TheNewsGuru

Tag: Assembly

  • Nasarawa Assembly suspends LG boss over insurbordination

    The Nasarawa State Hosue of Assembly has suspended the Chairman of Nasarawa Local Government in the state, Alhaji Mohammed Sani Ottos, over alleged insubordination.

    The House also suspended the Deputy Chairman, Karu Local Government, Lawal Yakubu Karshi, over the same allegation.

    Alhaji Ibrahim Abdullahi, the Speaker of the House, announced this after the Chairman of the House Committee on Local Government, Alhaji Mohammed Alkali, moved a motion on the activities of the affected council officials at an emergency sitting in Lafia on Monday.

    Abdullahi alleged that the chairman of Nasarawa local government and Deputy Chairman, Karu Local Government abandoned their official duties to attend a court case involving former Secretary to the Government of the State (SSG), Alhaji Aliyu Ahmed.

    He said the act was a disservice and a constituted insubordination.

    ” The Chairman of Nasarawa Local Government Council is hereby suspended, pending the investigation of his act of insubordination.

    “The Deputy Chairman of Nasarawa Local Government is hereby directed to take over the affairs of the council on acting capacity with immediate effect

    ” The Deputy Chairman, Karu Local Government, should also proceed on suspension.

    ” The Commissioner of Police is hereby directed to provide adequate security cover to acting Chairman of Nasarawa Local Government while the investigation lasts, ” he said.

    The speaker expressed dismay at how the Nasarawa Council boss allegedly abandoned his people on the eve of election to attended a court case that did not concern government, instead of staying around to assist security agents in ensuring peaceful Nasarawa Central constituency by-election.

    Mr Daniel Ogazi, the Deputy Majority Leader of the House, who seconded the motion moved by Mohammed Alkali and other lawmakers who contributed during the sitting, supported the move.

    They noted that the house would never give room for anyone to rubbish the image of the institution.

    The Speaker also set up a seven-man committee to investigate the two affected officials.

    ” The members of the committee are Dr Peter Akwe to serve as Chairman of the committee; Mr Mohammed Alkali is the Deputy Chairman of the committee while others are Mohammed Omadefu, Mohammed Agah Muluku, Aliyu Dogara, Danladi Jatau while the Deputy Clerk of the House, Ibrahim Musa, is the Secretary of the Committee.

    He gave the committee three months to submit its report.

  • Impeachment: Edo PDP women storm Assembly, insist Okiye remains Speaker [Photo]

    Impeachment: Edo PDP women storm Assembly, insist Okiye remains Speaker [Photo]

    Thousands of Edo PDP women on Friday stormed the premises of the State House of Assembly, in solidarity with the Speaker of the House, Mr. Frank Okiye.

    Led by Edo South woman leader of PDP, Lady Uwa Osunbor, the women denounced the purported impeachment of Okiye by the 17 members-elect who were allegedly inaugurated on Thursday at an unknown venue, with Mr. Tiger Victor Edoror elected Speaker.

    Lady Osunbor said: “We voted for them since last year, they are supposed to be in Edo Assembly to perform their duty, but they relocate to Abuja.

    “They are aware the the election is approaching, now that we are ready to vote to re-elect our Governor, they don’t have what to campaign with, they decide to use the House of Assembly to cause confusion, and we are not going to agree with them.

    “When we elected them, they preferred to stay put in Abuja. Let them remain in Abuja. They should not come to disturb us here. We are not tigers and lions, we are compassionate mothers. We are here to beg Edo women, Edo youths, not to listen to them.”

    Lady Osunbor, who said that Edo State is a peaceful state, insisted that they already have a Speaker in the person of Rt. Hon. Frank Okiye.

    She added: “All what they did in somebody’s private living room is not for Edo state, we have not inaugurated them, the people we inaugurated are already doing the legislative business. Let them go back to Abuja with their trouble. We are preparing for election to re-elect our Governor and they cannot disturb us.

    “That is why we are here to show solidarity with our Speaker, Hon. Okiye. He is the Speaker that we know.”

  • PDP begs IGP to stop invasion of Edo Assembly

    PDP begs IGP to stop invasion of Edo Assembly

    The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday begged the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Adamu Mohammed, to stop the invasion and alleged attempt to forcefully take over of the Edo State House of Assembly by security agencies.

    The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, gave the charge while speaking at a press briefing at the party’s national secretariat, Wadata Plaza, in Abuja.

    Ologbondiyan accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of acting illicitly to take power in the State ahead of the September 19 gubernatorial poll in Edo.

    The opposition party spokesman noted that the alleged deployment of security operatives at the Edo Assembly is a coup against the democratic order in the State and a recipe for anarchy.

    He said that the PDP is aware of an alleged plot by APC leaders to import a fake mace into the State, cause anarchy so as to precipitate the ‘imposition of a state of emergency in the State, seeing that they cannot win the forthcoming governorship election.

    ‘We urge the Inspector-General to act with dispatch to curb this nefarious situation, which has heightened tension in the State, and, if not halted, may result in a bloody clash as the citizens are already charged to defend their symbol of democracy from a forceful takeover.

    ‘The police hierarchy is urged to note that this provocative and lawless act is part of its plans to overheat the polity and create a security situation with the view to unleash violence on the people, derail the democratic order in the state and blame it on security agencies.

    ‘Our party has been informed that the plot is to use the illegal security operation to seize the processes of the House of Assembly and illegally inaugurate certain individuals whose seats have been lawfully declared vacant with plans to use them to pull down democratic structure in the State.

    ‘Our party therefore charges the IG to wade in and immediately withdraw the illegally deployed security officers and protect democracy and peace in Edo State.

    ‘Our nation cannot afford to have a breakdown of law and order in Edo State at this critical time as such is capable of having a spiral effect on other states in the Niger Delta region, which will further result in dire consequences to our nation,’ Ologbondiyan stated.

  • BREAKING: Police storm Edo Assembly complex as APC set to remove speaker, inaugurate 14 members – elect

    BREAKING: Police storm Edo Assembly complex as APC set to remove speaker, inaugurate 14 members – elect

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has perfected moves to remove Francis Okiye, the Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly and replace him with Yekini Idiaye, the former Deputy Speaker who was impeached on Wednesday.

    Following the Speaker’s removal and Idiaye’s election as the new Speaker, he is expected to swear in the 14 members-elect who were yet to be sworn in since the House was declared open on June 17 last year by Governor Godwin Obaseki.

     

     

    Already, police operatives have already stormed the Assembly complex that is being renovated with the aim of providing security for the 14 members- elect who have not been inaugurated.

    The affected members-elect are Vincent Uwadiae, Ovia North-East II; Ugiagbe Dumez, Ovia North-East I; Washington Osifo, Uhunmwode; Victor Edoror, Esan Central; Kingsley Ugabi, Etsako East and Michael Ohio-Ezomo, Owan West.

    Others are Sunday Aghedo, Ovia South-West; Chris Okaeben, Oredo West; Crosby Eribo, Egor; Seid Aliyu Oshiomhole, Etsako West II; Oshomah Ahmed, Etsako Central and Ganiyu Audu, Etsako West I.

    TheNewsGuru recalls that the Edo State House of Assembly had on Wednesday accused the Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodinma and other APC leaders of plotting to forcefully take over the Assembly with the importation of a fake mace to perfect the act.

     

    It also claimed that the plan was in connivance with the impeached Deputy Speaker, Yekini Idiaye who recently declared support for the governorship candidate of APC, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu

  • Impeachment: Ondo CJ declines Assembly’s requests to set up panel on Deputy Gov

    Impeachment: Ondo CJ declines Assembly’s requests to set up panel on Deputy Gov

    The ongoing move to impeach Deputy Governor of Ondo State, Hon Agboola Ajayi, has been stalled following refusal of the Chief Judge of the State, Justice Olaranwaju Akeredolu, to set up a seven-man investigative panel.

    Speaker Bamidele Oleyelogun had written to the Chief Judge that impeachment notice has been served on Hon Ajayi.

    A total of 14 lawmakers signed an impeachment notice against Ajayi.

    Speaker Oleyelogun informed Justice Akeredolu that setting up of the panel was in line with section 188 (5) of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

    A letter to the CJ and signed by the Speaker reads: “By the Resolution of the House today pursuant to Section 188 (3) and (4) of the 1999 Constitution as amended it was resolved that the allegations be investigated forthwith.

    “It is in line with the above that request that you set up the 7-man panel to conduct the investigation as resolved by the Honourable House and the Panel, shall soon as possible, report back to the House.”

    But the Justice Akeredolu, in a letter dated July 9 and addressed to the Speaker, said the lawmakers have not completed the constitutional process that would lead the Speaker to invite her to set up an investigative panel as stipulated by the Constitution.

    Akeredolu said she also received a letter from Kayode Olatoke SAN that the matter of the impeachment of Ajayi was subjudice.

  • COVID-19: Osun Assembly bars workers, visitors without facemask

    The Osun House of Assembly has made the use of facemask compulsory for the state assembly workers and visitors, saying that those without facemasks would be denied entry into the complex.

    Mr Timothy Owoeye, the Speaker of the Assembly gave the warning in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Kunle Alabi on Tuesday in Oshogbo.

    The speaker said the decision was sequel to the relaxation of the lockdown in the state.

    Owoeye said the decision was reached after an executive session of the Assembly.

    He added that putting on of face masks among other precautionary measures in and around the assembly was sacrosanct to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    He said that the use of simple cloth face coverings would slow the spread of Coronavirus and help people, who may have the virus and did not know it, from transmitting to others.

    He said that the major criteria for accessing the state assembly complex henceforth would be the facemask, saying the step taken by the state parliamentarians would assuage the fear of contracting the virus, as the assembly resumed full legislative activities.

    “As we are all aware that the assembly has resumed fully for legislative activities with very few senior cadre of workers in spite of the ravaging Coronavirus.

    “This was borne out of the need to support government in the fight against the pandemic.

    “The lead agenda of the 7th Assembly is quality legislation that will impact the lives of Osun people, in order to assuage the fear of people contracting the virus while we resumed.

    “It has become imperative that everyone coming to the assembly must wear face mask. It is going to be, no face mask, no entry.

    “It is the resolution of the assembly that if everybody wears a face mask, we will be mutually protecting each other.

    “Wearing a face covering is just one additional step that we can take to stop the spread of the virus, but it is not a replacement for other important protective measures, such as washing hands and social distancing,” he said.

    The speaker charged residents of the state not to trivialise matters associated with the containment of community transmission of the virus and that all hands must be on deck to ensure that COVID-19 pandemic was brought to an end.

  • SAD! Nasarawa Assembly loses member

    Alhaji Suleiman Adamu, a member representing Nasarawa Central constituency at the Nasarawa State House of Assembly, is dead.

    Alhaji Mohammed Okpoku, representing Udege/Loko constituency, announced the death of the lawmaker to newsmen on Friday in Nasarawa, Nasarawa Local Government Area of the State.

    Okpoku said that Suleiman died in the late hours of Thursday, April 30th, following a brief illness at Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Keffi.

    He said that the remains of the lawmaker would buried by 9am on Friday in Nasarawa local government area.

    “I am very sad to announce the death of my colleague, Hon Suleiman Adamu, who is from the same local government with me.

    ” His death is a painful loss to us and we will continue to pray for the repose of his soul,” he said.

    The deceased left behind one wife and five children.

  • Buhari assents to Police Trust Fund bill, eight others passed by Saraki's assembly

    Buhari assents to Police Trust Fund bill, eight others passed by Saraki's assembly

    …rejects 17 others
    President Muhammadu Buhari has assented to the Nigeria Police Trust Fund bill and eight others passed by the Eighth National Assembly, while rejecting about 17 of such bills.
    The Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Ita Enag released the list of the assented bills on Wednesday.
    Other bills assented to by the President included the Nigeria Natural Medicine Establishment Act; FCT Management Board and Health Insurance; Suppression of Piracy and other Maritime Defence Bill; and the Institute of Transport Administration of Nigeria Bill.
    Also assented to were the National Institute of Construction Technology and Management (Establishment) bill; National Agricultural Seed Council bill; Agriculture Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (Amendment) bill; and the FCT Primary Healthcare Board bill.
    The bills rejected by the President were the Adeyemi Federal university of Education (Establishment) Bill; Federal University of Education Kano, Bill; Alvan Ikoku Federal University of Education Bill; Federal University of Education Zaria, Bill; and National Security Agencies Protection of Officers Identity Bill.
    Other rejected bills include the Federal Capital Territory Emergency Management Agency Bill; Environmental Managers Registration Council of Nigeria Bill; Industrial Development Income Tax Act Amendment Bill; and Defence Research and Development Bureau Bill.
    The President similarly rejected the Animal Diseases Control Bill; Good Samaritans Bill; Chattered Institute of Directors of Nigeria Bill; Naional Institute of Hospitality and Tourism Establishment Bill; and Federal University of Wukari (Establishment) Bill.
    Also rejected were the Warehouse Receipt and Other Related Matters Bill; Federal Capital Territory Health Insurance Agency Bill; Nigeria Automative Industry Development Plant Fiscal Incentive and Guarantees Bill; and Nigerian Film Commission Bill and Proceeds of Crime Bill.
    Enang however said that there were other bills passed by the Eighth Assembly that but which were still being considered by President Buhari, adding that the President’s decisions on those bills would be conveyed to the public in due course.

  • BREAKING: Imo chairmen, councillors barricade Assembly

    BREAKING: Imo chairmen, councillors barricade Assembly

    Elected Council Chairmen and Councillors in Imo State on Monday, stormed the Imo State House of Assembly, barricading the entrance to protest reported plan by the Lawmakers to terminate their tenure.

    The aggrieved Chairmen and their supporters arrived the Assembly complex in a large crowd of supporters as early as 9am but were prevented from gaining entrance into the premises by a detachment of Policemen deployed to the House of Assembly to forestall possible breakdown of law and Order.

    Speaking to newsmen, the leader of Okigwe legislative council, Godwin Nwankwo, said that they had inkling that the lawmakers wanted to carry out the action at a plenary scheduled for Monday.

    Nwankwo who is also the chairman of Association of elected councillors in Imo state, said that their intention was to be part of the plenary and observe the proceedings.

    He said, “We heard rumours that the lawmakers want to repudiate the laws they made. They want to appropriate and reprobate. This is a law that they made that local governments are to serve for three years. We are lawmakers and not lawbreakers. The way they are elected is the way we are elected. All elections are the same under the constitution. They have no power to dissolve us.

    The Speaker of the assembly, Chinedu Offor, who neither confirmed nor denied it, asked how the Chairmen got to know about the intention of the House when they were not spirits.

    He asked our correspondent to wait for further clarification.

    Offor said, “How did they know what we want to do? Are they spirits?

    Asked if the lawmakers have the intention of sacking the chairmen and councillors, Offor said, “Wait until we finish.”

    As at the time of writing, the lawmakers are said to be having an executive session in preparation to going into plenary.

  • Impeachment: Ambode bows to pressure, to present LASG budget before assembly today

    Impeachment: Ambode bows to pressure, to present LASG budget before assembly today

    Governor Akinwunmi Ambode will present the 2019 budget of Lagos State to the House of Assembly on Tuesday.

    Recall that the legislature had last week threatened to impeach the governor for sending the budget to it instead of appearing in person to present and defend as done in previous years.

    The assembly also accuse the governor of gross misconduct, including spending before budget approval.

    However, to salvage the situation, the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Bola Tinubu brokered peace and assured Lagosians that the governor won’t be impeached. While speaking after a meeting of the Governor’s Advisory Committee (GAC), in Lagos on Sunday, Tinubu had said: “We examined the grievances on both sides. As leaders, we also looked into areas where there has to be a compromise.

    “In order to build institutions and encourage consensus-building, we have to do what is right.

    “There is no impeachment. Let there be more communication and consensus-building and understanding. All these are inbuilt in the democratic system.”