The Nation Newspaper

Tag: SENATOR

  • ‘Searching for Senator’s replacement’

    Stakeholders from Kogi West are shopping for a likely replacement for their senator, Dino Melaye.

    This followed the continuation of the recall process initiated against him.

    Despite the court process initiated by Melaye, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it would continue with the process.

    A group, Youth for Change (YFC), is demanding the seat for Yagba.

    However, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kabba, Chief Ayodele Olukore, recommends  the lawmaker representing Kabba/Bunu/Ihumu in the House of Representatives, T. J Yusuf.

    According to him, the lawmaker has brought development to the area.

    “Yusuf is performing in Kogi West, and we support him to go to the Senate. His two terms at the House of Representatives has been fruitful, and has brought development.

    “He bought transformers, distributed machines to youths, provided borehole. We commend him and urge him to go to the Senate.”

    But YFC vowed not to relent until APC zones the ticket to Yagba.

    The leader, Umaru Bashir, said it’s time Yagba produces the next senator after Ijumu/Kabba, where Melaye hails from.

    According to him, it’s in the interest of Kogi West that the seat be zoned to Yagba.

    He said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) did so, and to maintain peace and give the people a sense of belonging, the ruling party must also act.

  • Niger senator booed at home

    The senator representing Niger North, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, was assaulted and stoned by youths and members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kontagora, Niger State.

    The Nation gathered that the senator called APC executives in Kontagora, headquarters of Niger North, for a town hall meeting, the first he is having with stakeholders since 2015.

    A source said the senator was asked why he called a meeting after these years, but he could not give a satisfactory answer; he was also unable to list projects he initiated.

    “The senator was asked to list the projects he initiated or attracted to Kontagora, and his response was that the Muhammadu Buhari-led government neither gave money nor funded their constituency projects. But he was asked what other senators and members of the House of Representatives were using for their projects, if not the same money he is hoarding.

    “Apparently dissatisfied with his answers, APC executives accused him of being in the league of people frustrating programmes and policies of President Buhari. They accused him of diverting money meant for constituency projects and empowerment of his constituents for personal use.

    “He was booed and chased out of the hall,” the source added.

    The Nation learnt that when Abdullahi was leaving, his entourage was pelted with stones despite the security.

    Some youths chased him with motorcycles and cars to his hotel but were not allowed in by security men.

    Efforts to speak with him or his aide were unsuccessful.

    One of the executives, who pleaded for anonymity, said the senator had abandoned his people but came begging for their votes. According to him, the people are not satisfied with his representation.

    The Senator was also attacked in Rijau council, where he visited on Saturday. He was attacked in Babana last month.

  • Senator decries deplorable roads in Oyo Central

    The senator representing Oyo Central in the National Assembly, Monsurat Sunmonu, has decried the number of deplorable roads in her constituency.

    Sunmonu, who spoke yesterday when a delegation of her constituents visited her in Abuja, noted that most of the roads in the constituency have become death traps.

    The former Oyo State House of Assembly Speaker listed Oyo-Ogbomoso Road (under construction), Ibadan-Oyo and Oyo-Iseyin roads as the worst affected.

    The lawmaker, who displayed photographs of accident vehicles on the roads, said it was disheartening that accidents had become regular on the roads.

    Sunmonu, who is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, noted that though she had raised the matter on the floor of the Senate, she would lead the delegation to take up the matter with the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), to seek quick fix of the roads.

    The senator said she would also work with her colleagues to ensure quick measures to fix the roads.

    She expressed optimism that fixing the roads would reduce incessant accidents on the roads.

    Sunmonu noted that besides a meeting with Fashola, she also led the delegation to meet Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, to talk about mining activities in her constituency.

    Chief S. M. Akindele, who spoke on behalf of the delegation, said they were in Abuja to see and encourage Sunmonu to do more.

    Akindele said: “We are here to see our senator and in our adage, if somebody is doing something good, you need to thank her and encourage her to do more. Seeing is believing. W we have seen, we are here to encourage her to continue the good work she has been doing.

    “All the party leaders are here: the women leaders are here, the elders are here. We also need to thank her colleagues in the Senate for supporting her, especially on the issue of the deplorable state of our roads. We are happy with her work as our senator.”

    Besides Akindele, other members of the delegation included Oladele Hezekiah, Adegboyega Aderemi, Adeoye Kamarudeen, Adebayo Remi, Alhaja Juwon Adewuyi (Wome Leader), Asamu Kayode (Youth Leader for Egbeda), Owonikoko Lukman (Oyo East LGA) and Alhaji Ayoola W. A. (Secretary).

  • Senator asks Appeal Court to quash house forfeiture order

    Chairman of the Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs Senator Peter Nwaoboshi has asked the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division to set aside an interim order forfeiting Guinea House, Lagos, to the Federal Government.

    The Federal High Court in Lagos made the order on April 24, following an application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), through its counsel, George Chia-Yakua.

    Nwaoboshi, who represents Delta North, and two of his firms, Golden Touch Construction Project Limited and Bilderberg Enterprises Limited, are the defendants.

    The court ordered that Guinea House, a 12-storey building at 29, Marine Road, Apapa, bought in 2010 for N805 million, be forfeited pending the EFCC’s conclusion of an investigation of a petition against the trio.

    Last Wednesday, the defendants through their counsel, Chief Anthony Idigbe (SAN), unsuccessfully applied to Justice Abdulaziz Anka at the same court to lift the interim order, which “perpetually put the property under investigation”.

    Justice Anka ruled that, notwithstanding a pending suit challenging EFCC’s alleged “unconstitutional” pasting of an “under investigation” notice on the building, the ex-parte order was necessary to preserve the property until the substantive matter was disposed of.

    “In the current action, the EFCC has put their intention to manifestation and I, therefore, see no abuse of the process,” Justice Anka held.

    But in their notice of appeal, Nwaoboshi and his firms raised four grounds, including that the judge erred in law when he dismissed their application.

    According to them, the court ought to have discharged the forfeiture order, because the EFCC did not place any cogent material before Justice Anka to indicate that any of the appellants would be prosecuted.

    No date has been fixed for hearing.

  • Senator dares EFCC to show evidence of N1.2b loan against him

    Senator dares EFCC to show evidence of N1.2b loan against him

    SENATOR representing Delta North Peter Nwaoboshi yesterday dared the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to produce document indicating that he took a loan of N1.2 billion from the Nexim Bank.

    Nwaoboshi told reporters in Abuja that at no time did he take N1.2 billion loan from the bank.

    The Delta North lawmaker insisted that the attempt by the anti-graft agency to paint him black was effort in futility since he did not offend the law.

    The EFCC claimed that Nwaoboshi secured a N1.2 billion loan in 2014 under the Local Industrial Growth Scheme, when he was sitting on the Board of Directors of Nexim Bank

    It alleged that part of N1.2 billion facility was diverted for other use other than what it was granted for.

    It said Nwaoboshi had been invited through the Clerk to the Senate to clear allegations against him but he has not responded.

    The senator said any interested party should cross-check the minutes of the board meeting, where the loan facility was approved to see that the board duly excused him from the meeting.

    He said the duration of the loan is five years, which meant that completion of repayment would elapse in 2019.

    The senator, who said it was on record that Delta State had been repaying the loan, wondered what his offence was.

    Nwaoboshi said: “I didn’t take a loan of N1.2 billion. I challenge EFCC to show document that I Peter Nwaoboshi took a loan of N1.2 billion. The company in question has Nigerian and Chinese directors. It is a manufacturing company. They approached Nexim bank to take a loan of N1.2 billion. Because I know some of the directors, I excused myself from participating in the process in accordance with the law. It was the Deputy Governor of CBN who was the chairman of the board.

    “The minutes of the board meeting are there. I told the board to excuse me and they did. The company offered a security valued at N3.5 billion as collateral. The records are there.

    “The company in question provided documents verified by the bank that they were given a contract of N1.9 billion. The loan was for running cost, purchase of equipment and raw materials. This was verified by the bank. The bank went to Delta State and verified that the contract was given.

    “The tenure of the loan was for a period of five years. It means it will expire in 2019. The company domiciled the payment of that contract to Nexim Bank and the Delta State Government has been paying the money into this account in Nexim Bank, including the one they paid just last week.”

     

  • Senator Soji Akanbi set to celebrate wife at 50

    The senator representing Oyo South, Soji Akanbi, is getting ready to celebrate Folake, his wife of many years, as she waltzes gracefully into the golden age of 50. Come October 13 and 14, the Jogor Events Centre, Ibadan will host the who’s who in the South West, who will be trooping there to pay homage to one of their own.

    The two-pronged event will commence on the 13th with a Walimot. The main celebration and grand reception will take place on Saturday October 14 at Jogor Events Centre and will feature entertainment from some of the hottest acts in the Fuji music scene. King Wasiu Ayinde Marshal (KWAM 1) is expected to be on stage to thrill guests.

    Hajia Folake Akanbi is a highly successful woman who has cut her teeth in the business world. She is also a humanitarian as she and her husband have made a habit of putting smiles on the faces of the less privileged for more than a decade.

  • Court restrains party from sanctioning senator, others

    FEDERAL High Court sitting in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, has restrained the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) from taking any disciplinary action against some of the party’s chieftains in the Southwest.

    The chieftains include the Senator representing Ogun East Senatorial District, Buruji Kashamu; the immediate past National Secretary, Prof. Wale Oladipo; the immediate past National Auditor, Alhaji Adewale Adeyanju and former PDP Chairman in Ondo State, Mr. Ebenezer Alabi.

    Others are the Southwest PDP Vice-Chairman Chief Makanjuola Ogundipe; the Zonal Secretary, Chief Pegba Otemolu; a former member of the House of Representatives, Segun Seriki and the Legal Adviser of the PDP in Ekiti State, Mr. Niran Owoseni.

    The interlocutory injunction, which was granted yesterday by the Justice Taiwo O. Taiwo, specifically restrained the PDP, Chairman of its National Caretaker Committee (NCC) Senator Ahmed Makarfi and Secretary, Senator Ben Obi, from “taking any disciplinary action against the plaintiffs and other leaders of the PDP in the Southwest zone”.

    The court ruled among others that: “An order of interim injunction restraining the 2nd to 4th defendant by themselves, their agents, servants and privies from taking any disciplinary action against the plaintiffs and other leaders of the 2nd defendant in the Southwest zone, including Prof. Wale Oladipo, the former PDP National Secretary, Chief Makanjuola Ogundipe, Chairman of the PDP Southwest Zonal Executive Committee; Chief Pegba Otemolu, Secretary of the South West Zonal Executive Committee; Senator Buruji Kashamu, a statutory member of the Southwest Zonal Executive and Prince Segun Seriki by way of expulsion, suspension, reprimand or any other action whatsoever or denying the plaintiffs and the aforementioned Southwest leaders the right to seek nomination as candidate of the 2nd defendant for any election or refusing to submit their names to the first defendant as candidates of the party for the purpose of any election, contrary to the terms and purposes of the aforesaid subsisting orders of this court made in suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/732/2017 pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.”

  • Dino Melaye: INEC to announce revised timetable for recall on Monday

    Dino Melaye: INEC to announce revised timetable for recall on Monday

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it will release a revised timetable for the recall of Mr. Dino Melaye, Senator representing Kogi West Senatorial zone.

    This follows Monday Court ruling which gave the commission the nod to continue with process.

    With the legal hurdle removed, Mallam Mohammed Haruna, National Commissioner & Member, Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC)  Tuesday in a statement stated that INEC will release the revised timetable on Monday.

    INEC had commenced the recall process of Melaye following a petition by a group from his senatorial zone asking for his recall. But the senator went to Court to halt the process.

    The terse statement reads: “It will be recalled that in obedience to an interlocutory order of the Federal High Court, Abuja given on 6th July, 2017 the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) stayed all actions relating to the petition to recall Senator Dino Melaye as the Senator representing Kogi West Senatorial District.

    “Judgment in the suit was delivered yesterday, 11th September, 2017. All legal hurdles have now been cleared and the recall process can now proceed as envisaged by the Constitution, the Electoral Act and the extant INEC guidelines and regulations.

    “Accordingly, and in compliance with the orders of the Court, the Commission will release a revised timetable and schedule of activities on Monday 18th September 2017.”

     

  • Senators earn N3bn per annum – Sagay

    Senators earn N3bn per annum – Sagay

    Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Professor Itse Sagay has disclosed that an average Nigerian Senator earns three billion naira per annum.

    He made the revelation while delivering the Nigerian Society of International Law (NSIL) Public Lecture titled  “The Many Afflictions of Anti-Corruption Crusade in Nigeria” as Guest speaker on Wednesday in Lagos.

    “From the information I have gathered, a Nigerian Senator earns about #29 million a month and over #3 billion a year,” Sagay stated.

    The comprehensive breakdown of the salary of the Senators given by Professor Sagay amounted to  #3, 264, 329, 264.10 per annum.

    The breakdown of the salary of 29 million naira per month is as follows:

    Basic Salary #2, 484, 245.50;

    Hardship allowance, 1,242, 122.70;

    Constituency allowance #4, 968, 509.00;

    Furniture allowance #7, 452, 736.50;

    Newspaper allowance #1, 242, 122.70;

    Wardrobe allowance, 621,061.37;

    Recess allowance #248, 424.55;

    Accommodation 4,968,509.00;

    Utilities #828,081.83;

    Domestic staff #1,863,184.12;

    Entertainment #828,081.83;

    Personal Assistant #621,061.37;

    Vehicle Maintenance Allowance 1,863,184.12;

    Leave Allowance #248,424.55;

    Severance Gratuity #7, 425,736.50

    Motor Vehicle Allowance, #9, 936,982.00.

    “The younger the more corrupt”

    Sagay also spoke against the rush of younger politicians in haste to run the affairs of the country, noting that Nigerian politics has quickly declined since the first  Republic.

    According to Sagay, “One common thread that runs through the attitude of recent politicians borders on greed, avarice, self-service and accumulation of wealth at the expense of the country.”

    “Why the rush? A young politician who wants to run at 25 will still become 30, it is just a matter of five years. Why can’t they wait to run? Most politicians are just consumed by greed and the younger they get, the corrupt they become,” the professor said.

  • DSP absconded, changed name to emerge Senator – Police

    DSP absconded, changed name to emerge Senator – Police

    •Misau denies allegation

    The police yesterday declared Senator Isa Misau, a former Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), as a deserter from the force.

    Police spokesman Jimoh Moshood, who addressed a news conference in Abuja, called on other security agencies to step into the matter with the police deserter.

    But the senator told The Nation that the police stepped out of its authority and showed unfairness towards him.

    Jimoh, who read a statement entitled: “Re: Senator accuses IG of cornering N10 billion monthly IGR and taking a bribe to post CPs to juicy states,”  accused Misau of making a fake allegation, forging a purported resignation letter and absconding from duty.

    He claimed that Misau’s real names are Mohammed Isa Hamman.

    He said: “The Nigeria Police Force is constrained once again to react to the media briefing by one Senator Isah Hamman Misau, who has been found out to still exist on the Nigeria Police Force Officers Staff List as AP. No 57300 DSP Mohammed Isa Hamman on posting to Niger State Police Command on September 24, 2010.

    “Senator Isah Hamman Misau dubiously absconded and deserted the Nigeria Police Force on September 24, 2010 when he was redeployed to Niger State Command and he refused to report, consequent upon which he was queried in line with the Public Service Rules Sections 030301(b)(g) (m)&(o) and  030402 (a)(b)(c)(e)&(w), in addition to the previous queries and disciplinary process he was facing when he refused to proceed on Junior Command Course(JCC) 49/2008 at Staff College Jos between 5th January, 2009 and 19th June, 2009.”

    Jimoh added: “The retirement letter presented to the Journalists by DSP Mohammed Isa Hamman is suspiciously forged and dubiously obtained.

    “The letter, which was dated 5th March, 2014, a period of more than four years after AP No 57300 DSP Mohammed Isa Hamman (Senator Isah Hamman Misau) deserted the Force is now being investigated by the Force.”

    He added that extant rules under the Police Act and Regulations, the Criminal and Penal Codes, stipulating a deserter as a suspected criminal under the law are applicable to Misau.

    However, in a telephone call to The Nation yesterday, the embattled senator expressed anger over the police allegation.

    He noted that Inspector-General of Police Ibrahim Kpotun Idris sought his official assistance at the Senate last week.

    The senator added that the air flight ticket to Morocco and hotel bookings made for him by the IG last week remain unused because he did not understand the motivation behind the gesture.

    “It is wrong for them to say these things because issues of appointment, promotion, discipline and disengagement of officers are the sole responsibility of the Police Service Commission, not the Nigeria Police Force.

    “So, it is wrong for the police to allege that I did not resign properly because I have an official letter from the Police Service Commission on my departure from the police.

    “Moreover, under the Public Service rules, if you want to disengage from the public service, you have two options to fulfil all requirements of the law – either you pay one month in lieu of notice or to give a formal notice of three months.

    “When did they realise that I  am a deserter because even last week, the IG phoned me to assist and talk to the Senate President and Senate Leader concerning kidnappings on Abuja-Kaduna road; I helped the IG arrange the meeting.

    “Also, I have been writing letters to the IG on my letterhead and referring to myself as a retired police officer on the floor of the Senate; the press should ask police authorities about when they realised that I am now a deserter, seven years after leaving the police force.”