TBI POLITICS
Invasion of Senate, attempt to truncate Nigeria’s democracy – PDP
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned Wednesday’s invasion of National Assembly and seizure of Senate’s mace by thugs, describing it as a direct assault on the legislature and attempt to truncate democracy.
The Party in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, in Abuja, alleged that the offensive was emboldened by series of interferences on the legislative body by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
“Is it not strange that a legislative day appointed to further deliberate on the re-ordering of the sequence of the election will be the day that strange elements would invade the National Assembly, particularly the hallowed chambers of the Senate?
“Equally strange is the compromising of security in the National Assembly, paving the way for the invasion, which led to the forceful removal of the mace.
“The parliament, all over the world, is the bastion of democracy, without which government becomes autocratic and totalitarian,” it said.
The PDP urged Nigerians to pause and reflect on the series of assaults on the legislature under the current dispensation. These, according to the party, include the persecution and harassment of the leaders and members of the Senate on trumped-up charges, including declaring a serving senator wanted by the Police.
It, therefore, urged the National Assembly to bring forth every legislative instrument to protect itself from external aggressions.
It also called on the lawmakers to use the legislative instrument to unravel every person, office, and institution that played any roles in the “wild attempt to scuttle’’ Nigeria’s hard-earned democracy.
“Our nation has accepted democracy as the best form of governance. Those whose adrenaline cannot accommodate democracy and its constitutionally-guaranteed tenets should either shape in or be forced to conform to the best ideals of democracy.’’
Similarly, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar condemned the invasion of the Senate chamber and the removal of the mace by hoodlums.
In a statement by his Media Office in Abuja, Abubakar described the incident as “a dangerous precedent and an assault on Nigeria’s democracy by anti-democratic elements’’.
“I am utterly embarrassed, shocked and outraged by this ugly development because it is not only a threat to a major democratic institution but also represents a grave danger to the survival of our democracy.”
He said given the tension in the country, the timing of the attack could not have come at a worse time for Nigeria. He added that using illegal and unconstitutional methods to threaten the authority of a key democratic institution was unacceptable, evil and condemnable.
The former vice president noted that it was inconceivable that hoodlums could force their way into the Senate chamber and take away the mace. According to him, if criminals can commit such security breach with impunity, it means that our entire democracy is in danger.
He warned those behind the illegality to avoid creating a monster that could consume them. Abubakar, who said many people had died in order to bring democracy to the country, called for an immediate investigation into the incident and the prompt prosecution of those involved.
“It is unacceptable and reprehensible to subject the National Assembly to this intimidation and humiliation.
“This attack by thugs should not go unpunished no matter who is involved,” he said, and likening democratic institutions to the human body, added that “if one organ is harmed, it affects others”.
He urged those pushing the country’s political temperature to dangerous levels to desist from it as they were playing a Russian roulette with Nigeria’s democracy.
Abubakar called for unity, calm and an end to the culture of political disunity in the country.
Senate mace snatching saga disgraceful, dangerous — Balarabe Musa
A former governor of old Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, has described Wednesday’s snatching of the mace in the Senate by suspected hoodlums as disgraceful.
Musa said on telephone that the incident was dangerous, not only for democracy but for security.
TBI reports that some suspected hoodlums invaded the Senate on Wednesday seizing and taking the mace, a symbol of authority.
The Senate’s spokesman, Sen. Sabi Abdulahi, in a statement, alleged that the hoodlums, led by a suspended member, Sen. Ovie Omo-Agege, walked into the Senate’s plenary and seized the mace.
Abdullahi described the incident as a treasonable act, as it amounted to the forceful takeover of the Senate.
Reacting, Musa said the saga was more dangerous to security than it was to democracy. “I ask, how can anyone or group invade the Senate and seize the mace, which is the symbol of authority?
“The incident, though a disgrace to democracy, had greater implications for security. It means the security of this country is being threatened by the day and there is an urgent need to tackle the problem,” he said.
Musa said he would not be quick to blame anyone personally for the incident, but the saga questioned the morality of some of the country’s leaders. He described the tension created by political and security issues in the land as a time bomb.
Musa said the effort of everyone was required to respond to the situation.
Ekiti spends N6.4b on 1.3km overhead bridge — Commissioner
Ekiti State Government on Wednesday said it has spent N6.4 billion on the just completed 1.3 kilometre overhead bridge in Ado Ekiti.
TBI Africa reports that the State Commissioner for Finance, Chief Toyin Ojo, said at a news conference on Wednesday in Ado Ekiti that the amount was far below the figures being peddled about by the opposition.
Giving a breakdown of the expenditure, Ojo said the cost only increased from the initial estimate of N5.2billion to N6.4b to accommodate additional expenses that were not captured in the initial budget for the project.
He said this included the extension of the bridge, beautification of the area, construction of alternative roads as well as payment of compensation to owners of properties that gave way for the project.
Ojo said the project was part of the administration’s urbanisation programme, adding that the bridge would ease traffic flow and decrease time wasted by commuters.
He said the state government would continue to work towards improving the lots of the people in spite of the financial constraints.
The commissioner also said government had set a benchmark of N400 million as its monthly Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to ensure execution of its projects.
He appealed to the federal government to refund the expenses incurred by the state government for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of federal roads in the state.
7.9m PVCs await collection–INEC
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it was still in possession of 7,920,129 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) yet to be collected from its offices across the nation.
The commission disclosed this in a tabular data on consolidated PVCs as at March 22, 2018, released on Tuesday in Abuja.
The data showed that 8,271,401 PVCs were yet to be not collected as at 2016. A breakdown of the uncollected PVCs as at March 2018 also reveals that Lagos has the highest number of 1,401,390; followed by Oyo, 647,586; and Edo, 449,001 cards, while Kano has 195,941.
The data also shows Bauchi state with the least number of uncollected PVCs at 15,542, followed by Bayelsa and Plateau 28,533 and 25,300
The commission, however, disclosed that 351,272 PVCs had so far been collected across the 36 states and the FCT between 2015 to March 2018.
INEC further showed that 230,175 out of the 351,272 PVCs were collected in 2017 while the remaining 121,097 cards were collected in 2018.
The state with the highest number of PVCs collected, between 2017 and 2018, is Anambra with 102,264 collected cards; with the breakdown of 95,385 and 6,879 cards collected in 2017 and 2018, according to the commission.
Kogi and Lagos followed with 41,174 and 20,002 cards collected, it said.
The data also shows that 15,318 and 25,856 PVCs were collected in Kogi in 2017 and 2018; 14,907 and 5,095 collected in Lagos in the same order.
The states with the least total number of collected PVCs within 2017 and 2018 are:Zamfara with 40; followed by Taraba, 158; and Bauch 558 collected card, according to INEC.
