Category: National Issue

The House also called on the police to “conduct a proper investigation into the matter and refrain from parading Ms. Chidinma around to grant interviews on the matter under investigation.”

The House further called on the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, to “call all police personnel to order and ensure that there is no repeat of this violation of human rights and media access to arrested persons in the future, to avoid compromising the case in a court of law.”

In addition, the House said the IGP must ensure that “Ms. Ojukwu (the accused) does not die in custody or commit suicide while awaiting trial as in some past cases.”

These were the resolutions passed by the lawmakers at the plenary on Tuesday, following their unanimous adoption of a motion of urgent public importance moved by Tolu Akande-Sadipe and titled ‘Call for the Compliance of the Police Force with the Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Proper Investigation into the Death of Late Mr. Usifo Ataga.’

Punch

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has announced a meeting between members of the parliament and the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), scheduled for this evening.

Gbajabiamila urged all members to assemble at the car park by 7 pm, from where they would be conveyed to the Presidential Villa for the meeting.

The Senate is also to meet with Buhari at 8 pm.

Punch

The Senate, has rejected the nomination of Lauretta Onochie as a National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission.

Chairman of the Committee, Kabiru Gaya, in his report, said Onochie did not satisfy the provisions of the Federal Character Principles.

The Senate at the committee of the whole subsequently voted against her nomination.

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Ohanaeze, in a statement, signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Alex Ogbonnia, however, slammed Governor Bello, saying that he had demonstrated a remarkable obsession with ambition shortly after providence paved way for him to be sworn in as a governor in 2015 at an impressionable age of 40.

The apex Igbo body pointed out that “there is no doubt that Bello has a date with destiny going by a smooth political ascendancy that life has presented to him.”

It expressed fears that the youthful governor “is embarking on a political adventure that lacks both conscience and principle.”

“The meeting was held at the National University Commission Conference Centre, Abuja in 1998. Dr.Chuba Okadigbo spoke on behalf of the South while Alh. Abubakar Rimi spoke for the North. The likes of Dr. Alex Ekwueme, Chief Solomon Lar, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, etc were at the meeting.

“The Nigerian statesmen examined the merits and demerits of zoning and rotation of power between the composite zones in Nigeria. In the end, it was resolved that the presidency be conceded to the South and that it would rotate between the South and the North in the interest of equity, unity and corporate existence of Nigeria.”

It added, “the foregoing was the basis for the emergence of presidential candidates of the mainstream political parties from the South West in1999. Since then, the patriotic and peace-loving Nigerians have adhered to the rotation principle such that at the end of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s second tenure, President Musa Yar’Adua was elected; Goodluck Jonathan and then President Muhammadu Buhari.”

The court stated this as it delivered judgment on the certificate scandal involving a former Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun.

Adeosun was embroiled in the forgery of the National Youth Service Corps certificate, which resulted in her resignation in 2018.

Justice Taiwo Taiwo, in his ruling on the originating summon with suit number: FHC/ABJ/CS/303/21 brought by Wole Olanipekun, SAN, on her behalf, held that the NYSC certificate, based on the constitution, is not a mandatory requirement for holding a political office in the country.

“I am of the view that denying the plaintiff of the reliefs sought is not going to be doing justice to the matter,” he said.

The judge, therefore, granted all the four reliefs sought by the former minister.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that while Adeosun was the plaintiff in the suit, the Attorney-General of the Federation was the sole defendant.

NAN/Punch

The Senate has passed the supplementary budget submitted to both chambers of the National Assembly two weeks ago by the  President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

Buhari had proposed N895.842,465,917bn, but the Senate Committee on Appropriation, in its report presented by the Chairman, Barau Jibrin, increased the budget size to N982,729,695,343.

The breakdown showed that N123,332,174,164 is for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure, while the sum of N859, 397,521,179 is for contribution to the development fund for capital expenditure for the year ending on the 31st day of December, 2021.

Buhari had explained that the proposed amount would be used to fund the COVID-19 vaccine programme and health-related expenditures for treatment of additional 50,000 patients under the Nigeria Comprehensive AIDS Programme in states.

He had also said that part of the money would be used to procure additional equipment captured in this year’s capital expenditure on Defence and Security to tackle prevalent security challenges across the country.

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The ECOWAS Court stated this in a virtual court sitting held via zoom on Tuesday.

On the cause list for the day, were two applications against the Federal Government over the Twitter ban.

One was the application brought by the Registered Trustees of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project against the Federal Government marked ECW/CCJ/APP/23/21.

The ECOWAS Court stated that the parties of the other two cases, which were marked as ECW/CCJ/APP/24/21 and ECW/CCJ/APP/26/21, and sought to be consolidated were not in court.

Consequently, the court noted that it cannot make a consolidation order in their absence and without hearing from them.

The court also mentioned that the applicants in all the four applications were different but the respondents were the same.

I. C. Uzoma, a lawyer, also sought to apply to the court to intervene as an amicus curiae in the suit brought by SERAP and sought the permission of the court to move his motion since the parties in the suit he was interested in, were in court.

Punch

The Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Ambassador Maryam Yalwaji Katagum has reportedly collapsed during an official engagement in Bauchi State.

Newsmen gathered that Katagum was in in the state to launch an empowerment program in Bauchi metropolis,  before she suddenly slumped while delivering her speech.

It was further gathered that she was immediately conveyed by officials to the Trauma center of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH) for medical attention.

An eyewitness who spoke in confidence to newsmen said that the Minister slumped as she stood up to deliver her address and launch the program saying that, she just held her head and went down but for quick intervention of aides and other officials at the venue who acted promptly and rushed her to the hospital.

When news correspondent visited the Trauma Center of the ATBUTH, he was barred from gaining entrance.

When contacted the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of ATBUTH, Yusuf Aminu declined comment saying his job is at stake.

TheNation

The House of Representatives has considered and adopted the report by the committee, leading to the passage of the PIB.

The Committee of the Whole had considered the clauses of the bill as recommended by the Committee on PIB.

The Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, hailed the lawmakers for the record passage of the controversial bill, describing it as significant in the history of the parliament.

Punch