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Federal lawmakers
are said to be mobilising their ranks for a crucial blow against the
latest controversial clause in the Electoral Act, which proposes an
automatic membership of parties’ National Executive Committees for
National Assembly members.

The proposal,
launched simultaneously with minor differences at the Senate and the
House of Representatives two weeks ago, awaits only the public hearing,
which is likely to take place this week. The amended bill was hastily
pushed through its second reading last Thursday.

If it eventually
sails a third reading, and receives the assent of the president, the
360 members of the House and the 109 Senators will automatically become
members of their parties’ NEC- the highest decision making organ – in
an unprecedented membership expansion that has sparked criticism.

At a fiery media
briefing yesterday, Patrick Obahiagbon, an Edo State member of the
House, tackled his colleagues for attempting to “poison” the new
amendment process with a “parliamentary ego-trip”. He said several
members, who could not block the bill’s second reading, are working
together to stop it at the final reading stage.

“Can the National
Assembly escape the harsh judgment of history that we desecrated our
privileged status as parliamentarians by embarking on a vacuous
trajectory of power mongering?” he asked rhetorically.

Mr. Obahiagbon’s
condemnation occurs days after his party, the Action Congress of
Nigeria, threatened to initiate legal action against the Assembly,
should the amendments go through. The party – through its publicity
secretary, Lai Mohammed, as well as others who have criticised the
legislators’ move, views the proposal as a self-perpetuating design for
the members to remain in office.

As the highest
decision making body of any party, the NEC leverages on the choice of
delegates to primary elections and has tremendous powers in choosing
who earns the party tickets to general elections.

If the amendment
succeeds, the ACN warned that the lawmakers stand to be the chief
beneficiaries of the contentious clause, which is regarded as a
backdoor reintroduction of the ill ‘Right of First Refusal’ provision.
That bill had sought to give lawmakers an advantage by proposing they
should have the first right to their seats, and those seats should only
be declared vacant if they are not interested in running again.

The House has
denied such intents. After the second reading last week, spokesperson,
Eseme Eyiboh, said the aim of the member-sponsored clause, is strictly
to disrupt the monopoly of the NEC of parties, and contribute to the
growth of democracy.

“The aim is to
expand the composition of NEC so that nobody will have monopoly over
any issue, not only in the election, but other programmes of the party
including its manifestoes,” he said.

He said membership
of the NEC does not exempt lawmakers from elections, citing the example
of All Nigeria Peoples Party, whereby all its members in the House
belong to the party’s NEC.

“This amendment is not for the next election, it is for the next generation,” he added.

The lead sponsors
at both chambers too, Cyril Maduabum and Ike Ekweremadu, for the House
and the Senate respectively, have also denied the plan.

However, Mr. Obahiagbon dismissed the arguments yesterday as being merely beautiful, but counter-productive.

“Is this not an
atavistic throwback to the past when military dictators wrote the
manifestoes for the political parties in the garrison days?” he
questioned.

He also warned
that Nigerians remain watchful to ensure that the questionable ‘Right
of First Refusal’, which both arms have consistently denied advancing,
is not introduced at the last minute, since in the Assembly, “it is not
over until it is over.”

At the Senate, the
bill was sponsored by deputy Senate President, Mr. Ekweremadu, and
co-sponsored by all the other 43 members of the adhoc constitution
amendment committee. Key amongst them were Ndoma Egba, Ayogu Eze, Lee
Maeba, Grace Bent, Nkechi Nworgu, Ikechukwu Obiora, Abubakar Sodangi.

At the House, it is sponsored by Mr. Maduabum (Enugu State) and Igo Aguma(Rivers State).

A source, who
choose to remain anonymous, told NEXT that two meetings aimed at
fighting the new amendment have taken place. At the first meeting, 35
members were reportedly in attendance; 72 hours later, at a second
meeting, there were supposedly 40 members present.

The numbers are important because if the amendment does not make it through in one legislative chamber, it is technically out.

According to our
source , the membership of those oppossed to the new amendment is drawn
across parties, but contains all ACN members. The PDP membership of
this group is reportedly led by Andrew Uchendu-Ikwerre/Emohua(Rivers
State) and another member, Asita Honourable, from Rivers State too.

The acting national
chairman of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), Okechukwu Obioha, has
accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of
maintaining a strong link with the party’s former national chairman,
Michael Koleoso, and three other officials, despite their defection to
the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

The other officials are the national secretary, treasurer, and Magaji Kwarianga, Tunji Adebiyi, and Musa Umar.

Mr. Obioha wrote
the chairman of the electoral body, Attahiru Jega, and the police
informing them that the officials had since left the party, but were
still holding on to its sensitive documents.

The letter had
said, “We request and appreciate with utmost importance and
expectations that the INEC you now head, will do the legal and right
thing by approving what we have done in the given circumstance.

“Please direct
Chief Michael Koleoso, the former chairman, and the other trio named
above, to hand over every document and property of Alliance for
Democracy in their possession in the interest of true democratic
practice you have come to bequeath us and for the peace and unity of
this country,” the letter said.

However, Mr. Obioha
told our correspondent in a telephone interview yesterday that several
months after he personally submitted the letter to INEC, it is yet to
act on it. He alleged that the commission still deals with the former
officials in violation of the rules guiding party monitoring.

“INEC has not
replied us. The reply is long overdue. INEC is no longer what they used
to be. I thought they should be able to honour what we have done, but I
am surprise they still have something to do with our former officials,”
Mr. Obioha said.

He explained that
the tenure of Mr. Koleoso and the other officials had expired, but that
they have been coercing members of AD to accept a proposal to merge it
with the ACN.

He added that
following the proposal, a convention was held which turned out to be a
charade, adding that this resulted to his appointment by the national
executive committee (NEC) as acting national chairman of the party,
since Mr. Koleoso and the others had indicated their intention to move
to the ACN.

The acting national
chairman also alleged that the affected officials have refused to
return the documents of the party since then, and that the commission
has refused to prevail on them to do so.

Neither Mr. Koleoso nor the other former officials could be reached for comments.

But INEC said it will attend to the letter and other similar petitions in due course after thorough investigations.

“All petitions to INEC will be responded to in due course after
thorough investigations of the issues involved,” Kayode Idowu, media
aide to Mr. Jega, told NEXT yesterday.

President Goodluck Jonathan has
appointed Oladapo A. Afolabi as the new head of the civil service of
the federation. Mr. Afolabi takes over from Mr. Steve Oronsaye, whose
tenure expires tomorrow. T

The new head of service is a professor
of Applied Chemistry, and was until his appointment, the permanent
secretary of the ministry of education. He will be sworn in on
Thursday.

A release signed by the special adviser
to the president, Ima Niboro, said “The President thanked Oronsaye, the
out going head of service, for his stewardship, and wished him good
luck in his future endeavours.”

Mr. Jonathan also approved the posting
of three newly appointed permanent secretaries and the redeployment of
five others in the Federal Civil Service. The approval came through a
circular issued by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation,
Stephen Oronsaye, on Monday. According to the circular, Nkechi Ejele,
M. was posted to the Manpower Development Office in the Office of the
Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF). Abdulkadir A.
Musa, to Federal Civil Service Commission, and Taiye Haruna was posted
to the special duties office of the Office of the Secretary to the
Government of the Federation (OSGF).

Five other permanent secretaries were
redeployed by the circular. They include Aliyu Salihu Gusau, who was
moved from the Federal Civil Service Commission to OSGF. Umar Farouk
Baba, from OSGF – special duties to youth development ministry. Pius J.
Major was moved from OHCSF to the transport ministry, while S. O.
Willoughby OHCSF-MDO to information & communications ministry.

Lastly, Mohammed S. Bashar was moved
from information & communications ministry to environment.
According to a circular issued by the Head of the Civil Service of the
Federation, Stephen Oronsaye, permanent secretaries affected by the
redeployment and the three new permanent secretaries to be sworn in by
the president on Wednesday, November 24, 2010, are to assume duty at
their new posts not later than Friday, November 26, 2010. “All other
Permanent Secretaries retained their current postings,” Mr. Oronsaye
said in the circular.

The redeployments are coming shortly before the current Head of Service retires from active service.

Before the announcement of Mr.
Orosanye’s replacement, six candidates, each from the different
geopolitical zones in the country were jostling for the job. From the
South, there is Mr. Afolabi, permanent secretary in education ministry,
from Oyo State, who has finally been announced as Mr. Orosanye’s
replacment; Elizabeth Emuren, permanent secretary, mines and steel from
Akwa Ibom State; and D.B Ibe, permanent secretary, economic affairs
from Imo State. Meanwhile, the three other contenders from the North
include Tukur Bello Ngawa, permanent secretary, ministry of works from
Katsina State; Isa Sali, permanent secretary, ministry of power from
Adamawa State, and S.B Ozigis, permanent secretary, ministry of
interior from Kogi State. According to the source, the principle of
federal character otherwise called zoning in the political parlance as
zoning will be the basics for the selection of the new Head of Service.

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An Abuja High Court
yesterday rejected an application filed by a South African company and
the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) to set aside its order
restraining them from tampering with land around Lugbe, Abuja, pending
the determination of the suit over the ownership of the land.

On August 12, the court had ordered the FCDA,

Jonah Capital
Nigeria Limited and Houses For Africa Nigeria Limited to stay off the
disputed land area pending a lawsuit brought by hundreds of people
accusing the firms of wanting to take over their land. However, the two
firms asked the court to set aside the order on the grounds that they
were not properly served with the court processes.

Although the firms
admitted that a secretary with the organisation, Queen Elizabeth
Inogba, was served with the court processes leading to the said
restraining order, they contended that service on her was flawed since
she was not a management level employee.

But counsel to the
three sets of plaintiffs – Blessed and Precious Children Academy,
General Building Material Dealers Association, Lugbe Chapter and Lugbe
1 Land Owners Association – Valentine Offiah, opposed the firms’
application.

In his ruling,
Justice Peter Afem agreed with Mr. Offiah and said that the act of
serving the secretary of the firm was proper and accordingly valid.

“The application of the 2nd and 3rd respondents accordingly fails and is hereby rejected”, the judge ruled.

Five of the six
suspended members of House of Representatives may have to wait till
November 25 to know if they can return to work or not, as the judgment
to decide their fate was yesterday stalled by the absence of the judge
handling the matter at a Federal High Court in Abuja.

The lawmakers –
Dino Melaye, Independence Ogunewe, Solomon Ahiwinahwi, Bitrus Kazeh,
Abba Anas Adamu, and Austin Nwachukwu – were accused of starting a
crisis in the House of Representatives.

After listening to
the arguments by both parties on the substantive motion of the six
lawmakers asking the court to return them to the House, the presiding
judge, Adamu Bello adjourned the matter to yesterday to give judgment.

But at yesterday’s
sitting, lawyers were seen taking new dates for their case from the
court Registrar, due to the absence of the judge, and the Melaye matter
was adjourned to November 25 for judgment.

In their joint
motion, argued by Femi Falana, the embattled lawmakers insisted that
they were elected for a tenure of four years and that the Speaker had
no right to cut the tenure short for any reason. They claimed that
their suspension has denied their respective constituencies
representation in the lower chamber of the National Assembly and the
court to set aside the suspension slammed on them on June 22 of this
year, pending the final determination of their main suit.

Mr. Nwachukwu has
withdrawn his matter against the Speaker of the House, on the premise
that his family and constituents have directed him to terminate the
case against the Speaker, Dimeji Bankole, and the House in the interest
of peace.

Two of the
suspended members of the House of Representative, Ehiogie Idahosa (Edo
State) and Olugbenga Onigbogi (Osun State), were recently recalled
after more than three months of suspension. The duo and nine other
members were suspended for asking the Speaker, Mr. Bankole, to quit on
allegation of fraud.

The House announced
that it will review the orders of suspension on individual basis on
conditions that the affected members quit litigations, and tender
apology. Messrs Idahosa and Onigbogi, who were both absent during the
violent session, turned themselves in for internal probe by the House.

Ethics and Privileges Committee

The Speaker of the
House, however, urged the court to dismiss the motion of the suspended
lawmakers for being frivolous and lacking in merit. Mr. Bankole argued
that what the suspended lawmakers were seeking was a shortcut to
justice, adding that there would be nothing left for court to
adjudicate upon once the embattled lawmakers are returned to their
seats.

Wole Olanipekun,
counsel to Mr. Bankole, told the court that Mr. Melaye and his group
were suspended from the House because of their unruly behaviour on the
day they were suspended, adding that the suspended lawmakers goofed in
their claims that the House has no power under the constitution to
suspend them.

But the national
leadership of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has directed
the 11 suspended members of the House of Representatives to withdraw
their case against the House.

At a meeting
between the group and the national working committee of the PDP, led by
its chairman, Okwesilieze Nwodo, on August 4, the suspended lawmakers
were told that the only way the party could intervene was for them to
ask their lawyers to stop the case.

The quest to give
the Nigerian women more roles in governance and party administration is
only possible when the country achieves free and fair elections next
year, the national chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP)
Ogbonnaya Onu, said yesterday in Abuja.

Mr Onu, who spoke
at the ANPP national secretariat, while receiving the 100-member
consultative forum of the ministry of women affairs,

He however, told the women that the party would give females more administrative and elective opportunities.

According to the
ANPP boss, it would be fruitless to canvass the increase in the
participation of women in governance in line with the 35 percent
affirmative action aimed at remedying the gender gaps in politics if
the forthcoming elections are not transparent.

“All that you said
to us we are ready to do even more. We are prepared to give ANPP women
new personalities. Giving 35 per cent or one-thirds of positions is not
even enough because women make up half of the population of Nigeria.
All that we need is to provide the enabling environment.

So, we are ready to do more. ANPP is prepared and willing to ensure that we close the gender gaps” he said.

“But what you are
asking for can only be achieved if we can get free and fair elections.
A seat cannot be safe for us if somebody goes elsewhere and write the
result of the election different from the real result. So, it is good
for our nation if we have free and fair elections.”

Mr Onu told the
group led by the women affairs minister, Josephine Anenih that the ANPP
had since resolved to give the nomination form free to women and
physically-challenged Nigerians who are aspiring to elective positions
on the platform of the party at all levels in the forthcoming polls.

He said the decision was taken because of the they have in accessing funds for campaign.

He argued that it
is impossible for Nigeria to attain greatness without carrying along
the women who, according to him, constitutes half of the population of
the country.

The ANPP recalled
the roles played by some prominent Nigerian women during the struggle
for the country’s independence and expressed joy that the tradition is
being maintained by the contemporary women in politics and other
disciplines.

Earlier, Ms Anenih
asked ANPP chair to provide more positions for women in the party
administration and also give more opportunities to them to contest the
2011 elections.

She said that the forum was inaugurated last week following a resolution at a conference in June this year.

The minister said
that the group was floated to embark on advocacy visits to political
parties and other organizations because women failed in their quest to
secure reserves seats when the National Assembly was in the process of
amending the Electoral Act.

Ms Anenih also cited instances of other countries where similar
measures were taken to strengthen the participation of women in
politics and urged the parties and government to adopt the same
measures.

The Vice President, Namadi Sambo, has
said there is a need to accelerate the prioritization of projects to be
executed to meet up with the funding guidelines laid by international
financial institutions.

He stated this yesterday during a meeting on the funding of infrastructure in the country, at State House Abuja.

Mr. Sambo said “time is not on our
side, we are expecting to have our first visit by the President of the
African Development Bank (ADB), Donald Keberuka, on the 23rd of this
month and in line with our plan to fund some of our infrastructure
projects through this financing agencies, it has become expedient to
expedite action for their presentation to the Institution.” The VP
disclosed that the ADB has a three year cycle of concessional funding
and this year falls within the period.

“We are within the cycle for the Bank to consider our programmes for concessional funding,” he noted.

He therefore, directed that the
documentation of the identified projects be made available, for
presentation to the ADB President during his visit and should also be
forwarded to other international financial institutions like the
Islamic Development Bank (IDB), the World Bank, the European Investment
Bank (EIB), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and also the
Nordic countries.

The Projects identified were the
East-West and the South-West Gas truck lines; the East-West Standard
Gauge Line; the Niger Delta Costal Road, the Second Niger Bridge; the
Benin- Obajana road; Zungeru Hydro Power Project; and Itsi Small
Hydropower Dam, among others.

The Vice President tasked the
Infrastructure Concession Regulator Commission (ICRC) to include the
Yen Credit Facility and the EIB, who have shown readiness to fund
projects in the power sector like the Jabba and the Kanji Hydropower
Plants among the financial institutions to be approached.

He also said the World Bank is also ready to fund projects under Public Private Partnership.

He explained that Brazil plans to fund
the construction of the Mambilla Hydropower Project, while the Islamic
Development Bank, the Zungeru Hydropower Plant.

Mr. Sambo further tasked all relevant
Ministries to immediately conduct studies on all other identified
projects for presentation to the international financial institutions
for consideration.

Speaking, the Director General of the
ICRC, Mansur Ahmed, disclosed that the agency had categorized
identified projects into completed, ongoing, pre-contract and planned.
He said the projects will be funded through regular budget, enhanced
budget; bonds; concessionary funds and Public Private Partnerships
(PPP).

He said the completed projects are Waya
Small Hydropower Plant (0.15 megawatts); the Mbowo Small Hydropower
Plant ().125 megawatts) and the Gurara Small Hydropower Plant (30
megawatts).

The ongoing projects are Abuja-Lokoja,
Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, Nnamdi Azikiwe
International Airport, Abuja, and those in Enugu, Kano and Port
Harcourt.

Other ongoing projects include the
Lagos-Ibadan and Abuja Kaduna Standard Gauge line. Projects that are
under the Pre-contract category are the Zungeru Hydropower Dam (700
megawatts), the Second Niger Bridge and the Loko-Oweto Bridge.

Those that are planned are the Mambilla
Hydropower Plant (2600 megawatts), the Gurara Phase II Hydropower Plant
(350 megawatts), Coal Power Plants at Enugu and Benue, Tiga, Dadin
Kowa, Chalawa, Itsi, Oyan, Ikere Gorge, Bakori small hydropower plants.

The East-West Standard Gauge Line;
Jakuru and Osara access roads, Oza-Nagogo-Agbor-Benin Road,
Borom-Nasarawa-Abaji Road and the rehabilitation of Okene-Ajaokuta Road.

Present at the meeting were the Minister of National Planning, Dr.
Shamsudeen Usman, Minister of Finance, Dr. Olusegun Aganga, Minister of
State Power, Nuhu Somo Wya, Minister of Works, Sanusi Dagash, Minister
of Transport, Yusuf Suleiman and other government functionaries.</