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Electoral Bill: National Assembly to delete direct primary

Published

3 years ago

December 31, 2021

House of Representatives Speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila

House of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila yesterday spoke of how the National National Assembly plans to resolve the logjam over the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.

He hinted that lawmakers may drop the controversial clause from the Bill before passing it into law when they reconvene next month.

According to him, legislators could resort to the option, if they failed to muster the two-thirds majority votes needed to override President Muhammadu Buhari’s veto on the Bill.

Gbajabiamila listed the two options while fielding questions from reporters after commissioning some projects in his Surulere I Constituency in Lagos.

On December 20, President Muhammadu Buhari returned the Bill to the National Assembly, citing concerns about the inclusion of direct primary for political parties as reasons for declining assent.

The President’s decision led to crisis between the Presidency and the National Assembly which threatened to override the President.

Some critics have asked the lawmakers to override the Presidents.

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Acknowledging the calls from concerned stakeholders, Gbajabiamila said: “If you followed the history of the amendment of the direct and indirect primary bill, I initiated that amendment bill for a good reason and it is for people to participate in elections. These are the people you see around when you campaign every four years come rain, come shine.

“For me, it does not make sense that these people do not have a voice in who represents them. It is part of being used and I didn’t like that.

“Most of us are reformers and one of the ways to reform the system is to make more accountable and to make the people have a voice in who represents them as opposed to a few people sitting in the four corners of a wall and writing results.

“That is what the amendment was all about. Again, there is a process.

“The President has in his wisdom – and I believe he did it with all good intention based on advice that he got, he weighed everything carefully. You know the President has always been a man who, because of his popularity, enjoyed direct primaries, he liked it.

“But, I guess maybe times are different; he listened to people that he has employed to advise him and it appears that they advised him against the amendment.

“So, there is a process, we’ll return to the house and determine if those reasons sit well with the National Assembly, in which case we will at that point consider removing that clause and passing the bill so that we do not throw away the baby with the bath water.

“But then, it is not a decision for me to make; it is a decision for the entire National Assembly. If they determine that the reasons are not good enough, then there is a process as prescribed by the Constitution. Which way the pendulum is going to swing? I have no idea until that time.

“I cannot read the minds of members. We need two-thirds to be able to override the veto. There is a reason why the Constitution prescribes two-thirds. Veto is not something you easily override. If they can muster enough, if they believe that it is in the best interest of Nigeria, then that is what we will do, otherwise, we will take out the clause and pass the bill as it is, so that we have a law and what Nigerians deserve is a credible electoral law and process and they must get it.”

Backing the 20 per cent police pay rise recently announced by the Presidency, the Speaker noted there was no provision for its implementation in the 2022 budget passed and transmitted by the lawmakers to the President for assent.

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Gbajabiamila called for an extra-budgetary provision since the new salary structure will take effect from next month.

The legislators transmitted the 2022 budget to President Buhari for assent alongside a letter dated December 24.

Gbajabiamila said: “I believe at the time when the increase was done – and I give kudos to the President for that, it’s been a long time coming and well deserved for the police; They are out there doing everything they can to keep us safe. No amount of money will be too much for policemen.

“At the time that decision was made, I believe we had gone way into the budget. We were almost at the tail end of the budget. So, I believe that a supplementary budget will be brought that will accommodate that increase.

“It will be brought and it will be accommodated. There is no point in announcing an increase without any money to pay for it. I believe that the president will do that.”

The projects inaugurated are: the Obele Mini Stadium on Dosunmu Road; Adedoyin Road, Ojikutu; Ishola Road by Randle; Rasaq Balogun Mini Stadium; Razaq Balogun Road and Adeniran Ogunsanya, Surulere, Lagos.

Gbajabiamila said of the projects: “What is my job as a legislator? It is to represent the people; both those who voted me in and those that did not. That’s what we’ve been striving to do over the years, even before I became speaker, from my first year in office. That’s all I’ve been doing.

“You said 137 roads, but if you count from when I was first elected to the House of Representatives, it goes way beyond that. We give God all the glory for what we have been able to do. We made promises and we delivered.”

The Nation

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BREAKING: FEC proposes N47.9 trillion budget for 2025 fiscal year

Published

13 hours ago

November 14, 2024

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BREAKING: FEC proposes N47.9 trillion budget for 2025 fiscal year

The federal government has unveiled a proposed budget of N47.9 trillion for the 2025 fiscal year.

Atiku Bagudu, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, disclosed this to journalists on Thursday following the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by President Bola Tinubu.

Bagudu revealed that the council had approved the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for 2025-2027.

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According to the minister, the government has pegged the crude oil benchmark at $75 per barrel, with an oil production target of 2.06 million barrels per day (bpd).

The budget also sets the exchange rate at N1,400 per dollar and aims for a gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 6.4%.

BREAKING: FEC proposes N47.9 trillion budget for 2025 fiscal year

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EFCC arrests ex-NCMB boss over $35m energy project fraud

Published

13 hours ago

November 14, 2024

Trends Admin

EFCC arrests ex-NCMB boss over $35m energy project fraud

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) told FIJ that they have arrested Timber Wabote, the former executive secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCMB), on the grounds of a failed $35 million Bayelsa refinery project fraud.

Dele Oyewale, the EFCC’s spokesperson, confirmed this to FIJ on Thursday.

“It is true,” Oyewale responded to FIJ’s inquiries.

Wabote is accused of misappropriating public funds for a refinery project that should have improved local energy production.

Vanguard reported that the NCDMB under Wabote paid $35 million to support the development of energy infrastructure in the Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa, yet there was nothing to show for it.

The EFCC picked Wabote up following the arrest of Akintoye Adeoye Akindele, the Managing Director of Atlantic International Refinery and Petrochemical Limited, for alleged misappropriation, money laundering and diversion of $35 million in public funds.

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“NCDMB under the watch of Wabote allegedly paid the $35 million to Akindele to build a 2,000 barrel per day (BPD), refinery, jetty, gas plant, power plant, data centre and tank farm at Brass free trade zone (FTZ), Okpoama Community in Brass LGA of Bayelsa State,” a source with the EFCC had explained.

Since December 2020 when the payments were made, Akindele abandoned the project with little or nothing to show for the huge sum he received.

Preliminary investigations showed that Wabote’s NCDMB financed 17 different projects, including the 2,000 BPD refinery in Brass LGA.

There has been a series of public fund misappropriation cases in the energy sector in recent times.

FIJ earlier reported that members of the House of Representatives summoned three ministers to defend how over $2 billion was spent on renewable energy with not much to show for it.

A recent FIJ report also recently detailed how residents of Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa, have not had power in their homes since July due to the vandalisation of the Ahoada-Yenagoa transmission towers caused by unidentified persons.

The Bayelsa state government told FIJ it was the federal government’s responsibility to provide electricity for residents. The state has no renewable energy options reliable enough to power its capital despite the multi-million-dollar NCMB energy project.

Transparency in the energy sector has become necessary at a time when Nigerians have suffered power instability due to frequent grid collapses.

EFCC arrests ex-NCMB boss over $35m energy project fraud

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Court adjourns Yahaya Bello’s trial till Nov 27

Published

14 hours ago

November 14, 2024

Trends Admin

Yahaya Bello

Court adjourns Yahaya Bello’s trial till Nov 27

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has requested an adjournment in the new case against the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, stating that the 30-day window for the previously issued summons is still active.

The commission has granted administrative bail to his co-defendants, Umar Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu, and asked the court for an extension of time for Bello to appear.

At the resumed hearing before Justice Maryann Anenih of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja, EFCC Counsel Jamiu Agoro noted that the court’s order from October 3rd had not yet expired.

“In that wise, we feel it will not be appropriate for us to take proceedings while that 30 days is still running. So we have discussed and agreed to come back on the 27th day of November, 2024, my lord,” he told the court.

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He also mentioned that the previously set date of November 20th was not convenient for the prosecution counsels.

Counsel to the second defendant, Aliyu Saiki, SAN, confirmed that his client had been granted administrative bail by the prosecution and had no objection to the adjournment request. The third defendant’s counsel, ZE Abass, concurred.

The prosecution counsel also requested the court to allow the notice of hearing to be pasted on the last known address of the first defendant.

After hearing from all counsels, the judge granted the EFCC’s application for adjournment and the issuance of the hearing notice.

“I have considered the application for adjournment by the complainant and issuance of hearing notice and the submission by the second and third defendants. The application is granted,” she said.

Justice Anenih then adjourned the case to November 27th for arraignment.

The former governor, alongside Umar Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu, are being prosecuted as 1st to 3rd defendants, respectively, in a fresh 16-count charge instituted against them by the EFCC.