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Tag: Senate

  • Senate sabotaging Buhari’s administration, says Senator

    •’Why senate leadership is after me, by Adamu

    A senator yesterday accused the Senate of sabotaging the Muhammadu Buhari administration with its actions, despite the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) having majority of the members.

    Senator Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa West) claimed that his opposition to some of the Senate’s actions was responsible for his being singled out for punishment and attacks by his colleagues. He warned that any move to suspend him for his views would be illegal.

    The septuagenarian senator, a two-term Nasarawa State Governor, made his position known in a statement yesterday.

    He said: “Our party, the  APC, has the majority in both chambers of the National Assembly, yet we hold the executive prisoner of politics that are unhealthy for the polity.

    “It is such a terrible irony that we sabotage our own government by refusing to do our part in support of the executive.

    “Appointments requiring Senate approval are held up. The consequence is that the public has nicknamed the President and his administration go-slow”.

    Adamu, who chairs the Senate Committee on Agriculture, also said his opposition to the amendment of the Electoral Act, which reordered election sequence, was another reason he was being attacked in the Senate.

    The lawmaker said he strongly believed that senators needed to retrace their steps and reconsider their stand as legislators on matters of public interest.

    He added: “The people gave us the mandate as a party to deliver. With our control of the executive and the National Assembly, there is no reason why the government cannot acquit itself and fulfill the yearnings of the people.

    “Perhaps, while we are consumed with sabotaging the administration and stabbing one another in the back, we forget that in less than a year from now, we shall be required to seek the people’s revalidation of our mandate to sit in these hallowed chambers. What shall we tell them?”

    The statement partly reads: “The public is aware that I have been the subject of vilifications by both the leadership and my distinguished colleagues in the 8th Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for the past three weeks or so. Various attempts have been made, and are still being made to impugn my integrity and question my support for the leadership of the Senate and my loyalty to the Senate.

    “I have thus far refrained from a press war in defence of myself because I am fully aware that a press warfare resolves nothing. In all wars, including a press war, the truth suffers; the public becomes less informed and more confused about the facts and the issues at stake. I have taken some necessary steps within the confines of the Senate to defend myself and re-assure my distinguished colleagues that I remain unshaken in my commitment and faithful to my oath as a legislator on whom the constitution imposes the burden of making laws for the good governance of our dear country.

    “Inherent in that important constitutional duty is the promotion of peace driven by cordial and mutually beneficial relations between the executive and the legislative arms of government. In my humble view, a strained relationship between the two arms of government would result in the proverbial case of two elephants fighting and trampling the grass under their heavy feet. In this case, unless the executive and the legislature act in tandem, good governance would become unattainable. And, of course, the welfare of the people would suffer grievously.

    “I am now forced to respond to some of the barefaced lies and the nasty allegations against me because the public has the right to know the facts. My objective is to properly educate the public on my ‘crime’ or ‘crimes.’ It is important for the public to know that I have committed no crime against the Senate and/or its leadership. I have done nothing to bring the revered upper legislative house to ridicule intentionally or inadvertently. My only crime that is considered heinous by the leadership of the senate, is this:

    “I stood up on the floor of the Senate in a raucous plenary session to caution against the increasing show of disrespect to the person and the office of the President of the Federal Republic. I feared that this was becoming a pattern. I thought this was against the culture of the legislature and we needed to pull back in order to maintain mutual respect between the executive and the legislature. The national assembly is the second arm of this administration. We cannot undermine the executive without undermining the government of which we are a part.

    “I did not think this was a crime but it turned out I was wrong. To show their displeasure with my stand, my colleagues acted in a manner as to impugn my integrity. First, there was the tendentious story put out in a press statement from the senate to the effect that I had been unceremoniously removed as chairman of the Northern Senators Forum and that Senator Wamakko had replaced me. I did not bother to respond to the concocted lies because the forum has a system of changing its leadership. Its affairs are not conducted in press statements emanating from strange and unauthorised persons.

    “But since then, there has been a consistent barrage of calumny heaped on my person and my integrity as a ranking senator of the Federal Republic. Part of my crime is my stand on the amendment to the electoral act. In that controversial amendment, the Senate seeks to change the order of elections decided by the electoral umpire, INEC, for the 2019 general elections.  I and some of my colleagues were opposed to this amendment on the grounds that it is not the duty of the Senate to determine the order of elections. It had never been part of the Electoral Act and there is no need to deny the commission the right to do its duty as it deems fit. Happily, I am not alone in taking this stand. At least…..of my colleagues are opposed to it too. We addressed a press conference to that effect. Our intention was not to insult the Senate but to register our principled stand on a matter that concerns all Nigerians.

    “I believe we need to retrace our steps and reconsider our stand as legislators on matters of public interest. Our party, APC, has the majority in both chambers of the National Assembly, yet we hold the executive prisoner of politics that are unhealthy for the polity. It is such a terrible irony that we sabotage our own government by refusing to do our part in support of the executive. Appointments requiring senate approval are held up. The consequence is that the public has nicknamed the president and his administration go-slow.”

     

     

  • No date yet for budget passage – Senate

    The Senate on Tuesday said there was no date yet for the passage of the 2018 Budget.

    Senate’s spokesperson, Sen. Sa’abi Abdullahi, said this while addressing newsmen in Abuja.

    He said: “The budget process is on and I can’t tell you this is the specific date it is going to end.

    “We are working very hard on it and we want to assure Nigerians that at the end of the day, we will have a budget that will serve the purpose of Nigerians.”

    On the upper chamber’s resolution to lift embargo on confirmation of presidential nominees, the lawmaker said “there was an existing impasse between the Executive and the Legislature with respect to confirmation hearing of appointees of the Executive.

    “We had a resolution that since the executive is claiming we don’t have the powers to make those confirmations we are not going to consider the nominees they are forwarding to us. This happened since last year”.

    The Senate, after a Point of Order by Sen. Rafiu Ibrahim (APC-Kwara), lifted the embargo.

    According to Abdullahi, the Senate made the resolution “not that they have any iron to grind with anybody.

    “But because we believe we must defend the sanctity of democracy and ensure the institutions of democracy, for which the Senate is the apex, must be respected and we believe in doing so, it is in the overall interest of the people”.

    He further explained that the upper chamber resolved that it would consider the confirmation of members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).

    “We will also consider the nomination of the two deputy governors of Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN ) who are also members of the MPC so that the Nigerian economy will receive the necessary technical input to ensure that we sustain the growth of our economy.

    “And to also ensure we support the executive in walking the economy out of recession.

    “We are definitely going to do the confirmation to enable those confirmed to attend the next MPC meeting,” Abdullahi said.

    The MPC meeting is scheduled to hold on March 19 and 20.

    NAN

  • Updated: Buhari declines assent to amendment to Electoral Act bill

    The controversy trailing the amendment of the Electoral Act which reordered election sequence in the country took another dimension Tuesday.

    President Muhammadu Buhari declined assent to the amendment citing probable infringement of the Constitution.

    The two chambers of the National Assembly on February 14, 2018 adopted the conference report of Electoral Act amendment which altered the sequence of elections in the country.

    Essentially, the amendment slated the National Assembly election first in the order of elections, followed by the Governorship and State House of Assembly Election.

    The amendment placed Presidential election last in the sequence of elections.

    Following its passage, some senators led by Senator Abdullahi Adamu, stormed out of the chamber to fault the amendment.

    The group of nine senators also claimed that President Buhari was that target of the amendment and vowed that it would not stand.

    Some commentators have also risen to fault the amendment and threatened to charge it in court.

    President Buhari in a letter dated 3rd March 2018 addressed to the Senate President,  Abubakar Bukola Saraki, told the lawmakers why he declined to assent to the bill.

    The Presidential letter entitled “PRESIDENTIAL DECISION TO WITHHOLD ASSENT TO THE ELECTORAL AMENDMENT BILL 2018,” was read by Saraki on the floor of the upper chamber yesterday.

    It read in part, “Pursuant to Section 58(4) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), I hereby convey to the Senate, my decision, on 3rd March 2018, to decline Presidential Assent to the Electoral Amendment Bill 2018 recently passed by the National Assembly.

    “Some of my reasons include the following:

    “A.The amendment to the sequence of elections in Section 25 of the principal act, may infringe upon the constitutionally guaranteed discretion of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to organize, undertake and supervise elections provided in Section 15(A) of the third statue to the Constitution;

    “B.The amend to Section 138 of the principal act to delete two crucial grounds upon which an election may be challenged by candidates, unduly limits the rights of candidates in elections to a free and fair electoral review process;

    “C. The amendment to Section 152(3)-(5) of the Principal Act may raise Constitutional issues over the competence of the National Assembly to legislate over local government elections.

    “Please accept Distinguished Senators, the assurances of my highest consideration.”

    Saraki read the letter after a brief closed session where the issue of the rejection of the bill might have featured.

    It is not yet clear the next line of action of the lawmakers. An insider hinted that “we will override the president if we feel strongly over the bill.”

    He added, “I can tell you that the issue is not over.

    Read Also: Electoral Act amendment will die natural death, says Senator

  • Senate makes u-turn on Buhari’s nominees

    The Senate on Tuesday agreed to confirm Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) board nominees.

    Details later…

    Read Also: Senate threatens to halt budgets of 444 defaulting agencies

  • Senate: N13.5m monthly running cost no big deal

    The Senate yesterday confirmed that each senator collects N13.5m monthly as running cost in addition to N750,000 monthly salary/allowances.
    The lid on the pay by the federal lawmakers was opened last week by Senator Shehu Sani (Kaduna Central) in an interview published by The News online.
    Senate Spokesman Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, said the figure given by Sani are contained in various line items and expenditure heads of the budget of the National Assembly which had been made public.
    “Almost all holders of elective and appointive offices have running costs allocated to their offices and that cannot be said to be part of their salaries”, Abdullahi said, adding that senators’ emoluments were never secret.
    He denied that senators had been up in arms against Sani for the disclosure.
    The breakdown of the National Assembly’s annual budgets is not made public in spite of Nigerian’s demand for transparency.
    In the 2017 budget, the National Assembly got N125billion vote.

  • I’m not after Saraki’s job, says Senator Adamu

    I’m not after Saraki’s job, says Senator Adamu

    Senator Abdullahai Adamu (APC Nassarawa West) has denied allegations that he’s leading a few other senators in a conspiracy to unseat the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki.

    Adamu, who Friday reacted to alleged plans by him to destabilise the leadership of the upper legislative chamber, described the allegation as unfounded and baseless.

    Senator Obinna Ogba had, during plenary session on Thursday, alleged that Adamu had concluded arrangements with some Civil Society Groups to stage massive protests against the President of the Senate.

    The allegation followed disagreements over an amendment to the Electoral Act, whereby the Senate reordered election sequence for the 2019 poll.

    The Senate had concurred with the House of Representatives for the National Assembly election to come first, with the presidential election coming last.

    But leading nine other senators in protest against the amendment, Adamu had alleged that the amendment was targeted at President Muhammadu Buhari and had vowed that the said amendment would not stand.

    Pro Saraki lawmakers in the Senate had interpreted Adamu’s position as a rebellion against the President of the Senate, with the view to getting him removed from office.

    But in his reaction, Adamu said although he was not in town on Thursday, one of his colleagues had informed him about the allegation against him, which he described as amusing and saddening at the same time.

    He denied eyeing Saraki’s job, saying the President of the Senate was like a son to him. He added that he would have contested for the position three years ago if he was interested in it.

    “I am not in any way after Saraki’s job. Saraki is like a son to me. I have every right to contest for the Senate President seat three years ago when the 8th Senate was inaugurated, but I never did because I wasn’t interested”, he said.

    The senator said it’s therefore unreasonable for anyone to suggest that he is now plotting to unseat Saraki and destabilise the Senate in the process.

    “It is therefore not logical for anyone to say I am interested in the seat now and will be planning to destabilise the Senate.

    “To achieve what? For what purpose? It is not right for anyone to make such unfounded insinuations”, he said.

    According to him, it would be foolhardy for anyone to contemplate unseating Saraki’s leadership at this time after three years in office, saying such a move would be a lost battle.

    “We are almost three years in office, election year is drawing nearer, and I think anyone thinking of upstaging the leadership of the Senate for any reason will only be fighting a lost battle because it is not what should naturally occupy the mind of any serious minded lawmaker now”, he said.

    The lawmaker said he was ready to confront those behind the allegation, adding that any investigation of him in that regard would vindicate him any time any day.

    He said, “I am not in any way afraid of anyone who thinks I’ve offended him. I have the neck to carry my cross, but no one should cook up lies just to discredit me or any senator for that matter.

    “If I’m asked to appear before the committee on Ethics and Privileges, I will come out clean because whoever raises the allegation will have to come out and present incontrovertible facts to prove the allegations.

    “Then, names of other so called collaborators will be made known. They will be confronted; evidence of such meetings will be produced. Those accused will be asked to defend themselves, and recommendations will be made by the committee based on facts presented to it”.

    Read Also: Adamu’s sack divides Northern senators

     

  • Senate summons Sirika, others over air mishaps

    Senate summons Sirika, others over air mishaps

    The Senate yesterday resolved to invite Minister of State for Aviation Senator Hadi Sirika to brief it on steps taken by his ministry to minimise air mishaps.

    Apart from Sirika, who is mandated to appear before the Senate in plenary, the upper chamber also invited heads of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) and every other relevant agency in the aviation industry to give a full briefing on the steps that have been taken to minimise human errors and avoid preventable air crashes.

    The resolution followed the adoption of a motion on: “The need to minimise the possibility of air mishaps and near fatalities in Nigeria,” sponsored by Senator Gbenga Ashafa (Lagos East) and eight others.

    All senators who contributed to the motion agreed that urgent steps should be taken to fix the aviation section in the interest of the flying public.

     

  • Senate summons Sirika, others over air mishaps

    Senate summons Sirika, others over air mishaps

    The Senate Tuesday resolved to invite Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, to brief it on steps taken by his ministry to minimize air mishaps in the country.

    Apart from Sirika, who is mandated appear before the Senate in plenary, the upper chamber also invited heads of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) and every other relevant agency in the aviation industry to give a full briefing on the steps that have been taken to minimise human errors and avoid preventable air crashes.

    The resolution followed the adoption of a motion on “The need to minimize the possibility of Air Mishaps and Near Fatalities in Nigeria,” sponsored by Senator Gbenga Ashafa (Lagos East) and eight others.

    Ashafa in his lead debate prayed the Senate to observe that on the 20th of February, 2018 the story of a near fatal incident involving Dana Airlines with number 9J0363 hit the news waves.

    He noted that it was reported that the aircraft overshot the runway upon landing at the Port Harcourt Airport, on a flight from Abuja.

    He said that the incident was attributed to the wet surface of the runway

    Ashafa recalled that “just a few weeks before the afore stated event, there was also panic on Wednesday, 7th of February, 2018, when the emergency door of an aircraft conveying passengers to Abuja fell off upon landing at the Nnamdi Azikiwe, International Airport in Abuja.”

    The Lagos East lawmaker said that he is aware that while the said aircraft was cleared to return to service on the same day by the relevant authorities the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), “an experienced pilot interviewed was of the opinion that the aircraft might have experienced a component failure.”

    He noted that report quoted the pilot to have said “What happened is likely to be a component failure due to hand landing. It couldn’t have fallen off when the aircraft was airborne because the aircraft cabin is pressurised. It is very difficult for that to happen but it could fall off when the aircraft is on the ground”;

    He expressed concern that “these recent occurrences might be a sign of a sequence of human errors, caused by the failure of  officials and staff of the agencies saddled with the responsibility of guaranteeing safety to carry out their due diligence before issuing clearance for aircrafts to operate within the Nigerian airspace.”

    Ashafa further recalled with sadness that Nigeria has experienced a significant number of air catastrophes that cost the lives of hundreds of Nigerians, due to a range of causes including human and technical error.

    He said that a chronicle of air mishaps caused by human error as reported  an article titled: Human errors, dereliction of duty are major causes of plane crashes in Nigeria, stated as follows: ”Avoidable human errors and dereliction of duty by public officials working in the aviation sector have been major reasons for the loss of hundreds of lives in air crashes in Nigeria, reports by the Aviation Investigation Bureau (AIB) have shown.”

    The report, he said, stated further that:”Some of the human errors identified by AIB as causes of the plane crashes include non-lightening of runways and airfields, poorly constructed drainage culverts, inaccurate information by the control tower, lack of proper certification of radio operators and poor supervision of aircraft imported into the country.”

    He stated with concern that “it is against this backdrop that it has now become imperative to move with speed and  alacrity in order to ensure that all relevant agencies in the Aviation industry do their work with excellence and minimal human error in order to prevent avoidable loss of human lives.”

    All senators who contributed to the motion agreed that urgent steps should be taken to fix the aviation section in the interest of the flying public.

    Read Also: Senate seeks immediate end to NASU strike

  • Senate, Reps bicker over NFIU bill

    Senate, Reps bicker over NFIU bill

    THE Senate and House of Representatives are at war over the passage of the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Units (NFIU) Bill.

    The rift between the two chambers blew open yesterday when Chairman, Senate Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes Senator Chukwuka Utazi told the Senate in plenary that his counterpart in the House was frustrating the efforts of the Senate to pass the controversial bill.

    Utazi complained bitterly that attempts by his committee to sit at conference with their counterparts in the House had not been successful due to their recalcitrant attitude over the bill.

    The Enugu North lawmaker feared that the country might be expelled from the Egmont Group, if the bill was not passed expeditiously.

    In July, 2017, the Egmont Group, a global network of 152 Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs), suspended NFIU at the 24th plenary of its heads in Macao.

    The group also explained that the NFIU was suspended because the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), where NFIU is presently domiciled, was leaking sensitive information to the media.

    The Egmont Group accused the EFCC of blackmailing individuals with the confidential intelligence made available to it.

    After a debate on the issue, Senate President Bukola Saraki explained that the issue of the NFIU had been discussed at the leadership level where the conference committee was constituted.

    Saraki promised to take up the matter with the House of Representatives Speaker to broker a way through and ensure that the Bill is passed.

    A source, however, said the problem between the two chambers emanated from their different positions.

    He noted that while the Senate wanted the NFIU removed from the control of the EFCC, the House wants the body to be domiciled in EFCC.

  • Senate threatens to pass 2018 budget without MDAs submissions

    Senate threatens to pass 2018 budget without MDAs submissions

    The Senate on Wednesday threatened to pass the 2018 budget without submissions from recalcitrant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

    This threat followed the observation by the Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Sunny Ogbuoji.

    Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki had asked Ogbuoji to tell the Senate the position of the 2018 Appropriation Bill whose implementation should have started on January 1st, 2018.

    Ogbuoji informed the Senate that majority of MDAs refused to turn up for their budget defence as required by law.

    He noted that due to the failure of the MDAs appear for budget defence, the budget report the could have been presented for consideration was not ready.

    He said, “Majority of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies are not coming forward to interface with the standing committees. Some of the ministers will tell you they have a team, they are going outside the country and because of that; the MDAs are not fully ready.

    “So we don’t have the reports yet. We believe that when the MDAs come forward, our colleagues will be able to finish their work.

    Read Also: Senate to probe non-passage of Disability Rights Bill

    “Some of the committees are unable to do their work. When they screen what they have brought, they will ask them to go back to us but they don’t come back.

    ‘That is really delaying the work for majority of the standing committees and that is why up till today, we don’t have a comprehensive report.”

    Saraki who expressed discomfort with the attitude of the MDAs, said that the Senate was prepared to conclude the process of the 2018 Appropriation Bill to ensure its passage.

    He noted that the perception is that the National Assembly was delaying the budget when the contrary is the truth.

    He said, “It is our intention to see that this process can be concluded as early as possible. But Senate Majority Leader will communicate and get in touch with the Executive arm of government so that these MDAs can be told to play their part to ensure that this exercise can be completed because unfortunately the perception is it is parliament that delays these things.

    “I appeal to all these ministers and Managing Directors that keep on travelling, this is a time for you to sit on ground and ensure that you finish this report.”

    Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu said that the Senate should use the budget presentation by President Muhammadu Buhari to pass the budget.

    Ekweremadu said that the Senate should not continue to wait for the MDAs endlessly while Nigerians were suffering.

    Senator Philip Aduda said that it should be clearly stated that the MDAs were responsible for the inability of the National Assembly to pass the budget.