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Tag: Senate

  • Grazing Reserve Commission Bill not before us, says Senate

    Grazing Reserve Commission Bill not before us, says Senate

    Senate Committee on Rules and Business Chairman Senator Babajide Omoworare yesterday said no National Grazing Reserve Commission Bill is pending before the Senate.

    Senate spokesman Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe drew the attention of the upper chamber to the information making the rounds that the Bill had passed second reading.

    Omoworare, in a statement tagged “Official statement by the Chairman, Committee on Rules and Business”, said: “Several distinguished Senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria have been inundated with the request by members of the public concerning the pendency of a National Grazing Bill in the Senate.

    “This is to clarify that no such Bill has been presented by the Executive arm of Government and none has so far been filed by any Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the 8th Senate.

    ‘For the avoidance of doubt, a “National Grazing Reserve Establishment and Development Commission Bill’ (SB. 60) was presented by Senator Zainab Kure (Niger Central) during the 7th Senate (2011 – 2015) which has now expired by the operations of law on the 6th June 2015 in furtherance of Section 64(1) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.”

    Abaribe, at plenary yesterday, told his colleagues that he was bombarded with phone calls and text messages at the weekend by his constituents over the bill.

    Abaribe said, “Mr. President, I sought your leave and you gave me permission. This personal explanation has to do with several phone calls I received. If I have not gotten calls, I got more than 1,000 calls over the weekend.

    “This has to do with something that is not before the Senate; a phantom thing that is not before the Senate. Something called the Grazing Reserve Commission Bill.

    “Many people are calling me. Some people are sending me text messages to the extent that when I explained to some of my constituents who called me that there was no such Bill in the Senate, they turned round and said that the only reason you are saying so is that you never go to the Senate, you must be absentee-member.

    “When I asked where is this information coming from, they said the information is coming from the social media.

    “Mr. President, the last time a grazing reserve commission bill came to this Senate was in the 7th Senate and was proposed by Senator Zainab Kure, (wife of a former Niger State governor)  who is no longer in the Senate.

    “I have taken time to ask the clerk and every other person to say, where is this bill that has passed second reading?

    “So I would like the chairman of Committee on Rules and Business to tell this Distinguished Senate whether he passed the bill in our absence when we were not all sitting here and it went through second reading before it got here. That is all I have to say over this, Mr. President.”

    Senate President Bukola Saraki told Abaribe that his information was noted. Omoworare later issued the statement denying the existence of the bill.

     

  • Saraki won’t benefit from amendment of CCB/CCT Law – Senate

    Saraki won’t benefit from amendment of CCB/CCT Law – Senate

    The Senate on Tuesday clarified its position on the proposed amendment of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act.

    The upper chamber said the proposed amendment will not affect the ongoing case of its President, Bukola Saraki before the tribunal.

    A statement issued by Chairman of Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, said many of the comments on the proposed amendments were made by those who have neither read the bill nor understood the principles behind it.

    Abdullahi said since the Saraki case commenced in 2015, any amendment of the law in 2016 cannot retroactively affect an ongoing case.

    He added that the proposed amendment would still take a minimum of six months given the long process that law making requires.

    According to him, the processes include committee hearing, public hearing, report back to Senate committee of the whole, the concurrence in the House of Representatives and assent by the President at the final stage.

    He said, “There is no way we will even complete the process of finally effecting the amendments before the completion of the Saraki case. So those who read selfish or ulterior motives to this ordinary legislative activity are either mischievous or ignorant of legislative procedures.”

    Abdullahi noted that the sole aim of the amendment was to give effect to the right to fair hearing as enshrined in Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution and the recent pronouncements of the Supreme Court.

     

  • We bought 36 cars at N36.5m each – Senate

    The Senate on Tuesday said that it bought 36 Land Cruiser VXR V8 jeeps at N36.5 million each for its members.

    The upper chamber also said no member has taken the car loan granted them at the inception of the Eight Senate.

    The 36 cars at the rate of N36.5 million each give about N1.314 billion.

    Chairman, Senate Services, Senator Ibrahim Abdullahi Gobir, who handled the controversial car purchase deal, gave the explanation in Abuja.

    He said contrary to reports making the rounds that the Senate bought 108 cars for its members, only 36 cars were purchased by the upper chamber.

    The Sokoto East Senator told reporters that the explanation became necessary because of the need for Nigerians to understand what transpired and for the Senate to clear the erroneous impression created in the minds of most Nigerians about the car purchase.

    He described the 36 vehicles as “utility cars” distributed on one per state basis.

    Senator Gobir explained that the Senate during a closed session decided to buy the cars as utility cars for its members on one per state basis.

    He also said it is not true that the vehicles were purchased with the 2016 appropriation.

    According to him, funds for the purchase of the cars were in the 2015 appropriation.

     

  • Chibok girls: NSA, others meet Senators Wednesday

    Chibok girls: NSA, others meet Senators Wednesday

    The National Security Adviser (NSA), Babagana Monguno and other security chiefs will on Wednesday appear before the Senate to brief the lawmakers on their efforts to ensure the release of the abducted Chibok school girls.

    Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, announced this on Tuesday.

    Ekweremadu, who took over Senate plenary when the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, left the chamber for his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), asked Senators to attend the briefing by the NSA and service chiefs.

    He said the sitting scheduled to start at 1:00pm would be held behind closed doors.

    The Senate on April 14 invited the NSA and other security chiefs to brief the lawmakers on their efforts to secure the release of the abducted girls.

    The upper chamber also commended members of the Bring Back Our Girls group for their doggedness in the campaign for the release of the girls.

    It asked security agencies to do everything humanly possible to ensure that release of the girls.

  • Saraki presides over session ahead of CCT trial

    Saraki presides over session ahead of CCT trial

    Senate President , Bukola Saraki on Tuesday  briefly presided over the plenary session of the house  before leaving to attend his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) sitting in Abuja.

    He  came into the chambers at 10.48am and the session took off  with the opening prayer.

    Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, took over from Saraki when he left the seat.

     

    During the session, the controversy trailing a supposed bill to create a Grazing Reserve commission for cattle breeders in the country was raised by the Senator representing Abia South Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe..

    Abaribe, said to the best of his knowledge, there is no such bill by the name before the Senate.

    Senator Abaribe who came under personal explanation, told his colleagues that he was bombarded with phone calls and text messages at the weekend by his constituents who wanted to know how the bill scaled second reading in the Senate.

    He noted that his explanation to those who called him that there was no such bill before the Senate was discountenanced and dismissed as information coming from an absentee Senator.

    Abaribe recalled that the last time the Grazing Reserve Commission Bill came to the Senate was in the 7th Senate when Senator Zainab Kure who is no longer in the upper chamber proposed the bill.

    He said the bill sponsored by Senator Kure (PDP Niger South) failed to fly as it was roundly rejected.

    “When I asked where is this information coming from, they said the information is coming from the social media.

    “Mr. President, the reason I’m making this personal explanation is so that my constituents in Abia South, will know that there is no such Bill called Grazing Reserve Commission Bill before this Senate.

    “I have taken time to ask the clerk and every other person to say where is this bill that has passed second reading. How did it passed second reading in my absence and they said they also are in confusion, they have never seen such thing.

    “So I would like the Chairman of Committee on Rules and Business to tell this Distinguished Senate whether he passed the bill in our absence when we are not all sitting here and it went through second reading before it got here. That is all I have to say over this, Mr. President.”

    Responding,  Saraki, told Abaribe that his information is noted.

     

  • Nigerians in diaspora reject CCT act amendment

    The Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Scandinavia, Ayoola Lawal has described the ongoing attempt by the senate to amend the Code of Conduct Tribunal Act as a shameful and illegal act that must be resisted by all means.
    He made this known on Monday in a  press statement, stressing that members of the Red Chamber cannot be talking about amendment of the CCT Act when the present administration is fighting the main scourge of Nigeria, corruption, by all means.

    Ayoola noted that many constitutional lawyers have remarked that the project is dead on arrival because it is a constitutional matter and ‘the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria cannot be amended by an act of the National Assembly.

    Ayoola quoted one of the senior lawyers saying: “The sections they are trying to amend are clearly stated in the constitution and could only be reviewed through a legally acceptable constitution amendment process.”
    The Chairman, APC Scandinavia, also quoted a statement credited to Senator Biodun Olujimi (PDP-Ekiti State) on an online news source, during the second reading of the bill last Thursday.
    According to Ayoola, Olujimi said: “If you don’t assist your neighbor when his house is burning, it will extend to yours.”

    However, APC chief noted that the statement credited to Olujimi further confirmed the sentiment in the air that the senate are trying to suddenly change the law to save the senate president, Senator Bukola Saraki, who has been standing trial for alleged asset declaration.
    “It is a pity that such a comment could be credited to someone who claimed to be defending the mandate of his people and the integrity of the Nigerian state.
    “It will be insane for anyone to try to save just a neighbor when an entire institution that is a pillar to the nation will be under siege in such attempt. Such a statement calls for the appropriate authority and the citizens to put such a person or group of people under watch.

    “If the other members of the Nigerian senate can not stop the peddlers of the illegal act who are smearing the image of the senate of Nigeria, we will take the appreciate steps to in filing a case against them before the international community which Nigeria is a signatory member on such related matters.

    “Meanwhile, I implore we citizens to keep eyes on the people at the helms of affairs who are trying to take us backward wasting taxpayer’s money and playing politics devoid of morality and common sense.
    “Nigeria deserves men of integrity and honor with the fire of patriotism in the helms of affairs of legislation and across the board and not otherwise. God bless Nigeria,” he maintained.

  • Senate inflated cost of cars for members – NLC

    Senate inflated cost of cars for members – NLC

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Monday said the Senate leadership inflated the unit cost of the Toyota Land Cruiser jeeps it procured for Senators by over 100 percent, demanding that the cars be returned immediately to the suppliers.

    The NLC also accused the Senate of spending money without appropriation when it publicly admitted that its standing committees cannot carry out their functions due to paucity of funds.

    In a statement made available to The Nation in Abuja and signed by its President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, the congress said while the senate purchased each of the cars for N35.1 million, the actual market price of the vehicles stands at N17 million.

    The NLC said the Senate should prepare for a show down with Nigerian workers, civil society organisations, women groups and students if they fail to return the vehicles to the suppliers.

    The statement reads: “We consider appalling, insensitive and greedy the decision of the Senate to acquire 108 Toyota Land Cruiser jeeps (one for each member less the Senate President) after collecting car loans in August last year for the same purpose.

    “It is equally morally despicable and shameful that they are doing this after publicly admitting that the standing committees of the Senate are unable to perform their statutory functions due to paucity of funds.

    “We at the Nigeria Labour Congress equally consider it a willful and grievous criminal act, the inflation of the unit cost of each of the cars by over a 100 percent, as each car supposedly cost N35.1 million instead of N17 million.

    “Aside from this, Nigerians are keen to know from where they got money for the purchase of these cars without appropriation.

    “The defence offered by the Senate spokesperson, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, is laughable and childish. According to him, Special Advisers use jeeps, why not Senators or do Nigerians expect them to trek to work? And in any case, cars are capital projects!

    “Couldn’t this have been put to better uses such as the constituency projects of these same Senators?  At a time with severe economic challenges and deepening poverty in the land, can the Senate afford this level of reckless luxury and arrogance?

    “The answer is, “No.”

    “Their multiple acts of criminality, ranging from acquiring these cars after previously taking loans for the same purpose, spending money without appropriation and over inflating costs constitute not just corruption but a crime against the Nigerian people whom they claim to represent.

    “Accordingly, we demand they return those cars to whoever supplied them or the appropriate agencies prosecute them for corruption. In the event none of this happens, they should be prepared to keep a date with Nigerian workers and their civil society allies including market women and students. No one is above the law.”

  • CCB/CCT Act’s amendment: NLC, TMG, Falana slam Senate

    •SERAP petitions UN special rapporteur

    More criticisms yesterday trailed the planned amendment by the Senate of the Act establishing the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) described the amendment as a legislative ambush capable of scuttling Senate President Bukola Saraki’s trial.

    In a statement, entitled: “A Dangerous Amendment” by its President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, the congress said Nigerians believed that the amendment was aimed at scuttling the trial.

    The NLC said while the intention of the Senate might be noble and in line with their legislative function, the timing of the amendment calls to question the real intentions of the upper house.

    The statement reads: “It is quite intriguing that it took the trial of the Senate president for the Senate to discover the flaws in the law(s).  Putting it bluntly, despite the spirited defences by the deputy Senate president to the contrary, not a few believe that this legislative move is a desperate attempt to scuttle the trial of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, at CCT.

    “On our part, we do not think the privileges of the Senate president extend to exemptions from civil or criminal trials. At the moment, only the President and his deputy, the governor and their deputies enjoy this privilege. Thus, what the Senate is trying to do is no more than a legislative ambush.”

    The Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) urged the Senate to halt the desecration of the upper chamber of the National Assembly with the amendment.

    The TMG, in a statement in Abuja yesterday by its Chairman, Ibrahim Zikirullahi, said the amendment showed the level of desperation and the despicable extent to which legislators were willing to descend.

    “As far as we are concerned, Saraki’s trial at the CCT is his personal business.

    “ It is, therefore, a vexatious affront on the sensibilities of Nigerians that the weight of the legislature would be brought to bear in this disturbing attempt at given him political rehabilitation.

    “TMG frowns at this gangster approach to legislative business.”

    Also yesterday, Lagos lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) advised the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, not to lend his weight to the proposed amendment by the Senate.

    Falana told Dogara that the proposed amendments were illegal and unconstitutional.

    He argued that where the constitution already made provisions for an Act the National Assembly is seeking to amend, such new provisions would be regarded as invalid, duplication and inoperative.

    He contended that the CCB and CCT Act could not be amended without first amending the constitution and advised him and other members of the House to persuade the Senate to terminate the proposed amendments.

    The lawyer noted that when the Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Act 2000 was amended in 2003, following investigation allegations of corruption involving the leadership of the Senate, the Federal High Court set aside the amendment since it violated the constitution.

    Falana gave three reasons why the amendment proposed by Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, which the Senate passed the second time is unconstitutional.

    He said: “First, to the extent that the proposed amendment is designed to serve the interests of an individual, it is a violation of section 4 (2) of the Constitution, which has empowered the National Assembly to make laws ‘for the peace, order and good government of the federation or any part thereof…’

    “Second, notwithstanding that the Senate president has decided not to preside over the plenary in the Senate, whenever the bill is being debated, the whole exercise is a clear violation of Paragraph 1 of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers enshrined in Part 1 of the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution, which stipulates that ‘a public officer shall not put himself in a position where his personal interest conflicts with his duties and responsibilities’.

    “Third, Section 3 of the Act, which the National Assembly seeks to amend, has become spent. Senator Nwaoboshi was reported to have said that he was proposing an amendment to Section 3 of the Act to provide ‘for an opportunity for the person whose rights and obligations may be affected to make representations to the administering authority before that authority makes the decision affecting that person’.

    “With respect, Section 3 of the Act is in pari materia with Paragraph 3 (e) of Part 1 of the Third Schedule to the constitution. To that extent, Section 3 of the Act is inoperative and invalid in every material particular. In Attorney-General of Abia v Attorney-General of the Federation (2001) 17 WRN 1, the Supreme Court held: ‘Where the provision in the Act is within the legislative powers of the National Assembly, but the constitution is found to have already made the same or similar provision, then the new provision will be regarded as invalid for duplication and or inconsistency and therefore inoperative. The same fate will befall any provision of the Act which seeks to enlarge, curtail or alter any existing provision of the Constitution. The provision or provisions will be treated as unconstitutional and therefore null and void.”

    The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) yesterday said it petitioned United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights Prof. Philip Alston, asking him to request the Senate to withdraw the proposed amendments.

    In a petition by its Executive Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, the organisation argued that the proposed amendments, “if passed into law, would weaken the act, undermine the fight against corruption, exacerbate poverty and violations of internationally recognised human rights.”

    The organisation urged the Special Rapporteur to pressure the Senate to withdraw the amendments and ensure that a climate of legislative impunity and official corruption is not allowed to undermine the mandate of the Special Rapporteur to advance human rights and address poverty.

  • APGA denies endorsing Obi for Senate

    APGA denies endorsing Obi for Senate

    The Anambra State chapter of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has denied  endorsing former Governor Peter Obi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as its candidate for Anambra Central Senatorial District.

    APGA, through its Integrity Group, described the report as the figment of imagination of its writer and the height of political naivety.

    A statement yesterday in Awka, the state capital, by Great Martin-Kalu said the meeting by the Chief Maxi Okwu-led faction, which reportedly endorsed Obi as the party’s senatorial candidate after a town hall in Awka, was null and void because the former governor did not have the party’s support.

    The statement said: “APGA’s Integrity Group dismisses Shadrack Anakwue’s purported APGA ‘faction’ endorsement of former Governor Peter Obi of the PDP for senatorial bid as the figment of his fertile imagination and the height of political naivety.

    “It is obvious that there is no faction in APGA, following Chief Victor Umeh’s victory in the party’s leadership dispute at the Supreme Court on January 15, 2016. The issue of a ‘faction’ endorsing Obi against the party’s authentic candidate, Chief Victor Umeh, is mere grandstanding and outlandish.

    “While Anakwue is free to support the political ambition of any Nigerian, it is reprehensible and outrageous for him to use “APGA faction” to mislead unweary members of the public for his personal aggrandizement. More so,when effort is being made by the APGA National Leader, Governor Willie Obiano to reconcile aggrieved members of the party Nationwide.

    “It is clear that Peter Obi is not contesting Anambra Central Senatorial re-run poll as the Supreme Court has repeatedly declared in recent judgements on those qualified to contest. Obi is playing to the gallery, a mundane tactic to delay Victor Umeh’s victory as the forerunner in the senatorial election.”

     

  • CCT Bill: NBA chair, other lawyers slam Senate

    CCT Bill: NBA chair, other lawyers slam Senate

    Some lawyers in Lagos yesterday reacted to the ongoing amendment of the Code of Conduct Tribunal Act by the Senate, describing it as self-serving and unacceptable.

    The lawyers, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said the amendment was ill-timed and a breach of public trust.

    NAN reports that the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, is currently being tried for alleged false declaration of assets by the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

    The bill to amend the CCT Act, has within 48 hours, scaled the second reading in the Upper Chamber.

    Mr Dotun Adetunji, the Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association, Ikorodu Branch, Lagos State, said the amendment of the CCT Act at this point was a “shameful act.’’

    He said any amendment to a law based on vested interest was contrary to the rule of law and the ethics of good governance.

    “This action of the Senate while its president is undergoing trial at the CCT is a shameful act.

    “It is also a slap on the generality of Nigerians that voted them into office and a breach of the trust expected of them.

    “This move by the Senate will not put this nation in good standing in the international community,’’ he told NAN.

    According to him, the amendment of the CCT Act by the Senate will not in any way bring Nigeria close to a sane society.