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Tag: Senate

  • Senate passes N271b FCT, NCC, NDDC budgets

    The Senate passed yesterday N271 billion as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) budget for this year’s fiscal year.

    Of the sum, N161,804,111,031 is for the capital expenditure and N109,238,434,881 for recurrent expenditure.

    A breakdown of the recurrent expenditure shows that N60,03,490,023 is for overheads and N49,200,944,858 for personnel cost.

    The approval of the budget followed the Upper Chamber’s consideration of the report of the Senate Committee on FCT.

    The capital expenditure is expected to take care of the expansion and rehabilitation of Airport and Kubwa Expressways and the provision of infrastructure in the districts, such as Jabi, Wuye, Maitama Extension and Abuja Northwest.

    There is also a provision for the opening of new districts in the FCT, such as Kyami, Mbora, among others.

    The budget provides N2 billion for the construction and completion of various engineering infrastructure projects in the satellite towns of the territory.

    The Senate also passed N52.5 billion and N322.6 billion as budgets of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

    The NDDC’s budget comprises of N15.08 billion for personnel expenditure, N9.9 billion for overhead cost, N1.912 billion for Internal Capital expenditure and N295.63 billion for development projects.

    The NCC’s budget comprises of N14.8 billion recurrent expenditure, N15 billion capital projects, N3.4 billion special projects, N10.8 billion transfers to the Federal Government and N8.4 billion for Universal Service Provision Fund.

  • Okorocha, Senate and Charly Boy

    Within the last two weeks or so, Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State has found himself embroiled in some controversy. During the burial church service of erudite legal icon, Justice Chukwudifu Oputa in his country home Oguta, the first son of the late Justice, Charles Oputa alias Charly Boy reportedly snatched the microphone from the officiating priest after he had called on Okorocha to speak thus preventing him from addressing the distinguished audience. Charly Boy rationalized his action on the grounds that he did not want his father’s burial to be politicized.

    A visibly enraged Okorocha was said to have maintained his cool and later left the church with his entourage. Charly Boy’s strange conduct no doubt, took the audience by surprise and adversely affected the entire burial arrangement as many of those in attendance did not bother to follow the corpse to its final resting place.

    Imo State government has since been griping over the incident. It did not only deprecate Charly Boy’s conduct but has gone ahead to adduce reasons why he acted the way he did. In a well publicized statement, the state government went at length to show that before the burial day, there was no misunderstanding between Charly Boy, the Imo State government or Governor Okorocha. The only matter, for which the government initially disagreed with the Oputa family they said, was the burial programme which the government considered lopsided and subsequently set up a new committee that came up with a more befitting programme.

    It therefore came to the seemingly inevitable conclusion that Charly Boy “acted out an ill-motivated script drafted by some politicians from the state, based in Abuja who have sworn to disturb the peace of the state”. For the government, those who sponsored this ‘coup’ inside a church were intimidated by the hilarious ovation that greeted the earlier introduction of the governor and they feared a repeat should Okorocha be allowed to speak.

    The state government is within its rights to view the matter the way it chooses. This is especially so given that the incident showed no respect for the office of the governor. If Okorocha is seriously piqued by that treatment, his feelings ought to be appreciated. He is the governor of the state and deserves all the respect that goes with that office. To have been publicly prevented from speaking at that occasion and inside the church, Charly Boy showed scant regard for his high office and should be condemned by all right thinking people. It was a bad example of how to pay last respect to his distinguished father.

    Yet, it is difficult to swallow hook, line and sinker the claim by the government that his conduct was the outcome of a script crafted for him by politicians from Imo State in Abuja. If Charly Boy could be so induced to sabotage the burial of his father, he should solely take the responsibility for his action.

    Before that day however, the state government had entered into an altercation with Charly Boy over its claim that it had doled out about N20million to the family for the burial. The issue was within the public domain.

    Since after that burial, Charly Boy has granted press interviews in which he made clear his grouse with the government. He told anybody who cared to hear that the family was angered by the manner the state government went public to announce its monetary contributions for the burial. He was also not enthused that the government never made any contact with him before Okorocha went to their family house in Oguta shortly after his father’s death and in his absence. All these are matters of public knowledge.

    If Charly Boy has given these as his reasons for the unruly conduct, simulating imaginary enemies writing a script for him to embarrass the governor strikes as a very cheap proposition. It is also curious why the state government ignored these grouses when it claimed it had no issue with Charly Boy prior to the incident. Yet, all these cannot justify the treatment he gave the governor at that church ceremony.

    That government is also mired in another controversy over its alleged plans to register and issue identity cards to northerners in the state to guarantee free movement. The matter came up in the senate with the upper chamber condemning the plan. It went ahead to call on security agencies not to cooperate with the Imo State government in this nebulous plan.

    The state government did not take kindly to the reprimand, contending that it came after it had refuted the existence of the plan. It asked for apology from the senate and accused political opponents of being the purveyors of the purported registration plan.

    But the senate rebuffed that idea of an apology with some of its members insisting there was sufficient evidence to show that such a policy was in the offing. Amidst this, there was the speculation that the plan to register northerners was at the instance of the northern community as part of their contributions to ensuring their ranks are not infiltrated by dangerous elements in the wake of heightened security concerns in the state.

    If this was so, the state government ought to have owned up to that reality. Had it done so, perhaps, the anger that attended the matter when it came up at the senate would have been considerably staved off. The state government would have saved itself the embarrassment of denying a plan which some of the senators said they had sufficient evidence of its existence. As things now stand, that government has not succeeded in disabusing the minds of the public that there was smoke in the matter without fire. Neither is it being implied that it had no plans to safeguard the state in the wake of the discovery of bombs planted within a church premises; the arrest 486 Boko Haram suspects in Abia State, among them, a wanted kingpin of the terrorist cell.

    There is everything to suggest that the state government, confronted with the new security challenge may have been tinkering with several safety options.  That may have included the idea mooted by the northern community. But as soon as it became a matter of public knowledge, it rushed into denying its very existence. That is where it got it wrong. It would have gone ahead to clarify the genesis of the idea which was yet to be adopted instead of out rightly denying it. It is the manner of denial rather than the idea itself that turned out the greatest undoing of that state government. As a government, it is bound to make mistakes. Not each and every of its policy will tally with public expectations. When the situation calls for it, the government should not run away from robust public debate on some of its policies.

    The Okorocha’s administration must cultivate the habit of standing by and defending its policy decisions instead of this quick resort to easy escape routes or heaping blames on phoney enemies when they run into problem. Not long ago, the same government had signed into law a bill from the state assembly which gave legal backing to aspects of abortion. The church kicked against the law. The next thing the governor did was to coax the House of Assembly to reverse itself as if that piece of legislation emerged from the blues bereft of the rigours that should usually go with it. Such hasty and temperamental reversals speak a lot of the depth of rigour that goes into policy formulation and implementation in that state.

  • Senate upholds report on $49.8b oil cash

    Senate upholds report on $49.8b oil cash

    Senate President David Mark yesterday faulted the National Assembly for not carrying out its oversight duties diligently before former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, raised the alarm.

    Sanusi accused the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) of failing to remit $49.8billion oil revenue to the Federation Account.

    Mark spoke during the consideration of the report of the Senate Committee on Finance that investigated the allegation.

    The report which has generated controversy, was submitted by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Ahmed Makarfi  on May 28.

    Mark commended the committee for presenting a courageous report based on the facts that were presented to it.

    He said the committee was forthright by paying attention to details in the course of investigation.

    He lamented that the NNPC did not follow due process by disbursing unappropriated funds for subsidy payments.

    He vowed that no matter before the 7th Senate would be swept under the carpet.

    Mark said: “At the inception of the 7th Senate, I did say emphatically that there is no issue in this country that we cannot discuss as respected and Distinguished Senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    “If we have the courage to set up a committee, nothing will stop us from taking the report of that committee and nothing will be swept under the carpet in this red chamber.

    “I think what is glaringly from this report is that we are all guilty.  If the committees expected to carry out oversight functions on the NNPC were doing their job very well, we wouldn’t have needed the Governor of Central Bank to ring an alarm bell before reacting.

    “Whether the alarm is genuine or not, is another matter. The Executive may have good reasons but the legislature obviously do not have reasons not to find out. Let me appeal to the various committees to endeavour to do their work.

    “Facts are different from rumours and what we have before us are the facts based on the interview conducted by the committee on public hearing and on all the documents that they could put together.

    “One thing is very obvious, due process has not been followed and they have stated so very clearly.”

    There was however drama when Senator Sadiq Yar’ Adua moved that the report be stepped down to another legislative day to enable lawmakers study it.

    He said the report contained impeachable offences committed by President Goodluck Jonathan.

    Yar’Adua said: “The report was given to us (Senators) a while ago and I think it is too short a time for us to dissect this report which is 73 pages and which is also containing issues about alleged missing $49.8billion.

    “I think it is important for us to go and read the report because actually if you look at the report, I can smell some impeachable offences committed by the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.”

    Yar’Adua was overruled by Mark.

    Mark said: “For you to just say a report has been presented and it contains impeachable offences is totally unnecessary. That is not the issue here.”

    On persistent compliants that most resolutions of the National Assembly were not being implemented by the Executive, Mark said the legislature is to blame.

    He said: “We would have to be supported by 2/3 majority. If we have to do so, we have to enact a law that would make our resolutions binding, it is not something that could be done by voice vote.”

    He warned the lawmakers not to politicise or jump to conclusions on the alleged missing funds when reconciliations were still ongoing.

    He said: “Whether it is funds yet to be remitted,  funds yet to be reconciled or funds yet unaccounted for or missing, I think we should not play politics with it. Because if we described it as missing or unaccounted for, the issue is that there is a reconciliation going on.

    “When you say outright it is missing, then you have concluded. The point I am trying to make is that we should not conclude when the process of reconciliation is still ongoing.”

    The Senate President warned that it would be fool hardy to remove fuel subsidy without first sensitising the people on the matter.

    He said any attempt to do so now would pitch the people against the National Assembly.

    He said: I want to appeal that we should not pitch ourselves against the public opinion. If subsidy has to be removed, there must be public enlightenment and education so that facts would be made available to the people and then public opinion at the end of the day will count.

    “If  we  sit here now and said remove subsidy,  I think those who are benefitting from subsidy are very powerful and tomorrow they would influence media report and twist it to create an impression that Senate is anti-people.

    “If the subsidy has to go, I don’t have problems with that but let us sensitise the people over a very long period of time so that everybody will be carried along and everybody will be on board and then can take a final decision on the issue of subsidy because the recommendations are far reaching.”

    Senate in its resolution rejected a recommendation of the Committee that fuel subsidy should be scrapped.

    The upper chamber also resolved to fast track the passage of the Petroleum industry Bill (PIB) to ensure proper restructuring and administration of the oil sector.

    The Senate also ordered the NNPC to refund $262million to the Federation account with interest.

    Senator Ayogu Eze (Enugu North) called for the total removal of subsidy to stem the abuse that has attended it.

    He called for the prosecution of those found to have enriched themselves illegally through the proceeds from oil sales.

    Senator Ahmed Lawan, described the development of the missing funds as a wake up call for the executive the legislature.

    Senator Heineken Lopobiri, described the subsidy regime as a hard nut to crack because it encourages corruption.

    He urged the executive to probe the subsidy regime.

    He said the report has established that no $49.8billion was missing and that the amount discovered not to have fully reconciled would be taken care of in the forensic audit report still being awaited.

    Senator Abdul Ningi said the report of the probe panel demoralised him because of the revelations about how the NNPC expended funds without appropriation.

    Ningi disagreed with Senators Eze and Lopobiri, who called for the removal of subsidy on petrol.

    He insisted that the removal will make already impoverished Nigerians to suffer.

    Senator Smart Adeyemi (Kogi West) said the allegation about the missing funds was made to score cheap political points.

    He however admitted that there are glaring abuses in the way and manner the proceeds from oil sales were being managed.

    He noted that spending government revenue without appropriation is a breach of the constitution and called for the prosecution of those found to have acted illegally.

    Adeyemi said: “On the issue of subsidy, it is the only thing that is left for the country, those who have been accused of abusing the subsidy should be prosecuted because I will not support the subsidy removal.

    “At the same time, the nation’s refinery, because those behind the continued non-functional state of the refineries are those who were implementing the subsidy regime, we need to know the names of the directors of companies which are enjoying subsidy.”

    The Senate vetoed a recommendation that fuel subsidy be removed.

    It approved a resolution that the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) should refund $447million to the federation account being balance of royalty and Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT).

    The Senate also ordered the NNPC to refund $262million to the Federation Account being expenses it could not satisfactorily defend in respect of Holding Strategic Stock Reserve; Pipeline Maintenance and Management Cost; and Capital Expenditure.

  • 10 for Senate in Abia South

    10 for Senate in Abia South

    Ten politicians are jostling for the senatorial ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Abia South District. The seat will be vacant next year when Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, who is now a governorship aspirant, leaves the Senate. EMMANUEL OLADESU examines the factors and issues that will shape the contest.

    Aspirants are warming up for the succession battle in  Abia State. In Abia South Zone, prominent politicians are jostling for the Senate. The seat will become vacant next year when   Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe bows out. The senator, who is a former deputy governor, has unfolded his ambition to rule the state.

    The senatorial ticket has always  rotated between the Ukwa and Ngwa ethnic groups. Former Senate President, Chief Adolphus Wabara, who hails from Ohambele, Ukwa East Local Government Area, represented the zone between 1999 and 2007. He was succeeded by  Abaribe, who is from Ngwa.

    Out of nine local governments in the district, Ngwa has seven. Ukwa has two. As Ngwa people are jostling for the governorship, Ukwa politicians are eyeing the Senate.

    For now, only the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senatorial aspirants are visible. Aspirants on the platforms of other parties have not come out with their posters. But, sources said that some politicians are also warming up in the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (UPGA).

    PDP aspirants  include Chief Chris Nkwonta, Hon. Uzoma Abonta, Chief Solomon Ogunji, Hon. Asiforo Okere, Hon Emeka Stanley and Chief Don Ubani. These gladiators are from Ukwaland.

    Many factors will shape the contest. From 1999, Abia has been represented by colourful politi-cians in the Senate. Therefore, green horns in the race may only be making a futile bid.

    In Abia South, electioneering is also expensive. Therefore, the ability of the aspirants to nurture formidable structures and regularly oil the machinery is another factor.

    In the zone, primaries are usually held for contenders. The party has its guidelines. The ambition of  aspirants who may not be able to meet the conditions will crumble.

    However, some of the aspirants traversing the nooks and crannies of the zone to consult stakeholsers and mobilise support for their candidature, ahead of the primaries, have what it takes to be in the Senate.

    A grassroots politician, Nkwonta contested for the seat in 2011 against Abaribe, but, based on the agreement among the stakeholders, Abaribe was returned. Nkwonta is  from Akwete,  Ukwa East local Government Area. he is a successful businessman and  philanthropist. He is  the Chairman/Chief Executive of Southern Star Hotels and Towers, Port Harcourt, and Chairman, SURE-P, Abia State. The Chris Nkwonta Foundation, which he founded, has organised empowerment programmes for youths, students, widows, artisans and peasants.

    Declaring his ambition in Akwete, his home town, he said he joined the race to serve the district. Sources said that the politician decided to step down his governorship ambition and opted for the senate, following consul-tations with stakeholders. When he declared his ambition, he also lent support for the senatorial ambition of Governor Theodore Orji. He said Orji has the experience to lead Abia senators in the Upper Chamber next year.

    Also in the race is Abonta, a member of the House of Representatives from Ukwa. Constituency. He also hails from Akwete.

    Another contender is Ogunji, a native of Ohambele, Ukwa East Local Government.  He is the former Cmmissioner for environment.

    Okere is the Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly.

    He was first elected in 2003. The legislator  hails form Ohuru, Ukwa East Local Government. Many youths want him to leave the House next year.  They said he could have performed better as  their repre-sentative.

    Emeka Stanley is the Chairman of the Abia State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (ASOPADEC). He is from Obohia,  Ukwa East Local Government Area.

    He was displaced in the House of Representatives by Abonta, who had protested against his victory at the tribunal.  He became the Chairman of ASOPADEC seven months ago, following the appointment of his predecessor, Chief Sam Nwogu, as the NDDC  commissioner representing Abia State. many feel that it is risky for him to abandon the plum job for  the uncertainly of contesting for the Senate.

    Ubani is the commissioner for Petroleum Resources. He is from Ukwa West Local Government Area. According to politicians from the area, it may be difficult for him to achieve his aspiration because the  House of Represent-atives slot, which rotates between Ukwa East and Ukwa West, has been zone to his area. They pointed out that Ukwa West cannot have two slots in the National Assembly. Therefore, a source said that he has been advised to seek elective or appointive positions at the state level.

     

  • Senate begs doctors to call off strike

    Senate begs doctors to call off strike

    The Senate on Tuesday begged the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) to call off their one – week old strike to avoid further loss of lives.

    Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, made the appeal in Abuja following a point of order by Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta North) on the doctors’ strike which had paralyzed activities in all public hospitals.

    Okowa informed the Senate that the National Assembly Committee on Health and the Committee set up by the Federal Government are working to ensure that the doctors return to work without further delay.

    He explained that his committee had met with the leadership of the NMA, an action, he added, necessitated the setting up of a Presidential Technical Committee headed by the Secretary to the Federal Government,  Senator Anyim Pius Anyim.

    He said the technical committee which included members of the NMA, held a marathon meeting where the leadership of the striking doctors appealed to their members to offer emergency services in all medical institutions.

    He said even though the doctors had since commenced offering emergency services to patients, the body had yet to officially call off the strike.

    He assured the Senate that his committee would continue to mediate in the industrial logjam until all the grey areas are resolved and the strike called off.

    Okowa said: “The NMA said they would call their members back to offer emergency medical services and since Friday the 4th, they have directed all medical institutions to offer emergency medical services to Nigerians.

    “Yesterday (Monday), we were at the emergency delegates’ meeting, the Governor of Delta State who is also a medical doctor, myself and the Chairman of the House Committee on Health, where we addressed the emergency delegates’ meeting on the need to call off the strike.”

  • Senate faults NIMASA over non-release of contractors’ funds

    The Senate Committee on Maritime Transportation faulted at the weekend the piecemeal release of funds by the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to contractors handling the IBBU-NIMASA Institute of Maritime Studies in Lapai, Niger State.

    The committee, led by Senator Zaynab Kure, expressed displeasure at the agency’s inability to release funds, despite the commitment of the contractors to the permanent site of the institute.

    Most of the contractors, during the committee’s visit to the site, complained of delay in the release of funds by the agency.

    They feared that the delay may hinder the December deadline for the completion and handing over of the buildings.

    The senators became more worried when a contractor, who had not been paid the mobilisation fee after doing about 30 per cent of his job, complained that the financial burden was too much for him.

    The senators wondered why NIMASA was starving the contractors of funds.

    They noted that the agency had no excuse to delay the fund to contractors since the Senate had approved the budgetary provision for the construction of the institute.

    “We are not happy with NIMASA for starving contractors of fund. Most of the contractors have complained of no fund. We are not happy with the agency over non-payment of contractors. The Senate has cooperated with NIMASA by approving its budget. So, they have no excuse not to pay the contractors,” Kure said.

    She hailed the contractors for doing a good job, adding that her committee would take the matter up with the NIMASA management.

    Kure said: “We are happy with the level of work on the ground. We commend the contractors for their patriotism and for the confidence they had in NIMASA, especially when most of them have not got more than mobilisation fee and have worked far beyond the milestone level.”

  • AAUA’s five-storey Senate Building opened

    Students and staff of the Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba-Akoko (AAUA) were excited when the management took delivery of its new four-wing and five-storey Senate Building from Charvet Nigeria Limited, the contractor that built the edifice.

    The building, which occupies an area of 10,000 square metres, has over 250 offices, three elevators with seven stair halls, two large conference halls, senate chamber, council chamber, an open piazza with capacity of 2,500, among others.

    Vice-Chancellor, Prof Femi Mimiko, who received the keys and photo album of the building, described the edifice as “imposing”, saying it would serve as an enduring legacy of his administration.

    Prof Mimiko noted that the problem of infrastructure which had confronted the varsity had been finally resolved.

    He said: “When we came on board in 2010, we did promise to build a 21st century university and one of the challenges we had to confront was the acute deficit of infrastructure in the university and four years down the line, we are witnesses to the rapid infrastructural development the university has witnessed. We can now confidently say that AAUA is on the march to greatness indeed and we can compare with many other universities in terms of infrastructure.”

    He thanked the Governor Olusegun Mimiko; the immediate past Governing Council of the university and individuals who made the project a reality. The consultant, Architect Akin Olusola, described the building as the biggest in Nigeria.

  • Senate urges Okorocha to reverse ID card policy

    Senate urges Okorocha to reverse ID card policy

    The Senate on Thursday urged the Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, to rescind its policy on mandatory issuance of Identification cards to all northerners residing in the state.

    The upper chamber also advised President Goodluck Jonathan to direct security agencies not to cooperate with the governor and the Imo State Government in the implementation of the policy.

    These resolutions followed a motion moved by the Deputy Senate Leader, Abdul Ningi (Bauchi Central), entitled: “The Issuance of Identification Card to Northerners residing in Imo State – Urgent call for policy reversal.”

    Ningi in his lead debate urged the Senate to note with serious concern, the recent government policy statement issued by the Imo State Government, directing all northerners residing or staying in the state to be issued with an identification card.

    He argued that the policy contravenes the provisions of section 41(1) and 42(1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended which guarantee amongst others, free movement of Nigerians from any part of the country to the other and right of residence without any inhibition or condition whatsoever.

    He insisted that the policy is tantamount to gross abuse of the citizens’ rights.

    He said the development if not urgently checked, could throw the entire country into chaos and threaten the survival of the nation’s democracy.

    Senators in their contributions condemned the action of the governor, allegedly aimed at preventing Boko Haram insurgents from infiltrating the ranks of northerners in Imo State.

    Rising in support of the motion, the Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma Egba (Cross River Central), described the policy as wrongheaded, unconstitutional and discriminatory,

    He flayed the governor for ever contemplating such a policy at this time in the nation’s development.

  • Senate rejects presidential debates

    Senate rejects presidential debates

    The Senate on Thursday rejected a proposal that makes presidential debates mandatory before any election.

    However, the upper chamber passed some amendments to the Electoral Act.

    It also gave the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) freedom go determine the procedure for voting at an election.

    The rejection of presidential debates was contained in the report of the Senate Committees on the Review of the 1999 Constitution and the INEC entitled: “A Bill for an Act to amend the Electoral Act, 2010 to provide for tenure of office of Secretary, power to issue duplicate voters card, determine voting procedure and for other related matters, 2014” which was presented by Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, at plenary.

    Also discarded was the proposal that sought to place the responsibility of proving the regularity or otherwise of any election on the INEC.

    The committees said its position was that the burden of proof on electoral irregularities during election should be on the petitioner.

    The report of the committee reads in part: “On the other hand, a number of proposals were rejected by the committees. Some of the proposals rejected are:

    “Senate Bill 297 – (Sought to vest the responsibility of proving the regularity of any election on the Independent National Electoral Commission). The Bill was rejected in its entirety as the committees were of the view that in law, the burden of proof lies with the petitioner.

    “Senate Bill 266 (Amendment of Section 25 to empower INEC to conduct elections into the office of the President, Governor, Senate, House of Representatives and State Assemblies on the same day) – The Committees  were unanimous in the opinion that INEC presently lacks the capacity to manage an electoral exercise of that scale in a single day.

    “Senate Bill 379 (Amendment of Section 28 – to provide alternative authority for officers to swear oath of neutrality). This was rejected as it was already covered in Bill 455.

    “The Senate Bill 379 (Amendment of Section 87 to empower INEC where a political party fails to comply with the provisions of the Constitution or Electoral Act, to exclude the nominated candidate of that party from the list of nominated candidates for the election.

    “The Committees were of the view that the court is the appropriate forum to determine the regularity or otherwise of a party primary.”

  • Senate versus Tinubu

    The Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on Thursday, June 26, mandated its Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions to investigate comments allegedly made by Senator Oluremi Tinubu (Lagos Central) which was said to have disparaged members of the Senate. She was said to have accused leaders of the Senate of providing uninspiring leadership and always pandering to the whims and caprices of the executive arm of government. The committee, headed by Senator Ayo Akinyelure (Ondo Central) was given two weeks to conclude their assignment and report back to the Senate.

    Specifically, Mrs. Tinubu, the quiet and easy-going wife of the former governor of Lagos State Senator Bola Tinubu, a leader of the opposition All Progressive Congress (A.P.C) was accused of saying, “The Senate is not a place I really want to go back to except APC becomes the majority. But if it is the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government, I don’t think it is the environment I want to be again. I have had my fill”. She then allegedly said that the Senate had failed Nigerians.

    There have been insinuations that the swiftness with which the matter was tabled before the Senate by the Majority Leader Senator Ndoma-Egba a member of the PDP before the presiding officer, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu also of the (PDP) has a political coloration. It has been suggested by some women activists that the action is driven by male chauvinism. Others are of the view that the whole probe is targeted not at embarrassing Mrs. Tinubu herself, but her husband, a frontline leader of the APC, Asiwaju Tinubu.

    This writer is not interested in the above insinuations but is greatly disturbed that  the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria sitting in Abuja which should be addressing serious national issues including the debilitating insurgency threatening to destroy the fabric of the Nigerian nation, crude oil theft, mass unemployment, kidnappings, armed robbery, crisis in the education sector to mention but a few, should busy itself with a comment made in faraway Lagos by a politician which should have attracted little or no attention if they were actually busy addressing critical  issues affecting the common man.

    In the first place, the probe is a gross violation of Mrs. Tinubu’s right to freedom of expression as enshrined in Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution. Section 39(1) provides, “Every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression including freedom to hold opinion and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference”. The point to note here is that the constitution being the supreme law of the land is far and above any other law including the Rules of the Senate.

    Secondly, since the allegation against Mrs. Tinubu is coming from the Senate itself, is it right for the Senate to sit in trial against her? One of the cardinal rules of natural justice is expressed in the Latin Maxim “Nemo judex incausa sua”. In other words, one cannot be a judge in his own case. Here, apart from the constitutional violation of abridging Mrs. Tinubu’s right to freedom of expression, the Senate is the accuser, the prosecutor and the judge. It is doubtful if the committee can turn in a fair and impartial verdict under the circumstance.

    Further, the Senate should be aware that Nigerians have overtime been worried about the parliament, including the House of Representatives and how they have been using their time to serve Nigerians. Budgets have never been passed on time for several years. Important Bills like the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) have been in limbo for many years without receiving due attention, while they focus on unimportant issues. It is like the proverbial adage of a man chasing rats while his house is on fire. A classical case of misplaced priority.

    Is it any wonder that there have been calls that the parliament should be made a part-time institution and that their salaries and emoluments should be slashed considerably relative to the national minimum wage? Some have even suggested that the number of the people in the parliament should be reduced or be made unicameral instead of bicameral to reduce wastages. In other words, many people do not think the parliament deserves the wages they earn due to this attitude to work and insensitivity to national issues.

    In the United States of America that practices the presidential system of government just like Nigeria, the issue of freedom of expression is taken so seriously that it is enshrined in their constitution. In the first Amendment to the Bills of Rights, it provides, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the exercise of speech or of the press or the right of the people to peaceable assembly and to petition the government for a relief of grievances”.

    In England, the Prime Minister normally comes under attack from the opposition whenever he makes his weekly appearance on the floor of the House of Commons. Just last week David Cameron was verbally attacked and heckled by the opposition members for hiring the jailed Editor of News of the World. The point here is that it serves no useful purpose to loose valuable man hours investigating a speech made by a member of the parliament, outside the parliament to her constituents when critical national issues are begging for urgent attention.

    Indeed, Mrs. Tinubu’s probe by the Senate is nothing more than what the English playwright; William Shakespeare would refer to as much ado about nothing. It is a storm in a tea cup and does not portray the Senate in good light.

    • Njoku is a Lawyer.