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Tag: resign now

  • Emulate Akpabio, resign now, Kwara APC urges Saraki

    The Kwara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has called upon Dr. Bukola Saraki to toe the path of honour by relinquishing the office of the senate president he currently occupies since it is an office exclusively reserved for the party with majority members in the Senate.

    The party in a statement issued in Ilorin by its Chairman, Hon. Bashir Bolarinwa, said that “Members of the hallowed chamber must be truly distinguishable in character and conduct.

    “The path of honour was led by Distinguished Senator Godswill Akpabio who before defecting to the ruling party had honourably resigned as the leader of the minority party in the Senate.

    “It behoves Saraki as a distinguished senator, if he is one, to honourably resign from that office of trust. He should for once toe the path of honour and stop heating up the polity unduly.

    “Every man or woman in any political office must know that it is a trust he or she holds for the people. It is therefore expected that such personality should live above board.

    “Rather than toeing the path of honour, Saraki had apparently tried unsuccessfully to incite the unsuspecting public against the federal government through series of drama in the recent time.

    “Please recall how he led us in a make-believe opera that his official residence was besieged by police officers on instructions to forcefully arrest him and ultimately get him removed from office.

     

     

  • APC to Saraki: Resign Now

  • Resign now, Falana tells Saraki, others

    Right activist- lawyer Mr. Femi Falana, (SAN) has said lawmakers who defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) ought to resign from the legislature.

    In a statement made available to The Nation yesterday, Falana advised the defectors, who are mostly members of the Reformed- All Progressives Congress (R-APC), to seek a fresh mandate from the electorate.

    Fifty-three members of the National Assembly dumped the ruling party and moved to the opposition, with most of them citing division as their reason for leaving.

    Among the lawmakers were 37 members of the House of Representatives and 15 senators, including the Senate President, Bukola Saraki.

    Falana, however, stated that the defection of the governors of Benue, Kwara and Sokoto did not break the law.

    He condemned an alleged attempt by eight of the 30 members of the Benue State House of Assembly to impeach Governor Samuel Ortom.

    The activist also warned the All Progressives Congress (APC) to “drop forthwith” any impeachment moves against the Senate President, because it requires the support of a two-third majority of the Senate.

    Falana said: “No doubt, the members of the R-APC were dissatisfied with the running of the affairs of the APC, but they did not hold any parallel convention, which would have produced elected officials of the aggrieved members.

    “To that extent, the defection of the R-APC legislators from the APC to the PDP and ADC can be impugned under Section 68 (1) (g) of the Constitution.

    “However, since the APC had allowed legislators to defect from the PDP to join its fold in the recent past, the ruling party lacks the moral and political right to condemn the defection of the R-APC legislators.

    “But the crass opportunism of the APC cannot legitimise the prostitution of the political system. Having defected from the APC, which sponsored their elections, the R-APC defectors ought to resign from the legislative houses and seek a fresh mandate from the electorate.”

    Falana also argued that on the basis of a decided case, “…the defection of Governors Tambuwal, Ortom and Ahmed of Sokoto, Benue and Kwara states respectively from the APC to the  PDP cannot be said to be illegal or unconstitutional.”

  • Saraki, resign now

    SIR: The move and the boldness of 83 senators in passing a vote of confidence on the Senate President Bukola Saraki at the red chamber’s sitting of Tuesday 29 is scandalous to the integrity of the chamber, an affront to the sensibilities of Nigerians, the rule of law and also principles of morality. This is a man standing trial before the Code of Conduct Tribunal for alleged false assets declaration. One is bound to be ashamed that senators who should be distinguished in their actions could be seen to glorify criminality.

    It is sad that many of our distinguished senators have not changed from their old ways of handling sensitive national issues such as when their presiding officer, the Senate President is involved in a trial touching on acts of dishonesty, fraudulent disclosure or non-disclosure of his assets.

    If there be honour and integrity in the Senate, its president on being publicly put on trial ought to have stepped aside to await the end of his criminal trial and not to face the other way as if nothing happened. It is mischievous insisting that his travails are the handwork of the people he referred to as “powerful individuals, outside the legislature”. This is an infantile argument to distract attention and also to win the favour of his colleagues.

    The call for Saraki to throw in the towel is premised on the fact that the mandate he holds is that of his constituency but the public office he holds as Senate President is that of an institution belonging to all Nigerians. The Senate as per Dino Melaye may not be distracted by the actions of some powerful individuals outside the National Assembly, but Melaye should be be reminded that by the conventions of civilized democracies from where we learnt our democracy, Saraki would have long been asked to step down and not to taint the sensitive function of making laws.

    Again, to debunk Saraki’s argument that it is taking the government 13 years before bringing him to court, let it be known to him that the law does not prescribe timelines within which he could be tried.

    Finally, one wonders the probative value that the public would ascribe to laws made by a Senate whose head is standing trial on grave criminal allegation. The Senate as a responsible arm of government should act now to save the institution and the Nigerian state from public disparagement. Apart from Saraki, there are other well qualified senators from other sections of the country to pilot the affairs of the Senate. After all, Senator Evan Ewerem who started the senate presidency in 1999 did not in 2003 conclude it; neither did Senator Chuba Okadigbo who took over from him within the same senate session.

     

    • Chief Utum Eteng,

    Calabar.

  • Resign now, group tells Justice Folahanmi

    Resign now, group tells Justice Folahanmi

    A group, Oodua Nationalist Coalition (ONAC), has called on Justice Oloyede Folahanmi of the Osun State judiciary to resign.ONAC, which is a coalition of several pan Yoruba groups, said, since the judge was ready to defend the allegations made against the governor of the state, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, it is logical for her to resign from the bench to enable her defend the allegations without ‘institutional bias’.

    In a statement signed by its Deputy Chairman, Adeyemi Atiba, the group said the allegations raised by the judge would have full judicial and moral weight if only she resigned to defend the allegations in the court.

    The statement read in part: “There are serious legal and moral issues involved in the allegations raised by the judge. The best thing for her is to resign. Her resignation from the bench is necessary because we do not expect her to be a member of the same judicial institution that is expected to hear the allegations she has raised.

    She cannot be a sitting judge at the same time giving evidence in any court of competent jurisdiction or panel that the House of Assembly may wish to constitute.  “Justice Folahanmi will prove her commitment to any sense of decency if she quits the bench today and not a minute later. This is the right thing to do at the moment.

    She is now a witness, she cannot at the same time sit on the judiciary as a prosecutor. We want to see her throw in her resignation to be able to pursue the issues she has raised as a star witness.”It added: “We urge you, Justice Folahanmi to resign. There are outstanding allegations against the judge for the alleged ignoble role she played  in the tribunal led by Justice Naron which heard the petition against the Peoples Democratic People (PDP), following irregularities and graft at the Tribunal associated with the 2007 gubernatorial election in the state of Osun.

    In a related development, former national General Secretary of the Nigerian Union of Air Transport Employees, (NUATE) Comrade Abdulkareem Motajo, said the judge needs to prove that nonpayment of workers’ salaries is an impeachable offence.

    He said: “Everybody knows the governor as a sincere person. Some of his programmes are enduring.  The Opon Imo, the mega schools and mega highways are laudable projects which over all glory was affected by the dwindling revenue from the Federal Government.

    This affects 26 states of the federation not Osun alone.”Also speaking, the General Secretary of Nigerian Automobile Technicians Association, (NATA), said the allegations by the judge are ‘spurious’, adding: “She has no history of being an activist judge. In fact, she is a reactionary judge given her past and present pronouncements at the bench. For her to jump up to play the role of a hero suggests she is being used by some reactionary politicians.

    It speaks volume about the rot in the judiciary.”

  • Edo PDP to Ogbemudia: resign now

    The Edo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia to resign.

    It described the burnt section of the Ministry of Education as an act of sabotage to truncate investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on an alleged missing N320 million belonging to the State Universal Basic Education Board.

    Ogbemudia is a member of the Board of Trustees of the PDP and was recently appointed Chairman of the University of Abuja Governing Council.

    He drew the ire of the party following his statement that he led a delegation to beg Governor Adams Oshiomhole to join the PDP. The party had claimed that Oshiomhole begged to join twice.

    The PDP’s State Publicity Secretary, Matthew Urhoghide, at a briefing yesterday, accused Ogbemudia of indiscipline.

    He said: “If he feels that the party cannot caution him, then he should withdraw his membership.

    “Anybody who feels it is an insult to Ogbemudia should know that statesmanship has nothing to do with party affairs.

    “The message we sent across will be applicable to anybody no matter his status in the party.

    “If anybody in the party does Ogbemudia did, he will face the same thing.”

    Urhoghide, who displayed copies of the petition the party sent to the EFCC on the alleged missing N320 million, wondered why the mysterious fire razed the building housing certificates and financial transactions of the ministry.

    He said the fire was a ploy to hide the details of what happened at the ministry.

    The party also called on the government to reconsider its stand on the non-implementation of 27.5 percent Teachers Salaries Allowance (TSA) being demanded by the members of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT)