TheNewsGuru

Tag: Lawmaker

  • Police place N10m bounty on killers of Taraba lawmaker, Hosea Ibi

    The Taraba State Police Command on Friday placed the sum of N10 million as reward for anyone who will provide “useful information” leading to the arrest of killers of Hosea Ibi, late member of the Taraba State House of Assembly.

    Ibi, a lawyer, who was representing Takum 1 State Constituency, was kidnapped on December 30 last year, in Takum when he went home for Christmas celebration. Eye-witnesses said he was whisked away at gun point by his abductors who rode on a motorbike.

    The lawmaker was not seen until 16 days later; he was discovered dead, after a ransom was reportedly paid for his release.

    Taraba State Governor, Darius Ishaku, said he has been devastated by Ibi’s death. “My heart has been broken,” he said, urging security agencies to fish out the killers.

    The governor revealed that he had fulfilled all the financial demands made by the kidnappers and was surprised that they eventually killed him.

    “They asked for money, I gave them, I thought I was dealing with kidnappers, I didn’t know they were assassins,” he said.

    Police spokesman, David Misal, on Monday confirmed that he was murdered. Misal said the body of the lawmaker was found in the afternoon at Kwari, along Takum –

     

  • Treat violent herdsmen as terrorists, Benue lawmaker tells LG

    A member representing Logo Constituency in Benue House of Assembly, Hon. Terna-Kester Kyenge, on Saturday urged the Federal Government to declare violent Fulani herdsmen as terrorists and also treat them as such.

    His appeal was contained in a statement that he issued to The Nation in Abuja, demanding the State and Federal Government to declare a two-day of national mourning of the victims that the Fulani herdsmen allegedly massacred in the state.

    He asked the President Muhammadu Buhari to deploy sufficient security personnel in the effected areas to forestall any re-occurrence of the onslaught and make the perpetrators to face the law.

    His words: “We are in deed in a State of Emergency and I demand that the Benue State and Federal governments declare 2 days of national mourning and move decisively and with utmost dispatch as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari to deploy sufficient security personnel in the effected areas to forestall any repeat of these attacks and for once arrest and bring perpetrators to justice.

    “We also demand that the Federal Government declare Fulani herdsmen perpetrating violence against farmers across the country as terrorists and treat them as such.”

    Kyenge titled his dirge and tears invoking statement : “May the blood and tears of victims of suspected herdsmen attack in Benue not flow in vain.”

    According to him, like the killers, his massacred people and all humans have the right to live.

    Calling on the global community to help guarantee the lives of his people, the lawmaker pointed out that their right to live is guaranteed under the Nigerian law and universal charter of human rights.

    He insisted that “We will from this day not hold our peace and die in silence any longer, but will tell to the whole world our agony and the terror visited on us by a force propelled solely towards our destruction.

    “Reason and justice may not appeal to the herdsmen hacking our people to death with such wanton abandon, but we will cry out to the world and show our wounds for all to see. Then, perhaps, then will the blood of our fallen loved ones and our tears not flow in vain.”

    He said that as a representative of his people he appreciates that every single death diminishes them collectively.

    He added that “I am impoverished and have never felt this damned and unsettled as continuously hapless constituents are hounded, villages razed and ancestral farm lands sacked while government gropes endlessly for solutions.”

    The statement reads in part: “From Tse Akenawe, to Tse Verinumbe, to Tse Orveren, to Jootar, to Tyogbenda Anyiin communities in Gambe-Tiev, Logo to Tomatar near Tse Abi, Nongov in Guma Local Government Areas, it has been sustained attacks and killings as the statistics swell with daily harvest of tons of corpses from surrounding environs.

    “These settlements have been reduced to ghost habitations with huge numbers of displaced old, women and children trekking aimlessly with neither food, water nor shelter.

    “This is in deed one invasion too many, and the deafening silence hovering over it from the top must be broken now and for good.

    “Once again, as I commiserate with HE Samuel Ortom and the government and peace loving people of Benue State and particularly helpless Logo State Constituents in our season of collective grief and great loss, I pledge on my oath that I will not relent in my resolve to fight to get justice for my constituents. I will continue to collaborate with agencies and actors of government to bring lasting peace and succor to my people.”

  • Biafra: Calm down, we can’t pull out of Nigeria now – Lagos lawmaker tells Kanu

    A Lagos lawmaker, Mr Jude Idimogu, on Saturday, said it was too late for the Igbo nation to pull out of Nigeria.

    Idimogu, representing Oshodi/Isolo Constituency II in the Lagos State House of Assembly, told newsmen in Lagos that secession would be injurious to the Igbos.

    He said: “As a full-blooded Igbo man and a Nigerian, I believe, Igbo staying in Nigeria as an entity will prosper the Igbo nation better than pulling out.

    “After the 1967 Civil war, the Igbo man started all over again to build up; now Igbo nation has made progress in terms of economy and politics.

    “Though the Igbo nation has not reached where it is expected to be politically, we should dialogue rather than be creating war scenarios.

    ‘’It is too late to pull out (of Nigeria), Igbo nation has united Nigeria because they have businesses everywhere in this country,” the lawmaker said.

    The lawmaker urged Mr Nnamdi Kanu, the Leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), to rescind from any action that could create enmity against Igbos around the country.

    He urged the Igbo nation to unite with other ethnic groups in the country to articulate their grievances and actualised their dreams.

    “My children were born in Lagos and some of them don’t even know their state of origin, they speak Yoruba and so many Igbo children are like that across the North and West.

    “We have our future in Nigeria. The only thing Igbo nation should fight for is political power not by creating war scenario but by merging with other nations/tribes in Nigeria – the Northerners and Westerners.

    “Most Igbos, over 50 per cent, don’t even believe in Biafra because they have counted the cost from 1970 after the war till 2017. No one wants to go back to square one; it is not possible.

    “As a person, I am against it; what the Igbo man should struggle for in this entity are equality, fairness and justice, not pulling out.

    “It is very late to pull out, it will be difficult because majority of us are not ready to fight any war; I don’t want to lose my life nor my sons and daughter in war; I believe we can make Nigeria our home,’’ he said.

    According to him, even if the Igbo nation wants to pull out of Nigeria, it is not going to be overnight or by aggression, rather it should be via a friendly and democratic process.

    “Kanu should calm down, unite with Ohanaeze Ndigbo, a tree cannot make a forest,” the lawmaker said.

     

  • Saraki’s Trial: Legislator tasks EFCC on thorough investigation of cases

    A member of the House of Representatives, Rep. Babajimi Benson (Lagos-APC), has urged anti-graft agencies in the country to apply more diligence in investigating and prosecuting corruption cases.

    In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday, Benson said that there was need for anti-corruption agencies to be meticulous to avoid waste of public funds.

    The call stemmed from the failure of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to establish a case against President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, over alleged false declaration of assets.

    The lawmaker condemned media trials against accused persons, and advised the EFCC to always prepare its witnesses before proceeding on any prosecution.

    “People should not be tried on the pages of newspaper; a case is as good as its preparation.

    “You need to prepare, you need to speak to lawyers and you need to tutor your witnesses appropriately so that when they speak or are cross examined in the dock, their statements should be good enough to cause a conviction,’’ he said.

    The Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) sitting in Abuja on Wednesday discharged and acquitted Saraki in the 18-count charge of false declaration of assets brought against him by the Federal Government in September, 2015.

    The tribunal held that the evidence brought against Saraki lacked verifiable value and was unreliable to hold the charges against the defendant.

    In his ruling, Chairman of the tribunal, Mr Danladi Umar, said that the prosecution, at the close of the case, failed to establish a prima facie case against the defendant.

    Umar said that the four witnesses called by the prosecution gave contradictory evidence that were manifestly unreliable to convict the defendant or order him to enter his defence.

  • Fresh troubles for suspended lawmaker, Jibrin as party expels him

    The All Progressive Congress, APC, in Bebeji Local Government Area of Kano State, says it has expelled Abdulmumuni Jibrin, the member of the House of Representatives who was suspended for accusing the leadership of the House of budget fraud.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that Jibrin represents Bebeji Federal Constituency. The chapter of the party said Mr. Jibrin was expelled for taking part in anti-party activities.

    Reading the resolution expelling Jibrin Thursday, the party chairman in the local government, Sani Ranka, told journalists in Kano the party had taken all constitutional steps to make Mr. Jibrin step back from “anti-party activities”, to no avail.

    He said the party formed a five-member committee to meet with Mr. Jibrin, but the lawmaker refused to meet the panel.

    “Before taking this final decision, we formed a disciplinary five-man committee and they went to him on 11-4-2017, he saw them briefly but without any tangible talks and they went back on 13-4-2017 he then refused to see them,” he said.

    Ranka said after reporting back to the party executives, the party’s caucus agreed to expel Jibrin from the party.

    The party accused the suspended member of factionalizing the party, creating new unconstitutional leadership, going against the government of Governor Abdullahi Ganduje and indiscipline against the national headquarters of the party and the presidency of Muhammadu Buhari.

    Jibrin is however yet to react to the new development.

     

  • Just in : Reps in rowdy session over South-East development commission

    Members of the House of Representatives, mainly from the South-East are protesting in chambers.

    Their anger is over the withdrawal of a bill seeking to create a South-East Development Commission.

    The House has, however, re-listed the bill following the protests.

     

    Details soon…

  • Senate to pass Petroleum Industry Bill soon, says lawmaker

    Senate to pass Petroleum Industry Bill soon, says lawmaker

    Sen. Clifford Odia (PDP-Edo Central) on Monday said that the Senate would soon pass the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

    Odia gave the assurance in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at Auchi, headquarters of the Etsako-West Local Government Area of Edo.

    The lawmaker assured the people of the Niger Delta that the senate was working assiduously to ensure that the people of the South-South geo-political Zone get some signs of relief, with the passage of the bill.

    “There are so many of them, but talking about the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), that would be passed very soon. That has to do with the operations of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and their subsidiaries.

    “And of course, as a Senator from the Niger Delta, who believes that the bill is indeed very important to our people, for the oil industry to become very well structured, so that our people can benefit maximally, that is the very one that is so dear to my heart,’’ he said.

    Odia said that the passage of the bill is to give way for proper restructuring of the industry, adding that the people of Niger Delta would benefit maximally from it.

    “The bill seeks to address all governance-related issues in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.

    “We need an NNPC that will be smooth and commercially oriented, that can run efficiently and make money,” he said.

    The lawmaker said that the country cannot afford any further delay in its efforts at reforming the oil and gas industry, saying that it was therefore expedient to pass the bill.

    “I am very much sure that the bill will be passed in record time so that the people of the Niger Delta can get a sign of relief that all those problems with oil production would be reduced, so as to give way for the development of the region,’’ he added.