Political Briefs

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THE Senate is not happy about the roles of President Goodluck Jonathan and Patience, his wife, in the crisis in Rivers State. The Senate committee on State and Local Governments which investigated the crisis in the Rivers State House Assembly, blamed the president, his wife and the leadership of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, for festering the crisis. It did not elaborate.

The Senate, in accepting the recommendations of the committee, on Thursday, July 25, passed a resolution to empower it and the House of Representatives to take over the legislative functions of the beleaguered House of Assembly. The resolution concurred with that of the House passed on July 10.

In the same breath, the Senate condemned the attempt by five anti-Governor Chibuike Amaechi lawmakers for impeaching Otelemaba Amachree, speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

The committee recommended: “That the National Assembly should, as a matter of urgency, take over the functions and duties of the Rivers State House of Assembly, pursuant to Section 11(4) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) pending the resolution of the crisis and restoration of peace in Rivers State.” Senators, in a voice vote, passed the resolution without any dissenting voice.

Enyinnaya Abaribe, chairman of the Senate Committee on information and media, said after the decision there would be a meeting between David Mark, president of the Senate, and Aminu Tambuwal, speaker of the House, to draw up modalities for the running of the state assembly.

The Senate similarly decided that Mohammed Abubakar, inspector-general of Police, should, as a matter of urgency, redeploy Joseph Mbu, commissioner of police in Rivers State, because his relationship with Governor Amaechi, had broken down irretrievably. The Senate also mandated the Senate president to intervene and mediate in the Rivers State political crisis and see to its amicable resolution.”

It was learnt that although the committee made 17 recommendations, the recommendations were later reduced to three after a meeting behind closed doors for about five hours.

Among the recommendations jettisoned by the committee was Chidi Lloyd, majority leader of the assembly, and other persons found to have attacked Michael Chinda and other members of the assembly, be investigated and prosecuted by the director-general of the Department of Security Service, DSS.

The panel also urged the DSS to investigate and recommend for necessary disciplinary action, the officers and men of the police and other security personnel that invaded the assembly’s chambers. It similarly recommended that Evans Bipi, who led the anti-Amaechi legislators “be investigated and if found culpable, prosecuted for bringing armed thugs into the chambers and for the assault on the Speaker and other members of the assembly which precipitated the crisis.”

Amaechi to opponents: I Won’t Quit PDP

GOVERNOR Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State is not a man to give up easily. Speaking on Hard Talks, a BBC interview programme, on Thursday, July 25, Amaechi said nobody could stampede him out of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. The governor also said he was obliged to tell President Goodluck Jonathan or anybody about his ambition before contesting any public office. Besides, he said he had yet to declare his ambition to contest for Vice-Presidency in the PDP.

“You see what you must know is that I believe in the rule of law. Let’s even assume, for the purpose of argument, that an ambition exists, nobody has the right to bring down a state just because an ambition exists. It is important to say clearly that everybody should allow 2015 for 2015; it is a bit too early. The president is elected to preside as the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and I support that and I want everybody to allow Mr. President to preside over the country for the interest of the country,” the governor said, blaming the people around the president for fomenting trouble.

He added: “When the Financial Times reporter interviewed me in Port-Harcourt, I did make that clear. That was the day some hoodlums were hired to stone some northern governors, who visited me to show solidarity.” On the crisis rocking the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF, Amaechi said he won his election against Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State, who is widely believed to have the backing of the presidency against him.

Asked why he did not tell Jonathan about his interest to re-contest the NGF election, he said that nobody told me to run in the first place. “There is no law that requires me to tell anyone that I was going to run. That is the freedom we are looking for in the Nigerian Governors’ Forum. I didn’t need to go to Mr. President to tell him that ‘Mr. President, I want to run for the office of the chairman of the Nigeria’s Governors Forum’. I didn’t have to do that and I didn’t do that. And he, in turn, did not tell me ‘don’t run, I heard you are going to run’. So, I ran, and I didn’t see the president on the ballot, the person I saw on the ballot was Jonah Jang. The result was clear that 19 governors voted for me. He didn’t object to the fact that I won,” Amaechi said.

On the demand by Nyesom Wike, minister of state for education, that he should leave the PDP, Amaechi said, “He (Wike) doesn’t have the right to tell me where I should belong to whether I want to belong to the PDP or not. He doesn’t have that right. We have all been in the PDP.”

The Making of a People’s Constitution

MEMBERS of the House of Representatives demonstrated an unusual patriotism on Wednesday, July 24, by sitting all-night long to pass 85 new clauses to amend the 1999 constitution. Out of 360 members, 339 members attended the historic occasion. Voting on report of the ad-hoc House Committee on Constitution Review, the House made some far-reaching decisions, which included the removal of immunity for president, governors and their deputies.

The House, which sat for more than 12 hours, endorsed autonomy for local governments. By the decision, the House is at variance with the Senate, which rejected autonomy for the local councils. The House went a bit further by scrapping the State Independent Electoral Commissions and gave the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, the responsibility of conducting council polls. It endorsed the retention of four years as tenure for elected officials while it also recognised the right of independent candidates to contest election. This means that in future, persons who do not belong to any political party, can stand for elections as individuals.

Like the Senate, the House retained the controversial proposal on life pension for the president, vice-president, senate president, speaker of the House of Representatives and deputy speaker. A total of 284 lawmakers endorsed the provision, with only 18 opposing it. Thirty-six others abstained.

Other important decisions of the House included the transfer of health, housing, electricity and railways from the exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent List. This means that states can now make laws on these issues. However, the issue of minimum wage and labour matters were retained in the Exclusive List.

The ad-hoc report, the House said, was based on all the recommendations gathered during the peoples’ public sessions conducted across the country on November 10, 2012. The sessions were conducted by its Ad-Hoc Committee on Constitution Review headed by Emeka Ihedioha, deputy speaker.

Yielding to Academic Pull

THE federal cabinet was on Wednesday, July 24, depleted by one. Muhammed Pate, minister of state for health, voluntarily resigned from government to take up a professorial chair at the Duke University’s Global Health Institute in the United States. The resignation took immediate effect.  In his resignation letter, Pate said that in his new position, he would participate in a university-wide Africa initiative and would also serve as senior adviser to Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in Washington DC. He, however, said he would be willing to serve in the government on part-time basis as the national chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Polio Eradication and the public-private coalition for saving one million lives initiative.

In accepting his resignation letter, President Goodluck Jonathan said that the new appointment of Pate was an indication that his choice of members of cabinet was a well thought out decision. Reuben Abati, special adviser to the president on media and publicity, told State House correspondents that Jonathan was highly elated that his star-studded cabinet was attracting global attention, and that the president regarded Pate’s appointment as a plus for the administration and the country.

“The minister’s new commitment is seen by the president and his cabinet as good news. It is a further proof that this cabinet is full of stars. The cabinet is full of very distinguished men and women; people with not only national but also international recognition. The President congratulated the minister and accepted his offer to continue to serve on a part-time basis as an honourary adviser,” Abati said.

Senate’s Shameful Vote

|  By Vincent Nzemeke  |

AS the storm over the Senate’s endorsement of child marriage in the ongoing constitutional amendment rages on, CANANUSA.ORG, a non-governmental organization based in New York, United States of America, has added its voice to those condemning the yes vote.

In a statement signed by Laolu Akande, its executive director, the organization said it was alarmed by the shameful acts of the lawmakers seeking to force underage girls into early marriage.

The organization also noted that Nigeria is one of the countries listed by the United Nations Children’s Fund where many underage girls are forced into early marriage and at the risk of physical and mental damages such as Vesicovaginal Fistula. “We are aware that a recent draft amendment to ensure that the marriage age be clearly stated as 18 years and above was defeated in the Nigerian Senate. This is a most shameful outcome. Based on records from the United Nations Children’s Fund, Nigeria is among countries where underage marriage is thriving with attendant physical and mental damages to the girl-child, including Vesicovaginal Fistula, which makes the little girls incontinent, dripping with urine and faeces.” The organization also berated the fact that Nigerian senators were some of the highest paid in the world and wondered why a Senator who is married to an underage girl is allowed to sit in the chamber and make laws for the country.  The organization called on the senate president, the House of Representatives and well-meaning Nigerians to join the fight against the oppression of the girl child.

— Aug. 5, 2013 @ 01:00 GMT

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