POLITICS
Reps Bow to Pressure, Reverse Self on Gender Bills
.Gives Four Weeks Window to Make Amend
.Believe Reversal Would Earn them Peace
.We won’t Amend Electoral Act Section 84, Go to Court, They Tell Buhari
By Ubong Ukpong, Abuja
The House of Representatives, rose from an executive session yesterday, and rescinded its decision on the three gender-friendly bills, which it earlier voted against in the ongoing Constitution Review process.
Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, in a remark on the floor during plenary, said the House decided to take the action for the good of the country, in view of the issues they generated after the passage last week.
The motion to rescind and recommit the bills was moved by the Rules and Business Chairman, Abubakar Fulata, and it was adopted by the House.
Four Weeks were scheduled, within which the bills would be represented for consideration alongside other condition alteration bills, with the hope that they would enjoy the required two third votes in favour by members.
The House believed that the same action would be carried out by the Senate, otherwise it would opt for conference committee to harmonize, citing Section5 of the Constitution, which allowed the National Assembly to regulate itself.
Addressing House of Representatives correspondents, Chairman House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Benjamin Kalu, said the action was justified as the bills were still within their space, since they have not been transmitted to states Houses of Assembly.
He said this decision was a way of celebrating the international women’s day by the House, believing that the lawmakers would now enjoy some level of peace, having suffered so many attacks since last week.
Also speaking to journalists, Hon Babajimi Benson, said the House rescinded on its earlier decision in good conscience and wisdom, but not out of pressure.
The three bills were clause 36. on “a Bill for an Act to Alter the Provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to Expand the Scope of Citizenship by Registration; and for Related Matters and approve the recommendations therein.
Clause 37, on “a Bill for an Act to Alter the Provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to Provide for Affirmative Action for Women in Political Party Administration; and for Related Matters and approve the recommendations therein.
Clause 38, on “a Bill for an Act to Alter the Provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to provide Criteria for Qualification to become an Indigene of a State in Nigeria; and for Related Matters and approve the recommendations therein.”
Since last week, after the bills were rejected by National Assembly, the women had occupied the National Assembly, locking the main entrance.
The women, who refused to be comforted, had insisted that they would not leave until the lawmakers undo what they had done.
We won’t Amend Electoral Act Section 84, Go to Court, Reps Tell Buhari
The House of Representatives yesterday, said it would not tamper with the Electoral Act 2021, insisting that it would obey court order on the matter.
This was even as the House counselled the executive to approach the court if it is so much interested in deleting any clause of the new Act.
This was against the backdrop of a communication from President Muhammadu Buhari, to the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, seeking amendment to Section 84 (12) of the Act.
The Speaker read the letter at the plenary yesterday and referred it to the relevant committee of the House for due diligence.
However, briefing House of Representatives correspondents, Chairman Media and Public Affairs Benjamin Kalu, said the House has not breached any law by receiving, reading and referring the letter to the committee for action.
He said now, the committee has a duty to comply with subsisting orders of court and advising the House on same.
The House spokesman said, “We will not extend our parameters into the scope of the judiciary. What Speaker said it is in line with our rules. Clerk was instructed to transmit to relevant committee.
“In the course of transmission court order comes, nothing will be done”, he said untill the order is vacated.
“If the executive really wants removal of that clause, it behoves on it to approach the court on that.
“What the court has asked us to do, we will comply. To do otherwise is to play into the arena of contempt of court and we don’t want that”, Kalu stated.
Only on Monday, the People’s Democratic party (PDP), secured an order of court stopping the National Assembly, President and Attorney General of the Federation from tampering with the Electoral Act or refusing to implement it.
President Buhari while signing into law the Amendment Bill was unhappy with Section 84 (12), which asked appointees of government to resign from office if they want to vote and be voted for at party convention and primaries.
He claimed that the provision offended certain provisions of the Constitution and asked National Assembly to expunge it immediately.
His request was greeted by public outcry which stressed that only the court could make such pronouncement and not the President, who was an interested party in the matter.
The Abia Chapter of the INEC Staff Welfare Association (ISWA) has warned its members to uphold the integrity of the commission and guard against the culture of manipulating election results.
The Abia Chairman of the association, Mr Collins Eze, gave the advice at the group’s general meeting and end-of-year party in Umuahia.
Speaking in an interview with newsmen on the sideline of the ceremony, Eze said that the staff members were adequately aware of their enormous responsibility and should ensure free, fair and credible elections.
He said: “We have also told our colleagues that anywhere they find themselves they should make sure that they do the needful by ensuring transparency in the conduct of elections.
“We have always told them not to allow anybody to induce them with money to manipulate election results.
“I’m happy that they have been building the capacity of our colleagues on election processes.
“So, in the coming years, we won’t have any problem in ensuring free, fair and peaceful elections.”
He said that the end-of-year party was special as it afforded them the opportunity “to wine and dine together as well as thank God for sustaining them in 2024”.
Eze said that his leadership had introduced various means of assisting members in dire financial needs by providing platforms to solicit suppory for them.
He expressed gratitude to members for their support and cooperation, describing them as the “secret behind the success of this administration”.
He said that 34 of at least 350 staff members of the commission in the state retired from service in 2024.
According to him, the development has placed a huge financial burden on the association, in terms of their welfare and entitlement as members.
Report says that each member received a carton of tomato paste as Christmas gift from the association. (NAN)
A chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Osita Okechukwu, has told the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to be thankful to God that its 16-year administration was not probed by the successive APC-led governments.Okechukwu stated this on Tuesday in Abuja, while reacting to a statement by PDP congratulating Ghanaians for the conduct of free, fair and transparent general elections.
Report says that PDP had, in a statement, said that the verdict of the people of Ghana in the presidential election was a signal to the APC that its days were numbered. The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, had said in the statement that the power of the people in Nigeria, just like in Ghana, would ‘surely prevail and end the APC’s oppressive rule’.This, he said, would “return Nigeria to the path of good governance, security, political stability and economic prosperity on the platform of the PDP in 2027.”However, in his reactions to Ologunagba’s statement, Okechukwu said that the PDP clan should thank God that former President Muhammadu Buhari and President Bola Tinubu, out of sheer statesmanship, had refused to probe ‘the 16 locus years of PDP administrations’.Okechukwu, a former Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), described the 16 years of PDP administrations as ones full of squandering and lack of plan.He said that Nigeria had yet to recover from the humongous culture of impunity and trust deficit planted by PDP on the Nigerian soil.Okechukwu said corruption was among the culture of impunity, saying it governed the privatisation of Nigeria’s electricity value chain, a key element in the country’s industrialisation drive.“Another is the blatant rigging of the 2007 general elections which the foremost beneficiary, President Umaru Yar’Adua, out of good conscience and noble magnanimity, publicly acknowledged the malfeasance which characterised his victory,” he said.Okechukwu also mentioned what he called conscienceless sale of the legislative and ministerial quarters, the annual rentage of which, he said, was bleeding the country’s treasury.“Another one is the neglect of $23 billion Greenfield Refinery, which could have saved over $70 billion expended on importation of refined petroleum products and which simulated the economic hardship of today,” he said.On why, for nine years, the APC administration could not fix those challenges, he recalled the efforts made by the Buhari administration to reopen talks on the Greenfield Refinery which, according to him, the Chinese regrettably rebuffed.The former VON director-general said that Nigerians were not in a hurry to forget the deliberate breach of the rotational convention of president from the north to the south.He said that the country could not also forget the utter disregard for Section 7 of the PDP’s constitution which expressly mandated zoning.Okechukwu advised the PDP not to insult the sensibilities of Nigerians by assuming that citizens would easily forget how they were put in the harms way.He said that PDP should thank God that Buhari and Tinubu did not want to probe them, adding “that’s why Nigerians cannot decipher the difference between the two political parties.” (NAN)
Sen. Ned Nwoko (PDP-Delta) says that Local Government Administration is central to democracy in Nigeria as it ensures grassroots governance and service delivery at the local level.This is contained in a statement signed by Dr Michael Nwoko, the Chief of Staff to the lawmaker in Abuja on Monday.Nwoko said this on the occasion of the presentation of an award “Icon of Hope” to him by the Association of Local Government Vice Chairmen of Nigeria (ALGOVC).
He was represented by his Chief of Staff. He said that the importance of local government administration in the country could not be overemphasised, as it was the bedrock of democracy.According to him, local governments in Nigeria play key roles in the country’s democracy by promoting participatory democracy, providing services, and representing citizens.“Local Governments help determine local needs and how to meet them. They also act as a link between the centre, state, and local people.“They are created to decentralise power and bring the government closer to the people. They perform both mandatory and concurrent functions.“It is in view of this that I took it upon myself to enhance the viability of local governments through the Paris and London club loan refunds,”he said.Dr Folashade Olabanji-Oba, ALGOVC National Chairman, while presenting the award at its 7th Annual National Conference, said the award was in recognition of the lawmaker’s significant contributions to strengthening local government administration.She highlighted Nwoko’s critical role in ensuring the Paris and London Club loan refunds, a financial breakthrough she said enhanced the capacity of local governments nationwide.(NAN)
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