National Assembly
Senator Akpabio denies accusing National Assembly members of NDDC contracts fraud
The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, Tuesday, denied that he accused members of the National Assembly of fraud concerning contracts from the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC. The minister had, during an investigative hearing at the House of Representatives, claimed that 60 percent of NDDC contracts went to the federal lawmakers. However, as the House threatened to initiate a criminal complaint of perjury and explore the possibility of a civil defamation suit against him, Akpabio denied he ever referred to members of the 9th House of Representatives as beneficiaries of contracts in NDDC. He noted that NDDC was yet to fully implement any budget since the commencement of the 9th National Assembly. Also, Akpabio while responding to questions after a visit to t...
Governor Tambuwal: Rigging Edo election is ‘coup’ against the people
The Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, has said any electoral victory obtained through means other than the legitimate votes of the people was nothing short of a coup d’état. Tambuwal said the Edo State Governorship Election scheduled to hold on Saturday as well as the Ondo State governorship election scheduled for October 10, were test cases of our preparedness for a rule-based and consent-enabled governance. He said this in a statement titled “Tambuwal: Rigging is coup d’état,” which he signed and issued to commemorate the 2020 edition of United Nations International Day of Democracy, on Tuesday. The United Nations General Assembly in 2017 resolved to observe 15 September of every year as the International Day of Democracy — with the purpose of promoting and upholding the principl...
Disquiet in South-West PDP as ex-Governor Fayose meets national chairman
There is disquiet in the South-West Zone of the Peoples Democratic Party following the decision of a former Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, to lead a delegation of state party chairmen from the zone to hold secret talks with the PDP National Chairman, Uche Secondus. It was gathered in Abuja on Friday that the meeting, held in the Abuja residence of Secondus on Monday, raised a lot of concerns among party members in the zone. State party chairmen who were at the meeting included those of Lagos, Ogun, Osun and Ekiti. Although the meeting was held behind closed doors, it was gathered that ongoing dispute over the control of the party structure by contending forces in the zone, especially in Ekiti State, formed the main crux of the meeting. A top-ranking party member of the party privy t...
Senator wants Nigerian government to give priority to mental health
Facebook The senator representing Sokoto East senatorial district Ibrahim Gobir on Tuesday expressed the need to give attention to people with mental challenges. He stated this at Federal Neuro Psychiatric Hospital (FNPH) Kware, Sokoto state when he paid a courtesy visit to the management of the hospital. The senator called on government to give attention to psychiatric facilities in order to ensure desirable impacts in the administration of mental health across the country. The lawmaker expressed satisfaction with the state of facilities and good managerial leadership of Dr Shehu Sale at FNPH, Kware in compliance with modern standards. ”I am delighted with the level of development so far recorded in the hospital under the leadership of able Board Chairman Dr. Iheanyi Nwachuku, and Medical...
Ondo guber: Governor Akeredolu notorious for having loose tongue – deputy
Deputy Governor of Ondo State and governorship candidate of the Zenith Labour Party, Hon Agboola Ajayi, has lambasted Governor Rotimi Akeredolu for describing him as a betrayal, neophyte and a nincompoop. Ajayi while responding to Akeredolua in a statement by his Media Adviser, Allen Sowore, in Akure said governor Akeredolu ”reckless gaffe is a continuation of his fruitless and sterile efforts to demean the constitutionally established office of the Deputy Governor and his person. “The Deputy Governor, Agboola Ajayi, is not surprised at this latest castigation of his person by Mr Governor. “This has been the favourite tactics of Akeredolu and now that he’s frustrated by the people’s obvious rejection of his reelection bid, it’s expected that he would not desist on the road to infamy and pe...
Bayelsa West: Over 900 defect to PDP due to violation of zoning agreement
File Photo The senatorial ambition of former Deputy Governor, Chief Peremobowei Ebebi, has triggered a fresh crisis within the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Sagbama Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. Over 900 protesting members of the APC stormed the Toru Orua country home of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP Senatorial Candidate for Bayelsa West, Hon Seriake Dickson, the immediate past governor of the state, to defect to the PDP in protest against the violation of the arrangement on the zoning of the National Assembly seats in the Senatorial District. The defectors led by the former Chairman of the Ogobiri Youth Association, Mr. Ekadi Desire, were received on behalf of the State chapter of the PDP by the Sagbama Local Government Chairman of the PDP, Mr. Ofoni Oyafikunmo, the Sen...
CSO urges President Buhari to freeze NDDC account
The Act for Positive Transformation Initiative, a Civil Society Organisation (CSO), has requested President Muhammadu Buhari to freeze the account of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and suspend all further spending in the commission. Mr Johnson Kolawale, the Head, Directorate of Research, Strategy, and Programme, made the call at a news conference on Monday in Abuja. He alleged that plans were ongoing to make fraudulent expenditures by top officials in the commission. Kolawale revealed that the commission had continued to spend funds against due process and against the directive of the President. According to him, the commission has squandered an additional nine billion Naira in the last one month. “We call on President Muhammadu Buhari, the National Assembly, and genuine sec...
Bayelsa by-election: PDP, APC leaders trade words over agreement on power rotation
Leaders of the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Bayelsa weekend trade words over the alleged attempt by the opposition party to breach an existing gentleman’s agreement between the people of Sagbama and Ekeremor Local Government areas on the issue of power rotation of National Assembly positions. This followed the emergence of the former Deputy Governor, Rt. Hon. Peremobowei Ebebi, as the candidate of the All Progressive Congress for the state west senatorial district by-election. Political stakeholders from the zone had agreed that by the provision of the existing gentleman agreement between Sagbama and Ekeremor local government areas, indigenes of Sagbama are the only ones qualified to produce candidates to contest for the October 31 National Asse...
Presidential elections in Ghana, others top agenda at ECOWAS meeting
The 44th Ordinary Meeting of the Mediation and Security Council of the Economic Community of West African States has called attention to the ongoing insurgency in Nigeria, Gambia and Guinea Bissau as well as the political crisis in Mali. The Council at its meeting in Niamey, Niger, on Friday, also focused on forthcoming presidential elections in Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Niger. The meeting was presided over by the Nigerien Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chair of the Mediation and Security Council, Kalla Ankourao. Ankourao recalled the challenges COVID-19 has brought upon the region coupled with the breakdown in democratic governance in Mali. He urged the ECOWAS body to take the necessary steps for the preparation and smooth conduct of the upcoming presidential electi...
Arthur Eze slams Senator Ngige as accidental minister
The media directorate of Anambra billionaire industrialist, Prince Arthur Eze has released a statement slamming the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr Chris Ngige, as an ‘accidental’ minister. The statement, a response to the call by the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr Chris Ngige for the further banishment of the suspended 12 Anambra traditional rulers and their sponsor. The crisis began with the visit of 12 monarchs from Anambra State to Aso Villa to meet with President Buhari, at the instance of the billionaire businessman Prince Arthur Eze. The traditional rulers who embarked on the trip to Abuja, to thank President Buhari for his developmental strides in the Southeast, did so without approval from the Anambra State government. The monarchs after failing to meet with Presi...
Cairo Ojougboh: NDDC did not pay coronavirus palliatives to senators
The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has faulted a report that it paid various sums of money as COVID-19 palliatives to members of the Senate. NDDC’s acting Executive Director (Projects), Dr Cairo Ojougboh, condemned the claim in a statement on Tuesday. Ojougboh who clarified the controversy sparked by the claim also denied issuing any statement as purported in the report. He stressed that there was no way the agency could have made such payments as there was no provision for such in the NDDC’s budget. While stating that he would have resisted such a payment if it was brought up, the executive director said the Interim Management Committee (IMC) has championed a campaign to cleanse the NDDC of obvious corruption and frivolous payments. According to him, the IMC has a mandate to re...
Senator Lawan: National Assembly won’t tolerate disrespect from presidential appointees again
The President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan, on Monday, said the federal lawmakers would no longer tolerate appointees of President Muhammadu Buhari, abusing the National Assembly. He said the President himself had made it clear that he would not tolerate such. Lawan spoke with State House correspondents shortly after Buhari inaugurated the Executive, Legislative Party Consultative Committee at the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa, Abuja. He said, “I believe that should be the end of it (appointees knocking heads with legislature). We believe that we should work together. “Mr President made it very clear that he is not going to tolerate any of his appointees doing things that are not respectable, things that have no dignity to the National Assembly. “For us in the National Assembly, ...
