Tag: Senate

Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele has advised opposition parties against stampeding the judiciary into partisan politics through disinformation, mal-information and misinformation.

Bamidele, who chaired the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters in the 9th National Assembly, said this in a statement in Abuja.

He chided opposition parties for dragging the judiciary into partisan politics in pursuit of their selfish interests against collective interest of Nigeria and Nigerians.

While celebrating the victory of the president Bola Tinubu at the apex court, Bamidele condemned the undue blackmailing of the judiciary even before the petitions of the opposition parties and their candidates were decided.

He observed that the judiciary “is one of the most consistent, dependable and reliable democratic institutions that still stands for and with the oppressed in this federation.

” It is therefore amoral and immoral for any political actor or party to subject the judiciary to media trial rather than abiding by the rules of law.

“Judiciary has never been vilified in the recent history of this federation by petitioners who at different times benefitted tremendously from the independence and neutrality of the judiciary,” the senate leader said.

Bamidele said that the petitioners “claimed to have won the 2023 presidential elections during their separate world press conferences. But when they failed to prove their cases, they selfishly resorted to blackmailing the time-tested institutions, especially the judiciary .

He observed that the decisions of the appellate and apex courts “have clearly shown that the last elections were the most credible since the beginning of the Fourth Republic with the deployment of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, which the Independent National Electoral Commission used for the conduct of the elections.

He, therefore, commended the apex court for standing for the truth and truth alone amid ferocious, needless and relentless intimidation of judicial officers by the petitioners, who trampled upon the national interest in pursuit of their self-centric political agenda.

Read Also: Senate Leader warns oppositions against judicial manipulation

“Now that Judiciary has concluded all the presidential election petitions in favour of President Tinubu, Bamidele warned all political actors, interests and parties “to henceforth stop playing politics with the rule of law and the integrity of the judiciary.”

He, also, warned “against the perverse culture of stampeding the judiciary into partisan politics.

” As far as Nigeria is concerned, judiciary remains an unbiased arbiter wholly committed to the dispensation of justice without regard to any ethnic, economic, political, religious consideration.

“It is therefore unfair and uncalled to paint the judiciary, the only source of hope for the oppressed, black in the eyes of the whole world. This does not harm the judiciary alone, but also portray all of us, Nigerians at home and in the diaspora, bad before the eyes of the whole world.

“This is completely unacceptable! And it must be stopped.”

(NAN)

The Senate on Friday, October 27, vowed to summon the Group Chief Executive Officer, of the

Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, over the lack of funds to explore and develop new frontier acreages.

The chairman of the Senate Committee on Gas, Senator Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe, gave this hint while briefing the press after a closed-door session with the Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Gbenga Komolafe, and his management team in Abuja.

Recall that the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021 introduced the Frontier Exploration Fund to support exploration and development in Nigeria’s frontier acreages.

The areas include regions like Anambra, Dahomey, Bida, Sokoto, Chad, and Benue where hydrocarbon exploration is yet to occur or remains undeveloped.

The PIA further provides that the Fund, constituting 30% of NNPCL’s “profit oil and profit gas” from various contracts, will be used to finance exploration and development activities in the frontier acreages.

Jarigbe said: “We received a briefing from the CEO of NUPRC and his team on the activities of the agency.

“Section 9 subsection 4 and 5 of the PIA provides that the NUPRC should have a Frontier Acreages escrow account for the exploration and development of frontier acreages and that fund is subject to the approval of the National Assembly.

“Also, section 22 subsection 1 of the Petroleum Industrial Act also provides that the National Assembly oversights the budget and expenditure of the NUPRC.

“So, we had to interact with the commission on those issues and we discovered that there is no fund raised from 30 percent oil profit and 30 percent gas profit as provided for in Section 9 subsection 4 of the PIA.

Read Also: Supreme Court: We have full confidence in Tinubu – Yoruba Community

“So, we also intend to engage with the NNPCL on that. We don’t know the budget because we weren’t given any figures. We will get details on that and get back.”

The lawmakers during the session, noted that the issue of gas in the economy was becoming very important like a resource that can sustain a nation.

They further insisted that scientifically, the world is gravitating towards gas.

Earlier, the CEO of NUPRC, Komolafe, told the Senate panel that “Gas is very crucial in the revenue generation of our country, just like oil, it is equally very critical.

“Aside from the fact that gas has been recognised as a transition fuel and for us in the commission, we focus on rapping up our gas production.”

Kimolafe added that Nigeria has “37 barrels of crude oil as it relates to gas, reserve number of 208 tcl of gas that makes us the largest gas reserve in Africa and the ninth globally.”

He further claimed that the country is gradually gaining strength in terms of gas production even though efforts were put in place to ensure production which would amount to revenue generation.

He said: “From our dashboard, we recorded 206 tcl of gas last year, and in this year it grew to 208 tcl reserve as of September.

“In terms of production in 2021, we had 7.52 tcl of gas production, and in 2022, it declined to 6.9 tcl but as of September 30 this year, we recorded 7.07 tcl of our daily gas production.

“As a commission, we recognize the importance of gas to the nation, and in our regulatory activities, we are giving critical focus to accelerating gas production in the country.”

He said that the agency recognised that given the development in the world and the unfolding of situation in the Middle East like Ukraine, they were ensuring that Nigeria produced more in other to ensure more gas production to allow for better revenue generation.

He noted: “The commission at the moment is trying to look at fields that have undeveloped gas opportunities, and as an internal initiative; we have been able to identify all those fields of uncommitted gas.

“We intend that by the time we finish with the ongoing engagement with the industry, we would be able to take those gas molecules into the basket and in line with the PIA and other provisions to transparently auction those fields.

“We believe that exercise will catalyze us as a nation to effectively derive the benefit of gas instead of just keeping those reserves.”

He, however, stressed that the major challenge militating against gas production was a lack of funds and infrastructure.

The Senate has urged the Federal Government to convene stakeholders’ meeting to assess the recurring flooding incidence in some communities in Lagos and Ogun states with a view to find lasting solution to flood disasters.

The Senate’s resolution was sequel to a point of order moved by Sen. Adetokunbo Abiru (APC-Lagos) during Tuesday’s plenary.

The motion was titled: “Flood Disaster in Ikosi-Isheri, Agboyi-Ketu and several other communities in Lagos and Ogun.”

The red chamber also commiserated with the victims of the flood disaster and commended the Government of Lagos and Ogun for their handling of the crisis occasioned by the flood disaster.

Read Also; Can Obi rebuild LP?

It also directed the relevant committees of the Senate to provide adequate funding for NIMET, Hydrological Agency of Nigeria, and the River Basin Development Authorities to effectively carry out their responsibilities in line with their mandates.

Abiru in his lead debate, said that a number of communities close to the coast lines in Ikosi-Isheri and Agboyi-Ketu in Lagos and other communities in Ogun State had always experienced flooding whenever the Oyan River dam was opened.

“The recent release of water from the dam caused unimaginable havoc to residents’ property and livelihoods particularly on Tuesday, Oct.24.

“The residents of the areas have fled their homes and business, schools and religious centres have all shut down in the affected communities,” Abiru said.

The lawmaker further said that there was an urgent humanitarian crisis occasioned by the flood as “those who were sacked by the flood were hanging around with family members and friends.”

He, however, said that in response to the threatening humanitarian crisis, the governors of Lagos and Ogun and the Minister of Water Resources have all intervened in their respective capacities.

The Senate has begun screening Musa Aliyu, a nominee of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for appointment as chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission (ICPC).

The screening started around 11:50am after Leader, Bamidele Opeyemi, raised a point order to suspend relevant senate rules to allow strangers into the chamber.

Aliyu, a lawyer and Attorney-General of Jigawa State will be screened at the Committee of a Whole chaired by the Deputy President, Barau Jibirin.

Read Also: Senate on oversight visit to NDIC

The nominee was named as chairman of the ICPC with Clifford Oparaodu as secretary of the commission last Tuesday.

The Senate on Wednesday morning, swore-in Reverend Amos Yohanna of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as Senator to represent Adamawa North.

Yohanna replaces Senator Elisha Abbo, who was recently sacked from the Red Chamber by the Appeal Court.

The Clerk to the Senate, Chinedu Akubueze administered the oath of office and oath of allegiance on Yohanna at the directive of the Deputy President of the Senate, Jibrin Barau, who presided over plenary. 

Following the swearing-in of Yohanna, APC has 59 Senators, PDP – 37, LP – 8, NNPP – 2, SDP – 2, and APGA – 1 in the 10th National Assembly. 

Abbo, who had previously been affiliated with the PDP, made headlines when he defected to the APC during his initial term as Senator.

The Court of Appeal’s recent ruling signalled a new chapter in the political landscape of Adamawa North. 

On February 27, 2023, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the APC candidate, Senator Abbo, as winner with 71,927 votes defeating PDP’s Yohanna who scored 61,895 votes.

Dissatisfied with the outcome, the PDP and Yohanna approached the tribunal.

Yohanna, who contested election under the PDP, dragged  Abbo and INEC before the tribunal challenging the election which brought him back to the Senate.

In his petition marked, EPT/AD/SEN/02/2023, Rev Yohanna, alleged that the election of Senator Abbo was invalid by reasons of corrupt practices or non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.

He averred that Senator Abbo was not duly elected by the majority of lawful votes cast during the election, alleging over voting at various polling units, false entries, alteration and cancellation of votes at several polling units.

According to him, some of the alteration and cancellation were not signed by the presiding officers of the polling units, and prayed the tribunal to set aside the election of Senator Abbo.

Read Also: Senate probes N11.35tr spenton refineries in 13 years

He also sought for an order of the tribunal to return him (Rev. Amos Yohanna) as the duly elected candidate for Adamawa North Senatorial seat having polled the highest number of lawful votes cast during the exercise.

However, in its ruling, the tribunal dismissed the petition and awarded damages, asking the petitioner to pay N600,000 to Abbo.

Dissatisfied, Rev Yohanna headed to the Court of Appeal which is the final Court for National Assembly Petitions which has ruled in his favour.

Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, is believed to have fielded the candidate of his party, and backed him tremendously to defeat Senator Abbo, who left the PDP for the APC following a rift in their relationship, which many analyst believed had been fueled by intra-party power tussle following the electoral victory of duo in 2019.

The Senate yesterday defended its purchase of the 2023 model of the Toyota Landcruiser Sports Utility Vehicles for 107 Senators at N160 million each.

This is in addition to the bulletproof vehicles being purchased for Senate President Godswill Akpabio and his deputy, Barau Jibrin.

The move generated heavy criticism, with some Nigerians attacking the lawmakers for being insensitive to the plight of Nigerians amid the high cost of living.

The Human Rights Writers Association (HURIWA) said procuring SUVs for federal lawmakers was provocative at a time when most families can barely feed their members. 

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) asked the Federal High Court in Lagos to stop the National Assembly from procuring and taking delivery of exotic and bulletproof cars.

But the Red Chamber said the lawmakers needed the vehicles for their operations.

Chairman of the Committee on Senate Services, Sunday Karimi (APC, Kogi West) said the criticisms were uncalled for as members of the other arms of government used similar vehicles.

He urged critics to beam their searchlight on ministers and members of state Houses of Assembly.

Karimi told reporters: “A minister has more than three land cruisers, Prado and other vehicles and you are not asking them questions. Why us?

Read Also: Senate defends buying N160m SUVs

“The issue of buying vehicles for National Assembly members, you know it is a reoccurring issue. It occurs at every assembly. It will always come up.

“If you got to State Houses of Assembly today, check out, most of them before they were even inaugurated, the governor would have bought vehicles for them; even local government chairmen. 

“I drove the vehicle my local government chairman uses. So, why the National Assembly?

“These vehicles that you see, go to Nigerian roads today. If I go home once, my senatorial district, I come back spending a lot on my vehicles because our roads are bad.”

Karimi said the Senate settled for the Toyota Landcruiser against a locally assembled product after a comparative of analysis of cost, technical issues and durability on Nigeria roads.

 ”We want something that we can maintain for another four years. It is not the decisions of the senators alone, we did an analysis before arriving at Land Cruiser,” he said.

On the issue of cost, Karimi said: “When I came to the Senate when they gave me their liability, they have a liability of over N16 billion that is made up of different things, including vehicles purchased for members of 7th, 8th and 9th assembly.

 ”If you are a businessman and you supply vehicles for somebody in 2014 or 2015 or so and up till now they are owing you. I am not trying to defend anybody.

“If a Landcruiser in the market let’s say it is A cost, you don’t expect somebody that will supply it to supply it at the price they are selling it in the market.

“It has to leave a margin and the civil service rule for supply allows for 25 per cent margin, plus 7.5 per cent VAT. Out of that 25 per cent margin, they will still remove a five per cent tax from it.

“You are telling someone to supply when the clients may even end up not making payment for three years and you want him to supply at the price they are selling in the market. It is not possible.”

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