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Tag: remove

  • ‘Don’t induce senators to remove Saraki’

    THE leadership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the Presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC) of inducing senators to remove Senate President Bukola Saraki.

    The opposition party also alleged that the government was in the process of forcing the reopening of the Senate, contrary to Section 12 of the Senate Standing Rules.

    But the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Caucus and the South East Caucus in the House of Representatives have again warned their colleagues in the Senate to shelve any plot to remove Saraki and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu.

    In a statement yesterday issued by the House Deputy Minority Leader, Chukwuka Onyema, the lawmakers said some senators are planning an invasion of the Senate chamber in conjunction with security agencies.

    The Senate is presently on annual recess and is expected to resume session on September 25.

    The Presidency, however, said its call for the National Assembly to resume duties was to enable the federal legislature process the 2019 election budget for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    President Muhammadu Buhari had, a week before the National Assembly proceeded on its annual vacation, submitted a budget of N242 billion for the INEC for the consideration of the lawmakers.

    At a media briefing at its Abuja secretariat yesterday, the PDP queried the timing of the submission of the INEC budget seven months to the general elections.

    Besides, the party, through its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the Presidency did not have the powers to order or call for the reopening of the National Assembly, as suggested by the presidential liaison officer for the Senate, Ita Enang.

    Ologbondiyan said: “What Enang had done is just a mere wish. He does not have the power to order or call for the reopening of the Senate.  He is just expressing his personal wishes.

    “As a matter of fact, Senator Ita Enang had been the chairman of the Senate Rules and Business Committee both in the House and in and the Senate. Would he have listened to anybody from outside the chamber to come and dictate to the presiding officers?

    “It is unfortunate that people who have experience in legislative practices and procedures, when they get to the executive arm, instead of telling the executive the limit of their powers, they pretend to know it all,  and by so doing, they mislead the executives. That is exactly what Enang is doing.

    Also, the PDP caucus in the House of Representatives, in statement, said: “It has come to our attention that there is an impending plot by a small group of senators aided by security agencies to again invade the Senate Chamber with a view to illegally reconvening the Senate plenary.

    “Ostensibly, their purpose is to address what they term as urgent national issues. However, it is clear that their real purpose is an attempt to unlawfully oust the Senate leadership and effect a change of the Senate President and the Deputy Senate President.”

    The lawmakers said the trend of events “must be strenuously resisted by all true democrats and well-meaning Nigerians”.

    The South East Caucus in the House warned that it would hold Senator Ali Ndume and his group in the Senate responsible if Ekweremadu should meet with any harm.

    The caucus, in a statement yesterday by its leader, Onyema, accused Ndume of interfering in the statutory and professional job of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

  • ‘Remove procedural bottlenecks to boost justice delivery’

    Prof Fabian Ajogwu (SAN) is Nigeria’s first professor of Corporate Governance. In this interview with Legal Editor JOHN AUSTIN UNACHUKWU, he shares his views on the whistle-blowing policy, how to improve justice administration, corporate governance and ease of doing business.

    What is your  view on whistle-blowing policy?

    First of all, any good society should run on whistle-blowing; that is what a good neighbour does when he sees house-breaking occurring in a neighbour’s house elsewhere in the world and here. He or she is encouraged to dial 911 and tell the Police the suspicious character in the neighbourhood. So, whistle-blowing is as old as we would say, be your neighbour’s keeper.

    In the context in which it has been employed by the Federal Ministry of Finance, it is again something to commend the government and the minister for. But how well it is working? I wouldn’t know in terms of the figures.  I believe that it is a good thing to encourage people to speak up on things they had observed. My contribution would be that in most societies or institutions, the whistleblower needs to be protected with witness protection programmes, with things that do  not expose the whistleblower to subsequent  recrimination or harm.

    Are there challenges around the policy?

    Some wonder if the five per cent income from whistle-blowing is a normal income upon which he  could be taxed as personal income tax. If the whistleblower gets some money, is he going to make it part of  his  personal income or is there going to be another  legislation or framework that helps him not to be exposed for reason of declaring or filing tax returns based on those things? These are questions lawyers will put forward as suggestions to look into anytime there is policy reform or strengthening  this mechanism. On the whole, encouraging people to come out and say what they have observed is good neighbourliness. There could be abuses of whistle-blowing mechanism, such as a situation where somebody provides false information to the authorities that leads them to wild goose chase and waste of resources or inflicts misery or agony on a wrong suspect. I think that there should also be some mechanisms to discourage such negative behaviour.

    How can justice delivery be speeded up?

    Let us look at justice delivery system as the component of so many things.  First, you have got the rules of court; the statutes that are applicable. Second, you have got the administrative issues in the courtroom, filings, record keeping, document management and so on.  And then, we look at managing the case system. All of these things affect justice delivery system. So, if we start with the rules, Nigeria has essentially borrowed the procedural system of justice from Britain and that system focuses more on procedures – whether you brought an application under the right order; whether or not you followed a certain sequence of steps to get to where you are going.

    Sometimes you may lose your claims just for not complying with certain procedural rules as against the substantive system of justice, which America is very strong in. But the strange thing is that Britain from where we borrowed the procedural system has also reformed theirs to focus more on the substance rather than the procedure. So, one of the things that will help is a reduction in procedural bureaucracies to get things done.

    So, how do we improve justice administration?

    You then will ask: why will you file 15 copies of a document, for instance, before a court? Apart from the burden of storage space, it also creates the frustration of search, to find a particular document, to find a particular paragraph in that document. All of these things create delays. Whenever you increase trade and commerce, you also increase the potential for dispute so the courtrooms in 1980s will never be the same in 2018 and the reason is that you have to share volumes of case, disputes  in the numbers, in their volumes, quality and sophistication. The sophistications might overwhelm the systems.

    How?

    What it means is that the justice delivery systems need to retool to be prepared to deal with the increased number of cases, time sensitiveness of those cases, because the times have changed. Justice delayed, they say, is justice denied. And so the point being made is that we cannot just look at one side of the rules, we need to look at reforming the rules. We need to look at leveraging technology. You will find in the high court of justice elsewhere, you  call a particular case and the judge taps his system and is reading your pleadings, and not rummaging through paper work to find your file and processes. So, it is my belief that we need to take a holistic approach to reforming the justice delivery system to eradicate delays or at least, minimise them. It is in these delays that parties feel the frustration of going to court. In any system where you cannot determine your dispute within a short time, parties are wont to either take laws into their hands, or simply just lose hope in that system of disputes resolution, or they may go to other systems of dispute resolution mechanisms.

    What is corporate governance connection with economic and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth?

    Corporate governance, simply put, is about governance of the corporation. It is about providing a set of leadership, behavioural governance to an institution to ensure that it, first of all, meets its basic objective of delivering returns to the shareholders, and meeting the needs of other stakeholders that include the creditors,  employees, and the government, which have the tax stake. Every company has a silent shareholder, 30 per cent silent shareholder and that shareholder is the Federal Inland Revenue Service ( FIRS).

    So, the government has a stake in more businesses being set up and run properly. Corporate governance in Nigeria at the moment does have the primary code of the Securities and Exchange Commission; the national code as being much-talked about is somewhere in limbo. We also have some other industry codes like the Nigerian Communications Commission  (NCC) code, the PenCom code, the insurance industry code. All these have one thing in common: they place a duty on the directors of a  company to ensure that the resources of the company are used properly and fairly to pursue its objective  and ensure that the accounts that they render have integrity; that people can rely on them.

    How do Alternative Disputes Resolution mechanisms (ADR) influence  the ease of doing business?

    You would note that one of the things that investors look for in any environment is integrity of the legal system, in terms of their ability to determine their disputes fairly, who is liable and who is not, in the case of disputes and the timeliness of so doing. Just the same way the current administration is paying a lot of emphasis on the ease of doing business, making business more efficient, is the same way that the investor also craves for the ease of determining disputes. It is almost like a twin pack; it needs to go with the ease of doing business because if you do the business and things go wrong, your next need will be to determine who is right  or who is wrong as quickly as possible. Now here comes the importance of time tested alternative disputes resolution mechanisms and the prime among them is arbitration.

    How has the practice of arbitration developed in Nigeria?

    The practice of arbitration in Nigeria has come of age, but is not where it ought to be considering that we have had the Arbitration and Conciliation Decree, which is now an Act of the National Assembly since 1998. You will then expect that after 30 years, many things have changed in the world. We are still using the same Arbitration and Conciliation Act. It is due for reforms because a lot of decisions have come up that have shown from other jurisdictions that they need to change a few things for expediency and efficiency.

    So, the first need in that sector is to amend the Arbitration and Conciliation Act. The process is ongoing but we do hope that it won’t remain ongoing but will be concluded preferably this year. Now when we get it right with arbitration, obviously the advantages are numerous, they are much quicker, you can conclude hearings in a day or two, and you could give awards within two months to three months. The preliminaries are resolved electronically through e-mails, filing is done electronically by mails. Where the parties agree, there is no undue publicity, so it is done in private, and parties are obliged to maintain confidentiality of it. You will then see that the environment enables efficiency.

    Recently the Federal Government made a policy statement to enhance the ease of doing business in the country. What is your reaction to this?

    I think that this something that we need to commend the administration for. Reducing the bottlenecks in doing business not only helps the investor, but also quickens the revenue cycle for government and for the investors. The  sooner you can start your business, the quicker you can start  employing  people. The sooner you can get your license,  the quicker you can start transacting and with those transactional taxes like Value Added Tax  (VAT), Withholding Tax that improves the revenue of governments, there is nothing that is better than making a process that can take seven days happen in one day. If for anything, the people who profit are those who will pretend to be able to reduce from seven to three by offering  you a private quick service in exchange for money that doesn’t go into our collective revenue purse. So, it is a very good initiative, but I think there are still so many areas that need to be touched and this is where the role of lawyers  and practitioners come in. We then need  to point out the different areas that we experience difficulties and articulate how they can be made easier by sending those to the people in authority.

    Can you make any specific recommendations to this effect?

    One of the examples  I had pointed out in the past is changing the system  of publishing journals for trade marks. The journals are only published when they collect enough to publish and then they take a long while to print. It is expensive to print them and then to circulate them. Even at that, the circulation is limited to localities  where you can physically deliver them to.

    What is your advice for the young lawyer in a globalised world?

    The young lawyer is  the person who will carry the baton of  professional leadership  to the future. So the young members of the profession are indeed the future senior members of the profession and they are the ones to pass on the tenets of the profession. It always gives me joy to see them  and my advice to them would be  that there is never a shortcut to success, and that doing things well might seem difficult in the beginning but it ultimately pays. It is called deferred gratification which is what the principle of eternal happiness runs on. That you deprive yourself here on earth, work well and there will be reward in heaven. Deny yourself of some of the irrelevancies and focus on learning, substantive law, procedural law and good advocacy, be a good transactional lawyer, understand peoples skills to be able to get along with them, respectfully disagree with people, be obedient to your seniors, be humble to your juniors and all of these things make what you will call a great lawyer. You cannot be a successful professional if you are not a disciplined professional and so my massage is yes, the challenges may be far more  difficult today than it was in my time and I do appreciate that, but also  there are now far more tools to work with today than in my time. Through search engines, laws of the federation can easily be accessed on your phone. But with the deluge in information also comes the reluctance to bend down and read it  in the old ways like we did it. The first female distinguished learned  Senior Advocate of Nigeria,  Chief Folanke Solanke (SAN) and I have put a book together  called Oral and written advocacy law and practice and it sets out some of the traditional things about advocacy. I recommend that to  our colleagues and also let the young lawyer try and find that senior member of the profession that he or she admires and get a mentoring relationship with this person, it helps. I can say so for sure for myself and I think that for some that I am in a mentoring relationship with, I see the impact on them and it gives me joy.  I think that this kind of relationship should continue from generation to generation.

  • ‘Remove black spot label on Warri Port’

    A maritime operator, Mr. Simon Asite, yesterday urged the Federal Government to prevail on the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to remove the black spot label placed on Warri Port.

    Asite, president of Delta Association of Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (DACCIMA), told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Warri, Delta State, that the port was labelled a ‘black spot’ in the heat of unrest in Warri years ago.

    He said the removal would convince global maritime operators that peace had been restored to the city.

    Asite noted that this will have a multiplier effect on maritime activities when the Warri/Escravos Bar is dredged.

    “Dredging the Warri/Escravos bar is one thing, but there is also need to correct the erroneous impression that Warri Port is not safe for business.

    “The black spot label placed by the IMO has prevented Baco Liners (vessels that carry containers) from sailing into the port.

    “It is my appeal to the Federal Government to prevail on the IMO to remove this label.

    “When this is done, the global maritime industry will see that Warri is peaceful and free for maritime activities,’’ he said.

    The DACCIMA chief alleged that the rumours of insecurity in Warri were a negative ploy by people to malign the oil-rich city.

    “The Federal Government should ignore the negative rumours that Warri has security challenges.

    “Some people are benefiting from the wrong information; they are reaping so much from the Federal Government and oil companies.

    “For instance, the petroleum depots in Warri, Sapele, Oghara and Koko will not function if there are security challenges, yet they are functioning.

  • Court strikes out suit seeking to remove Tambuwal

    Court strikes out suit seeking to remove Tambuwal

    Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the Federal High Court, Abuja, has struck out suit filed by Senator Umaru Dahiru which sought to remove Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto State on the ground that the primary elections which produced the defendant as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress was faulty and marred by irregularities.

    The ruling took all those at the court by surprise because today’s sitting was for a ruling on an application to amend the originating summons which the court was mandated to seat over by the Supreme Court.

    Justice Gabriel Kolawole struck out the suit after declaring that the original suit was not found in the file, adding that the applicant did not make them available.

    At the last sitting of the court on February 28, counsel to Dahiru, Mr Ikoro I. Ikoro, argued and sought to amend the originating summon filed against Tambuwal, the APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) before the April 11, 2015 governorship election.

    In the amendment Dahiru prayed to court to remove Tambuwal from office and declare him as the winner of the December 2014 APC Primary Election.

    He also asked the court for an order compelling INEC to withdraw the certificate of return issued to the governor present it to him on the grounds that he was the lawfully elected candidate of the APC at the primary election.

    However, in his objection to the application, Counsel to APC, Mr Jubrin Okutepa (SAN), asked the court to dismiss the request for the amendment. He said his objection was on grounds that it is not in compliance with the Supreme Court Judgment of Dec. 9, 2016, which ordered a retrial of the plaintiff’s case.

    Okutepa argued that the applicant (Dahiru) had changed the character and direction of his earlier originating summon. He also said that the applicant sought to amend the originating summon because of his sudden discovery that event had overtaken the initial originating summon.

    The counsel added that any attempt to allow the amendment will amount to an affront to the Supreme Court Judgment of December last year.

    Okutepa further argued that the applicant was not consistent in the reliefs been sought in the proposed amendment as in the originating summon, the applicant had asked the court to nullify the APC primary election.

    He said this was on grounds that it was unlawfully conducted and that the same applicant cannot seek to be declared winner of the said unlawfully conducted primary election. The counsel therefore urged the court to refuse the amendment and allow hearing in the initial originating summon as directed by the Supreme Court.

    Counsel to Tambuwal Sunday Ameh (SAN) aligned himself with the submission of the APC and urged the court to hold that the amendment been sought by the governorship aspirant is unmeritorious.

    The counsel insisted that it is too late in the day for the applicant to seek the relief after the governorship election had been conducted, adding that the proper place for the applicant to ventilate his anger is the election petition tribunal.

    Ameh also submitted that the applicant cannot even go to any election petition tribunal because the 21 day required by law under which a petition can be filed to challenge the election of any declared winner had lapsed since 2015.

    He also prayed the court to refuse the temptation of turning itself to an election petition tribunal as there is no law for such an action.

    Justice Gabriel Kolawole after taken arguments from both parties fixed March 10 to give ruling on whether to allow or refuse the proposed amendment sought by the former governorship aspirant.

    In his ruling Friday, the judge said the amendment being sought could not stand because the court was not in possession of the original case file.

    He therefore struck it out accordingly.

  • How to remove jigger

    (Baba Lekki solves a political riddle for the nation)

    A few days after Okon made irreverent and saucy remarks about some Yoruba obas collecting dollars, particularly about a dullard and his dollars being easily parted, Yoruba nemesis caught up with the mad boy. In horrible and excruciating pains, the crazy boy had limped into Baba Lekki’s presence in his new found hideout under the bridge that separates the two Omole housing estates in full view of a police patrol unit. As usual, the old curmudgeon was enveloped in a thick pall of smoke from prohibited weeds and was having a hell of a time so to say eyeing the police people with sublime contempt.

    “Baba, you still dey smoke dis yeye tin when Okon wan die? Dem ogbologbo Yoruba oba don curse Okon. I no fit sleep for night again. I get dis yeye tin for my left toe which dem Yoruba dey call jega. De thin wan call kill me. For night him dey crawl gbigigbigi and him dey cry for food. He be like if say he wan chop Okon finis sef. I go see one yeye Yoruba herbalist for Gbagada and him say make I dey rub dem thin dey call aboniki. Naim I come beat dat one silly. Him come dey cry say him be tailor for Majidun” the mad boy moaned in considerable distress.

    “Okon, you are a fool. You have what is known as jigger,”  Baba Lekki crowed with considerable relish at the boy’s discomfiture as he eyed the boy’s distended toe.

    “Baba, weda na jiga or jega, I no sabi dat one, na dem foolish Yoruba witches sabi. Baba so how I go remove dis yeye tin?” Okon groaned.

    “You send it on terminal leave prior to full retirement. That way the pains will subside and so will the polls”, Baba Lekki interjected with icy and magisterial malice as his lips parted into a sadistic grin.

    “Baba let we tell you. I no dey care about dem gbarogudu grammar. I dey pains. He be like if say dem dey put sewing machine inside my head”, the crazy boy yelled at the old man, a tad threateningly.

    “Okay, okay Okon, to remove jigger please remove your dirty trousers and cut off your leg from the hip with a cutlass”, Baba Lekki intoned with a mischievous twinkle.

    “Baba, no be say Oko kaput be dat?” Okon queried with a rueful look.

    “Ha, if you no sabi how to remove Jega you must sabi how to cut your leg”, Baba Lekki rumbled with malignant mirth. At this point, there was a loud explosion and some shouting in the distance.

    “Baba, he be like if say dem OPC people don dey come. I been dey hear say dem Jonathan come give dem plenty cutlass and obonge gun and boku coffins. As dem kill dem Yoruba people make dem dey put dem for inside coffins”.

    “Kai, kai I no wan enter dem coffin. Dem carpenter boy dem dey call Gani no sabi make better coffin again. Him don chop dodo and obokun fish and him head no correct again”, Baba Lekki shouted and scampered away, leaving Okon stranded with his jigger.

  • Still on the plot to remove Jega

    SIR:  The clandestine plan to remove Professor Attahiru Jega as chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission is rife in spite of the denial by the Presidency. But why is this government full of guile? There is no doubt that the tenure of Jega ends on June 30 and the rescheduled general elections are less than four weeks now.

    Are they not inviting anarchy if Jega is illegally removed through the civil service rule? Can a retired civil servant be reappointed? No. But an INEC Chairman can.

    Also, whoever takes over may want more time to do the dagger-man’s job which they would want him to execute. However, any further change in the dates of elections will violate the constitution and the electoral law. Covert or overt action taken to tinker with the rescheduled dates is not only criminal but dangerous. The handwriting is conspicuous; the ruling party is fighting tooth and nail to retain power. Man’s greatest battle is the one he fights against himself. Jega’s INEC was the cherubic chum of the Presidency and PDP in Anambra, Ondo and Ekiti states’ gubernatorial elections; its electoral dish has now become stale. Jega has suddenly become a xenophobic umpire!

    It is now imperative for the President to banish the pseudo-political analysts to purgatory of psychosis. A man’s friends are innumerable when his hands are dripping with honey but they all disappear the moment such hands begin to bleed. Nigeria is greater than all of us and the selfish ambitions of the few among us.

    Today, what Chief Simeon O. Adebo said in July, 1969 summarizes our “modus vivendi”: “We live in troublous times. Look where you will, there is hardly a spot where there is stable peace, where there is not actual fighting there are grave tensions, where the tensions are not international they are local”.

    It is only President Goodluck Jonathan that can douse the looming conflagration by allowing Jega to complete the job he started four years ago shortly after the 2011 general elections. No political chicanery can change May 29, handover date.

     

    • Adelani Olawuyi

     Odooba – Ogbomoso,

    Oyo State

  • House to IG: remove Rivers police chief

    House to IG: remove Rivers police chief

    The House of Representatives has passed a resolution asking the National Assembly to take over the functions of the Rivers State House of Assembly because the lawmakers can no longer function properly.

    The resolution was passed after a passionate debate on the disruption of the affairs of the state assembly.

    The lawmakers also asked that Inspector General of Police Mohammed Abubakar should immediately redeploy River State Police Commissioner Mbu Joseph Mbu for his alleged dereliction of duty and inability to continue to provide unbiased security for democratic structures in the state.

    Relevant rules of the House were suspended to allow for the adoption of the votes and proceedings for onwards transmission of the resolutions to the Senate for concurrence.

    The senate concurrence is needed for the resolution to be lawful.

    The resolution of the House was sequel to the adoption of the amended resolution of a motion brought by the Chairman of House Committee on Rules and Business Albert Sam- Tsokwa.

    While arguing the motion titled: “ Threat to democracy and inability of the Rivers State House to sit and transact legislative business”, Tsokwa said:

    “On July 9, 2013, it was widely reported that hoodlums and thugs aided by five out of 32 Honourable members of the House of Assembly of Rivers State invaded the House of Assembly of Rivers State and beat up other Honourable members of the House of Assembly of Rivers State, with one of the five members of the House seizing a gun from a policeman and threatening other members of the House.

    “The House of Assembly of Rivers State had on previous occasions tried to hold its normal sittings and transact parliamentary business but was unable to do so as a result of the presence of hoodlums in the precincts of the House and the inability of the Police to provide the legitimate authorities of the House with Security.”

    The lawmaker expressed worry that the Rivers State Police Command which had pledged to provide security for the sitting of the House “watched the violence unleashed on members of the House of Assembly without any form of intervention.”

    According to Sam- Tsokwa, a situation where the Commissioner of Police, Rivers State is alleged to have taken sides, and five out of a thirty-two members procured thugs and hoodlums to disrupt the sitting of the House and prevented the House of Assembly from performing its constitutional functions, is worrisome.

    He expressed concern that five out of the thirty-two members purportedly attempted unsuccessfully to remove the Speaker and leadership of House of Assembly adding that if the situation prevailing in the Assembly of Rivers State is allowed to continue, “it will lead to a serious threat to our democracy which Nigerians fought hard to earn.”

    Sam-Tsokwa urged said the National Assembly has a duty to invoke its authority under Section 11(4) of the Constitution adding that given the laid out scenario, the House of Assembly of Rivers State may be unable to perform its Constitutional functions.

    His presentation elicited passionate debates from 18 members who spoke for and two who spoke against.

    Bimbo Daramola (ACN Ekiti) said “The commissioner of Police in Rivers is fueling it. The Inspector- General of Police should take the guy out of the place.”

    Minority Leader Femi Gbajabiamila ( ACN Lagos) said the five errant lawmakers in the Rivers State House of Assembly should be charged with treason.

    He said: “The country spoke with one voice a few days ago against what happened in Egypt. Would the world not now say, physician, heal thyself? Section 1 subsection 2 of the Constitution describes exactly what has happened in Rivers. In that section lies the offence of treason. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it is a duck. What happened in Rivers is a democratic coup and we should treat it as such.”

    He urged that Section 215 (4 ) of the Constitution be amended to give the governor the power to exclusively direct the Commissioner of Police in such circumstances.

    Garba Datti, Deputy Minority Whip (CPC Kaduna), said the crisis in the state is planned and that the Police Commissioner “is working under instruction.” He added that President Goodluck Jonathan “knows what is happening in the state.”

    Yakubu Dogara (PDP Bauchi) described the event in Rivers State as a “grave situation,” adding that it is an attempt at “brinksmanship.”

    He added: “This is an attempt by the authority to make Rivers State ungovernable in order to impose a state of emergency. The House should stand against this new threat to democracy. As members who subscribed to an oath to defend the constitution we must take a stance on it. We should invoke the constitutional mechanism in Section 11 (4) to ensure that the they people of Rivers are constitutionally protected.”

    Others who supported the motion include Nmena Elendu- Ukeje, Abike Dabiri- Erewa, Eziuche Ubani, Oluchi Ibeji, Aminu Suleiman, Simon Erabo, Robinson Uwak, Ogbuefi Ozomgachi, Ali Madaki, Ali Ahmed, Peter Edeh, and Idris Legbo Kutigi.

    However, Ken Chikere ( Rivers PDP) and Kingsley Chinda (Rivers PDP) expressed contrary opinions saying it is wrong to take over the Assembly.

    Ken Chikere said: “What is happening in Rivers is unfortunate. Even when you say an arm of government has taken sides, we must look at it from a dispassionate perspective.”

    Two amendment by Emmanuel Jime ( PDP Benue) carried the day. The resolutions were that the House should resolve that the Inspector General of Police redeploy the Rivers State Commissioner immediately for dereliction of duty and that the National Assembly, pursuant to the provisions of section 11(4) of the Constitution declare that the Rivers Assembly is unable to perform its function and the National Assembly takes over its function.

    The resolution was overwhelmingly supported when the Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha, who presided over plenary asked for a voice vote.

  • Governors reject Jonathan’s bid to remove Amaechi

    Governors reject Jonathan’s bid to remove Amaechi

    Forum’s election put off till May

    It was a simple gathering of governors to elect their forum’s chairman.

    But the Abuja meeting turned out to be more – a verbal war between two governors and a retreat by President Goodluck Jonathan – backed opponents of Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) chairman.

    All was tense. After four hours, the governors postponed the election till May.

    The bad blood generated by the Presidency’s move to oust Amaechi and the insistence of his supporters to ensure he continues defined the meeting.

    Faced with a defeat of its bid to remove the Rivers State helmsman, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) formed its own Governors’ Forum on Sunday night under the leadership of Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio.

    It was learnt that anti-Amaechi forces proposed the postponement for time to restrategise.

    The anti-Amaechi forces secured only 16 signatures out of the 36 governors at the start of the meeting. They needed 24 signatories for two-thirds or 19 for simple majority.

    Reading the communique at the end of the meeting, Amaechi said: “We, the governors of the 36 states of the Federal Republic of Nigeria at our 3rd meeting of the year held on Monday 25th February, 2013, at the Rivers State Governor’s Lodge, Abuja, deliberated on a number of issues and resolved as follows:

    “Members reviewed the affairs of the Forum in the past 21 months, detailing activities, achievements and challenges experienced during the period.

    “After exhaustive deliberation of the issues regarding filling vacant positions, the Forum resolved that election in this regard be postponed until May when the Chairman’s initial two-year tenure will expire.”

    Akpabio said: “We thought that the election should be held in May so that by that time, the new leadership will start functioning immediately after they are selected, elected or by consensus they are brought into office.”

    “This is almost a committee of equals. Anybody can be chairman or vice chairman. So, it is not a big deal for us.”

    On the newly-formed PDP Governors Forum, he said: “We are going to ensure total unification of the PDP. This time around, we want to put our house in order.”

    “While the Chairman of NGF can speak for all of us, the PDP Forum will only speak for the PDP governors.

    Anambra State Governor Peter Obi said: “The meeting went very well. The reason why we postponed the meeting is that our Constitution says the chairman must give a detailed account of his activities during his tenure before the election.”

    “And today, that account was presented. The incumbent has the right to recontest as long as our Constitution is not amended,” he said.

    The low point of the meeting was when Akpabio and Niger State Governor Aliyu Babangida engaged in a shouting match over the formation of the PDP Governors Forum.

    A source, who spoke in confidence, said the session was characterised by tension on both sides of the divide. Amaechi was presiding.

    It was gathered that the tension followed a series of caucus meetings attended by the governors preparatory to the session.

    The source said: “Both sides had perfected their strategies, but the atmosphere was war-like for the conduct of an acceptable election.

    “As a matter of fact, discussions on the desirability of the election got to a point that the newly-elected chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom and the chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, engaged in a shouting match at the session.”

    A source, who pleaded for anonymity, said: “The two governors almost engaged in fisticuffs when Aliyu stood up to make his views known on the formation of PDP Governors Forum at the Presidential Villa on Sunday night.

    “The Niger State Governor said there was no basis for forming the PDP Governors Forum. He told his colleagues that there was no problem running the NGF and if anybody has a contrary opinion, he can raise any issue for resolution at the forum. He described the PDP Governors Forum as a deliberate move by the Presidency to split the Nigeria Governors Forum and turn it into a tool to be used.

    “Aliyu repeatedly said ‘by forming another forum within a forum, it means forces from outside are at work. He said he saw that a dictator was going to emerge in President Goodluck Jonathan.

    Akpabio replied: “The PDP Forum was formed with the consent of party leaders in order to keep the party united.

    “There is nothing wrong with it. After all, you are the chairman of the Northern Governors Forum. Is there anything wrong with that? Has Northern Forum divided the NGF?

    “The President or the PDP is not using anybody.”

    “The shouting match between the two governors was so serious that some governors started packing their files, preparatory to leaving the venue of the meeting because they did not want to be part of the mess.

    “At that point, the two governors embraced each other. I think they raised their voices against each other as a carry-over of their irreconcilable positions on Jonathan’s second term ambition.

    “While Akpabio is for Jonathan’s second term, Aliyu recently reminded the President to stick to the one-term pact he signed with PDP governors. So, a minor issue at the meeting led to the shouting march.”

    The source added that the poll shift was at the instance of anti-Amaechi forces who sensed a loss at the meeting.

    The source said: “It was apparent to the forces against Amaechi that they might not secure two-thirds majority or a simple majority to remove the Rivers State Governor.

    “Prior to the commencement of the meeting, they were collecting signatories and they secured 16 out of 36, with only an opposition governor against Amaechi.

    “They also came to the meeting with a joker to make Katsina State Governor Ibrahim Shema the new Chairman of the NGF. All their permutations failed like a pack of cards. The pro-Amaechi governors also had a Plan B to make Aliyu the next NGF leader, in case of worst scenario.

    “In the midst of the commotion, Akpabio stood up to move a motion for the postponement of the election till May.

    Akpabio was quoted as saying: “Why are we in hurry to conduct this election? After all, the tenure of the chairman of the Forum will end in May.

    “The election has heated up the polity, as if we are fighting each other. Let us hold the election in May when this tension would have died down.”

    The source added: “The proposal from Akpabio was seen as an olive branch from the forces against Amaechi and it was unanimously adopted that the election be postponed till May.”

    Asked why the pro-Amaechi governors agreed to the postponement, the source said: “We knew Amaechi’s opponents forces would have staged a walk-out, if we had gone ahead with the election.

    “They did not have the number but they can create a crisis within the Forum and split it. This thing requires tact.”

    Some of the states represented at the meeting are Borno, Lagos, Rivers, Delta, Niger, Enugu, Bayelsa, Zamfara, Ebonyi, Ondo, Anambra and Abia.

    Others are: Plateau, Nasarawa, Ekiti, Benue, Sokoto, Gombe, Kano, Kogi, Adamawa, Jigawa, Imo, Edo, Kwara, Ogun, Osun and Katsina.