Constitution
Confusion in APC as CROSIEC fixes May 30 for council polls
The intractable crisis rocking the Cross River All Progressives Congress (APC) appears to be gathering momentum as the two factions have issued conflicting statements on the pending May 30th local government election. While a faction led by Sir John Ochala had dissociated the party from the pending local election, describing it as a “charade”, the other faction led by Mr John Etim said it is fully prepared to take part in the council poll. Since 2014, the Cross River State APC has been engaged in a leadership tussle, leading to the factionalisation of the party, even as the national leadership has made spirited efforts to settle the supremacy battle. In spite of this, the chairman of Cross River State Independent Electoral Commission (CROSIEC), Dr Mike Ushie, has fixed Saturday, May 30th f...
Ayo Adebanjo: President Buhari not sincere about keeping Nigeria together
President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, John Nwodo, elder statesman and Afenifere leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, and former Governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, have described Nigeria’s constitution as illegal. They spoke in a video conference organized by Governance Index titled: “Coronavirus Pandemic: Is it time to reevaluate the political structure of the country?” Opening the session, Nwodo said the constitution was given to Nigerians by a military government which was not elected, adding that in 1999, politicians went into the election without knowing the parameter that will guide the democratic process. He said the military wrote the constitution and abandoned regionalism. At the video conference which was the fifth edition of the weekly conference series: Covid-19: Turning a crisi...
Akwa Ibom speaker hails President over executive order on financial autonomy
Speaker of Akwa Ibom House of Assembly, Mr Aniekan Bassey, has commended President Muhammadu Buhari, for signing into law Executive Order No. 10, of 2020. The law is for the implementation of Financial Autonomy of State Legislature and State Judiciary. Bassey made the commendation on Sunday in Uyo while fielding questions from newsmen on the legislative autonomy. He, however, warned his colleagues not to take the autonomy as an avenue for legislative “rascality”, but as a means of cooperation among the three arms of government. He described granting financial autonomy to the legislative and judicial arms of government across the country as a means of ensuring smooth conduct of government businesses within the three arms of government. “Financial autonomy granted to the two arms of governme...
Imo governor abolishes pensions, gratuities for former governors, speakers, deputies
Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State has assented to a bill repealing the law that created pension allowances and gratuities for former governors, deputy governors, assembly speakers and deputy speakers. Signing the bill into law in Owerri on Friday, the governor noted that the erstwhile law runs contrary to the 1999 Constitution as amended, which stipulates that a pensioner must have worked for at least 10 years and must be up to 45 years of age. He regretted a situation where some of the beneficiaries of such payments also get a huge amount of money as salaries and allowances in other positions they occupied, such as serving as senators or members of the House of Representatives. He said: “Apart from the inconsistency of such a law to the provisions of the ground norm, which is the Consti...
