Saraki: Reps back anti-corruption war, call for fairness

The House of Representatives said on Tuesday that it wholly supported the anti-corruption war of the Federal Government and its decision to cleanse the polity of sleaze.

Yakubu Dogara

But, the House urged “great circumspection” in the ongoing prosecution of the President of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki, over alleged false asset declaration “in order to maintain proper focus in the pursuit of the common good.”

The Speaker of the House, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, conveyed the position of the House in an address to lawmakers as they reconvened in Abuja after a six-week annual recess.

The House commended Saraki for submitting himself to the jurisdiction of the Code of Conduct Tribunal to pass the message that nobody was above the law.

Dogara added, “The barometer of the polity has been on the rise of late because of certain developments concerning the arraignment of the President of the Senate.

“While commending the President of the Senate for submitting himself to the jurisdiction of the Code of Conduct Tribunal in the recognition that no person is above the law, I wish to caution that there is need for great circumspection in times such as this in order to maintain proper focus in pursuit of the common good.

“In this regard, I wish to commend you, my dear colleagues, for the maturity of avoiding further escalation through media commentaries.

“We commend and fully support the effort of government towards sanitising the polity through the war against corruption, impunity and other vices. “

Dogara noted that the House expected institutions created by Acts of the National Assembly to be fair and ensure that justice was seen to have been done at all times.

He noted that acting to the contrary could be a stain on the success of democracy.

“As legislators with the mandate of making as well as reforming the law, we expect that these institutions, which are the creation of these laws, would prove their capacity for fairness, justice and strict adherence to the rule of law in order not to endanger our democracy.

“I am confident that our justice system has the capacity to do justice to all citizens. In any case, the legislature remains the bulwark in defence of our democracy, fundamental human rights and rule of law,” the speaker added.

To his colleagues, Dogara reminded them of the fact that they must lead by example by being above board to be able to perform their duties of over-sighting Ministries, Agencies of government.

“We must, at all times, remind ourselves that we are equally been over-sighted by the people whose mandate we hold and indeed ultimately by God.

“We will therefore do well to adopt the righteous doctrine of leadership by example. Only then shall we be able to face accountability with confidence,” the speaker told his colleagues.

Although, Dogara applauded the introduction of the Treasury Single Account by the government, describing the policy as “commendable”, he observed that extra-budgetary expenditure by agencies also fell under revenue leakages.

Saraki: Reps back anti-corruption war, call for fairness

My husband did not support my re-election – Senator Tinubu

Sen. Oluremi Tinubu on Tuesday said that she did not get the support of her husband, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to run for second term in the past National Assembly elections.

Senator Oluremi Tinubu
Credit: Punch News

Tinubu, Lagos Central Senatorial District, made the disclosure while answering questions at the ongoing “Women in Government’’ conference organised by the South-West Region of the Department For International Development (DFID).

The conference was organised in collaboration with the Lagos State Office of the Deputy Governor.

She said that it was her district leaders who got the form for her and talked her husband into allowing her to run for the position.

According to her, Asiwaju likes his wife to be at home, and what is more confusing to me is that most Muslim men do not want their wives to work, but I am a hard worker.

“People have been saying that I got to this position because I am Asiwaju’s wife.

`What they did not realise is that in the past election, my husband asked me not to go for a second term.

“It was the leaders in my district that got me the form and talked to him that they wanted me to go back.

“You can go to my district, the elites might not know me but the grassroots are the ones supporting and voting massively for me.

“I think that is enough for me and that is how you can get elected, you have to really identify with your people; if really know your people, they will stand up for you,’’ she said.

Tinubu said she fought and worked hard as it was difficult getting the vote of the masses.

“When I got the bill to run for primaries, I told my husband that I needed money and he said no money.

“I fought with the people in my constituency because they said I have to give them more money and I said no, what about the ones I have been giving to you before?

“If you are not going to vote, so be it.

“They said that they were just voting for me because of Asiwaju and I responded that Asiwaju is not even supporting me, then, you can go and vote for him.

“But I’m grateful they voted for me.

“I have realised that when you are elected, you have to go back and work with your constituency because that is where your support and vote rests,’’ she said.

My husband did not support my re-election – Senator Tinubu

In-laws murdered bride over insufficient dowry

A recently married Pakistani woman died after her in-laws forced her to drink acid, for bringing what they considered to be insufficient dowry, police said on Tuesday.

The crime occurred Monday in the Daska area of Punjab province.

Police official Rana Riaz said 25-year-old Takreem Bibi was married on September 4, and her in-laws were angry about her dowry.

“She was taken to hospital, where she died due to internal injuries caused by acid consumption,” he said.

Raiz told newsmen that the police were still trying to track down Bibi’s husband in connection the crime.

The killing of women for lack of dowry is common in Pakistan.

Last week, 26-year-old woman was poisoned to death by her husband in the same region, Daska, for not bringing enough dowry

In-laws murdered bride over insufficient dowry

Breaking: Over 1000 protests against perceived witch-hunt of Saraki

•Barricade National Assembly entrance

Senate Iroegbu in Abuja

Almost 1000 protesters comprising various socio-political pressure groups have barricaded the entrance of the National Assembly, Abuja, in support of the embattled Senate President, Olubukola Abubakar Saraki.

They carried various placards with different inscriptions but two dominant messages were; “Stop the political witch-hunt of Saraki”, and “Enough is enough, we support Saraki and Ekweremadu”.

They cited the case of ongoing false assets declaration at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Abuja, as a pure case of “political witch-hunt”.

One of the groups, which also matched through the Bayelsa House to the National Assembly,  used the warned anti-graft agencies “to desist from being used against perceived political enemies” of some powerful figures in the All Progressive Congress (APC).

More to come…

Breaking: Over 1000 protests against perceived witch-hunt of Saraki

Corrupt Persons Have Taken Crime Across Borders - EFCC

By Iyobosa Uwugiaren

The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Lamorde, monday said corrupt people had now taken their crimes beyond borders, and therefore canvassed for collaboration among all anti-graft agencies across West African region to rid the region of economic and financial crimes.

EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde

He stated this at the opening ceremony of the maiden training programme of the Network of National Anti-Corruption Institutions in West Africa, NACIWA, which was held at the EFCC Academy, Karu, Abuja.

In his paper entitled: ‘West African Law Enforcement Agencies Must Cooperate to Win War on Corruption,’ Lamorde noted that such professional relationships come in very handy when bureaucratic bottlenecks threaten to derail law enforcement activities across jurisdictions.

“We must bear in mind that the criminals who we are after, have no problems whatsoever forging such cross-jurisdictional operational alliances in order to perpetrate crimes.

“Crimes in each of our nations today have not only grown in proportion, but in sophistication, and criminals now have reaches across national institutions and borders, and can even threaten the very existence of some states,” he said.

The anti-graft czar, while commending the creation of NACIWA – a coalition of anti-corruption agencies across the West African sub-region, noted that such a body could not have come at a most auspicious time, and that the training will provide participants a veritable platform of networking and sharing of ideas.

On his part, President Muhammadu Buhari has again stressed his determination and resolve to strengthen anti-graft agencies in Nigeria, with the view of ensuring that the war on corruption is fought to a conclusion.

The president, who was represented by the Secretary to the Federal Government (SFG), Babachir David Lawal, noted that corruption would always fight back, thus necessitating the need to strengthen various anti-graft agencies in the country.

“We shall strengthen agencies in the country involved in the corruption war,” he said, noting that the EFCC and other anti-graft agencies in the country had been charged to ramp up the corruption war and “save us from the scourge of corruption.”

Expressing the resolve of the current administration to ensure that the war against corruption is prosecuted to the letter, he said: “The time to act against corruption is now, and we do not have to wait till all the resources are in place. It is now.”

The president added: “They’ll fight back, indeed, they are already fighting back, but what they don’t know is that there is the will to ensure victory is achieved, because we have to reclaim our stolen wealth.”

President of NACIWA, Issoufou Boureima, while expressing gratitude to the EFCC for playing a pivotal role in the establishment of NACIWA, and for hosting the training which had participants from Republic of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Republic of Niger, Senegal, Togo, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, stressed the need for anti-graft agencies in the sub region to unite in fighting corruption.

While commending the commitment of the EFCC chairman in the fight against corruption and the support of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC for its unalloyed support: in the creation of NACIWA, he said, “There is need for us to eradicate corruption and deploy every effort in a very sincere manner to check corruption in our society.”

In his remarks, the regional representative of the UNODC, Samuel De-Jaegere, re-echoed the views of Lamorde, noting that it was very important for anti-graft in the region to share knowledge, skills and information in the war against corruption.

“Now that we have NACIWA, which is essential for collaboration among anti-corruption agencies in the sub region, all of us have to work closely to make sure we win the war against corruption,” he said.

De-Jaegere said the establishment of NACIWA could not have come at a better time because, “we need to collaborate to bring those who steal our wealth, flee neighbouring countries with the aim of keeping the ill-gotten wealth abroad.”

Joseph Kamara, chairman, anti-corruption commission in Sierra Leone, reinforced the need for a reinvigorated commitment in fighting corruption.

“It’s a heavy burden on us to discharge, and collaborate, because it is not only a necessity, we definitely need to build a stronger network,” he said.

On his part, Brown Odigie, representative of the Head, Democracy and Good Governance at the ECOWAS, Eyesan Okorodudu, further stressed the need to achieve the goals of NACIWA.

“We need to ensure that the goal is achieved, and the key objective, is for NACIWA to increase capacity among member states to fight corruption,” he said.

Other dignitaries at the opening ceremony included Ekpo Nta, chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC); Sam Saba, Chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB); Salawu O. Bello, Director, Operations, Nigeria Intelligence Agency (NIA), who represented the DG of NIA, A. G. Wobin; a Corps Commander representing the Corps Marshall of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), and Hycinth Dagala, who represented the Inspector General of Police (IG), Solomon Arase.

Corrupt Persons Have Taken Crime Across Borders - EFCC

Stop Living in Fool’s Paradise, APGA Tells Okorocha

• Your rescue slogan visionless, rudderless – APGA tells Okorocha

The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has asked the Imo State Governor, Chief Rochas Okorocha, not to delude himself that the people are happy with his performance.

Okorocha

In a statement issued on Sunday by APGA’s National Director of Publicity, Mr. Ifeanacho Oguejiofor, the party described the governor’s rescue mission slogan as nothing but “visionless and rudderless, that needs to be truly rescued from crass ineptitude and gross maladministration.”

The party said its attention had been drawn to the self-serving and personal glorification interview granted by Okorocha in which he made disparaging and caustic remarks  against APGA, adding that the party was more than just a political association which nobody can wish away, not even the governor.

While cautioning the governor to mind his negative utterances against APGA, the party said its formation  was deep rooted, strong, invincible and made up of a mass movement of true democrats and progressives, which nobody can conquer or destroy.

It said instead of the governor to be eternally grateful to APGA which emancipated him from “his aeon of political bondage, years of unrealised electoral contestation and long gallivanting political  wilderness, which his personal quest for power made him to traverse, he chose to commit sacrilege against the party and poured insult on the sensibilities of those APGA faithful and supporters.

“The party is advising  Okorocha to stop living in fool’s paradise, as his governance anchored on “Rescue Mission” is nothing but visionless and rudderless, that needs to be truly rescued from crass ineptitude and gross maladministration,” it said

The statement said it is a common knowledge that the government of Imo state led by Okorocha lacks the basic managerial skills and ideas on how to govern a state like Imo State, which is richly endowed with both great intellectuals and huge material resources.

“APGA therefore urges him to go to Anambra State for a tutorial on how to govern a modern state and on how to harness the various abundant potentialities in Imo State.

“The  Imo State governor should be told in case he pretends not to be aware, that Imo people are generally disappointed in his awkward style of administration, which caters only to the needs and desires of his in-laws, relations and business partners with his self-deceptive slogan of “my people, my people” instead of “my in-laws, my business partners”, which is a baptismal reference of his kind of governance of Imo State.

“Moreover, the man who is at the helm of affairs in Douglas House who is politically naïve should know that governance is not about how loquacious, garrulous, sophistry and theatrical a governor chooses to be, but how he can positively impact on the welfare and lives of the hoi polloi, which is what the Imo people are in dire need of now, instead of his junketing around.

“He should know that the present national leadership of the party led by Victor Ike Oye, is painstakingly revitalising, reinvigorating and repositioning the party, for a strong presence and quick march to take its due political space and position in the body politic, so as to liberate the marginalised and the downtrodden people of Nigeria.”

Stop Living in Fool’s Paradise, APGA Tells Okorocha

Poor Electricity Distribution Infrastructure Threatens NERC’s 6,000MW Target

Poor electricity distribution facilities across the country may jeopardise plan by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to see on-grid electricity generation hit 6, 000 megawatts by the end of 2015, the regulatory agency has revealed.

Power electricity

NERC said that preliminary report of the technical committee it recently set up to drive the realisation of the target indicated that the extent of infrastructure deterioration in the distribution network might have been underestimated.

It explained that the market still experiences huge load rejection and shedding as a result of the development, adding that new measures would have to be devised to overcome such massive distribution infrastructure decline.

Chairman of NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi told THISDAY in Abuja that the position of the agency stemmed from the preliminary works of the committee he set up some weeks back to help reclaim and transmit stranded electricity generation capacities into the national grid.

When asked about the feasibility of the December 6,000MW generation and distribution target, Amadi said: “It is feasible depending on how quickly we can turn around the network of the distribution and transmission company.”

“I am worried about getting this milestone because of the preliminary report I have got from the committee. The deterioration of the Discos network is worse than we think. There is still massive load rejection even as we have solved the imbalance energy problem. So, it means that there is something else. That something else is getting our attention,” Amadi added.

“Maybe we get to succeed in this target. Don’t forget that this is my own ambitious target not a target set in MYTO for the market. Why am I setting this target? I will like us to crown the tenure on a high. We all like to succeed. It is miserable that we have for 16 years set a target of 6,000MW and never got it. I will be sad if we miss it. I will be very happy to have the Commission finish its first tenure on 6,000MW. It is like breaking the jinx so that we can aim at 10,000 and 20,000MW. If we don’t get to 6,000MW under Buhari’s new paradigm of discipline and anticorruption then how can we be sure of getting 10,000MW soon? We have to work hard,” Amadi explained.

The transmission network with its poor infrastructure had often been identified as the weakest link in the country’s electricity network.

However, NERC’s identification of the distribution weakness confirmed the slow pace of investments to upgrade the distribution network by operators.

Reports also revealed that the impact of the apparent slow pace investment on the distribution network is further compounded by the reluctance of some Distribution Companies (Discos) to take over the distribution assets built by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) Plc under the National Integrated Power Projects (NIPPs).

Poor Electricity Distribution Infrastructure Threatens NERC’s 6,000MW Target