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Tag: Senator Biodun Olujimi

  • PDP senators to APC: leave Saraki out of jostle for Senate Presidency

    The Senate caucus of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday asked their counterparts in the All Progressives Congress (APC) to stop dragging the name of the Senate President Bukola Saraki into the schemes and plots for his successor.

    The PDP Senate caucus said the APC senators should leave Saraki out of the jostle by Senators-elect of the ruling party over who and who gets elected into the leadership of the Ninth Senate.

    In a statement by Senate Minority Leader, Senator Biodun Olujimi and Chairman, Senate Committee on Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Sen. Dino Melaye, the PDP caucus stated it has observed closely as the contenders for the various Senate leadership posts in the APC sponsor various publications in the media to make it appear that Saraki is seeking to play a role in who occupy the various leadership posts in the next Senate.

    The PDP Senate caucus warned such surreptitious attempts to drag Saraki into the issue that does not concern him would not augur well for the smooth take-off of the next Senate and could only create suspicion and ill-will among the incumbent Senators and the incoming ones.

    “We have noted with regret and surprise how some Senators who are interested in becoming the next Senate President and those seeking to occupy various leadership positions in the next Senate have been busy dragging the name of the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, into their schemes for fulfilling their ambitions. We believe those involved in this dirty game are only afraid of the shadow of the Senate President.

    READ ALSO: You are jittery, PDP tells APC, Buhari

    “Such people should know that Dr. Saraki is not interested in their plots, schemes and manipulation. His concern now is to continue to provide leadership to the Eighth Senate and to ensure that the Senate achieves as much as it is possible in the remaining two months of its tenure.

    “It is obvious that many Senators and even Senators-elect still defer to Saraki. And this is understandable because he is a national leader of the PDP.

    “He is a respected Senator who has also provided solid leadership for the Senate. So, those who are afraid of his influence should find a positive way to deal with that, not sponsoring falsehood in the media.

    They went on: “Let it be known that no matter the mischief being sponsored by these spineless people, Dr. Saraki knows that it is the duty of all Senators in the Ninth Senate to elect their Senate President and other leaders.

    “Nobody from outside the Senate has such powers. It is also the right of every Senator to aspire to that position as stated by the constitution. He has benefitted from this practice of Senators within the chambers exercising the right. He is conscious of this fact and will not be a party to any plan to seize or interfere with the process of evolving the leadership of the Ninth Senate.

    “We therefore urge the APC gladiators and their handlers to leave Saraki out of their schemes and manipulations. They should go and concentrate on how to convince the Senators-elect and ensuring that the election of the next Senate President takes place in a conducive atmosphere with a view to strengthening the institution and making it perform its constitutional roles, without any hindrance.”

  • Ekiti 2018: Five PDP aspirants unite against Fayose’s deputy

    Ekiti 2018: Five PDP aspirants unite against Fayose’s deputy

    ….Insist Olusola’s imposition won’t stand

    Five governorship aspirants of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State have resolved to work together and resist the alleged imposition of Deputy Governor Kolapo Olusola as the “sole candidate” for the 2018 polls.

    They insist that there must be a free, fair, credible and transparent primary election from where the party’s flag bearer for the 2018 governorship race will emerge.

    One of the aspirants, Mr. Owoseni Ajayi, the immediate past Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, disclosed this in Ado-Ekiti while speaking as a guest at the commissioning of the campaign office of a fellow aspirant, Ambassador Dare Bejide.

    Ajayi, who was one of the closest and most trusted aides of Fayose before falling apart after Olusola’s adoption, said imposition of governorship candidate could open way for the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) to grab power from PDP in the 2018 Ekiti poll.

    “All PDP aspirants are all working together; that is the reason why all of us should work together and I want to assure you that all aspirants in PDP minus the one that was adopted.

    All other aspirants, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, Senator Biodun Olujimi, Ambassador Dare Bejide, Bisi Omoyeni and I are all working together to ensure that there is no imposition of any candidate in PDP in this state.

    “To demonstrate the love among us, that is why I am here today to witness the commissioning of my friend’s campaign office and I believe that when I am going to do my own, I will also invite all of you to be there and you will equally be there.

    “Because when one of us becomes the governor under a peaceful, free and fair atmosphere, there will be no problem for our party members and there will no crisis in our state and it will not be possible for APC to defeat us.

    “Impunity, imposition of candidates, lawlessness and recklessness by those who supposed to know the rules in our party must stop. These were responsible for the loss of our party in the 2015 general elections.

    “We don’t want our state to be taken over by APC; we don’t want impunity, imposition and lawlessness in our party again and that is why we are demanding a free and fair primary.

    “We will ensure that there is no imposition in PDP, that is why we the aspirants, except the one purportedly adopted, are one and united and that is why I am here in solidarity with Bejide.”

    Ajayi urged the PDP national leadership to intervene in Ekiti and other state chapters so that the so that the party will not lose more leaders and members to other parties.

    He explained that the PDP is yet to recover from the 2015 loss in many states of the federation where party members defected to APC to win governorship and legislative seats.

    Ajayi added: “Some of our leaders because of the power they wielded imposed their will on the people during the 2015 general elections and the party paid dearly for it.

    “Former Plateau Governor Jonah Jang fielded his son-in-law as the governorship candidate while his predecessor, Joshua Dariye, sponsored Simon Lalong, our party member to contest on APC platform to win the governorship election.

    “This is despite the fact that PDP has the majority in the Plateau State House of Assembly but we lost the governorship to APC.

    “Also in Benue, former Governor Gabriel Suswam, imposed a candidate but our party member, Samuel Ortom, crossed over to APC to win the governorship election. We incurred these losses because of imposition.”

  • Senate criminalises secret recruitment

    Senate criminalises secret recruitment

    The Senate Wednesday took steps to stamp out secret and backdoor recruitment of staff into ministries, department and agencies of the Federal Government.

    The upper chamber insisted that recruitment process in MDAs must be streamlined to reflect the principles of Federal Character.

    It is proposing two year jail term or payment of N300, 000 for any person found guilty of engaging in recruitment without advertisement.

    This followed the consideration and passage for second reading a Bill for an Act for regular publication of existing vacant positions in Federal Government offices to ensure transparency and equal opportunities to all Nigerians in the recruitment of new personnel.

    The Bill entitled: “Existing Vacancies in the Federal Civil Service (Publication) Bill” is said to be in line with the determination of the 8th Senate to create an enabling environment through legislation that would not only generate but ensure that all qualified job seekers are given access to take advantage of employment opportunities in the country.

    It would be recalled that the Senate on Monday, held a roundtable on youth unemployment in the country during which representatives of Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) of government as well as civil society organizations (CSO) identified root causes of unemployment in the country and proffered a way forward.

    The sponsor of the Bill, Senator Biodun Olujimi, in her lead debate said the Bill seeks to mandate the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) to compile and publish a complete list of all vacant positions in the Federal Civil Service and its parastatals once every quarter.

    The lawmaker representing Ekiti South Senatorial District, said the Bill when passed into law would make it an offense to fill any vacant position in any Ministry, Parastatals, Corporation and Government department unless it is in accordance with the provisions of the Act under consideration.

    She said, “It is common knowledge today that employment in Government parastatals in most cases is not based on merit as god-fatherism, favouritism, nepotism and ethnicity have taken the front burner,” Olujimi lamented.

    She noted that “Millions of Nigerian men and women are denied equal opportunities in recruitment today, as most vacancies are not advertised publicly.”

    Olujimi insisted that the failure to publish existing vacancies by government agencies has given rise to corruption and fallen standards of education due largely to the fact that educational qualifications are no longer criteria for employment.

    “Similarly, the unemployed seek short cuts to gain employment because of the lack of trust in the system,” she stated. “Nigerians engage in all sorts of vices to get their relatives, friends and loved ones into vacant positions and this has been accepted as the general norm. This is unacceptable and should not be allowed to continue.”

    Other senators in their contributions bemoaned the rampant incidence of secret recruitment into the Federal Civil Service in the guise of ‘replacement’ and said that the Bill would help restore transparency and equity in federal employments.

    Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, in his contribution stated that the Bill when passed into law would give millions of Nigerians a sense of belonging in matters of state.

    “For the unity of this country, everybody must know that they have a sense of belonging,” Saraki said

    The Bill was subsequently referred by Saraki to the Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Service to report back in four weeks.

  • Gender equity bill scales second reading in Senate

    Gender equity bill scales second reading in Senate

    The controversial gender equity and equal opportunities Bill scaled second reading in the Senate on Thursday.
    The Bill for an Act to incorporate and enforce certain provisions of the United Nations convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, the protocol to the African charter on human and people’s rights on the rights of women in Africa and other matters connected therewith, was sponsored by Senator Biodun Olujimi (Ekiti South).
    The Bill is co-sponsored by 22 other Senators who expressed strong sympathy for the immediate passage of the proposed legislation,
    Olujimi, representing Ekiti South Senatorial District, in her lead debate, noted that “Gender and equal opportunities Bill” were exhaustively debated during the last session and was negatived as a result of certain observations raised in the course of the debate.
    She noted that Section four of the bill dealt with the prohibition of discrimination and provides that no person, organ or agency of government, public or private institution, commercial or corporate body, community, or other entity, or any representatives of such organ or agency… shall either through words spoken, acts, inactions, omissions, laws regulations, administrative procedures, policy, guideline, rules, customs or practices discriminate against any person on the ground of gender, age or disability.
    The Senator added that the proposed law seeks to promote equality, development and advancement of all persons in the country.
    Olujimi said that the bill also proposes to prohibit all forms of violence against women.
    She said: “All forms of violence against women are prohibited, whether the violence takes place in private, family or public sphere, including unwanted or forced sex, or traditional, religious or cultural practices harmful to health, well-being and integrity of the woman.
    “All form of violence against elderly women including sexual abuse and discrimination based on age are prohibited. All forms of violence against women with disabilities including sexual abuse and discrimination based on disability are prohibited…
    “All forms of trafficking in women and children, abuse and exploitation of women and children in any manner or way, and medical experiments on women without their informed consent, or on children without the informed consent of their parents or legal guardian, are prohibited.”
     Senator Oluremi Tinubu (Lagos Central) who supported the bill appealed to her colleagues to ensure its quick passage.
    Senator Tinubu said that the contributions of women to the development of the country are to glaring for every body to see.
    The lawmaker noted that the proposed Bill is really for the interest of future generation of Nigerian women.
    She used the intimidating number of men against the number of women in the chamber to buttress the necessity for the Bill.
    Senator Tinubu said: “I rise to support this bill and I also request my colleagues should do the same because we have come to a time in our nation that we have to really compensate our women.”
    Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu who also supported the Bill described the bill as critical in view and experience of the women folk in the country.
    Ekweremadu said that whatever should be done to protect them should be done.
    He suggested that when this bill goes to the committee and possibly for public hearing “we need to do a proper interrogation of this bill to be sure that it is not in conflict with some of our existing legislations.”
    He quoted Section 42 (1)(b) of the Constitution which provides against discrimination on bases of gender.
    “I think that what we need to do is to look at the bill itself and make sure that conflicts are eliminated at the time it is being processed by the committee so that we will be able leave the best of the bill that is served and consistent with our legislation,” he said.
    But Senate Chief Whip, Olusola Adeyeye who is a co-sponsor of the Bill, saw no conflict in the proposed law.
    Adeyeye said, “I support every thing in the bill. The Senate is fair minded. We do not want discrimination against any Nigerian. Of all kinds of discrimination, the worst is gender discrimination. The society that looks for equity must be fair. If we ask for 35 per cent for women it is fair.”
    Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki noted that the Senate is strongly in support of gender equality.
    He gave the committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters two weeks to work on the bill.