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Rejecting Women’s Bills Shows We’re Not Rubber Stamp- Reps

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*Say Women Lawmakers Voted Against.

House Decision is What our Constituents Want

 .President, VP’s Wives Lobby Came Late

By Ubong Ukpong, Abuja

The House of Representatives has said that voting against the bills that sought to enhance women’s participation in governance, in the ongoing Constitution Amendment processes, was a bold statement that the House was independent and not rubber stamp as portrayed in some quarters.

While briefing House of Representatives correspondents in Abuja, yesterday, Chairman Media and Public Affairs of the House, Rep Benjamin Kalu, also disclosed that even female lawmakers voted against the bills.


Kalu who said that lawmakers voted  according to the demands of their constituents, explained why the presence of the wife of the Vice President, Dolapo Osinbajo, could not swing the votes.

The House spokesman who said that the House had nothing against the request, disclosed that the earlier visit by wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, was sufficient to influence their voting pattern.

However, he said it was beyond them, as they ought to do the collective will of the people they were representing.
Commending Mrs Aisha Buhari, the President’s wife, he said she knew that the business was beyond the lawmakers that was why she was in the Chambers to lobby.

“That shows that we are not rubber stamp, as the husband would have just given us instruction and it stands. 

“They came to National Assembly, recognizing it was about lobbying. The lobbying came a little too late. You don’t just do it two days. It takes time”, he said.

Kalu maintained that culture, religion and tradition, were amongst factors that played out against the bills as lawmakers were getting last minutes pressure to make sure that the bills failed, saying, “we don’t just vote. We follow instructions.”

He said the House was all out to meet the women’s request, which explained why they passed second reading, but unfortunately, it could not control it at the passage level following Superior interests and standing instruction.

Kalu said what failed today would pass tomorrow, encouraging the women not to give up the fight saying, “There is hope, there is another time. What fail now will scale through another time because sensitization has started.”

He however told the women that in asking for this, they must be democratic and not carried away by sentiments of sex and gender, as democracy was blind and did not recognize sex or gender.

The spokesman stressed that section 42 of the 1999 Constitution was clear, that there shall be no discrimination against persons on ground of sex, gender religion amongst others, and this protected men too.

“If we make laws, we should not offend existing laws”, he said, affirming that it was on this basis that some women rejected the bills.

He said some women were against the percentages sought to be allocated to women, as they held that whatever was good for women should be done based on merits and their capacities.

The House had failed to pass two critical bills,  that sought to empower women in politics in the ongoing Constitution Amendment.

The two bills were, “a Bill for an Act to Alter the Provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to Provide for Special Seat for Women in the National and State Houses of Assembly; and for Related Matters.”

Another was, “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.

Although the House said it had tried by passing one of the three bills, which was, “a Bill for an Act to Alter the Provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to Provide a Minimum Percentage for Women in Ministerial or Commissioner Nominees; and for Related Matters.” 

The House merely struggled to pass this bill using unconventional method of voice vote, against counting for two third manually, or electronically, but it took Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila’s veto to get it passed.

This effort was however in futility, as it was dead on arrival, with the Senate voting outrightly to kill it, making it impossible to transmit it to states Assembly for approval.

POLITICS

APC Instigating Crises in Opposition Parties, NNPP Alleges

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By Mike Odiakose, Abuja

The National Chairman of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, Ajuji Ahmed, has alleged that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has been instiating crisis in major opposition political parties as a strategy to weaken them ahead of 2027 general election.

Speaking during the flag-off of the party’s campaign in Akure, Ondo State capital, ahead of the forthcoming off-cycle governorship election in the state, the ANPP Chairman declared that the party will support opposition parties going into alliance to upstate the ruling party and sack President Ahmed Tinubu.

While emphasising that there will be no room to manipulate the result of the poll, Ahmed said, “The fear that APC might want to manipulate the election is being expressed everywhere, no doubt in Ondo State.

Wherever you have a ruling party, the ruling party might not want to have a good opposition around it.

“But at the end of the day, it is left to us to guard our votes on the voting day by having a credible agent who will protect the votes and who will also be in charge of supervising the counting. Once we have that, we believe that there is nothing the APC can do as such.

“I do not believe that the APC is trying to create crises in opposition parties; I believe that the APC is doing whatever it can to ensure it wins the 2027 general elections.

“Certainly, there is evidence everywhere that they are interfering in other parties, but it is left for the other parties to maintain their integrity and ensure that they remain one and a viable opposition to the APC before and after the 2027 general elections.

“I believe there should be a plan by the opposition parties to unite ahead of the 2027 election. The NNPP will also be part of it if at all it materialises. We have our doors open in such a way that if there is going to be a coalition of all the political parties to go into the election, we are ready for that. But if every individual party wants to go on its own, the NNPP is also preparing for that eventuality.”

On his part, Edema, who urged the electorate not to be intimidated by the power of incumbency, appealed to them to resist any form of vote-trading capable of prolonging the current hardship in the land.

While maintaining that the antics deployed by the ruling party in Edo State will be resisted by the people of Ondo State, the NNPP standard-bearer said, “We are saying Ondo State is not Edo State. Ondo is not Lagos State. The people of Ondo are one of the most enlightened in the whole country and we are capable of protecting our votes and we will protect it.

“We do not fear them. We will dare them.

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POLITICS

S/South APC Annul Suspension of Lokpobiri

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By Mike Odiakose, Abuja

South-South zone of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has annulled the purported suspension of the Minister of State (Petroleum) Heineken Lokpobiri by the party’s executive in his local government in Bayelsa State.

In a statement by the Zonal Legal Adviser of the, Chukwuemeke Ogbuobodo, the party said the APC executive in Lokpobiri’s Ward lacks the power to suspend him as the action runs afoul of provisions of the APC constitution.

The APC South-South Zonal officers described the action as “illegal, null and void,” contending that the local government area executive cannot be a judge in its matter.

Ogbuobodo referred the local government council party executive and “whoever that is sponsoring it, to see article 21.

3 (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) (vi) (a) (b) (c) (d) and (e) of the party’s Constitution and see the procedure for hearing and determination of complaints or allegations.”

He also warned the local council executive that they are not above the law and not to see any other person as beneath it; “APC is not a party for supermen but a party guided by rules of law.

Recall that the APC in Southern Ijaw and Ekeremor local government areas in separate press briefings had last week purportedly suspended Lokpobiri and the 2019 gubernatorial candidate of the party in Bayelsa State, David Lyon.

But Ogbuobodo warned the persons behind the purported suspensions to be mindful that the entire executives in the state were invalidated by the decision of the Bayelsa State High Court in Suit No YHC/16/2022.

“As a consequence, the decision by the so-called LG Executive of APC is unknown to both the party’s Constitution and the laws of the land.”

He stated that to avoid this kind of unwholesome intervention by imposters in the affairs of the party in Bayelsa State given the current vacuum created by the judgment of the High Court of Bayelsa State in suit no. YHC/16/2022 and as a law-abiding entity, party chieftains in the South-South zone would now move swiftly to get the APC National Working Committee, NWC to appoint a caretaker committee to help oversee the party’s activities in the state in the interim pending the election of a substantive state executive.

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POLITICS

PDP Mourns Victims of Jigawa Tanker Explosion, Calls for Inquest

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By Johnson Eyiangho, Abuja

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has expressed deep sorrows over the tragic petrol tanker explosion which resulted in the death of over 150 people with many others injured in Majiya Town, Taura Local Government Area of Jigawa State.

The party in a statement by its Spokesman, Hon.

Debo Ologunagba, on Thursday called on the Federal Government to investigate the remote and immediate cause of the explosion in order to take measures to ensure safer transportation and prevent recurrence of such sad incidents.

“This is another sad commentary on the wave of calamitous events that have befallen our nation as a result of worsening infrastructure, economic hardship and social disorientation in the last nine years.

“Our party is saddened that innocent and heavily deprived Nigerians especially our youths and bread winners of families continue to bear the ugly brunt of misgovernance in our country,” the statement said, and lauded the efforts and courage of the police, firefighters and other Nigerians who helped to put off the fire and rescued some of the victims.

The PDP commiserated with the Government and people of Jigawa State and prays to God to grant speedy recovery to the injured and fortitude to the families of the deceased.

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