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Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
BUDGET PADDING: These Our Arrogant Legislators
news
If the Speaker’s role in all this was reprehensible, that of the Whip,
Ado Doguwa, was not only off putting, it was so tear inducing you begin
to ask yourself how Nigeria came to this sorry pass.
Last time around, it was the crudity of the 8th Senate we showcased on these pages. When that happened, little did we realise we were soon going to have the mother of all insults from the lower chamber. But listen to any of these our so-called representatives/senators speak, no talk down to us, and you would think they own us – so ‘Trumpian’, you would feel like puking.
And, anyway, is he or any of his colleagues allowed by the constitution
to take over the functions of the executive? I sincerely hope that in no
distant date, a ‘Mr Khizr Khan’ would pull off, from his inner pocket, a
small version of the Nigerian constitution and gift it to these mostly
absentee legislators so they can read, know and internalise the
functions prescribed for them by that grundnorm. And by the way, can
somebody please tell Mr. Speaker that the only tidy way to get a project
sited in his constituency is to liaise with, and lobby the appropriate
department in the executive. Also, if what they are quarreling with is
the word padding, Nigerians will then change their offence to that of
not only sexing up, but egregiously forging the president’s budget
estimates which forged document they subsequently passed as the
Appropriation Law.
If the Speaker’s role in all this was reprehensible, that of the Whip, Ado Doguwa, was not only off putting, it was so tear inducing you begin to ask yourself how Nigeria came to this sorry pass. I had tuned on to Channel’s TV only to see this arrogant, small man, in some outlandish Babariga, literally telling Nigerians to go to hell. Having gone through their usual routine of saying there is nothing like padding the budget, he now began to regale Nigerians with how he had been a legislator for 24 years – a period which he thinks, no actually said, entitled him to just about anything in the House, though this time around, he got only a paltry N1.8Billion locked up for him and his constituency. So damn nauseating!
I think all these things should actually accelerate the move towards restructuring in Nigeria even though I verily believe that President Buhari’s immediate, urgent duty now, and into the next one year, is to fix the Nigerian economy which is currently hobbled beyond description. As I said on these pages last Sunday, things are now so bad with oil rich Venezuela that far beyond the crippling hunger and crime, relatives can no longer claim the corpses of dead relations from the morgue. Their only sin, like ours, was the failure to diversify their economy when petro dollars were gushing in and former President Chavez even arrogantly offered to give Americans petrol free. We have had enough of these legislators that at restructuring, we just must adopt a single chamber legislature and hope to be able to manage/handle even that.
Last time around, it was the crudity of the 8th Senate we showcased on these pages. When that happened, little did we realise we were soon going to have the mother of all insults from the lower chamber. But listen to any of these our so-called representatives/senators speak, no talk down to us, and you would think they own us – so ‘Trumpian’, you would feel like puking.
Such has been the disdain with which the leadership of the House has
treated Nigerians these past two weeks. You would have thought it was
shameful enough to be caught attempting to steal from the public
coffers, but no, not with our current National Assembly members.
I had first noticed their condescending put down when, in responding to questions arising from this selfsame shameful budget padding, long before Nigerians came to know its full extent, Abdulmumin Jibrin had said things that were so repulsive I couldn’t help writing about it when I quoted him here as saying: “It is true that there are projects allocated to my constituency just like other members did. Just because I’m the chairman of the appropriation committee, my constituents should not get projects? Are my constituents not Nigerians? Every member has one project or the other in his constituency, so I don’t think I did anything wrong by having some projects in my constituency.”
You would hardly believe that these do-gooders’ projects for their beloved constituencies were such mundane things as tricycles, town halls, classrooms; solar street lights, rehabilitation and construction of roads in Kiru/Bebeji, pedestrian bridges, and now we have been told of bore holes for the Speaker’s farm. Of the four against whom Jibrin alleged fraudulent dealings – Speaker Dogara, Chief Whip Alhassan Ado Doguwa, Minority Leader Leo Ogor and Deputy Speaker Yusuf Lasun, the first two had taken time off to poke their fingers on our faces. As if it was not insulting enough that on the very grounds of the Presidential Villa, Dogara had come out from a meeting with the president posing, and grandstanding, telling Nigerians there is nothing like padding and sending journalists on errand to begin researching the word, he has since returned to lecture us all. ‘We cannot be tried,’ he declared magisterially.
I had first noticed their condescending put down when, in responding to questions arising from this selfsame shameful budget padding, long before Nigerians came to know its full extent, Abdulmumin Jibrin had said things that were so repulsive I couldn’t help writing about it when I quoted him here as saying: “It is true that there are projects allocated to my constituency just like other members did. Just because I’m the chairman of the appropriation committee, my constituents should not get projects? Are my constituents not Nigerians? Every member has one project or the other in his constituency, so I don’t think I did anything wrong by having some projects in my constituency.”
You would hardly believe that these do-gooders’ projects for their beloved constituencies were such mundane things as tricycles, town halls, classrooms; solar street lights, rehabilitation and construction of roads in Kiru/Bebeji, pedestrian bridges, and now we have been told of bore holes for the Speaker’s farm. Of the four against whom Jibrin alleged fraudulent dealings – Speaker Dogara, Chief Whip Alhassan Ado Doguwa, Minority Leader Leo Ogor and Deputy Speaker Yusuf Lasun, the first two had taken time off to poke their fingers on our faces. As if it was not insulting enough that on the very grounds of the Presidential Villa, Dogara had come out from a meeting with the president posing, and grandstanding, telling Nigerians there is nothing like padding and sending journalists on errand to begin researching the word, he has since returned to lecture us all. ‘We cannot be tried,’ he declared magisterially.
It was at the Civil Society Dialogue Session on one year of
legislooting, sorry, legislative agenda organised by the Policy and
Legal Advocacy Centre, Abuja, that he told Nigerians that “no member of
the National Assembly can be investigated or charged to court for
performing his constitutional responsibility of law making including
passing the budget.” According to him, only the legislature has powers
to scrutinise the revenue and expenditure estimates submitted by the
president. He then went on to tell us about how Section 80(4) of the
1999 constitution further reinforces that.
Reading through Speaker Dogara’s submission and similar ones by his colleagues, you have a feeling these people are deficient in the Use of English. As Dr Tunji Abayomi once taught the Chairman of the House Committee on Publicity, where in Dogara’s above submission is the word ‘add’? By his own words, the legislature can only SCRUTINISE the president’s budget estimates. According to Abayomi, preparing that budget estimate is an EXECUTIVE function, never that of the legislature. Indeed, he went further to explain that it is solely in the case of passing the budget that the constitution makes very specific provisions as to who does what.
Reading through Speaker Dogara’s submission and similar ones by his colleagues, you have a feeling these people are deficient in the Use of English. As Dr Tunji Abayomi once taught the Chairman of the House Committee on Publicity, where in Dogara’s above submission is the word ‘add’? By his own words, the legislature can only SCRUTINISE the president’s budget estimates. According to Abayomi, preparing that budget estimate is an EXECUTIVE function, never that of the legislature. Indeed, he went further to explain that it is solely in the case of passing the budget that the constitution makes very specific provisions as to who does what.
And it stands to reason that a body that has the constitutional duty of
passing the budget can NEVER have that of MAKING (Preparing) it. By that
token, they CANNOT add any new item of expenditure. Also the Speaker
couldn’t have known what he was saying when he declared as follows: “On
constituency projects, it is the only means through which lawmakers can
attract federal projects to their constituents. This is necessary
because the process of selecting constituency projects lacks integrity
as it is always lopsided against most federal constituencies.”
Trying to further justify this bunkum, he added: “If you come from a constituency like mine for instance, right now, we don’t have a permanent secretary anywhere, we don’t have a director anywhere, so if you look at the 2016 Budget, if you were to go as proposed by the executive, there is no single federal funded borehole, even if it is N50, there is no N50 meant for any project in my three local governments. Why? Because I don’t have anybody where they are preparing, SHARING (emphasis mine) or making allocation.” Just look at those bellyaching about injustice. Even if all he said about his constituency were true, is it remotely possible that only his constituency is in that position in Nigeria? Who are those other Speakers who will conjure bore holes for their farmsteads? Why does he think the constitution prescribes a minimum of one minister from each state?
Trying to further justify this bunkum, he added: “If you come from a constituency like mine for instance, right now, we don’t have a permanent secretary anywhere, we don’t have a director anywhere, so if you look at the 2016 Budget, if you were to go as proposed by the executive, there is no single federal funded borehole, even if it is N50, there is no N50 meant for any project in my three local governments. Why? Because I don’t have anybody where they are preparing, SHARING (emphasis mine) or making allocation.” Just look at those bellyaching about injustice. Even if all he said about his constituency were true, is it remotely possible that only his constituency is in that position in Nigeria? Who are those other Speakers who will conjure bore holes for their farmsteads? Why does he think the constitution prescribes a minimum of one minister from each state?
If the Speaker’s role in all this was reprehensible, that of the Whip, Ado Doguwa, was not only off putting, it was so tear inducing you begin to ask yourself how Nigeria came to this sorry pass. I had tuned on to Channel’s TV only to see this arrogant, small man, in some outlandish Babariga, literally telling Nigerians to go to hell. Having gone through their usual routine of saying there is nothing like padding the budget, he now began to regale Nigerians with how he had been a legislator for 24 years – a period which he thinks, no actually said, entitled him to just about anything in the House, though this time around, he got only a paltry N1.8Billion locked up for him and his constituency. So damn nauseating!
I think all these things should actually accelerate the move towards restructuring in Nigeria even though I verily believe that President Buhari’s immediate, urgent duty now, and into the next one year, is to fix the Nigerian economy which is currently hobbled beyond description. As I said on these pages last Sunday, things are now so bad with oil rich Venezuela that far beyond the crippling hunger and crime, relatives can no longer claim the corpses of dead relations from the morgue. Their only sin, like ours, was the failure to diversify their economy when petro dollars were gushing in and former President Chavez even arrogantly offered to give Americans petrol free. We have had enough of these legislators that at restructuring, we just must adopt a single chamber legislature and hope to be able to manage/handle even that.
Why I Have S3x Only With Virgins – 46-Year-Old Ritualist Confesses
news
A ‘wealthy’ ritualist in Ghana has reportedly made shocking revelations on how he maintains his wealth.
The ritualist, Stephen Nortey, who stressed he was forced into the business because of his desire to get rich overnight, told Ultimate FM, Ghana, that he sleeps with virgins and use their blood for ‘voodoo.
Nortey claimed his spiritual father, Togbe Atsu, a spiritualist who resides in Nankese, a suburb of the Suhum Municipality, gave him a special handkerchief to wipe off the blood that comes out of virgin girls after sleeping with them.
While advising youth especially females to be wary of the kind of wealthy men they date, Nortey reportedly disclosed that they may look so outwardly but are the devil’s incarnates within.
According to him, it is his desire to quit the practice following threats he has received from some of the ladies he reportedly slept with; but he has been warned by his spiritual father that any attempt to stop will lead to his death.
In his confession, the 46-year-old man was quoted as saying: “I sleep with virgins to maintain my wealth. I was forced into sleeping with virgins in order to keep my wealth increasing.
“I use the special handkerchief to wipe off the blood that comes out of virgin girls after sleeping with them and later drop it in a pot which is meant to produce money after I make some incantations.
“I make a whopping amount of ten thousand Ghana cedis (GH?10,000.00) anytime I have s*x with a virgin,” Nortey who hails from the New Juaben Municipality in the Eastern Region of Ghana, claimed.
“I lure my victims with gifts and when they become unconscious, I make a snake given to me by the fetish priest enter their private parts if I desire foreign currency and I can make up to $50,000 in a day.
“I am able to get the right targets because I smell of money and that speaks for me.
“I have been doing this for the past 12 years and have so far used about thirty young virgins; all virgins I have come in contact with will not be able to bear children because they have become barren and their wombs used for his usual rituals,” Nortey reportedly claimed.
The ritualist, Stephen Nortey, who stressed he was forced into the business because of his desire to get rich overnight, told Ultimate FM, Ghana, that he sleeps with virgins and use their blood for ‘voodoo.
Nortey claimed his spiritual father, Togbe Atsu, a spiritualist who resides in Nankese, a suburb of the Suhum Municipality, gave him a special handkerchief to wipe off the blood that comes out of virgin girls after sleeping with them.
While advising youth especially females to be wary of the kind of wealthy men they date, Nortey reportedly disclosed that they may look so outwardly but are the devil’s incarnates within.
According to him, it is his desire to quit the practice following threats he has received from some of the ladies he reportedly slept with; but he has been warned by his spiritual father that any attempt to stop will lead to his death.
In his confession, the 46-year-old man was quoted as saying: “I sleep with virgins to maintain my wealth. I was forced into sleeping with virgins in order to keep my wealth increasing.
“I use the special handkerchief to wipe off the blood that comes out of virgin girls after sleeping with them and later drop it in a pot which is meant to produce money after I make some incantations.
“I make a whopping amount of ten thousand Ghana cedis (GH?10,000.00) anytime I have s*x with a virgin,” Nortey who hails from the New Juaben Municipality in the Eastern Region of Ghana, claimed.
“I lure my victims with gifts and when they become unconscious, I make a snake given to me by the fetish priest enter their private parts if I desire foreign currency and I can make up to $50,000 in a day.
“I am able to get the right targets because I smell of money and that speaks for me.
“I have been doing this for the past 12 years and have so far used about thirty young virgins; all virgins I have come in contact with will not be able to bear children because they have become barren and their wombs used for his usual rituals,” Nortey reportedly claimed.
Ekiti PDP raises questions over Aisha Buhari's US trip, asking why there was no International coverage
news
PDP in Ekiti state has reacted to the recent reports of the president's
wife, Mrs. Aisha Buhari's recent visit to the US saying that they
seriously doubt she visited the US. This reaction came after APC stated
on Sunday that Mrs. Buhari visit to the United States had exposed
Governor Ayodele Fayose as a “shameless liar.”
In a statement signed by the party's publicity secretary, Jackson Adebayo, the party said it became necessary to question Aisha Buhari's visit after there was no official statement made by the presidency over her visit to the US. Saying that making people believe she visited the US was a function of total ignorance and mischief, sayin:
In a statement issued on Monday by the State Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr Jackson Adebayo, the party said;
In a statement signed by the party's publicity secretary, Jackson Adebayo, the party said it became necessary to question Aisha Buhari's visit after there was no official statement made by the presidency over her visit to the US. Saying that making people believe she visited the US was a function of total ignorance and mischief, sayin:
“Even the Presidency has not told anyone that wife of the President travelled to the USA and in official communications, only ignorant and mischief makers in the APC will belief that a trip to the USA will be made by Mrs Buhari and Nigerians will only get to know about it through online media.”The statement reads:
“The question is, did she travel to USA or Qatar? If the Presidency has not been bold enough to tell Nigerians that Mrs. Aisha Buhari travelled to the USA on official visit, only a party of scammers like the APC will go on the rooftops to celebrate photoshoped pictures as evidence of visit to USA.
The PDP, which said it would have ignored the APC and allowed those in the party to continue to wallop in their self-deceit, added that “it is only in the world of the APC that wife of the President of Nigeria, the most populous black nation in the world would travel to the USA, ostensibly to debunk her involvement in a major scam and no television station will report her departure and arrival. The question is, did she travel to USA or Qatar?”
In a statement issued on Monday by the State Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr Jackson Adebayo, the party said;
“If the Presidency has not been bold enough to tell Nigerians that Mrs Aisha Buhari travelled to the USA on official visit, only a party of scammers like the APC will go on the rooftops to celebrate photoshoped pictures as evidence of visit to USA.”The party said:
“It is strange that wife of the President of Nigeria could travel to the USA and purportedly attended events there without international television stations like CNN, Al jazeera, BBC, Sky News etc and local stations like Channels TV, NTA, AIT and others reporting it. Or are they still ‘editing’ the video clips?”While casting doubt at the trip, the PDP added:
“Even if Mrs Aisha Buhari actually travelled to the USA, does that erase the fact that in the judgment delivered by the United State District Court, Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria Division, USA, in criminal No 1: 07CR209, that indicted the USA Congressman, Williams Jefferson, it was mentioned that $170,000 was transferred from account in Nigeria in the name of Aisha Buhari to an account in the name of The ANJ Group, LLC, identifying William Jefferson as beneficiary?”
“As a party of responsible and discerning minds, the PDP in Ekiti State would have elected to ignore the APC and allow the party the freedom to advertise it idiocy. This is more so that the matter is now a subject of litigation and the no one has denied the existence of the judgment that indicted Williams Jefferson and featured conspicuously at page 22, the name of Aisha Buhari as having transferred $170,000 from account in Nigeria to William Jefferson.
“Most importantly, Nigerians have witnessed more heinous forgeries from the APC, one of them being pictorial claim that President Buhari (as APC presidential candidate then) had an interview with Kemi Fadojutimi on ‘All Eyes on Africa’ TV show in London, whereas the interview was held in Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.xxx “However, it is important to point out that from all evidences, the pictures circulated as arrival of President Buhari’s wife at Dulles International Airport, Washington DC could have been taken at the Doha International Airport, Qatar.
Even on the official website of George Mason University and US Institute of Peace, USA where the president’s was said to have attended events, there is nothing to show that she attended any event in the two institutions.
“We have seen pictures of Wife of the Senate President, Toyin Saraki with President Barrack Obama’s wife, Michelle. We also saw pictures of Mrs Patience Jonathan with Michelle Obama when she visited the USA. Where are Aisha Buhari’s pictures with the First Lady of USA and major government officials from the country? Or could she have arrived and departed from the USA like a spirit?” “It is even more important that nothing official has been said about the purported trip. Not from the President’s spokespersons.”
Budget padding: 15 questions Falana must answer
news
By Rep.Linus Okorie
Dear Mr Femi Falana, SAN,
I monitored your opinions on July 31, 2016 via Channels Television on the issue of alleged padding of the budget. Being one person I have admired over the years and have the greatest admiration for on point of law, public advocacy and rights protection, I wish to kindly seek the following clarifications to help me get a better handle on the matters in issue:
1. Is the budget an act of the National Assembly or a product of Mr President’s desires? Specifically, whose constitutional responsibility is the Appropriation Act (not the Appropriation bill) with particular reference to and combined reading of sections 4, 59, 80 and 81 of the constitution?
2. Can the estimates presented by Mr President under section 81(1) of the constitution become an appropriation act without the legislative inputs of the National Assembly with particular reference to section 59(2)(3) of the same constitution? Specifically, what in your opinion was the intention of the framers of the constitution in subjecting the budget to same lawmaking process of the National Assembly with specific clarification in section 59 of the constitution?
3. Can an estimate proposed by Mr President and passed in exact amount by the NASS be deemed illegal and padding under any circumstance simply because the assembly broke the lump sum down into discrete projects for implementation? For instance, the zonal intervention fund or so called constituency projects?
4. What exactly is illegal or immoral about the constituency projects fund(always proposed and executed by the executive the same way as other capital projects in each budget)? Do you truly believe that the annual constituency projects of N100billion (approx 5% of the 2016 capital appropriation) for the NASS is the greatest source of corruption or executory inefficiency in our budgets!
Are you aware that it operates much in the same pattern as Pork-barrel projects in the USA and even in greater dimension in Kenya as the National Government Constituency Development Fund, where 2.5% of its federal government share of revenue is set aside for constituency constituency and its budgetary approval and implementation significantly controlled by the legislature?
5. What exactly in the allegations by Hon Jibrin constitute a criminal act, padding or illegality given that they all relate to alleged proposed budgets for different parts of the country and for which no funds have been expended?
6. What exactly would the DSS, Police, EFCC and ICPC be investigating given that all documentary exhibits presented by Hon Jibrin are either not part of the signed budget or are parts of the harmonized budget jointly undertaken and agreed to by a harmonization of the NASS and the executive; and ultimately assented to by the President?
7. If any project in the budget assented to by Mr President is considered “a padding” and therefore criminal, can the President; whose document the signed budget is be exonerated from indictment and; if so, why? If not, what should be his sanction?
8. Hon Jibrin who is alleging wrong doing against some members is the only member of the house whose signature is on the approved budget in his capacity as Appropriation Committee chairman; meaning that it is his product. Having willfully hidden information of alleged criminality and wrongdoing at his disposal from other members, the President and the public, and having gone ahead to authenticate the document as correct and error free; can he now after removal from office be a credible source of the allegations he’s making and warrant reliance? Should he not be under prosecution as a self confessed criminal?
9. Is there any project among those allegedly “padded” by named members that is of exclusive personal benefit of the said member and that is designed to be implemented by the member of the Nass instead of the executive?
10. Is there any evidence that indicts any member of the NASS or suggests that the funds allocated for the projects alleged by Hon Jibrin were released to the member or was to be so released?
11. Assuming without conceding that those projects were padding to the budget and the implementation still remains at the discretion of the executive, what exactly constitutes a criminal act now to be punished by any authority; even as none of the projects has been implemented and no public fund is missing thereby?
12. Under what conditions can the President choose and pick what portions of a law assented to by him, another President or indeed any other extant law to comply or not to comply with? And would you blame the NASS if it decides to defend the constitution and/or sanction such breach of extant laws; including the appropriation act, if it occurs? Would you under any circumstance encourage the President or other executive actors to willfully refuse, fail or refrain from implementing an extant law without the pronouncement of the court as to the law’s unconstitutionality or illegality? Does the Appropriation Act assented to by Mr President fail on any score as an operative law of the nation? How would you then justify a call to investigate, indict or prosecute a member of the NASS for his lawmaking role?
13. Are you not concerned, as a senior lawyer and rights activist, that this campaign is a violation of the constitutional rights of the legislature and a threat to democracy given that there’s is no judicatory foundation for the push to criminalize the work of the NASS in its ordinary cause of lawmaking?
14. Sections 58 and 59 of the constitution prescribe the lawmaking processes by the NASS with section 59 referring specifically to the appropriation and related bills. Do you agree that the only difference between the two sections is in the prescription of a specific time frame and mode of resolution of differences? Even at that, do you acknowledge that section 59 recognizes the possibility of differences between versions passed by both chambers? What in your opinion may constitute such differences?
15. Would you be surprised if after this intervention, Hon Abdulmumin suddenly releases further evidence indicting me of “budget padding” as the thirteenth member of the House so indicted?
I shall be most grateful to hear from you. You must permit me also to share these thoughts with the public using every media available to me. In so doing, I will hope that other experts will also contribute to enriching my knowledge of the issues at stake and further empower me to more effectively address the them as a participant.
Accept the assurances of my esteemed regards.
Rep. Linus Okorie,FCA, represents Ohaozara/Onicha/Ivo federal constituency of Ebonyi State.
Dear Mr Femi Falana, SAN,
I monitored your opinions on July 31, 2016 via Channels Television on the issue of alleged padding of the budget. Being one person I have admired over the years and have the greatest admiration for on point of law, public advocacy and rights protection, I wish to kindly seek the following clarifications to help me get a better handle on the matters in issue:
1. Is the budget an act of the National Assembly or a product of Mr President’s desires? Specifically, whose constitutional responsibility is the Appropriation Act (not the Appropriation bill) with particular reference to and combined reading of sections 4, 59, 80 and 81 of the constitution?
2. Can the estimates presented by Mr President under section 81(1) of the constitution become an appropriation act without the legislative inputs of the National Assembly with particular reference to section 59(2)(3) of the same constitution? Specifically, what in your opinion was the intention of the framers of the constitution in subjecting the budget to same lawmaking process of the National Assembly with specific clarification in section 59 of the constitution?
3. Can an estimate proposed by Mr President and passed in exact amount by the NASS be deemed illegal and padding under any circumstance simply because the assembly broke the lump sum down into discrete projects for implementation? For instance, the zonal intervention fund or so called constituency projects?
4. What exactly is illegal or immoral about the constituency projects fund(always proposed and executed by the executive the same way as other capital projects in each budget)? Do you truly believe that the annual constituency projects of N100billion (approx 5% of the 2016 capital appropriation) for the NASS is the greatest source of corruption or executory inefficiency in our budgets!
Are you aware that it operates much in the same pattern as Pork-barrel projects in the USA and even in greater dimension in Kenya as the National Government Constituency Development Fund, where 2.5% of its federal government share of revenue is set aside for constituency constituency and its budgetary approval and implementation significantly controlled by the legislature?
5. What exactly in the allegations by Hon Jibrin constitute a criminal act, padding or illegality given that they all relate to alleged proposed budgets for different parts of the country and for which no funds have been expended?
6. What exactly would the DSS, Police, EFCC and ICPC be investigating given that all documentary exhibits presented by Hon Jibrin are either not part of the signed budget or are parts of the harmonized budget jointly undertaken and agreed to by a harmonization of the NASS and the executive; and ultimately assented to by the President?
7. If any project in the budget assented to by Mr President is considered “a padding” and therefore criminal, can the President; whose document the signed budget is be exonerated from indictment and; if so, why? If not, what should be his sanction?
8. Hon Jibrin who is alleging wrong doing against some members is the only member of the house whose signature is on the approved budget in his capacity as Appropriation Committee chairman; meaning that it is his product. Having willfully hidden information of alleged criminality and wrongdoing at his disposal from other members, the President and the public, and having gone ahead to authenticate the document as correct and error free; can he now after removal from office be a credible source of the allegations he’s making and warrant reliance? Should he not be under prosecution as a self confessed criminal?
9. Is there any project among those allegedly “padded” by named members that is of exclusive personal benefit of the said member and that is designed to be implemented by the member of the Nass instead of the executive?
10. Is there any evidence that indicts any member of the NASS or suggests that the funds allocated for the projects alleged by Hon Jibrin were released to the member or was to be so released?
11. Assuming without conceding that those projects were padding to the budget and the implementation still remains at the discretion of the executive, what exactly constitutes a criminal act now to be punished by any authority; even as none of the projects has been implemented and no public fund is missing thereby?
12. Under what conditions can the President choose and pick what portions of a law assented to by him, another President or indeed any other extant law to comply or not to comply with? And would you blame the NASS if it decides to defend the constitution and/or sanction such breach of extant laws; including the appropriation act, if it occurs? Would you under any circumstance encourage the President or other executive actors to willfully refuse, fail or refrain from implementing an extant law without the pronouncement of the court as to the law’s unconstitutionality or illegality? Does the Appropriation Act assented to by Mr President fail on any score as an operative law of the nation? How would you then justify a call to investigate, indict or prosecute a member of the NASS for his lawmaking role?
13. Are you not concerned, as a senior lawyer and rights activist, that this campaign is a violation of the constitutional rights of the legislature and a threat to democracy given that there’s is no judicatory foundation for the push to criminalize the work of the NASS in its ordinary cause of lawmaking?
14. Sections 58 and 59 of the constitution prescribe the lawmaking processes by the NASS with section 59 referring specifically to the appropriation and related bills. Do you agree that the only difference between the two sections is in the prescription of a specific time frame and mode of resolution of differences? Even at that, do you acknowledge that section 59 recognizes the possibility of differences between versions passed by both chambers? What in your opinion may constitute such differences?
15. Would you be surprised if after this intervention, Hon Abdulmumin suddenly releases further evidence indicting me of “budget padding” as the thirteenth member of the House so indicted?
I shall be most grateful to hear from you. You must permit me also to share these thoughts with the public using every media available to me. In so doing, I will hope that other experts will also contribute to enriching my knowledge of the issues at stake and further empower me to more effectively address the them as a participant.
Accept the assurances of my esteemed regards.
Rep. Linus Okorie,FCA, represents Ohaozara/Onicha/Ivo federal constituency of Ebonyi State.
Army/Shiite clash: Kaduna state government release report by judicial commission
news
The Kaduna State government has released the report of the judicial
commission of inquiry set up by the state governor, Nasir El-Rufai to
investigate the cause of the clash between the Nigerian Army and members
of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) on December 12th to 14th 2015.
The report indicted members of the Islamic movement as the ones responsible for the clash. The report, which was signed by all the members of the commission, recommended the trial of army personnel that were involved in the extra judicial killing of IMN members during the clash.
It also recommended the trial of members of the Islamic movement who took part in the killing of an army officer during the incident.
The Commission in the report made a number of recommendations to the Kaduna State Government and the Federal Government to address all specific areas that led to the sad incident.
THE KADUNA STATE GOVERNMENT
i) Considering the nature and organizational structure of the IMN, where the leader has the total control over the members, Sheikh Ibraheem EI-Zakzaky should be personally held responsible for all the acts of commission and omission of the entire membership of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria in its clashes with the Nigerian Army for refusing to call his members to order when required to do so.
ii) All incidents of violence and aggression by the members of the IMN against individuals, groups or communities, which have resulted in grievous bodily harm, destruction of properties and deaths, should be fully investigated and culprits brought to book. Where appropriate, compensations should be paid.
iii) The State Government should investigate and repossess all illegally acquired public lands from IMN and utilize same for Public Interest.
iv) IMN should be made to conform to all constitutional requirements and the provisions of other by-laws in obtaining land, building or acquiring structures. It must conform to all building regulations, however, whenever and wherever it so desires to build or acquire land or property
v) All the dangerous weapons recovered from the IMN members should be turned over to the Police for further necessary action.
vi) The Government should deal with the IMN in accordance with the laws and regulations of the land and be made to conduct its activities and affairs within the ambit of the law at all times.
vii) Intelligence reports by security agencies regarding threats to security, law and order should be taken seriously and acted upon timeously to nip in the bud such occurrence.
viii) Mechanism should be put in place for the proposed Bill on Religious Preaching to be passed into law as quickly as possible and implemented with a view to purging Religious Groups which embark on provocative teachings and preaching.
ix) Compensation should be paid to all those persons who complained before the Commission that their properties were either destroyed or damaged as a result of the clash.
x) The Government should make effort to reduce the number of idle hands that might otherwise be willing recruits for the Movement by providing employment to the teaming masses of the State. xi) The prospects of constructive engagement with the leadership of the IMN should not be foreclosed.
xii) The State Government should ensure that investigations against all persons under detention in respect of these clashes between the NA and the IMN on 12th— 14thDecember, 2015 are concluded and treated expeditiously.
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
i) The Commission is of the view that the use of excessive force by the Nigerian Army, which led to the heavy casualties recorded in the Cordon and Search Operation is an act of commission for which the NA is directly responsible. The Commission therefore recommends that steps should immediately be taken to identify the members of the NA who participated in the killings of 12th— 14thDecember 2015 incident with a view to prosecuting them.
ii) The Federal Government should ensure that investigations against all persons under detention in respect of this clashes between the NA and the IMN on 12th— 14thDecember, 2015 are concluded and treated expeditiously.
iii) All incidents of violence and aggression by the members of the IMN against individuals, groups or communities, which have resulted in grievous bodily harm, destruction of properties and deaths, should be fully investigated and culprits brought to book. Where appropriate, compensations should be paid.
iv) Considering the nature and organizational structure of the IMN, where the leader has the total control over the members, Sheikh lbraheem EI-Zakzaky should be personally held responsible for all the acts of commission and omission of the entire membership of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria in its clashes with the Nigerian Army for refusing to call his members to order when required to do so.
v) The Federal Government should explore diplomatic means to dissuade other Countries from interfering in the Internal Affairs of Nigeria.
vi) The prospects of constructive engagement with the leadership of the IMN should not be foreclosed.
vii) The Government should deal with the IMN in accordance with the laws and regulations of the land and be made to conduct its activities and affairs within the ambit of the law at all times.
viii) Members of the IMN should never be allowed to carry any unlicensed weapon under any guise. Whosoever found so doing should be prosecuted immediately.
ix) All the dangerous weapons recovered from the IMN members should be turned over to the Police for further necessary action.
x) Intelligence reports by security agencies regarding all threats to security, law and order should be taken seriously and acted upon timeously to nip in the bud such occurrences.
xi) The Federal Government should have the political will to deal with such threats posed by the IMN and similar groups. Testimonies at the proceedings of the Commission by various stakeholders, pointed to non-implementation of the recommendations of previous reports of other Commissions of Inquiry relating to the IMN and other groups who were found to have posed grave threats to law, order and peaceful coexistence. Of particular relevance were the Galtimari and the Sheikh Lemu Presidential Commission pertaining to Boko Haram insurgency.
xii) The Federal Government should be proactive in its dealing with threats posed by groups such as the IMN.
xiii) The Federal Government Agencies should respond positively to requests for information by Commissions of Inquiry such as this Commission to enable it make informed decisions or come to a firm findings on issues based on credible data held by them that is not in the public domain.
xiv) The Federal Government should ensure the presence of the Nigeria Police and other Security Agencies in every community and other flash point areas for effective maintenance of law and order.
xv) Efforts should be made by the Police Authorities to revisit the system of Nigeria Mobile Police Force Unit, as it was in the yesteryears, so that involvement of the Military in the management of civil disorder would be minimized.
xvi) The Police Authority should ensure that recruitment into the Force should be done on merit, suitability and good character as the Nigeria Police of today contains all manner of characters.
xvii) The Federal Government should ensure professionalizing the Nigeria Police and other Security Agencies through capacity building, procurement of civil disorder management equipment and improved welfare.
xviii) The Security Agencies should ensure 'watch listing' of IMN members ?,rid other persons of security interests, whenever they are going out of or coming back into Nigeria with a view to discovering the sources of their funding, foreign contacts and other relevant and useful information.
xix) The Federal Government should not ignore the touted boast by the IMN that it has its members all across the security services who feed it with counter intelligence.
xx) The Security agencies aside having an effective synergy should further strengthen their intelligence gathering mechanism in respect of the activities of the group so as to ensure prompt and timely interventions.
xxi) The Federal Government should facilitate the establishment of Community Policing in its real sense in Nigeria with a view to curbing immediately any breach of law and order in any Community.
xxii) The Federal Government should ensure that it develops and implement properly intelligence driven operation policies for the country.
xxiii) The Federal Government should review the adequacy of the existing rules of engagement pertaining to internal security operations and bring them into conformity with constitutional stipulations and in accord with democratic norms and humanitarian best practices.
The Commission made some general recommendations that affect both Federal and State Governments relating to employment, responsibility of parents to their children, enhancing citizenship, the role of traditional institutions and proliferation of small arms and light weapons in the country.
The report indicted members of the Islamic movement as the ones responsible for the clash. The report, which was signed by all the members of the commission, recommended the trial of army personnel that were involved in the extra judicial killing of IMN members during the clash.
It also recommended the trial of members of the Islamic movement who took part in the killing of an army officer during the incident.
The Commission in the report made a number of recommendations to the Kaduna State Government and the Federal Government to address all specific areas that led to the sad incident.
THE KADUNA STATE GOVERNMENT
i) Considering the nature and organizational structure of the IMN, where the leader has the total control over the members, Sheikh Ibraheem EI-Zakzaky should be personally held responsible for all the acts of commission and omission of the entire membership of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria in its clashes with the Nigerian Army for refusing to call his members to order when required to do so.
ii) All incidents of violence and aggression by the members of the IMN against individuals, groups or communities, which have resulted in grievous bodily harm, destruction of properties and deaths, should be fully investigated and culprits brought to book. Where appropriate, compensations should be paid.
iii) The State Government should investigate and repossess all illegally acquired public lands from IMN and utilize same for Public Interest.
iv) IMN should be made to conform to all constitutional requirements and the provisions of other by-laws in obtaining land, building or acquiring structures. It must conform to all building regulations, however, whenever and wherever it so desires to build or acquire land or property
v) All the dangerous weapons recovered from the IMN members should be turned over to the Police for further necessary action.
vi) The Government should deal with the IMN in accordance with the laws and regulations of the land and be made to conduct its activities and affairs within the ambit of the law at all times.
vii) Intelligence reports by security agencies regarding threats to security, law and order should be taken seriously and acted upon timeously to nip in the bud such occurrence.
viii) Mechanism should be put in place for the proposed Bill on Religious Preaching to be passed into law as quickly as possible and implemented with a view to purging Religious Groups which embark on provocative teachings and preaching.
ix) Compensation should be paid to all those persons who complained before the Commission that their properties were either destroyed or damaged as a result of the clash.
x) The Government should make effort to reduce the number of idle hands that might otherwise be willing recruits for the Movement by providing employment to the teaming masses of the State. xi) The prospects of constructive engagement with the leadership of the IMN should not be foreclosed.
xii) The State Government should ensure that investigations against all persons under detention in respect of these clashes between the NA and the IMN on 12th— 14thDecember, 2015 are concluded and treated expeditiously.
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
i) The Commission is of the view that the use of excessive force by the Nigerian Army, which led to the heavy casualties recorded in the Cordon and Search Operation is an act of commission for which the NA is directly responsible. The Commission therefore recommends that steps should immediately be taken to identify the members of the NA who participated in the killings of 12th— 14thDecember 2015 incident with a view to prosecuting them.
ii) The Federal Government should ensure that investigations against all persons under detention in respect of this clashes between the NA and the IMN on 12th— 14thDecember, 2015 are concluded and treated expeditiously.
iii) All incidents of violence and aggression by the members of the IMN against individuals, groups or communities, which have resulted in grievous bodily harm, destruction of properties and deaths, should be fully investigated and culprits brought to book. Where appropriate, compensations should be paid.
iv) Considering the nature and organizational structure of the IMN, where the leader has the total control over the members, Sheikh lbraheem EI-Zakzaky should be personally held responsible for all the acts of commission and omission of the entire membership of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria in its clashes with the Nigerian Army for refusing to call his members to order when required to do so.
v) The Federal Government should explore diplomatic means to dissuade other Countries from interfering in the Internal Affairs of Nigeria.
vi) The prospects of constructive engagement with the leadership of the IMN should not be foreclosed.
vii) The Government should deal with the IMN in accordance with the laws and regulations of the land and be made to conduct its activities and affairs within the ambit of the law at all times.
viii) Members of the IMN should never be allowed to carry any unlicensed weapon under any guise. Whosoever found so doing should be prosecuted immediately.
ix) All the dangerous weapons recovered from the IMN members should be turned over to the Police for further necessary action.
x) Intelligence reports by security agencies regarding all threats to security, law and order should be taken seriously and acted upon timeously to nip in the bud such occurrences.
xi) The Federal Government should have the political will to deal with such threats posed by the IMN and similar groups. Testimonies at the proceedings of the Commission by various stakeholders, pointed to non-implementation of the recommendations of previous reports of other Commissions of Inquiry relating to the IMN and other groups who were found to have posed grave threats to law, order and peaceful coexistence. Of particular relevance were the Galtimari and the Sheikh Lemu Presidential Commission pertaining to Boko Haram insurgency.
xii) The Federal Government should be proactive in its dealing with threats posed by groups such as the IMN.
xiii) The Federal Government Agencies should respond positively to requests for information by Commissions of Inquiry such as this Commission to enable it make informed decisions or come to a firm findings on issues based on credible data held by them that is not in the public domain.
xiv) The Federal Government should ensure the presence of the Nigeria Police and other Security Agencies in every community and other flash point areas for effective maintenance of law and order.
xv) Efforts should be made by the Police Authorities to revisit the system of Nigeria Mobile Police Force Unit, as it was in the yesteryears, so that involvement of the Military in the management of civil disorder would be minimized.
xvi) The Police Authority should ensure that recruitment into the Force should be done on merit, suitability and good character as the Nigeria Police of today contains all manner of characters.
xvii) The Federal Government should ensure professionalizing the Nigeria Police and other Security Agencies through capacity building, procurement of civil disorder management equipment and improved welfare.
xviii) The Security Agencies should ensure 'watch listing' of IMN members ?,rid other persons of security interests, whenever they are going out of or coming back into Nigeria with a view to discovering the sources of their funding, foreign contacts and other relevant and useful information.
xix) The Federal Government should not ignore the touted boast by the IMN that it has its members all across the security services who feed it with counter intelligence.
xx) The Security agencies aside having an effective synergy should further strengthen their intelligence gathering mechanism in respect of the activities of the group so as to ensure prompt and timely interventions.
xxi) The Federal Government should facilitate the establishment of Community Policing in its real sense in Nigeria with a view to curbing immediately any breach of law and order in any Community.
xxii) The Federal Government should ensure that it develops and implement properly intelligence driven operation policies for the country.
xxiii) The Federal Government should review the adequacy of the existing rules of engagement pertaining to internal security operations and bring them into conformity with constitutional stipulations and in accord with democratic norms and humanitarian best practices.
The Commission made some general recommendations that affect both Federal and State Governments relating to employment, responsibility of parents to their children, enhancing citizenship, the role of traditional institutions and proliferation of small arms and light weapons in the country.
Photos: NEMA welcomes new born baby at Malkohi IDP camp, distributes food items to IDP households in Bama
news
Officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) welcomed a
new born baby in Malkohi Internally Displaced Person Camp, Yola, Adamawa
State. Both the mother & child are in good health. + Officials of
SEMA in collaboration with NEMA, successfully distributed food items
to Internally displaced persons (534 number of households) from Bama.
More photos after the cut...



Abortion Is Not Sin According to my Religion- Mzbel
newsMzbel has been on the news for many reasons. The last time we heard from
her was when she denied that she didn’t snatch her bestfriend’s
boyfriend. This time, Mzbel has said that her religion was not against
abortion, but she still refused abort her son.
“My religion is not against abortion because we believe that once the baby does not have a soul, you can get rid of it. I did not do go ahead because friends called to tell me I will die if I do it and stuff like that but the truth is, I am happy I listened to their advise, I don’t regret it,” she said.
She has talked about her beef with Afia Schwarzenegger and said that it will take the grace of God to bring them back “ “I cannot say that for now. I believe God has a reason for bringing people into our lives, and he alone knows why they leave but in all, we give thanks to him.”
“My religion is not against abortion because we believe that once the baby does not have a soul, you can get rid of it. I did not do go ahead because friends called to tell me I will die if I do it and stuff like that but the truth is, I am happy I listened to their advise, I don’t regret it,” she said.
She has talked about her beef with Afia Schwarzenegger and said that it will take the grace of God to bring them back “ “I cannot say that for now. I believe God has a reason for bringing people into our lives, and he alone knows why they leave but in all, we give thanks to him.”
Photos from the funeral of former Super Eagles Coach Stephen Keshi
news
Late Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi was buried yesterday in his
hometown. His funeral started with a requiem mass in Benin, Edo State,
yesterday. The funeral mass took place at St. Paul’s Catholic Church,
Airport Road, Benin. City which was followed by a novelty match at the
Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium. More photos after the cut...
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