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  • Anambra Chruch gun attack: Saraki, Dogara,Ekweremadu condole with victims

    Senate President Bukola Saraki has expressed deep sadness over the massacre that occurred at St. Philip’s Catholic Church, Anambra State on Sunday.

    In a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, Saraki stated that the killing of worshippers represents the purest kind of evil, and the security services must not stop until the perpetrators are brought to justice.

    “Today, my heart goes out to Nigeria’s Christian community, Governor Willy Obiano, the people of Anambra State, and the families of the victims and the survivors of this terrible massacre,” the Senate President said, “This brutal act of attacking innocent and unsuspecting worshippers represents the purest kind of evil.

    “Our security forces must not stop until everyone involved in the orchestration and execution of today’s massacre in St. Philip’s Catholic Church, Anambra are brought to book by the strong arm of justice.

    “The Senate will continue to offer any form of necessary assistance in this endeavor, because today, all of us, as Nigerians have been attacked by this senseless act committed by evil people”, Saraki stated.

    He further urged security agencies in the country to step their intelligence gathering activities so as to prevent activities of criminals and also unravel any crime committed against Nigerians by undesirable elements in the society.

    Ekweremadu: Anambra Church Attack sacrilegious

    In the same vein, the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has described as beastly and sacrilegious the Sunday massacre of worshippers at St. Philip’s Catholic Church Ozubulu, Anambra State.

    Ekweremadu, who also described the day as a black Sunday, not only for Anambra State, but also the entire nation, called on the security agencies to fish out the killers and bring them to justice.

    He said: “I received with a deep grief the news of the blood-curdling killing at St. Philip’s Catholic Church, Ozubulu today. It is indeed a black Sunday and the act is most sacrilegious and condemnable.

    “My heartfelt condolences go to the Government and good people of Anambra, especially the bereaved families and the Church. I also pray God to grant the deceased a peaceful repose and the wounded a quick recovery.

    “However, this dastardly act brings to the fore, once again, the need to reengineer our security system, especially our policing system to arrest the rising wave of violent crimes in the country”.

    He said in the meantime, the least the nation owes the deceased and the casualties was to work with the security agencies “to bring apprehend the culprits and ensure that justice is done to both the living and the dead”.

    Dogara: Anambra Massacre is abominable, barbaric

    Similarly, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has described Sunday’s attack on worshippers in a Catholic church in Anambra state as abominable, barbaric, inhuman, and the height of wickedness.

    Scores of worshippers were murdered by gunmen inside a Catholic church in Ozubulu in Anambra State.

    The shooting is said to have occurred during church service while worshipers were still inside the church building on Sunday morning.

    In a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Turaki Hassan, the Speaker said his heart is broken by the sad news of the massacre of innocent worshippers in cold blood by people he described as ” sons of perdition whose souls will rot in hell.”

    “Have we lost our humanity? Where is the place of sanctity of life and sacredness of worship places in our society? What offence did the worshippers commit to warrant their massacre in cold blood by wicked souls and heartless men?”

    The Speaker lamented that increasing insecurity is reducing Nigeria to the state of nature as life is increasingly becoming cheap.

    He again reiterated his call for the overhaul of Nigeria’s policing architecture that will lead to reform of the Police Force, equip them with modern and sophisticated gadgets so as to discharge their duties of protecting lives and property effectively and ensure social order in the society.

    Dogara further called on security agencies to fish out perpetrators of the heinous crime and bring them to justice speedily.

    He extended his heartfelt condolences to families of the victims, people and government of Anambra state, Nigeria and the Catholic Church over the sad and unfortunate incident.

  • Kwara 2019: My son won’t contest as governor – Saraki

    Kwara 2019: My son won’t contest as governor – Saraki

    The President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, has ruled out the possibility of his son participating in the governorship race in Kwara in 2019.

    He said, at a Forum in Abuja that it was untrue that his son was being groomed as the next governor of the state.

    According to Saraki, “the boy is not interested in politics. That is not in the offing at all; I am sure he doesn’t even want to hear politics at all”.

    “You know it is not easy for children who are born to politicians, especially at this time, to embrace politics.

    “When I was much younger, we were insulated from some of the political issues, and because we didn’t read the newspapers, we didn’t know what was happening.

    “I reluctantly went into politics, you can go and check. Once or twice, I was given the form to run for House of Representatives, and I remember I just travelled and disappeared for months.

    “After seeing what my father had been through I thought to myself that this is not for me,” he said.

    Saraki, however, said that the most important thing for him in the state was the legacy which had been left and the continuity and good relationship between former and the serving governor.

    He said that his successor had also done a good job in transforming the state by creating an environment for entrepreneurship.

    “In the agricultural sector, we have done a lot of things that drive commercial activities which are not in the blueprint of the country.

    “Even in the universal health coverage which we are now talking about at the national level, I started that when I was governor, and now my governor has continued and built on that.

    “This shows the importance of continuity and stability and today, we thank God that we are one of those states where there is a very good relationship between former governor and current governor.” he said.

    He denied insinuation that pensioners in the state were still being owed arrears dating back to when he was governor.

    “Majority of the amounts still being owed are at the local government level, most of the state level pensions are not outstanding.

    “There might be issues with pensions here and there but I don’t know the details. I know that the arrears and liability are at local government level, not at state government level,” Saraki stated.

     

    (NAN)

  • 2019: ‘We are not happy with the state of affairs in APC’ – Saraki

    2019: ‘We are not happy with the state of affairs in APC’ – Saraki

    says…

    ‘I’m in APC ‘body and spirit,’

    party must fix rot to avoid losing appeal

    Senate President Dr. Bukola Saraki on Thursday said members of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, throughout the nation are not happy with the leadership over the state of affairs of the party.

    Saraki, who spoke at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja, said the APC leadership headed by its National Chairman, Chief John Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, lacked focus.

    He said: “My own point is that the executive of the party just needs to wake up and start managing the party.

    “There is no day when I see the party chairman that I don’t tell him, ‘Mr. Chairman, we must put the party in focus’.

    “The rules of the party also give you room by which you can call a meeting, but I think we have not got to that point yet.

    “I think we should do it in a smooth manner, but what I want to assure you is that the foundation is still strong. If there were crisis all over the place, that would have been a different matter,” he said.

    Saraki expressed hope that the party would hold its mini-convention as scheduled as delegates had been elected on Saturday.

    He said he was still a member of APC and remained a party member “body and spirit”, contrary to insinuations.

    Saraki said the speculations on his APC membership were part of the mischievous activities against him and urged the public to discountenance them.

    “You will see that after the mini-convention, all that speculation of body here, spirit there, would go away,” he said

    Saraki said those spreading such information were doing so as propaganda for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

    Saraki, however, blamed the development on inactivity in the APC, saying that the party’s leadership had failed to focus it properly.

    He, therefore, urged the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party to wake up to its responsibility as it had remained without activities for too long.

    The Senate President said the docility in the party was giving room for unfounded allegations against some of its members.

    According to him, if the party had organised regular NEC meetings and other caucus meetings, there would have been enough activities to determine who the true members are.

    “I think there is no APC member that will tell you he is happy with the state of affairs of the party; there is a lot of work that we need to do.

    “The party that hasn’t met for a long time, it’s beyond comprehension and I think that we should all quickly put that in order and start to get NEC, caucus and others going.

    “We need to start early to get the drive in the party back.

    “Luckily, in spite of the lack of meetings here and there, if you go round the 36 states, it is in just few states, not many states, where you may see internal crisis.

    “It’s not that the party, at the grassroots level, had a lot of crisis here and there; it’s just for the administrative aspect and the national executive to provide leadership.”

    Saraki also said that if there had been meetings of the party, his detractors would have seen how actively involved he was in the party “and will not have any room to spread such lies”.

    On the allegation that his emergence as Senate president was an affront to the party, Saraki said he had kept the wishes of the party, including zoning of Senate president’s position.

    He stated that at the last meeting of the party held over zoning of national offices, the position of president of the Senate was zoned to the North-Central.

  • Court strikes out case of defaming Saraki

    Court strikes out case of defaming Saraki

    An Ilorin Magistrates Court on Thursday struck out a suit against a 37-year-old teacher, Abiodun Baba accused of defaming the Senate President, Bukola Saraki.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that Baba was arraigned before Magistrate Ahmed Dasuki for posting on his Facebook account messages that disparaged and defamed the Senate President.

    According to the complainant, Alhaji Jimoh Adesina, Chairman Kwar North Senatorial District of the All Progressives Congress, the accused engrave the materials on his facebook wall knowing fully well that they will be harmful to the image of Saraki.

    The complainant also accused Baba of inciting disturbance, disturbance of public peace and injurious falsehood posts on Facebook.

    He also alleged that Baba’s postings were capable of causing disaffection and were disparaging against Saraki.

    The offences, he said, were contrary to sections 113, 114, 393, 394 of the Penal Code of Northern Nigeria and section 883and 204 of the Criminal Code Act.

    The charges were filed by the Chamber of S. I. Solagberu and Co, Ilorin at the Magistrate court.

    However, Sikiru Solagberu, lawyer to the complainant, on July 28, moved an oral application to withdraw the case against the accused.

    He said the decision followed appeals and intervention by prominent citizens in the state and the Ilorin Traditional Council.

    The Magistrate, Ahmed Dasuki in his ruling held that the reasons adduced by the complainant are weighty enough and did not require any application or affidavit in support.

    He said the reasons given by the complainant to withdraw the case were also genuine and therefore granted the prayers of the complainant.

    He advised the accused to henceforth be of good conduct.

     

     

    NAN

  • N40bn double pay: SERAP welcomes Saraki’s move to stop receiving pensions

    N40bn double pay: SERAP welcomes Saraki’s move to stop receiving pensions

    Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, (SERAP) has welcomed Senate President Dr Bukola Saraki’s move to “stop receiving pensions from Kwara state, where he was the governor between 2003 and 2011, and urges him to join us in the campaign to end the unjust, unfair and discriminatory practice of providing life pensions to former governors and to abolish laws that make this possible.”

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that Saraki told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja on Tuesday, that he wrote a letter to the state government to stop the payment of the pension “the moment I saw that SERAP allegation.” He said, “No, I’m not collecting pension; the moment I saw that allegation, I wrote to my state to stop my pension.”

    In a statement today by SERAP executive director Adetokunbo Mumuni the organization said, “It’s good news that Dr Saraki has publicly made known that he has stopped drawing pensions from Kwara state. We hope that other public officials still receiving double emoluments will follow Dr Saraki’s example and renounce such practice. We also urge the Senate President to publicly commit to donating to charities of his choice all pensions and allowances he has so far collected or to such emoluments to the public treasury.”

    SERAP also asked “the Senate President to use his leadership position to urgently facilitate a resolution by the National Assembly condemning the practice and laws on double pay and life pensions for former governors now serving public officials; urging state assemblies to abolish such laws; and calling on those that have received such emoluments to return them to the public treasury.”

    SERAP urged “Dr Saraki to work with us to put meaningful pressure on other states to abolish their unfair and discriminatory life pensions laws as well as on serving senators and ministers who continue to receive double emoluments to end the practice and return all the emoluments they have so far received to the public treasury. Dr Saraki can start by putting pressure on the governor of Kwara state Mr Abdulfatah Ahmed and the state house of assembly to move swiftly to abolish the law that has facilitated the payment of the unjust pensions in the first place.”

    TheNewsGuru.com recalls that SERAP had last week in an open letter called on the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN) to within seven days challenge the legality of states’ laws allowing former governors to draw life pensions from their states.

    The letter dated 14 July 2017 read in part: “Public interest is not well served when government officials such as former governors, deputies supplement their emoluments in their current positions with life pensions and emoluments drawn from their states’ meagre resources, and thereby prioritising their private or personal interests over and above the greatest happiness of the greatest number.”

    “By signing such double emoluments and large benefits laws which they knew or ought to know that they would be beneficiaries, these former governors have abused their entrusted public functions and positions, and thereby obtained an undue advantage, contrary to article 19 of the UN Convention against Corruption.”

    “These states’ laws allowing former governors to receive life pensions either now or in the future have a discriminatory purpose that involves an intent to discriminate against ordinary workers and pensioners. Such laws enhance the economic status of public officials and their families at the expense of the citizens that they are elected to serve, have no legitimacy at all, and cannot be justified either on legal or moral grounds.”

    “SERAP is concerned that such laws have either the purpose or the effect of denying the citizens their right to the enjoyment of their commonwealth, and as such, prolonging the existing and entrenched poverty-gaps across the country. The implementation of these laws will continue to lock the citizens, especially the most marginalized and vulnerable groups, into lives of deprivation and hopelessness.”

    “SERAP holds the firm view that there are clear causal and consequential links between implementation of unfair life pensions’ laws for former governors and violation of human dignity of citizens. Such laws deprive citizens of resources, capabilities, freedoms and choices necessary for the enjoyment of an adequate standard of living and sustainable livelihood.”

    “The abolition of such laws, therefore, is a necessary first step towards delivering on the constitutional promise of equal protection and equal benefit of the law for a distressingly large number of Nigerians. Otherwise, public officials will remain seriously out of touch with a major source of poverty and discrimination in the country.”

  • Double pay: Saraki replies SERAP, says ‘I have stopped receiving pension as ex-Kwara Governor’

    …urges other former governors in the Senate to follow suit

    The President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, said he had stopped collecting pension in Kwara as a former governor of the state.

    The Senate President revealed this at a forum of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja. He insisted that he had written a letter to the state government to stop the payment of the pension.

    According to Saraki, the move was sequel to complaints from some quarters that former governors who are currently senators or ministers were receiving pension and salary in their new jobs, all from the government.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that a civil society organisation, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), last month accused former governors who are now in the Senate or took up new appointments as Ministers or directors of agencies of receiving double pay from the government, and said it was illegal.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the group in an open letter sent to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN urged him to use his “good offices as a defender of public interest, and exercise your powers under Section 174(1) of the Constitution of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), to urgently institute appropriate legal actions to challenge the legality of states’ laws permitting former governors, who are now senators and ministers to enjoy governors’ emoluments while drawing normal salaries and allowances in their new political offices.”

    The organization also asked Mr Malami to “seek full recovery of over N40bn of public funds that have so far been received from those involved; and to begin to take these steps within 7 days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter, failing which SERAP will institute legal proceedings to compel the discharge of constitutional duty and full compliance with Nigeria’s international anti-corruption obligations and commitments.”

    However, Saraki in a response said: “No, I’m not collecting pension; the moment I saw that allegation, I wrote to my state to stop my pension.

    “So, I speak for myself on that part; I’m not doing that, I am not receiving pension from my state,’’ he said.

    On other senators involved on the issue, Saraki said “I think I will leave everybody to their individual decision.

    “Morally, if you have got another job, you should give it up until when you are truly a pensioner.

    “Some of these oversights are not addressing the issues. What the states should do is to go and amend their laws to say that if you have another appointment then you are not entitled to that benefit.

    “With this, we will just simplify the matter.”

    On the role of Bank of Infrastructure in the country, Saraki said that the Senate had not had any serious interface with the bank, but that it was involved in some projects.

    “We are not engaging with them particularly. I think that they were part of those involved in the Lagos-Ibadan road. But, I don’t think government should really put funds into that.

    “I have this strong view and I feel very strongly about it, that nowhere in the world has government funded infrastructure.

    “Government cannot, and even if government can fund infrastructure projects, the social sector will suffer – health will suffer and education will suffer.’’

    He said there were a lot of complaints that budgetary allocation to health and education was too low, attributing it to the fact that much money was being invested in infrastructure development.

    Saraki explained that due to the challenges, the National Assembly had passed Bills that would encourage private sector participation in infrastructure development.

    “What should happen is that we should try and get private sector to take over some of these infrastructure so that the money can go into education and health.

    “By doing that, banks like Bank of infrastructure will come in.

    “We are really pushing the idea of, particularly, the Lagos-Ibadan road, that appropriating that project from the budget does not show seriousness.

    “This is a road that is very viable; that is centre of the commercial activity and we should see how private sector can participate.

    “For example, even if you go by the budgetary allocation on that road, last year was N30 billion, this year, after back and forth, we took it back to N20 billion.

    “This was done so that if they don’t find private funding, we will take it up,’’ he said.

    According to him, even if the N30 billion was provided, it will not be enough because that road needs about N100 billion to be completed.

    “So, the point I’m making which I want to emphasise is that it is the kind of laws and policies that we pass that will encourage private sector that will make the infrastructure deficit to reduce.

    “Government alone cannot reduce infrastructure deficit,” Saraki said.

    He confirmed that the senators had fulfilled their October, 2016 pledge to contribute N300, 000 each to support Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the North-East.

    He said that the senate would continue to tackle humanitarian crisis in the North-East through budgetary appropriations.

    “I think that to the best of my knowledge, that is happening but it goes beyond just that. I think that we have shown that we will continue to support in form of appropriation of adequate money.

    “As you saw just last week, we also approved some foreign loan that will go toward supporting activities in the North-East as palliative means to fight humanitarian crisis.

    “We are close to about 800 million dollars we approved for the executive from that point of view.

    “We are always ready to support our men and women in uniform to ensure that whatever they required was provided,” Saraki said.

    He added that the lawmakers had being meeting with a lot of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to provide support to the North-East.

    “We are looking at the possibility of what we can do to create more incentives for Nigerians.

    “We are approaching individuals and companies to make more donations and see what kind of concessions they can get for the kind of donations they are making in the North-East,” he said.

  • Constitution review will give states more power – Saraki

    Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has said the ongoing amendments to the 1999 Constitution by the National Assembly would take powers from the Federal Government to states.

    Saraki also said proposals in 27 bills had been covered by the amendment exercise.

    A statement by Media Office of the President of the Senate on Monday said both chambers of the National Assembly would begin the clause-by-clause consideration of the proposed amendments on Tuesday.

    It read, “The consideration of the Constitution review report, scheduled to take all the legislative hours this week, is following its laying by the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu; and Deputy Speaker (of the House of Representatives), Yusuff Lasun, in their respective chambers at last Thursday’s plenary.

    “Ekweremadu and Lasun are the Chairman and Deputy Chairman, respectively, of the Joint Constitution Amendment Committee of the 8th National Assembly.

    “Key areas of consideration in the Constitution amendment report, which includes 27 different bills, include a bill to decongest the Exclusive Legislative List by transferring certain items contained therein to the Concurrent List, thereby enabling the states to make laws in respect of those items.”

    According to the statement, there was a bill to alter the Constitution to abrogate the joint accounts maintained by state and local governments” and empower each local government council to maintain its own special account.”

    The statement also said there was another bill seeking to provide the Independent National Electoral Commission with sufficient time to conduct by-elections and provide grounds for de-registration of political parties.

    It further read, “Others are a bill that seeks to alter the Constitution to provide for the timely passage of bills; a bill that seeks to alter the Constitution to provide a time-frame within which the president and governors shall forward to the Senate or the state House of Assembly names of nominees for confirmation as ministers or commissioners; and a bill seeking to alter Section 147 of the Constitution to provide for the appointment of a minister from the FCT, Abuja, to ensure that FCT is represented in the Federal Executive Council.”

    Saraki described the process of making amendments to the 1999 Constitution as another promise kept by the 8th National Assembly.

    He said the Constitution amendment as fulfillment of a major commitment the 8th Senate made to Nigerians at the commencement of their tenure in 2015.

  • If smuggling is not stopped, over $7billion govt investment will be wasted – Saraki

    Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has identified smuggling of goods into Nigeria as a huge economic threat, stressing that if not stopped, over $7billion investment by the government in the past 10 years will be wasted.

    Saraki stated this on Monday while declaring open a public hearing on tackling smuggling in the country organized by the Senate Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariffs at the National Assembly, Abuja.

    Saraki, according to a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Sanni Onogu, insisted that unless the monster of smuggling is tamed, efforts being made to diversify the economy from oil would not yield expected results.

    He called on the Committee and all the stakeholders present at the hearing to come up with relevant recommendations on the way forward to save the nation’s farmers, small scale industries and financial institutions from impending crisis.

    “My personal presence here this morning along with the leader of the Senate is to make a point of the importance that this senate places on this subject matter,” Saraki said. “For me personally, it is my view that the singular greatest threat to our economy is this issue of smuggling. What is militating against the success of our government is this issue of smuggling.

    The singular greatest threat to the delivery of the promises made by President Muhammadu Buhari on the diversification of the economy is this issue of smuggling.

    “The level of smuggling that we are seeing cannot continue because they will definitely rubbish all the policies of government if allowed to go on. I am saying that with all sincerity and all level of responsibility and I tell you why.

    Today, the greatest threat to small holder farmers is smuggling. Today, rice farmers who have gone to take loans either from the CBN (Central Bank of Nigeria) or from commercial banks are being threatened by rice coming in from across the borders at the highly subsidised rate.

    “The meaning of that is that the imported rice will always be cheaper than those produced by our local farmers. A time will come, if we do not do anything, that these farmers will not be able to pay their loans to the banks and this will result in serious crisis. The banks that have given loans to these farmers, will also have crisis in their hands. And for the Central Banks that has intervened with billions of Naira again will not be able to recoup their money.

    “The processors who have invested in rice mills at the beginning of this administration will also be threatened if we do not address the issue of rice smuggling,” he said.

    Saraki also stated that if smuggling is not stopped, the over $7billion invested by the government in the last 10 years to stimulate local production will go to waste.

    “As a country we have invested over $7billion over the last 10 years in stimulating local production,” Saraki said. “If we do not address the area of smuggling, this investment will go to waste. This is the severity of the issue before us today.

    “Any institution, whether it is the National Assembly or any other one, in order to support the success of our President, we must join to stop smuggling, without it, we should just forget the issue of diversification or increased agricultural production. We will only pay lip service to issue of agricultural production if we do not address the issue of smuggling and that is why I made it a point to come here personally to drive this message.

    “I am confident that with the caliber of members of this Committee and the stakeholders here, that we will use this opportunity to come out with robust solutions on the way forward”, the Senate President.

    He insisted that smugglers must be stopped to prevent them from further sabotaging the economy.

    “There is no government, any serious government, that will render itself helpless because we must know the individuals who are doing this smuggling. We must be able to know who they are. Is it that they are larger and bigger than government?

    “Is it that we cannot stop them? Or is it that we don’t want to stop them? Or is that we lack the competence to stop them? These are the questions that we put before us today. We must stop them. Customs must do what it takes to stop smuggling. These are the largest economic saboteurs that are ruining our economy. We must be able to identify them. They must be made to realise that we are serious about this issue.

    “We must be able to sanction officers who are responsible for this and we must be able to reward officers who prevent the issue of smuggling. We want this Committee to sit down for the length of days of public hearing and ask ourselves what is the way forward. I can assure you that our responsibility as a Senate is to ensure that whatever recommendations are made by this Committee we have to send them back to the executive because as I said this matter is the singular greatest threat to our economy and to this government”, he said.

    He noted that while Nigeria must continue to respect international treaties, it cannot afford to do so at the detriment of its economy.

    “There are other issues, of course, that have to do with the ECOWAS treaties and agreements,” Saraki said. “Yes, we are part of ECOWAS. Yes, we want to develop ECOWAS, but no serious country will allow anything that will ruin its economy at the benefit of its neighboring countries.

    We must be able to do what is right. So on this note, all hands must be on deck to ensure that we address this problem squarely. I assure you of the greatest support of this Senate.

    He urged the Comptroller General of Customs, Colonel Hamid Ali to prove his mettle by stopping the incidence of smuggling across the nation’s borders.

    “To the Comptroller General of Customs, let me say on a lighter note, that once you end smuggling, even if you want to wear jeans and T-Shirt, I will move the motion that you should wear jeans and T-Shirt,” Saraki said. “But on a serious note, this issue is very important. Let us all work towards ending this menace once and for all.”

    Earlier, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariffs, Senator Hope Uzodinma, said the public hearing was part of the committee’s holistic investigation into the operations of the Comprehensive Import Supervision Scheme (CISS) with a view to identify the factors responsible for increasing rate of smuggling of goods into the country.

  • We don’t recognise group calling for Saraki’s recall – APC

    We don’t recognise group calling for Saraki’s recall – APC

    The All Progressives Congress in Ilorin West Local Government Area of Kwara on Sunday said those calling for the recall of Senate President Bukola Saraki are not recognised by the party.

    The APC Chairman in the local government, Suleiman Bala said this while speaking with journalists at a special prayer held for Saraki.

    Bala condemned the call for the recall of the senate president.

    “Those calling for the recall of our leader, the Senate President are not known to us; in fact, they are not from Kwara “, he said.

    The chairman said the prayer was organised for Sarakito seek God’s continued protections over him and guidance at all times.

    The special prayer which was led by the Chief lmam of Ilorin, Alhaji Mohamned Bashir, featured recitation of several portions from the Quran

  • Saraki, Okowa, Ibori, others hail Sen. Nwaoboshi at 60

    Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, former Governor James Ibori on Sunday celebrated Senator representing Delta North, Sen. Peter Nwaoboshi, as he marks his 60th anniversary.

    Speaking at the Thanksgiving Mass for Sen. Nwaoboshi at St Augustine’s Catholic Church, Ibusa, they speak of his importance to his constituents, and all called for a united Nigeria.

    Speaking at the occasion, Saraki said, “I want to assure the clergy that we will continue to seek for your prayers for this great country of ours; the challenges facing the country are enormous, it goes beyond roads and infrastructure; the peace and unity of this country is paramount and should be upheld but, equity and Justice where every Nigerian has a say must be the watchword.”

    The Senate President who congratulated Senator Nwaoboshi stated that the Senate is one family and would ensure that Nigerians get their dues.

    Governor Okowa begged, “the church should continue to pray for politicians for they work under very serious circumstances; we will continue to encourage ourselves to be good representatives of our people; we need the partnership of all Nigerians and Deltans to develop our communities and we will continue to support the Senate in its defense of democracy.”

    Okowa who hailed Senator Nwaoboshi, saying, “people of Delta North supports him and as Delta Northerners, we are very proud of him as Senator representing us.”

    Additionally, Former Governor of Delta State, James Ibori in his speech, observed, “In a democratic dispensation, you have assigned duties – it is the duty of the legislature to make laws, the executive to implement the laws and the civil society elders and clergy will tell the truth to those in power.”

    “I am yet to see an elected officer that does not have the interest of the people at heart,” the former Governor reiterated, disclosing that Senator Peter Nwaoboshi is a committed son of Anioma (Delta North) who fought for the emergence of a Delta Northerner as Governor.

    Elated Senator Nwaoboshi at the occasion, said he had every reason to thank God on his 60th birthday, noting that selfish, ethnic interests are put aside in the interest of the nation.

    “We have more APC (All Progressive Congress) Senators here than PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) Senators in this church, and it tell you that we think of Nigeria rather than seif, party or ethnic interests because, the Senate President has made it fir us to think and work for only Nigeria,” Senator Nwaoboshi said.

    The event was attended by more than 40 Senators, including Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu; Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan; and Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio. Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon. Leo Ogor was also at the service which was attended by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu and his Niger Delta counterpart, Uguru Usani.

    Other are, Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon. Leo Ogor was also at the service which was attended by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu and his Niger Delta counterpart, Uguru Usani.