as strong as the broom in our logo.

    “We have called this meeting to remind us that we have a huge task ahead of us. Nigerians have voted the way they did and they expect new vigor and have injected new blood into the House of Representative and I am sure that you have all come determined to make a difference in the way the National Assembly is run.

    “As people, who are active, you are very familiar with the issues that bogged down the National Assembly between 2015 and 2019 arising from a unique concussion and I pray that this time around, we have all learnt a lesson from our immediate past and allow the positive lessons of our immediate past to shape our future.

    “You have been elected at a very challenging time to provide legislative backing for APC agenda and manifesto. Our President who has been reelected reminded us that the three critical issues on which we canvassed for votes in 2015 are still valid even now in 2019. The President is doing everything possible to turn the economy around and to ensure that we work and create job led growth and not jobless growth where we celebrate abstract statistics that does not reflect the quality of life of the Nigerian people.

    “We must work hard to rebuild the economy, strengthen the private sector, create job, make the business environment friendly and expanding the capacity of our current investors. If Nigerians consume what we produce, our economy will grow in double digits and that growth will reflect on the quality of lives of our people. What has been missing has been leadership and that President Buhari has brought.

    “We need to sustain and deepen these policies and I sure that some aspect of it will require legislative intervention. We will need to reinvent the manufacturing sector. If we have sensible and sustainable industrial policy in place with appropriate legislative backing to give people the confidence of policy stability, even to cloth half of our population will generate more than ten million jobs in the textile sector alone.

    “There is no reason while Michelin should not return to Nigeria especially if we have sensible industrial and trade policy that discourage the importation of these items which we were producing before. All these need a collaborative national assembly. We need to pursue sensible monetary policies and should not price the funds out of the reach of the ordinary person. There must be coherence in all our policies so that we can witness sustainable growth and get our young people busy.

    “President Buhari has a rear opportunity to now think of what legacies to leave behind for Nigerians. He has spoken about corruption and we all know that it is one factor that has destroyed the country. What we owe the Nigerian people is to create an environment for people to work and earn a living and for investors to have decent results for their investment and this also require legislative action.”

  • Court grants leave to NASS, PASAN to settle dispute

    The National Industrial Court on Thursday granted leave to the National Assembly (NASS) and the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN), to explore the possibility of settling out of court.

    At the resumed hearing of pending applications, the claimant’s counsel, Mr Anthony Ameh and counsel to the fourth and fifth defendants, Mr Charles Yoila, counsel to the fourth and fifth defendant both said they had motions before the court.

    Ameh’s motion, seeking to amend his processes was granted by Justice Sanusi Kado.

    The judge equally granted Yoila’s application to enter memorandum of appearance when the other counsel did not object to the application.

    Ameh, the claimants counsel thereby informed the court that the parties were already exploring the possibility of settling the matter out of court.

    The counsel said that the Memorandum of Settlement was almost ready.

    He also asked for an adjournment to enable them fine tune the document and file it before the court.

    Adegoke Omoloja, counsel to the first, second and third defendants and Yoila confirmed that, that was their position also.

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    Kado adjourned the matter until April 8, for adoption of terms of settlement.

    News Agency of Nigeria ( NAN) reports that the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, had dragged the union before the court seeking an order to restrain its members from closing down the National Assembly.

    The duo, in their suit via a motion ex-parte filed on Dec.18, 2018, also sought an order of the court, restraining PASAN from proceeding on strike, pending the determination of the motion on notice before the court.

    NAN recalls that the union had embarked on a warning strike and threatened to shut down the parliament to push for the payment of allowances allegedly owned its members.

    The authority of the assembly had approached the court seeking an order barring the union from taking such actions.

    Joined in the suit as co-defendants, are the Chairman and Secretary of PASAN, the Clerk and Deputy Clerk of National Assembly.

  • NASS Election Tribunal receives 10 petitions in Enugu

    No fewer than 10 petitions have been filed before the National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Enugu, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

    A NAN check at the tribunal’s secretariat in Enugu revealed that the petitions arising from the outcome of the Feb. 23 National Assembly elections were challenging three senatorial results and seven House of Representatives results.

    Further breakdown of the petitions reveal that out of the 10 petitions, nine were filed by candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) while one was filed by a candidate of African People’s Alliance (APA).

    In her petition, Mrs Juliet Ibekaku-Nwagwu of the APC is challenging the re-election of Sen. Ike Ekweremadu for Enugu West Senatorial Zone.

    According to the information made available to NAN, APC’s Mr Eugene Odo is also challenging Sen. Chuka Utazi who was declared winner for Enugu North Senatorial Zone.

    Still at the senatorial level, another APC candidate, Mr Lawrence Eze filed a petition challenging the declaration of former governor of the state, Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani as winner of Enugu East Senatorial zone.

    The Federal House of Representatives seats being challenged are those of Enugu North and South, Ezeagu/Udi, Nsukka/ Igboeze South and Aninri/Awgu/Oji River.

    Others are Nkanu East/Nkanu West, Igbo-Etiti/Uzo Uwani, and Udenu/ Igboeze North.

    NAN reports that the 21 days required by law for the filing of petitions arising from elections had lapsed.

  • Polls: Six NASS candidates file petition at tribunal

    A total of six candidates that lost during the National Assembly election have filed petitions at the Edo State Election Petitions Tribunal.

    The six candidates comprise three candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party and three candidates of the All Progressives Congress.

    They are all asking the tribunal to declare them winner of their various elections for scoring majority of lawful votes.

    Those that have filed petitions for the House of Representatives are Hon Ehiozuwa Agbonyinma, Hon Omosede Igbinedion, Hon Idiake Patrick and Chief Blessing Agbomhere.

    The senatorial candidates that filed petitions are Engr. Abubakar Momoh for Edo North and Mr. John Inegbedion for Edo Central.

    In his petition against Jude Ise-Idehen of the PDP, Hon Agbonyinma urged the tribunal to declare him winner of the election.

    He said he wants to reclaim his mandate ‘that was stolen by some dubious characters in INEC in collaboration with some PDP leaders and security men and women.’

    According to him, “I have always said the APC won the Presidential election for Mr. President and I won the election for Egor/Ikpoba-Okha Constituency which I contested for.”

    Agbomhere said nobody in Estako Constituency voted for the APC in the February 23rd elections.

    He said he scored the highest votes cast.

    “There was massive corrupt practices and thump printing of ballot papers by leadership of the APC. Nobody in Estako voted for the APC.

    “I am asking the tribunal to declare me winner of the election.”

    Engr Momoh who contested against incumbent Senator Francis Alimikhena, insisted that he won the election because he scored over 80,000 votes which has been the required numbers to win election in Edo North since 1999.

    “I have the required votes anybody has gotten since 1999. I am asking the tribunal to expunge all the votes the APC allocated to themselves

    “Once you have votes up to 80,000 in Edo North, you have won. Whatever’s they have is a product of manipulation.”

    Inegbedion who is challenging the election of Senator Clifford Ordia of the PDP in Edo Central said he would prove malpractices and thump printing of ballot papers during the election.

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    He said he won the election.

    Omosede who lost to Dennis Idahosa of the APC said she won majority of lawful votes in the election and that the results were not a true reflection of the people of Ovia Constituency.

    Her words, “There are several grounds which we intend to challenge the election. First thing is the candidate of the APC. There are so many things we know that tell us he was not worthy to contest the election.

    “We want to contest the results which was not a reflection of Ovia Constituency. The people of Ovia came out to vote for the PDP. Where the discrepancies came from in Ovia South West were unfounded. I have several projects and there was no reason for us to lose the election.

    “This mandate will be recovered. We are going to prove that he is not worthy to be at the House of Representatives. I am asking the tribunal to declare me the winner.”

  • NASS: APC may retain 2015 zoning arrangement

    • Consultations on over S/East, S/South agitations

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) may stick to its 2015 zoning formula in picking the leadership of the incoming 9th National Assembly, according to feelers from the ruling party.

    Although there are ongoing moves to alter the existing zoning formula for various reasons and considerations, multiple sources told The Nation that leaders of the party may have resolved to retain the present arrangement.

    Consequently, the northeast will produce the Senate President and the Southwest Speaker of the House of Representatives.

    However, sources said that given the several alterations the initial zoning arrangement of 2015 was subjected to before it was truncated by NASS members led by Senate President Bukola Saraki and House of Reps Speaker Yakubu Dogara, the party will meet with elected national assembly members and other stakeholders next week to iron out the issue.

    It was also gathered that the majority of the members-elect, especially returning lawmakers, have agreed in principle, that the party should co-ordinate the emergence of the next leadership of the national assembly.

    “Most of them are of the opinion that the party, being the vehicle through which they all got elected, should provide leadership on the matter,” one source said.

    “At an informal meeting with the president and some leaders of the party, the members-elect, especially returning legislators, urged the party to put the process of deciding how the principal officers will emerge in motion immediately, promising to abide by the suggestions of the party in nominating the leadership of the two chambers of the assembly upon resumption,” the source added.

    The APC leadership, it was also gathered, is holding consultations with stakeholders on how to address the fears of the South-south and the South-east on the sharing of positions in the legislature.

    Some APC federal lawmakers from the two zones are understood to be interested in the senate presidency and other plum positions.

    One source said:”It is true the party has received some letters and deputations on the agitations of the two zones (South-south and South-east) seeking to be considered for certain positions in the national assembly.

    “We indeed appreciate these moves. It is in confirmation of our collective resolve to promote party supremacy in all we do as a way of strengthening our democratic experience the more.

    “Consequently, I can tell you that consultations and talks are ongoing with concerned stakeholders on how to address some of the issues being raised in such a way that everybody is fairly taken care of and the party is the better for it.

    “Don’t forget that there are minority positions too and we will not be involved in determining those ones.”

    Another top level source said: “With more zones, groups and individuals daily showing interest in the positions, the party is looking for the best way to handle the matter.

    “And one of the suggestions that have received wide applause and support is the idea of bringing back the zoning arrangement proffered in 2015 before Saraki and his supporters truncated efforts by the party to midwife a leadership for the assembly.

    “The presidency will remain the same in May 2019 as it was back then.

    “Those promoting the idea are saying since the zones that produced the president and the vice president will not change, the zoning arrangement shouldn’t change.

    “And a look at the members-elect revealed that the zones favoured by the 2015 arrangement can still boast of capable and reliable hands to man the principal offices if given the opportunities.”

    From the results of the national assembly elections so far released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the APC has the majority in the red chamber with 63 senators, followed by PDP with 38 while Youth Progressives Party (YFP) has a seat.

    Elections in seven other senatorial districts are inconclusive.

    In the green chamber, the APC also has the majority of members – 211.

    The PDP has 111 members while the remaining 16 seats are shared as follows: APGA – 6; African Democratic Congress (ADC)-3; Action Alliance (AA) -2; Peoples Redemption Party (PRP)-2; African Democratic Party (ADP) -1; Allied Peoples Movement (APM) -1; and Social Democratic Party (SDP) -1.

    Twenty-two seats are still up for grabs where elections were declared inconclusive.

    Make-up polls in the affected federal constituencies (excluding in Rivers State) have been fixed for March 23

    No matter the outcome of the supplementary elections, the APC will retain its majority in the two chambers; hence will provide leadership for the national assembly.

  • Saboteurs won’t be allowed to lead NASS, says Presidency

    The Presidency on Wednesday disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari and his government will not allow the emergence of saboteurs in the leadership of the ninth National Assembly (NASS).

    This was disclosed by a senior aide to the President on a condition of anonymity.

    According to him, the President will ensure that only persons selected by the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Working Committee (NWC) emerge as President of the Senate and other presiding officers of both the red and green chambers.

    Even as he declared that the President has no preferred candidates for the position of the principal officer of the parliament, he said that he is ready and willing to support the decision of the leadership of the party in line with worked out zoning arrangements.

    He said the presidency had never had it smooth with the relationship that existed between it and the leadership of the eight National Assembly and will therefore not sit to fold its arms while another set of unfriendly characters emerge in the next dispensation.

    He said “Be rest assured that the President will not micro-manage the process electing the National Assembly leadership but he will not allow the lawlessness that happened in 2015 to repeat itself.

    “The President will allow the decision of the party to remain supreme. Once the party zones the positions, he will give maximum support to it.

    “It is not like before, now, the decision of the party is supreme. You see what has happened to the two governors. In the past, this won’t have been possible.

    “What I can tell you is that the President doesn’t have any preferred candidates,” he said.

    At the beginning of the eight parliament, Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, had emerged against the arrangement of the APC leadership.