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The national
chairman of the Labour Party (LP), Dan Nwanyanwu said on Sunday that
the party will head for court to challenge the proposed bill making
members of the National Assembly members of the national executive
committee (NEC), once it is passed into law.

Speaking with
journalists in Abuja, Mr Nwanyanwu said the party has already contacted
its lawyers to seek redress in court and that the court processes are
being drafted.”We will challenge in court , we can’t afford to fold our
hands and see this bill passed into law,these lawmakers are just
arrogant , they only want to allocate more powers to themselves.” he
said.

The LP boss
wondered why the federal lawmakers are desperate in processing
legislation that is self-serving and that will not stand the test of
time.Mr Nwanyanwu said, “You will recall we told them and drew their
attention to the fact that for any act of the National Assembly to
become law must have presidential assent, including alterations and
amendments to the Nigerian Constitution, they said no, but they now
know better, the court nullify their position. Though they have
appealed but they won’t go far. “This present NASS is the worst ever,
what baffles us most is that the NASS is headed by a highly experienced
and successful military general who has served this country in
different capacities, as a military man, even as a minister. For all
these illegalities to happen under his nose is most unfortunate.
Probably it is so because of the way and manner they all got elected.

“We can forgive
Bankole as the Speaker, who is a young man who just came back from
abroad without any work experience in Nigeria, but suddenly found
himself in a position of the speaker. The man that should have guided
him and give him direction is also involved in all these.”

Beyond comparison

He said the
present crop of federal legislators cannot be compared to those of the
Second Republic. According to him, Abraham Adesanya,Wali, Nathaniel
Anah, Basil Okwu, David Dafinone, Olusola Saraki, John Wash Pam and
others were great senators who had the interest of the country at heart
unlike the current ones.

Mr Nwayanwu,
however, said it is not too late for the lawmakers to withdraw the
bill, saying, “It is not too late for the present NASS leadership to
retrace their steps and do the right thing, which is the most
honourable thing for them because this path they are towing will put
them on the wrong side of history.”

President Goodluck
Jonathan has directed all federal government parastatals and ministries
to initiate plans to be in their own buildings in the next four years,
saying it is a burden and an embarassment for (Ministry Departments
& Agencies)MDA’s to be housed in private buildings on which they
pay rent.

Speaking at the
commissioning of the office complex of the military pension board in
Abuja at the weekend, Mr. Jonathan urged other government agencies to
toe the line of the board. He said such a move would correct the
current trend of MDA’s being housed in places that are not in
conformity with their operations.

“We now want all
parastatals and ministries to live in their own buildings, I believe in
the next four years all government parastatals should plan their own
building and leave the private buildings,” he said.He directed the
minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Bala Mohammed to allocate
more lands to the Military Pension Board to develop a housing scheme
for its staff.The president also asked the Minister of State for the
FCT, Kayode Olubolade to meet with the FCT minister to include the road
projects to link the Military Pension Board and Cadastral lanes in the
FCT, in its 2011 budget.The military pensions board was relocated from
Lagos to Abuja in 2005.

Due to the hurried
relocation,the Ministry of Defence (MOD) rented a temporary
accommodation which was grossly inadequate as it was originally
designed as a residential accommodation.The new complex took 18 months
to get to completion.

Cutting edge

The complex, which
has a robust computer section, archive and residence for officers and
the inclusion of biometrics in the database is designed in such a way
that the pensioners will be attended to by at least one computer and
operator for each state.

Mr. Jonathan
commended the biometric payment system adopted by the board and urged
MDA’s to apply it in salaries and wages in other to save cost and
increase employment.

“I will urge all
government agencies to key in to this bio-metrix payment system, it
will save a lot of money and government will be able to employ more
people,” he said. He said such development could also ease out
corruption in the system.

He also noted that
the era of unpaid retirees roaming around the streets of the nation’s
capital is over, adding that it is now time for dependents of retirees
and fallen heroes to enjoy the labour of their heroes past.

The Minister of
Defence, Adetokunbo Kayode commended Mr. Jonathan in his swift clearing
of seven years arrears of military pensioners in the country. Mr Kayode
said the move showed the President’s commitment to welfare of the
retirees and men of the armed forces.

Nigerian pilgrims
for this year’s Hajj started returning to Nigeria at the weekend as 510
pilgrims from Sokoto State on Sunday departed the King Abdulaziz
International Airport back to Nigeria after successfully performing the
2010 hajj.

Sahabi Gada, the
Amirul Hajj for the state, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in
Makkah, Saudi Arabia, that four of the pilgrims, accompanied by a
doctor, were suffering from ill-health.

Mr. Gada commended
Max Airline for making available its aircraft for the smooth
transportation of the pilgrims. He expressed delight at the exemplary
conduct exhibited by the pilgrims during the hajj and said the
delegation was working round the clock to ensure the smooth return of
the remaining pilgrims.

“We will do all
that we can to ensure we meet the deadline given to us for the
transportation of our pilgrims back home,” the head of the delegation
said.

Mr Gada called for
special prayers by the pilgrims and the citizens at home for God’s
guidance to enable the delegation to succeed in its work.

The Sultan of
Sokoto, Saad Abubakar III who is also the Head of the Federal
Government delegation to the hajj told newsmen that adequate
arrangements have been made to ensure the operation went on smoothly.
He said pilgrims would be brought to the airport only when the aircraft
to convey them was on the ground as part of measures aimed at ensuring
that pilgrims were not made to suffer while waiting for their departure.

The return comes
amidst an advice from Lanre Badmus, Leader of Kwara pilgrims to this
year’s hajj, that the official delegation’s tents be set up close to
those of other Nigerian pilgrims. He said the practice where such
tents, in Muna and Arafat, were cited far away from those of ordinary
pilgrims pose difficulty in monitoring of the pilgrims. He said the
tent to be used by the Amirul Hajj and his team must be placed in the
centre of the other pilgrims’ tents to enable the team to attend to the
problems being faced by the pilgrims.

“The present tent
is far away from the pilgrims and the Sultan of Sokoto, who is the
leader of the federal government delegation, is opposed to this
arrangement and wants it abolished, “he said.

Mr Abubakar, however, urged pilgrims to fully cooperate with
officials and conduct themselves in an orderly manner to ensure
hitch-free operation. The last flight of the operation is expected on
December 16

Sponsors of the
controversial bill that canvassed for inclusion of lawmakers as members
of the executive councils of political party have said the move was to
save the parties from “dictatorial and tyrannical” management.

The lead sponsors
of the Electoral Act (amendment) Bill, Igo Aguma and Cyril Maduabum in
separate interviews in Abuja on Sunday explained why “the vexed clause
87 which sought to include federal lawmakers as members of the NEC of
their respective parties was inserted in the draft legislation”.

The lawmakers
argued that the draft legislation was not intended to serve their
personal interest but to attain a level-playing field for all political
actors.

Mr. Aguma (PDP –
Rivers) recalled that during the Second Republic, members of parliament
were also members of the NEC of their respective political parties.

He said the
arrangement enabled federal lawmakers articulate their party policies
and manifestoes in a near fanatical manner because they were involved
at the formulation stage.

Not presidential ploy

The lawmaker, who
equally advocated for the adoption of Option A4 voting formula, where
the electorate would queue directly behind the candidate of their
choice in any election, decried lack of internal democracy in the
parties.

Mr. Aguma said that in spite of its constitutional provisions, parties had shunned direct primaries in election of candidates.

He, however,
distanced President Goodluck Jonathan from the Bill, saying that the
relationship between the President and the National Assembly had been
frosty lately as reflected in the rejection of two executive bills on
the World Bank loan request and the Electoral Act amendment.

He also denied the
inclusion of what has been termed “right of first refusal” in the
amendment, saying it was the height of mischief for certain individuals
to label a noble legislation in a bad light just because their hold on
the parties would be adversely affected.

Already existing

He also said some
of the parties like ANPP already had such provision in its
constitution, wondering why ACN, which had about 40 representatives in
both chambers of the National Assembly should convince Nigerians how
the number could make its NEC “unwieldy”.

The legislator
however said only dictators had something to fear about the draft
legislation, assuring Nigerians on the genuine intentions of proponents
of the amendment.

In a statement
entitled: “The Reasons for seeking to amend the Electoral Act 2010′,
Mr. Maduabum, (PDP-Anambra) also decried the lack of internal democracy
in the parties which he said have been hijacked largely by some state
executives and political god-fathers.

He said that the
amendment would provide a level playing field for all aspirants to
elective offices and that a situation where a few individuals hijacked
political parties and dictated to the rest of the country `who gets
what and how’ was no longer acceptable to majority of the
progressive-minded members of the National Assembly.

“The dictatorial,
tyrannical, capricious, whimsical and discretionary manner in which
some political parties are run in the country today is cause for worry.

“There is absolute
lack of internal democracy in many political parties. A few people have
hijacked the political parties, they dictate to the rest of the country
who gets what and how. There is no form of democracy or representation
of the interests of the people,” he said. NAN

America is watching
her new television show, following her observations on Twitter, and
adjusting to an increasingly obvious idea: Sarah Palin has her eyes on
the U.S. presidency.

She told
interviewer Barbara Walters on ABC News this week that she thinks she
can beat President Barack Obama when he seeks re-election in 2012.

Polls suggest otherwise but Palin has two years to prepare and she’s busy.

This week, she
launched a weekly TV program “Sarah Palin’s Alaska.” Her daughter is a
contestant on another program called “Dancing With The Stars.” (Palin
appeared in the audience for that this week too). She was active in the
Congressional elections earlier this month, she’s promoting a new book
and offers her opinions on the internet as well.

The former governor
of Alaska, Palin emerged as a national figure just two-and-a-half years
ago, when then Republican presidential candidate John McCain startled
the country by choosing her as his vice-presidential running mate.

That was a campaign buoyed by surprise. This time the strategy seems to be saturation. And there are still two years to go.

Jonathan Mann
presentsPolitical Mannon CNN International each Friday at 18:30 (CAT),
Saturday at 3pm and 9pm (CAT), and Sunday at 10am (CAT).