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Tag: Yakubu Dogara

  • Dogara faults current oil production sharing formula

    The current oil production sharing formula with Nigeria’s Joint Venture Companies is not favourable to the country, Speaker of the House Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara has said.

    Dogara made the remark on Tuesday at the opening ceremony of a public hearing by the Hon. Victor Nwokolo- headed House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Up Stream) on a bill for and Act to amend the deep offshore and inland basin production sharing Act, CAP D3 2004.

    According to him, the passage of the proposed amendment bill is over-due.

    He said the formula used has, no doubt, become unrealistic and not favourable to the country.

    “This makes the passage of this Amendment Bill not only imperative but over-due,” he noted, adding the oil sector is the main stay of economy.

    The bill under consideration, he said, “is aimed at ensuring higher earnings to government from off-shore operations.

    Read Also: Nigeria must win war against violence, says Dogara

    “In this era of economic doldrums in the country, the passage of this bill and its promulgation into law will help to shore up our earnings from oil, cushion the economic hardship and ameliorate our burden of Budget deficit.

    “The production sharing contracts were made as far back as 1993. The formula used has, no doubt, become unrealistic and not favourable to the country.

    “This makes the passage of this Amendment Bill not only imperative but over-due.

    “It is a bill that promotes equity and fairness between the government and our Joint Venture Companies.

    “The need for equity and fairness in the business environment cannot be over-emphasised. In this regard I want to implore our Joint Venture operators to always cooperate with the government in ensuring transparency in the oil sector.”

    Hon. Victor Nwokolo, Chairman House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream), said the hearing is as a result of the resolution of the House of Representatives on April 24, 2019.

    According to him, the committee is working to improve the socio-economic well-being of Nigerians.

    The Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS) in its submission before the committee expressed concerns about the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contracts (Amendment) Bill, 2018 (PSC Amendment Bill), which introduces a royalty rate of 50 percent on revenues above $20/bbl (1993 real terms, translating to $35lbbl in 2019) in addition to existing water-depth based royalties.

    The body said: “This would be in addition to already existing statutory obligations in form of taxes, fees, levies, tariffs, and NNPC profit oil.”

    It warned the Bill, if passed, will increase government revenue in the short-term but will diminish economic viability of Deepwater projects, which would stall Deep water investments in Nigeria and negatively impact production, federal revenue, local jobs and the broader economy.

  • Why EFCC quizzed National Assembly clerk

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) interrogated Clerk to the National Assembly, Mohammed Sani-Omolori, following a petition by Legislatives Aides, it was learnt on Sunday.

    Findings showed that some Legislative Aides petitioned the Presidency over “outstanding claims and allowances” the National Assembly allegedly refused to pay them.

    A reliable source said that the petition was written against the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Speaker of the House of Representative, Yakubu Dogara, for their “inability to prevail on the management of the National Assembly to settle the outstanding claims.”

    The Presidency was said to have referred the petition to the EFCC for appropriate action.

    The source said that “the National Assembly Clerk may have been invited by the EFCC as “the accounting officer” to clear the air on the issues raised by the Legislative Aides, among other sundry matters on financial dealings.”

    Apart from the outstanding allowances of the Legislative Aides, he said that the voting method for the election of the presiding officers of the ninth National Assembly was “another contentious issue the EFCC dived into with the Clerk.”

    The EFCC, he said, “demanded to know the voting method the Clerk intended to use for the election of presiding officers, whether open or secret ballot.”

    According to him, “the voting method to be adopted for the election of the presiding officers of the 9th assembly is actually creating tension in the National Assembly.”

    He noted that while some senators and House of Representatives members were rooting for open ballot as was used in 2011, others favour secret ballot as was the case in 2015.

    Findings showed that the two sides may disrupt the election of presiding officers on June 11 if the voting pattern did not go their way.

    It was also gathered that Senate and House of Representatives Rule Book had already been circulated to all senators-elect and House of Representatives members-elect during their induction programme last month.

    While the 2011 Senate Rule Book made provision for open ballot, the contentious 2015 version provided for secret ballot.

    The source who would not say the interest of EFCC in the voting method for the election of the presiding officers, simply laughed and said “we are talking about the election of the number three citizen of this country, it is a subject of interest to political leaders.”

    He noted that the front runners for the Senate President, Senators Ahmed Lawan, Mohammed Ali Ndume and Mohammed Danjuma Goje were “sharply divided over whether to adopt open or secret voting method for the election of presiding officers.”

    According to him, while the Lawan camp is pushing for open ballot, the Ndume and Goje camps are insisting on secret ballot.”

    He said, “There may be a show down and clash which may lead to the disruption of the election of the presiding officers. The two sides are maintaining their positions.

    Read Also: EFCC arrests Kwara Assembly member-elect

    “Nobody can say how it will end because the scenario is still unfolding but there is fear of unpleasant scene that will be totally unparliamentary and uncalled for.”

    The EFCC quizzed Sani-Omolori last Tuesday over issues relating to the financial dealings in the National Assembly for about six hours.

    The interrogation of the clerk was said to have lasted from about 11am to 5pm when Omolori was allowed to go home.

    The source noted that apart from the initial questions on records of financial dealings of the National Assembly, Omolori was also asked questions on the method of election of the presiding officers of the ninth National Assembly.

    Omolori was said to have “duly cooperated with the EFCC officers.”

    Contacted, a source in the EFCC confirmed Omolori’s interrogation by the anti-crime agency.

    The source who spoke anonymously because he was not authorised to speak on the issue, said that Omolori visited the commission on Tuesday.

    Findings should that Omolori’s international passport was taken from him by EFCC operatives.

    It was gathered that other key officials of the National Assembly including the Clerk of the Senate, Clerk of the House of Representatives as well as their deputies may be invited by the EFCC for questioning.

  • We must end violence at all cost —Dogara

    The Speaker, House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, has said the government and people of Nigeria cannot afford to lose the prevailing fight against criminal activities.

    He said no society can keep its civilization once it loses a fight against violence. Neither can such country keep its unity and love, which is why the country must win this war against violence to remain a peaceful and united nation.

    Dogara stated this in his keynote address during the Berom cultural festival, Nzem Berom, held in Jos yesterday.

    According to Dogara, “what is confronting this nation, which is violence, must be stopped at all cost.

    “The nation has had its full share of this unfortunate tragedy that has continued to happen to our nation, and I’ve said several times that we cannot afford to lose the fight against violence and still keep our civilization.

    “That has never happened, it won’t happen, and it will never happen.

    “Any nation that has lost the fight against violence has always lost its civilization.

    “Take the situation with the Northeast where I come from, there are communities where you can’t find anything as representatives of the Government. Police stations are gone, roads, buildings, hospitals and schools have all been destroyed.

    “How long is it going to take us before we even get back to the position where we were prior to the breakout of violence?

    Read Also: Press freedom not negotiable in Nigeria – Dogara

    “I want to charge us that if we really win this fight against violence, it will be because some of us have decided that we will walk across board in order to be peace builders and ensure that our people live in peace.

    “Of course it’s going to be difficult as always. The challenge has always been fear and mistrust.

    “When you talk about courage, however, you cannot begin to exercise courage except fear is present. Without fear, there’s no question relating to courage.

    “So it will take leadership that believes in the courage to sit down together with the opponents, enemies, with even those who feel like killing you, in order to find a way out.

    “I’ve reflected long and hard on the issues pertaining to this violence in Nigeria, which is perhaps everywhere now, especially in Northern Nigeria. I have discovered that most of us dwell on errors, and it is these errors that have served as fuel for these violence.

    “For instance, there is an error that tells us that a whole ethnic group can be just wiped out. And any person who utilises his senses will know that it is highly impossible to talk of just wiping out an ethnic group, except the God that created them decides to wipe them out Himself. Else, nobody would be able to achieve that. So, that is an error.

    “I’ve also heard of the error that stipulates that violence can be cured by more violence. It doesn’t work that way.

    “There has never been a conflict in the world, not even where the best of the war machines are used, that the weapons of war were thought to have resolved and brought to peace. Peace has always been obtained at the table of brotherhood. So that is another error.

    “One more error that I’ve heard consistently being repeated, which is a capital lie, by some of the advocates of this violence to say that it is because of cattle rustling that there has been violence. That is not true.

    “Everyone who has reflected on the subject of cattle rustling would know that for some people to rustle cattle, especially in this part of Nigeria, it would take a number of people from different tribes coming together to perpetrate that act.

    “It is not usually the case that it is only one tribe that would rustle cattle. If it’s in Plateau for example, there’ll be maybe a Birom man involved, maybe a Fulani man who knows how to process the cattle very well and other tribes associated with it. There may be those driving the cattle to the Southeast in order to sell them. So this is all perpetrated by a syndicate of criminals.

    “Then at the end of the day, it is the ordinary Birom farmer who pays the price, or an ordinary Fulani man who doesn’t know what was going on in the region bringing his cattle in from somewhere.”

    In his opening remarks, the paramount ruler of the Berom nation, The Gbong Gwom Jos, Da. Jacob Gyang Buba, said despite the permission by President Muhammadu Buhari and the Inspector General of Police for the establishment of Mobile Police Barrack in Gashish village in Barkin-Ladi LGA of Plateau State where over 230 people were killed in June last year, nothing has been done up to date.

    He noted that the Berom has the largest number of IDPs in the state who don’t only need food but need to be relocated to their ancestral homes.

    Da. Buba said the state has not felt the impact of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and appealed to government to direct NEMA to come to the aid of the people.

    He said no amount of provocation from whosoever would make the Berom nation not to hold Nzem Berom in the years ahead, saying that no government has the right to redefine traditional boundaries in Plateau State.

    The Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Barr. Solomon Dalung, admonished Plateau people to join hands together to promote peaceful co-existence in the state.

    The cultural festival witnessed a display of varieties of rich Berom culture.

  • Court strikes out suit seeking  Saraki, Dogara, 52 others’ sack over defection

    A Federal High Court in Abuja has struck out a suit that sought the sack of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, House of Representatives Speaker, Yakubu Dogara ,and 52 other National Assembly members who defected last year from the political parties on whose platforms they got to office.

    The suit was filed by a civil society group, the Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP).

    In a judgment yesterday, Justice Okon Abang held that despite the plaintiff’s noble intention, his court lacked the jurisdiction to determine the merit of its claims in the case because the plaintiff lacked the locus standi (the legal capacity) to initiate the suit.

    Justice Abang was of the view that the fact that the plaintiff is a registered corporate body under the Company and Allied Matters Act was insufficient to clothe with the right to sue on behalf of the public.

    The judge said the plaintiff’s failure to join the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Action Democratic Congress (ADC) – (affected by the defecting lawmakers’s action) – was fatal to the suit.

    He held that the plaintiff did not place anything before the court to show that the constituencies, represented by the defecting lawmakers, are aware of the suit or that the plaintiff has a special interest far above that of the general public.

    Justice Abang equally held that the plaintiff, in instituting the action, failed to involve necessary parties, such as the political parties affected by the defection.

    The judge noted that the plaintiff failed to obtain the fiat of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) that would conferred it with the necessary powers to institute the suit.

    He also noted that not being the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the political parties affected by the legislators’ defection, a member of any of the political parties, a member of the constituencies of the defecting  lawmakers or a registered voter in the lawmakers’ constituencies, the plaintiff lacked the legal capacity to file the suit.

    Justice Abang upheld the argument by one of the lawyers to the defendants, Mahmoud Magaji (SAN), to the effect that LEDAP was not a competent plaintiff.

    The judge held that, since the plaintiff was without the requisite locus standi, the court could not invoke Section 68 of the 1999 Constitution against the defecting lawmakers and declare their seats vacant, as prayed by the plaintiff.

    The judge said: “I am persuaded to hold that, though the plaintiff has a good case, promoting the rule of law, regulating the unlawful defection of legislators, amongst others, the plaintiff has no locus standi to institute the suit.

    “I have no jurisdiction to determine the case on its merit because the plaintiff, though has a good case, lacks locus standi. The plaintiff’s case is incompetent. It is struck out.”

    Justice Abang noted in passing that the defecting legislators violated the Constitution and ought to have vacated their seats, since there was no division in any of the political parties, as envisaged by the Constitution to legitimise their defection.

    The judge distinguished the defection of the former Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, from those of Saraki, Dogara and 51 others.

    Justice Abang held that Akpabio did not defect in the manner of Saraki, Dogara and others, but moved from the  Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)  to the All Progressives Congress (APC)  ”out of frustration of being expelled by the PDP through a letter dated August 2, 2018″.

    He was of the view that, having been expelled from the PDP, as claimed by Akpabio, which the plaintiff did not deny, he (Akpabio) was at liberty to join another political party of his choice.

    The judge said for the court to declare Akpabio’s seat vacant, as prayed by the plaintiff, would amount to punishing him for exercising his right to freedom of association guaranteed by Section 40 of the Constitution.

  • Nigeria must win war against violence, says Dogara

    Honourable Yakubu Dogara, Speaker, House of Representatives has said that Nigeria must win the war against violence in order to attain full civilisation.

    Dogara stated this on Friday in Jos at the annual cultural festival of Berom people of Plateau known as the “Nzem Berom”.

    The Speaker who was the chairman of the event said that the violence confronting the country must be stopped at all cost.

    He said “I have said it many times, we cannot afford to lose the fight against violence and still keep our civilisation.

    “Any nation that has lost the fight against violence, has always lost its civilisation.

    “Take the situation with the Northeast where I come from, as an example, there are communities where you can’t find anything as representatives of the government.

    “Police stations are gone. Roads, buildings, hospitals and schools have all been destroyed.

    “How long it is going to take us before we even get back to the position where we were prior to the breakout of violence?”

    Dogara noted that he had reflected long on the issues pertaining to the violence in the country, and discovered that most Nigerians dwell on errors, which serve as fuel for violence.

    The speaker said that for instance, there was an error that tells us that a whole ethnic group could just be wiped out.

    According to him, any person who utilises his senses should know that it is highly impossible to talk of just wiping out an ethnic group, except the God that created them decides to wipe them out Himself.

    “I have also heard of the error that stipulates that violence can be cured by more violence.
    “There has never been a conflict in the world, not even where the best of the war machines are used, that the weapons of war were thought to have resolved and brought peace.

    Read Also: Nigeria in worst period of insecurity- Dogara

    “Peace has always been obtained at the table of brotherhood. So that is another error.

    “We can defeat violence in Nigeria, if we are determined to do so and we have the leaders who are willing to do so.

    “It is also an error to say that some people are being killed because of cattle rustling.

    In a goodwill message for the festival, which attracted different tribes within and outside Plateau, Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr Solomon Dalung, commended Berom nation for a befitting cultural festival.

    Dalung also tasked the people on unity, saying that Plateau was known for peace and hospitality.

    “Our ancestors were peaceful people. Our ancestors were hospitable people and that was why they succeeded in all that they were doing.
    “For us, present leaders, we must invest our time and energy in promotion and protection of people of Plateau,” he said.

    The minister added that the leaders, particularly politicians, would disappoint the people and God if they could not unite and proffer solutions to the challenges bedeviling the state and country.

    NAN

  • Eighth NASS and tobacco regulations

    The promise by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara that the 8th National Assembly will speedily adopt the draft National Tobacco Control Regulations communicated to it in December 2018 by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) is commendable and should be actualized as a parting gift to Nigerians.

    Dogara at a recent Interactive Session on the National Tobacco Control Regulation organised by the House Committee on Delegated Legislation in Abuja, said that the National Tobacco Control Act, 2015, has widened the areas where tobacco smoking is prohibited in Nigeria in furtherance of the right of every person to a clean and healthy environment and protection from exposure to second-hand smoke.

    He quoted a recent report by the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) which estimated that the Nigerian government spends as much as $591 million yearly on treatment of patients suffering from tobacco-induced diseases to justify the need for prompt action.

    For the public health community nothing could be more reassuring than this pledge at a time that public confidence in the Parliamentary approval for the Regulation seems to be waning. The National Assembly had indeed been quiet on the Regulations since 2018 when the FEC communicated the draft document to it for consideration.

    The euphoria that has greeted this news notwithstanding, Nigerians do not want a flat regulation that does not address the crucial recommendations of the World Health Organisation – Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WH0-FCTC) as captured in the NTC Act.

    This is why the work of Simon Arabo-led committee on delegated legislation on the tobacco control regulation must be commended for seeking the input of civil society and other stakeholders to ensure the regulations reflect popular yearnings.

    On its part, the Federal Ministry of Health being the custodian of the health of Nigerians has carefully crafted the draft regulations in consultation with other stakeholders to ensure that it is of the same standard as is obtained in other parts of the world.

    One of the draft regulations requires that tobacco product manufacturers, importers or distributors submit a report to the Federal Minister of Health at the end of every calendar year, and not later than at the end of the first quarter of the succeeding calendar year, stating among other things the quantity of tobacco products produced; quantities exported from Nigeria and their audited annual statement of account.

    This requirement, the Ministry believes, is in tandem with recommendations of the WHO FCTC that Parties institute record-keeping mechanisms as part of strategies to monitor tobacco use and prevention policies. For a nation like Nigeria already inundated with unregistered tobacco products that are openly sold in the open market, no less a recommendation is required.

    On cigarette packs, the Ministry wants the age-long text warning which says ‘The Federal Ministry of Health warns that smokers are liable to die young’ to be replaced with a combination of text and graphic pictorial health warning messages. These messages are to be printed on 80% of the principal display surfaces of all tobacco product packages, as is practised in other nations that have equally signed, ratified and are now implementing the WHO-FCTC to the letter.

    India and China for instance, apply 85% combination of text and graphic pictorial health warning messages on their tobacco packages. African countries like the Gambia apply 75% of text and graphic pictorial health warning messages on their tobacco packages. Cameroon, Chad, and Senegal apply 70% each. The aim of this is to reduce the attractiveness of tobacco products, eliminate the effects of tobacco packaging as a form of advertising and promotion, and increase the notice-ability and effectiveness of health warnings, among others. Tobacco products will also not contain any other text, images, symbols, colours, signs, or other contents, including any trademarks or brand imaging, in whole or part.

    To ensure that the nation’s tobacco control policies are insulated from the tobacco industry meddling, the Regulations reinforce the fact that infiltration of tobacco control by any entity with conflict of interest will jeopardize the goals of the public health policy and sets the basic standard for public officials engaging with tobacco entities.

    For violation of the law there are financial penalties also.  Section 37 of the Act states that property forfeited to the State shall be channeled into a Tobacco Control Fund (TCF) established. Examples of countries that are implementing such measure are Botswana, Egypt, Iceland, Panama, Philippines, Poland, Romania, and Thailand.

    With the far-reaching nature of the draft Regulations on public health, it is not out of place to express fears that the tobacco industry might throw spanner in the wheel of its progress. Their aversion to licensing of tobacco products in the country and graphic health warnings the size that the Health ministry is proposing might just be snippets of what they may be cooking up to possibly derail the approval of the regulations as the June 2019 expiration of the 8th National Assembly nears.

    If that should happen, God forbid, the entire process of getting the FEC to approve the draft put together by the Health Ministry will start all over again and possibly take another four years to reach the point we currently find ourselves.

    There are no better words that capture the moment as what is credited to the Minister of State for Health, Professor Osagie Ehanire in the Health ministry’s memorandum to the House Committee that, it is clearly better and cheaper to prevent tobacco-linked diseases than to cure them. This is what the approval of the Regulations mean and this is what Nigerians demand of the 8th National Assembly.

     

    • Achike writes from Minna, Niger State

  • Dogara sponsors free medical treatment of 10,000 people in Bauchi

    No fewer than 10,000 residents in Bauchi local government have benefitted from free medical treatment on various ailments sponsored by the Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara.

    The medical outreach which commenced on Thursday at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH) Bauchi would be carried out by specialists under the aegis of ‘Doctors on the Move Africa’.

    Speaking with Journalists in Bauchi shortly after the flag off of the exercise, team leader of Doctors on the Move Africa, Dr. Haruna Joseph Kigbu, explained that this is the first phase of the annual free medical outreach being sponsored by the speaker.

    He said that the second phase would hold in Azare, Katagum local government area of the state.

    According to him, the projection for the next six days is to treat about 10,000 patients as 18, 000 patients were treated at the ATBU hospital in the previous exercise.

    Outlining services to be provided to patients, he said, general consultation, administration of free drugs, laboratory service, ultra sound scanning, test and treatment of diabetes, hyper tension and surgery on people with cataracts, fibroid, Hernia will be carried out.

    Read Also: Dogara to Tinubu: provide padded budget facts

    He said further that the project was embarked upon because many people die of different ailments because they cannot afford health services.

    Meanwhile, beneficiaries have commended the speaker for the gesture . Speaking in unison, they said he has brought succour to patients that are poor.

  • Dogara challenges Tinubu to provide facts on padded budget

    THE House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara has challenged the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwart, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to back his accusation of budget padding by the two outgoing presiding officers of the National Assembly with facts.

    In a statement yesterday in Abuja, the nation’s capital, by his media aide, Turaki Hassan, the Speaker said Asiwaju Tinubu’s accusation was the result of his political ambitions.

    He also said the Eighth Assembly has performed its legislative responsibilities well where the Executive allegedly fell short of providing good governance.

    The statement reads: “We have noted the statement issued on April 21 by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu wherein he stated his reasons for sponsoring or supporting some aspirants to various leadership positions in the forthcoming Ninth National Assembly…

    “The chief cause of delay in enacting the budget is the persistent refusal or neglect of the Executive to present it in good time.

    “For the records, in the last four years, there was no urgency or plan by the Executive to achieve a January to December budget cycle. For the avoidance of doubt, we will show the dates the budget estimates were submitted by the Executive in the last four years below: 2016 Budget was submitted on December 22, 2015, exactly nine days to the end of the year; 2017 Budget submitted on December 14, 2016, just 17 days to the end of the year; 2018 Budget was presented on November 7, 2017, the earliest even though it also fell short of the 90 days stipulated by the Fiscal Responsibility Act and the 2019 budget was presented on December 19, 2018, exactly 12 days to the end of the year.

    Read also: Court gives Saraki, Dogara, 52 others 5 days to respond to suit challenging defection

    “As if the late or delayed submission of budget estimates was not enough, in most cases, ministers and heads of agencies contributed to the so-called delay by consistently refusing to appear before National Assembly’s standing committees to defend their budget proposals, in line with the provision of the law.

    “At some point, the leadership of the National Assembly had to take up the issue with the President, who advised his ministers to honour legislative invitations to defend their budgets.

    “What Nigerians don’t know is that the Executive, through the various ministries, continued to propose additional projects to be included in the 2018 budget, even as at April and May of 2018, which further delayed the passage of the 2018 budget.”

    “These were communicated officially, and if anyone is in doubt, we will exhibit the letters with the dates they were written and received. In any case, the National Assembly inserted a clause in the Appropriation Bill consistent with S.318 of the Constitution, which allowed the Budget to last 12 months after Mr President’s assent. This enabled the Executive to spend more of the capital component of the Budget as it still had 12 months protected by law.

    “As an activist legislature, the National Assembly effected an amendment to S. 81(1) of the Constitution to compel Mr President to present the Budget estimates not later than 90 days to the end of a financial year in order to solve this problem. Unfortunately, very unfortunately, Mr President declined assent to the bill, which was passed by the National Assembly and over two-thirds of the State Assemblies.

    “Asiwaju Tinubu should mention the so-called bills the Executive sent to the National Assembly and were delayed to show he is a man of honour or forever keep his peace.”

     

     

  • Dogara to Tinubu: provide padded budget facts

    The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara has challenged the National leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu to provide facts on his accusation of budget padding by the two outgoing presiding officers of the National Assembly.

    In a statement Tuesday by his Media aide, Turaki Hassan, the Speaker said Tinubu accusation was as a result of his political ambitions.

    He also said the 8th Assembly has performed its legislative responsibilities well where the executive fell short of providing good governance.

    It reads: “We have noted the statement issued on April 21, 2019 by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu wherein he stated his reasons for sponsoring or supporting some aspirants to various leadership positions in the forthcoming 9th Assembly. Ordinarily, this would not have elicited any response from His Excellency, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon Yakubu Dogara, as Asiwaju is entitled to sponsor those he believes will have no choice but answer to his dog whistles anytime he blows same in his capacity as the self-acclaimed National Leader of his party.

    “If Asiwaju had confined his intervention to stubborn facts, this response would not have been necessary. He, however, used the opportunity to manufacture falsehoods and paint a non-existing picture of the stewardship of Mr. Speaker and the work of the 8th House of Representatives under his watch. It is therefore, incumbent on us to set the records straight for posterity.

    “Asiwaju Tinubu accused the leadership of the National Assembly of stymieing “the APC legislative initiatives while attempting to hoist noxious reactionary and self-interested legislation on the nation”.

    He said further: “Just look at the way Saraki and Dogara and their ilk hijacked the Budget Process these past four years. National budgets were delayed and distorted as these actors repeatedly sought to pad budgets with pet projects that would profit them”.

    He continued, “Even worse, they cut funds intended to prosper projects that would have benefited the average person. After four years of their antics halting the progress of government, we should do all we can to prevent a repeat of their malign control of the National Assembly.”

    He generously used the usual unexplained words like installing a progressive leadership and so on.

    “We do not expect Asiwaju Tinubu to dwell on brazen mendacity, much less  murder facts and decorum in his rabid bid to justify his patently clear fascist agenda of controlling all levers of power in Nigeria. Asiwaju Tinubu’s nocturnal agenda has no parallel in the history of any democracy and it is more loathsome when he throws caution to the winds and maligns government officials who are doing a yeoman’s job of stabilising the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, even in spite of political differences.

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  • Base your criticism on facts, Saraki replies Tinubu

    Senate President Bukola Saraki has charged the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to dwell on facts in his criticism of the leadership of the Senate.

    Tinubu had, in a statement on Monday, defended his role in aligning with the APC in the choice of preferred candidates for the leadership of the two chambers of the federal legislature in the emerging Ninth Assembly.

    The APC chieftain also knocked the leadership of the Senate for working at cross purposes with President Muhammadu Buhari on key government policies, particularly, the processing of the annual budget.

    But Saraki, in a statement Abuja by his media adviser, Yusuph Oloniyonu, decried what he described as Tinubu’s “quarterly attacks” on the President the Senate.

    Saraki said the APC leader’s statement contained untruth, fallacies and misrepresentations, adding that it was another effort to sell a concocted narrative about the Eighth National Assembly and its leadership.

    The statement said: “First, he alleged that national budgets were delayed, distorted, padded, new projects introduced, funds for projects reduced, “to halt progress of government”.

    “It is unfortunate that a man like Tinubu who had been in the Senate (though for 22 months and under a military regime) should not have a better understanding of how the legislature works.

    “The passage of budgets is definitely not the exclusive responsibility of the leadership of the Senate.

    “Most of the work is done by the various committees. These committees are headed by Senators representing different parties.

    “It is the level of co-operation between the committees and the MDAs in the timely defence of the budget proposals and the ability of the two chambers of the National Assembly to reconcile their figures that usually determine how soon the budget is passed.

    “To put the blame of budget delay on the Senate President or Speaker can only be mischief, or at best, playing to the gallery.

    Read Also: Why Saraki, Dogara are hell bent on installing successors

    “It is also a known fact that any so-called delay in the passage of budgets under the Eighth National Assembly is traceable to the refusal of heads of MDAs to defend the budget proposals for their agencies on time.

    “Last year, the President himself had to direct the Secretary to Federal Government to compel heads of MDAs to appear before the National Assembly committees following the report made to him by Dr. Saraki and Speaker Yakubu Dogara.

    So, if a man like Tinubu is spreading this falsehood about budget passage and delay being deliberately orchestrated by the National Assembly leadership, one wonders whether he tries to even understand what happens in the federal legislature at all or is that the only thing that is of interest to him is ‘jockeying and maneuvering for influence’, as he puts it.

    “To further make the points here clear, we invite Tinubu to look at the records of the time of submission of budgets and their passage since 2010 and he will see that with the exception of the 2013 budget which was passed on December 20, 2012, all the budgets have been passed between March and May of the same fiscal year.

    “This should give him a better understanding of the fact that the date the Appropriations Bill is submitted to parliament and the readiness of the MDAs to defend the proposals submitted, as well as timely agreement on the figures by both chambers of the National Assembly, are the main determining factors in when the budget is eventually passed. So, Tinubu should see that the facts cannot support his spins and fake narrative”.

    Saraki challenged Tinubu to cite specific instances where the Senate President and the leadership of the legislature sought to pad the budget with pet projects, as alleged.

    Taking the APC leader to task about the allegation, Saraki charged Tinubu to be graceful enough to substantiate this allegation, insisting it was careless, irresponsible and callous.

    Demanding that Tinubu withdraw the said statement, Saraki said it’s the constitutional responsibility of the National Assembly to review the proposals sent by the executive and where it deems necessary, it is within the power of the legislature to make changes.