Impeaching Ekweremadu Will Worsen National Assembly Crisis - Senator Shehu Sani

 Senator Shehu Sani, representing Kaduna-Central senatorial district, said that the impeachment of the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, will deepen the current crisis rocking the National Assembly and impede the operations of the executive arm of government.

Sani, who was elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, said although he didn’t vote for Ekweremadu, the plan to remove him was not the solution to the crisis rocking the National Assembly.

The senator said this during an interview with Sahara TV on Monday.

Sani said,

“We have to tell ourselves the truth. We are in a difficult situation. The fact that we have a deputy senate president from the PDP is a better alternative to the election of a senate president from the PDP because we could have had that on June 9.

“If we remove Ekweremadu and replace him with an APC senator, the PDP in the senate would be a potent opposition that would continue to oppose anything that the executive arm presents.

“Now that the APC senators are not united, and when you have a PDP as a force to confront, that would be an additional problem. Now, Ekweremadu is the subject matter. Ekweremadu is being seen as representing a power equation in the sharing of power in the country. Therefore, removing Ekweremadu will create more problems than the solutions which we are saying it would create.

As the 8th Senate resumes on July 28, Sani advised his colleagues to focus on providing good governance to Nigerians.

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Senate Summons INEC Chairman, Prof Jega To Explain Election Postponement

 The Chairman of INEC chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega is to appear before the Senate tomorrow, Feb. 18th, to explain the reasons for the postponement of the general elections.

 They also want him to bring card readers to demonstrate how they would use them during the forthcoming elections.

 INEC had on Feb 7th announced the postponement of the general elections citing security challenges.

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Nigerian Court Of Appeal Sacks 2 Senators And 8 House Of Rep. Members

The Nigerian Court of Appeal in Abuja, yesterday, Friday, 1st October fired two Senators and eight House of Representatives members from Katsina state, who got their seats after their initial occupants were sacked by the Independent National Electoral Commission December 2011.

The court ordered that those earlier sacked by INEC be reinstated into their positions.

Those reinstated are; Senators Abdu Umar Yandoma and Ahmad Sani Stores, House of Reps members, Murtala Isa, Muntari Dandutse, Musa Salisu, Aminu Ashiru and Umar Adamu Katsayal, Muhammad Tukur, Tasi’u Doguro, and Abdu Dankama.

Those occupying the seats presently, who are to vacate are; Senators Abubakar Yar’adua and Hadi Sirika, House of Reps members Ahmed Babba Kaita, Salisu Salisco, Umar Abubakar, Salisu Daura, Isa Doro, Sani Mashi, Abbas Machika and Mansur Funtua.

The first set of lawmakers were sacked in December 2011 by the electoral body which said they were not the due candidates for the elections on the platform of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change, CPC.

That decision was overturned in January 2013 by a High Court in Abuja, which ordered that the initial winners be reinstated. But that ruling was not effected as the second set of lawmakers appealed against the ruling.

In its ruling on Friday, the Court of Appeal affirmed the judgement of the Federal High Court, Abuja which voided the withdrawal of Certificate of Returns of the first 10 Katsina lawmakers.

The court also said the leadership of the National Assembly acted in error by accepting to swear-in the second set of lawmakers to replace the old ones after INEC issued to them Certificate of Returns.

Justice Jimmy Bada, who led four other judges to hear the appeal said that the High Court was right to have dismissed the objection raised by the lawmakers currently in the National Assembly.

“There is no court of competent jurisdiction that declared the appellant as winner in the election,” the judge said.

“The respondents (those whose certificate of returns were withdrawn) were duly sworn-in and I am of the view that the court below has the powers to entertain the case of the respondent.

“The certificate of returns issued to the appellants is a nullity. The court below was right in dismissing the objection of the appellants. INEC issued the certificate of returns without order from any court or tribunal”.

The lawyer representing the lawmakers who have been ordered to vacate their seats, John Baiyeeshea, said the appeal, which raised four issues for the court’s determination, was not a pre-election matter and as such the federal high court had no jurisdiction to hear and make a pronouncement on it.

He argued that the issuance of Certificates of Return and alleged withdrawal of the certificate are post-election matters, and begged the court to annul the judgement of the high court.

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Senators Discuses 'Impeaching' Goodluck Jonathan

The House of Representatives have revealed that they are no plans on ground to impeach President Goodluck Jonathan.

 The Deputy Minority Leader Sumaila Kawu warned those who might want to exploit the factionalisation of the PDP to foment trouble in the House to think again.

 The All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain from Kano said: “Impeachment of the President is not on our agenda as a parliament and as such it is a figment of anybody’s imagination to suggest anything like that.

 “On our return from the annual recess, we shall continue with legislation that will put food on the table of Nigerians and not waste our time on none-issues because the 7th House is a serious chamber that cannot be distracted.

 “The earlier they realised that the House is unshakeable the better for them.

 They should rather gear their energy towards solving the multifarious crisis bedevilled their party than trying to fight a lost battle.

 “Nigerians are suffering and any responsible government should at this time gear all its energies towards putting smiles on the faces of its citizens but not fighting its party members because of ambitions to perpetuate itself in power.

 “House is a symbol of Nigeria because of its broader representation of each and every crannies of Nigeria and that is why we are working together to salvage the country.

 “It is obvious that some people are very jittery over the mass movement of PDP members to the New PDP and even other political parties and in their desperate attempts to cause trouble and confusion they may want to capitalise on the crisis to foment trouble in the House.

 “If the executive or indeed the presidency is feeling guilty for failing to deliver on its mandates to Nigerians, they still have time to do so by working harder and in accordance with constitutional provisions.

 Those spreading false are doing so for personal benefits and maximising their political gains with their masters."

 “I wish to state here that the House of Representatives is one and indivisible body of 360 members who are committed to the development, political stability and progress of Nigeria.

 “We will never shy away from those things that will bring happiness to all Nigerians.

 We are however, using this opportunity to call on those people who may want to use the crisis in the PDP to foment trouble in the House to stay away from the House.We won’t allow anybody to divide us, we cannot be divided.”

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State of the Nation: Senate set to battle Jonathan

 THE Senate, yesterday, drew the battle line when it threatened to over rule the President should he not assent to a bill asking him to make the State of the Nation Address annually.

The bill requires the President to address the National Assembly on the affairs of the nation annually.

In an apparent reaction to President Goodluck Jonathan’s rebuff  of an earlier version of the bill forwarded to him two years ago, the Senate vowed yesterday to override him should he again veto the bill.

The bill on the State of the Nation Address which was forwarded from the House of Representatives was presented to the Senate by the Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba.

In his lead debate, Senator Ndoma-Egba, noted that the bill would neither foreclose presentation of annual budgets nor duplicate its functions, adding,  that ‘’the idea of the Bill is to take stock of the nation, its condition, the governments and its performance; the people and their well being”.

Contributing to the debate on the bill, Senators said the bill would give legal muscle to the crave by lawmakers for the president to brief the legislative arm on the affairs of government, even as they submitted that specific details on what steps the National Assembly would take should be included in the bill.

In his remarks, Senator Uche Chukwumerije, PDP, Abia North, however, cautioned that the address should have thematic guidelines which should cover the economy and social stability.

For Senator Magnus Abe, PDP, Rivers South East, ‘’we should not look at this bill for just for today. I don’t see any challenges in the implementation of this, it would give Nigerians an opportunity to hear directly from the president.” He however said that he has an issue with the article that says the National Assembly may summon the president using two thirds if he doesn’t address the nation.

Opposition derserves right to react

On his part, Senator Olusola Adeyeye, ACN, Osun Central, advocated that in the aftermath of the president’s speech, the opposition should be given an opportunity to react to some of the issues that would be raised by the president.”

The Bill, which scaled the second reading was referred to the Senate Committee on Federal Character and Intergovernmental Affairs to look at and report to the entire house in the next two weeks.

Speaking after discussions on the Bill by senators, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over yesterday’s plenary, said the National Assembly would heed the advice of the President’s Special Adviser on Political Matters, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak who had earlier dared the National Assembly to invoke its powers if the President refuses to assent to the Bill.

Ekweremadu said:  “We decided that there is need for us to make it compulsory for the President to appear before the National Assembly and present a state of the Nation Address. When that did not happen, we again introduced it in 2008.

“To make sure that the Bill sails through, I discussed with President Umaru Yar’Adua the difference between the Bill and what the Constitution says and Yar’Adua was excited and looked forward to being the first President to present the State ofNation Address.

“Unfortunately by the time the Bill was passed he had died. It was then President Goodluck Jonathan who had the opportunity to preside over the issue of signing the Bill. He did not sign the Bill. It happened during the closing days of the last Senate. We didn’t have the opportunity of bringing the Bill back to over ride the veto of Mr. President.

“We would have over-ridden the veto if we had enough time to do so. But technically, at the end of the session, the Bill lapsed and we needed to start afresh. It was not as if we did not know what to do with the Bill.

“We believe that this time the president will sign it but if it is not signed, you know the Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs, Ahmed Gulak, advised us that if the President refuses to sign our Bill, we know what to do. So that might be the first time we heed the advice of the Political Adviser to the President. This Bill will be considered by the appropriate committee and returned in good time so that the country will begin to benefit from the very important provisions of the Bill in line with the practice in most other countries including our own sub-region. Even inGhanathere is a provision for State of the Nation Address.”

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N1.305b not enough for refreshments in Presidential Villa

Senate was, yesterday, told that the N1, 305, 292, 050 set aside in the 2013 budget for refreshment and meals and other miscellaneous expenses in the State House will not be enough.

This is just as a breakdown of the Miscellaneous sub-head in Aso Rock’s budget shows that N203,752,432 was allocated for refreshment and meals; N107,412,768 would be spent on honorarium and sitting allowance while N37, 277,825 will be for publicity and advertisement.

These were disclosed, yesterday, when the State House Permanent Secretary, Emmanuel Ogbile appeared before the Senator Dahiru Kuta-led Committee on Federal Character and Inter-Governmental Affairs to defend the N14,715,566,104 budget for next year.

Ogbile also told the senators some other expenses that were being taken care of in the refreshment and meals vote, which he said include National Economic Council (NEC), Council of State, conferences in the Banquet Hall, Presidential retreats, National Merit Award, Children’s Day as well as hosting of dignitaries. Chairman of the Committee, Senator Dahiru Awaisu Kuta, however, countered the Permanent Secretary on the provision for the Merit Award which he said has its own budget.

The Permanent Secretary also gave a further breakdown of the 2013 State House budget as thus, Medical expenses (N50,308,546); Postage and courier services (N10,035,583); Welfare packages (N195,066,223); Subscription to professional bodies (N4,589,793); and Sporting activities (N32,910,730).

According to him, Overtime will gulp, N250,455,589; Feeding of animals including animal supplements for the veterinary clinic (N30,584,144); Summit/ Extra ordinary sessions including the UN, African Union, ECOWAS, etc (N228,112,862); and NYSC, IT, LOCUM, Housemanship and contract staff allowance (N144,788,555).

According to Ogbile: “I have taken pains to explain that this money is not just to fund the residence of the President and that of the Vice President. The experience I have had is that this fund is grossly insufficient. It is not even enough.”

The Permanent Secretary noted that “it is also from the budget of N1.305 billion that we take care of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) which holds every Wednesday.”

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Senate draws battle line, threatens to impeach Jonathan

THE Senate yesterday drew the battle line with the presidency pledging to use constitutional powers to enforce its resolutions directed at the good governance of the nation. Yesterday’s charged session was upon recent comments made by administration officials on the powerlessness of legislative resolutions. 

The legislative body in a retort to claims by Information Minister, Labaran Maku that the administration was forging ahead with the production of the N5,000 bank note drew his attention to the fact that he was a mere appointee unlike legislators who were in office on the mandate of the people.

 For the first time since the advent of the present senate, the threat of impeachment against President Goodluck Jonathan was made when Senator Uche Chukwumerije, PDP, Abia North disclosed that some senators were already mobilizing signatures for an impeachment notice should the president continue to disregard the actions and counsels of the senate.

 The outpouring of disaffection was in the course of a debate on a Bill for an act to amend the Public Enterprise (Privatization and Commercialization) Act 2004 to provide for inclusion of host communities in sales of shares. The bill sponsored by Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, PDP, Delta North, aims to reserve five per cent of the shares of any public enterprise earmarked for privatization for the host community. 

 Senator Okowa in his debate disclosed that the amendment would help the host community and other stakeholders to buy into the privatization programmes of government. Among the senators that spoke were Senators Chukwumerije, Ahmad Lawan; ANPP Yobe North; George Akume, ACN Benue; Ibrahim Gobir, PDP Sokoto and Isa Galaudu, PDP Kebbi. 

 Members of the Red Chamber and President Jonathan Senator Okowa explained that the Bill sought to ensure better accountability through an amendment of the functions of the National Council on Privatization, NCP, to remove contradictions. “Section 5 (3) of the Act is proposed for amendment to provide for the inclusion of host communities.

 The amendment provides for not less than five per cent of the shares to be offered to Nigerians, to be reserved for the host communities of the public enterprises to be privatized, and also proposes not less than five per cent of such shares for sale to be reserved for the staff of the public enterprise”.

 Budget implementation Against the background of mutterings by senators over the poor implementation of the resolutions of the senate, the Deputy President of the Senate, Chief Ike Ekweremadu who presided at the plenary cautioned Mr. Maku that unlike the legislators, he, Maku was not an elected official of government. 

 Ekweremadu said: “I do not think we need the Minister of Information, indeed any minister to remind us that our resolutions are not binding just as we do not need to remind him that he was not elected. So we know that our resolutions are not binding, but the decisions we take in this Senate, especially regarding the resolutions are all well thought of.

 “They are borne out of patriotism, they are well researched and it is the amalgamation of the views of very responsible Nigerians. And to that extent, it is very persuasive and anybody who is ignoring the resolutions of this Senate is doing it at the expense of good governance and we cannot encourage such a thing. 

 “We believe that this is an opportunity for Mr. President to go and look for the resolutions of the Senate regarding the BPE investigation. If there are people sitting on it, I think he should use his executive powers and push them out and get the report and begin to implement them for the overall interest of this country.”

 Senator Chukwumerije, who noted that impeachment of the President would be the last option if the resolutions were not implemented, said: “the Ahmad Lawan report is the highest moral ground of the Seventh Senate. It was that report that convinced everybody, the public that the hope for this country lies with the Senate; that there is still one body that is concerned with the nation which lies far above sectionalism.

 “The pattern in this country all along has been one of siphoning of funds through all sorts of legal subtleties to private pockets and private companies. “And for the first time, there was a bold report that exposed the rot and we called for a reversal of this pattern; unfortunately, it is business as usual. It is, therefore, in the interest of this Senate that in addition to what we are doing on this Act as we are doing now, we must pass a resolution calling the attention of Mr. President to the main body of that report. 

 Senate has started gathering signatures - Chukwumerije “Two weeks ago, we started collecting signatures, and if we collect up to two-third of the Senate, we are going to get a motion that would give marching orders to Mr. President for the implementation of the report or else… We are getting to that stage. They are looting public funds with impunity and nobody is saying anything. “If the President keeps on not implementing resolutions of the Senate, if it gets to the point of threatening impeachment, I, Uche Chukwumerije will move the motion.”

 Co-sponsor of the bill, Senator Lawan said the bill was sequel to the investigation the senate carried out on the activities of the BPE from 1999 to 2011. Lawan who chaired the Ad-hoc committee explained that during the investigation, it was discovered that the Public Enterprises Act of 1999 was flawed in about four ways. 

According to Lawan, at the end of the investigations, it was discovered that BPE was spending its proceeds without reference to the National Assembly, adding, “In fact we recommended punishment and sanctions for two of the officers who did that because those actions were against section 80 of the constitution.”

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Nigerian Senate passes same-s*x marriage prohibition bill -Offenders to get 14 years

ABUJA -- The Nigerian Senate on Tuesday approved a penalty of 14 years of imprisonment for any person who enters into same s*x marriage contract or civil union in Nigeria.

This followed the third reading of the bill for an Act to prohibit solemnization of marriage between members of the same s*x sponsored by Sen. Domingo Obende and 24 other Senators.

The bill was passed after the consideration of the report of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters at the floor of the Senate.

The Senate also approved that any person who witnesses, abets or aids the solemnization of same s*x-marriage was liable to a jail term of 10 years.

The bill further specified that any person or group that registers or operates a gay club was liable to 10 years of imprisonment.

The bill was read for the first time at the floor of the Senate on July 13.

In his ruling, Senate President David Mark warned the developed nations to stop any attempt to violate Nigeria's value system.

Mark said passing the bill was a declaration that Nigeria would not trade its long held values for economic aid.

Earlier, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters Dahiru Umaru while presenting the report said a public hearing was held to get the views of the general public.

He said the submissions during the public hearing showed that that Nigerians condemned the obnoxious act in its entirety.

"Nigerians are unanimous in condemning the obnoxious practice of lesbianism, gay, transs*xual, bis*xual, and inters8x as being against the order of nature," he added.

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