The Joint House Committee on Justice/Aviation gave the directive to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority following the conflicting accounts before it on the legal status of the Bombardier BD-700 jet.

The committee is investigating the circumstances, which led to the grounding of the aircraft by the NCAA.

The Lead Chairman of the committee, Mr. Ali Ahmad, said the details of private jets required would include the names of the owners, registration documents, expiry dates, place of purchase and “the nature of their operational status, whether they are ad-hoc, leased or fully purchased”.

The Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah, claimed at the hearing that Amaechi’s jet was a “foreign aircraft” unknown to law in the country.

She alleged that the documents of the jet were “falsified” to evade detection of its full status.

Oduah added, “We have no way within our system to know why a foreign aircraft will be flying in Nigeria with the Coat of Arms. We have seen this impunity.

“We are perplexed as we sit here because we do not know the owner of this aircraft. It came into our country with falsified documents.

“We are investigating this and a report will be made public; all the documents before us are of doubtful origin.”

She threatened to drag the Rivers State Government before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission over the alleged “infractions.”

But, Rivers, represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr. George Feyii, debunked the claims of Oduah and the NCAA.

Feyii argued that the status of the aircraft had never been in doubt, adding that all legal papers to fly the jet in the country were available.

He also stated that the government never received any prior information from regulatory authorities before the April 26 flight manifest incident in Akure, Ondo State.

Feyii told the committee that the trustee arrangement between the state government and the Bank of Uta in the United States did not alter the legal status of the jet as the property of Rivers State Government.

“We never received any information on breach of regulation. The aircraft is the property of Rivers State Government till date.

“It is not of doubtful origin and we have not breached any due process procedures”, he added.

However, members of the committee became confused when Caverton Helicopters, a licensed operator that facilitated the importation of the aircraft in August 2012, tried to disown the state government.

The Executive Vice-Chairman of the company, Mr. Adeniyi Makanjuola, denied knowledge of flight permits the aircraft had to fly in the country on its approval.

Makanjuola added that any letter “purported” to have been written by his company seeking flight approvals for Amaechi’s jet “did not come from us”.

Makanjuola’s persistent denial of any transactions between Caverton Helicopters and the state government enraged a member of the committee, Mrs. Nkoyo Toyo.

She flared up, “Caverton is not telling us the truth here; you are holding back a lot of issues.”

-Punch

It will also mediate in the conflict between Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio, and Senator Aloysius Etok.

Leader of the Senate, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, said the PDP caucus in the Senate had set up two committees to attend to the issues affecting the two states.

He briefed the press on Tuesday at the end of what he described as a routine meeting of the parties caucus in the Senate.

The meeting was attended by the President of the Senate, David Mark, and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu.

Ndoma-Egba said, “The PDP Senate caucus just finished its meeting. You know that our caucus meetings are routine meetings. The Senate President was here in person. The Deputy Senate President was here in person.

“The entire leadership of the PDP in the Senate was here and we looked essentially at the challenges our party is facing in some states.

“We looked especially at the situation in Rivers State and Akwa Ibom State. We looked at the relationship between the governor and our colleague, Senator Aloysius Etok.

“It was decided that there was a need for the Senate PDP caucus to intervene with a view to see how we can return the two states to cordiality and normalcy and to that effect we have set up two committees to engage the dramatis personae in the two states.”

The Senate Leader, however, did not name the committees, but said the committees would start work immediately.

There had been a subtle battle between the President and Amaechi in connection with the chairmanship of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, which is currently receiving extensive media coverage.

Akpabio, on the other hand, is at daggers-drawn with Etok over his representation in the Senate, as the governor has declared his intention to replace the senator in the National Assembly in 2015.

Ndoma-Egba further explained that the caucus was also concerned about the clamour for the increase in the representation of members of the National Assembly in the National Executive Committee of the PDP.

He said, “Yes, there has been the clamour at the National Assembly for increased membership of its members in NEC. That has been ongoing as you are fully aware. And we are still pressing that we want a greater representation of the National Assembly in the National Executive Committee of the PDP.”

-Punch

In a statement, Mark particularly flayed the killings of policemen in Nassarawa State, saying the action was unacceptable.

He said, “The situation has degenerated to an intolerable level and exposes everybody to danger. The continued loss of lives and properties cannot be a way of life”.

Mark noted that unless Nigerians tackled the security problem headlong, the perpetrators might overrun the country.

Describing the killing of policemen as unacceptable, Mark said, “Nobody, no nation, no matter how weak, would live to accept such heinous crime.

“What is happening to us as a people is strange and condemnable. How did we degenerate to this level where everyone is a brother’s hater instead of being our brothers’ keepers? The situation calls for soul-searching. We must re-examine ourselves. We must look inwards.”

He also canvassed a better working relationship among security agencies, saying such cooperation would plug security lapses and yield better result.

He said, “We must remove sentiments and be able to separate issues from crimes or criminalities. Offenders must be seen to be punished to serve as a deterrent to others.”

He stated that the siege Nigerians were subjected to, following violent crimes in the country, were avoidable “if we put our houses in order”.

He noted that there could be foreign collaborators, adding that the foreigners would not succeed if there were no “willing tools” internally.

Mark urged aggrieved persons or groups to explore established channels, including reaching out to the National Assembly, to seek redress instead of resorting to violence.

According to him, the state of insecurity has made life uncomfortable for Nigerians and reduced sacred human life to something insignificant.

Meanwhile, the Campaign for Democracy has condemned the killings.

The CD stated this in a statement by its President, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, on Sunday.

It said, “The high rate of casualties on the part of policemen witnessed in just one week has not been recorded in most of the wars fought in recent history which confirms the notion that Nigeria is presently at war.

“The vulnerability of security forces to the seeming superior power of terrorists removes whatever confidence the civilian population has in the state to guarantee security of lives and property and by extension a clear demonstration of the failure of the state.

“One of the key characteristics of a failed state is the lack of capacity or unwillingness of the state to secure the lives of its citizens. It becomes more direr when the forces the state should use to protect itself now become preys in the hands of deviants.

“It is needless pointing to the government the implications of a poorly motivated, harassed, ill-equipped and heavily assaulted security forces and the health of any polity.”

-Punch

The drama took place at a meeting between the Speaker of the House, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, and the BoT members led by the Chairman, Chief Tony Anenih in Abuja.

Anenih led the members on a fence-mending visit to the National Assembly.

While the meeting was in progress, Gbajabiamila came in uninvited to the surprise of the BoT members and Tambuwal.

His sudden arrival distracted Tambuwal, who was already addressing the visitors.

The Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha, asked Gbajabiamila, “Are you now a member of the PDP? Or are you crossing over?”

Gbajabiamila, a member of the Action Congress of Nigeria from Lagos State, shook his head vigorously and proceeded to whisper into Tambuwal’s ears.

He moved to Anenih, shook hands with him, saying, “You are welcome; have a fruitful deliberation and we shall see in 2015.”

The session burst into a loud laughter.

Gbajabiamila’s mission came at a time of increased speculation that Tambuwal, a PDP lawmaker, might vie for the 2015 presidential election on the ticket of the All Progressives Congress.

ACN is a key member of the yet-to-be registered APC.

When he was asked the purpose of interrupting the meeting, Gbajabiamila told journalists that “whatever is the purpose of their visit or discussion, I don’t know, but I think I came at the right time.”

Earlier, Anenih informed Tambuwal that the BOT members were at the National Assembly to commend the lawmakers for the “laws you are making, which are in the interest of the people”.

Anenih mentioned “insecurity”, “relationship between the Executive and the Legislature”, “relationship between the party and other arms of government”.

Meanwhile, a source said the “bickering between the National Assembly and the Presidency, especially the House”, was discussed during the meeting.

It was learnt that the Anenih team held the view that the constant disagreement between the two sides suggested that there was no cohesion among members of the PDP.

In a related development, President of the Senate, David Mark, has urged the PDP to include members of the National Assembly in the party’s National Executive Committee.

He also called on the warring groups within the party to cease their bickering in order to effectively implement the party’s agenda.

He made the appeal when he received the BoT members.

Mark said, “As elected representatives of the people, we can make meaningful contributions for the benefit of the citizenry.”

Lawmakers, he said, were true patriots who were committed to making good laws that would reflect the true state of the people.

“The National Assembly is the engine room of democracy and government and therefore should be given its pride of place,” Mark said.

-Punch

The panel began a three-day retreat Wednesday preparatory to the next stage of the on-going constitution amendment process, following the presentation to the House of the collated opinions from public sessions.

Tambuwal, who declared the retreat open at Protea Hotel, Abuja, specifically tasked the 51-member committee to ensure that the draft bills were free from personal prejudices, rather, “these bills must reflect craftsmanship, detail and lucidity.”

He said: “I must again emphasise the need for your work to be free of all personal bias. You must work only on data provided by the nationwide public hearing and your conclusion should reflect the aggregate opinion of fellow Nigerians.

“As you well know, our country today faces many challenges and some of our people have been asking questions about the very nature of our union. We hope eventually to provide Nigerians with a constitution that will answer some of these questions and further cement our hard-fought unity.”

The Speaker noted, however, that the exercise might not satisfy the yearnings of all Nigerians, but charged the committee to ensure transparency in the process. He added: “We cannot promise that after this exercise, all Nigerians would be fully satisfied with the result or that all agitations would stop.

“However, we can promise that it will be transparent, fair and reflect the true desires of our people. We can also promise that the constitution we will finally present to Nigerians will be better than what we have presently.”

Earlier in his welcome address, the Deputy Speaker and Chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee on Constitution Review, Emeka Ihedioha, disclosed that membership of the panel was deliberately selected to represent all relevant interests because of the sensitive nature of the constitution review process.

“It is based on state representation, so that each state and the Federal Capital Territory has a member chosen by the state caucus in the House. Five members represent interests of women and special interests”, he explained.

Meanwhile, Ihedioha pointed out that for the process to work, the House and Senate Constitution Review Committees must work together to propose the same bills and vote on the same issues. They must as well reach agreement before any section of the constitution is amended, he said.

-Punch

Members of the joint committee have 14 days to turn in their report for the consideration of the Senate at plenary.

The development followed a motion on alleged massacre of over 185 people in Baga, Borno State last Friday.

President Goodluck Jonathan has also ordered a probe.

The motion was not debated. There was silence in the upper legislative chamber as Senator Maina Ma’Aji Lawan (Borno North), who sponsored the motion, recalled what he tagged “the Baga Massacre”.

Lawan used Order 43, which deals with personal explanation, to present his motion.

At a press conference he addressed later, the senator confirmed the story published by the The Nation on its front page that over 10 local government areas in Borno State are under the control of Boko Haram insurgents.

An observer in the Senate gallery described the mood in the chamber as “solemn”.

In subdued voice, Lawan said: “I stand before you today a very sad man. My zone, the Borno North Senatorial District, is today a no-go area for normal operations of government and, for that matter, any civil conduct.

“The issue I want to raise is the burning down and death of over 200 persons, destruction of over 2000 houses in my Senatorial District in particular, Baga town and the general activities of the insurgents that make the place almost inhabitable and completely out of control of any authority.

“It is in this respect that I want to make a brief explanation to the Senate.

“In particular, I want to draw your attention to several national dailies in the last four days.

“For instance, the front page caption of Daily Trust of Saturday that reads ‘Boko Haram rules Borno North’. The Nation front page story that reads ‘Boko Haram grounds 10 LGA’s in Borno.’

“And the very wide and extensive coverage of all the international electronic media: CNN, Al Jazeera, BBC, SKY News that you are already aware of.

“These news items are largely true.

“Coming closer home, my home town of Baga is today in total ruins with 180 to 200 human lives lost and numerous others unaccounted for.

“Over 2000 homes destroyed, 62 cars, 284 motorcycles and tonnes of foodstuff destroyed.

“At this stage, I do not want to immerse myself in the blame game of whether it is Multinational Joint Task Force (MJTF) or the Joint Task Force (JTF) or the insurgents that carried out the atrocities.

“But it appears to bear some of the hallmarks of Odi.

“However, whoever did it, that level of atrocity is outrageous, unacceptable and condemnable in any civilised society, even in societies that are at war.”

The lawmaker urged the Senate to investigate the matter “as this is a recurring decimal in all such past instances”.

While praying for the souls of the deceased, he urged government agencies, including the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), state and local governments, as well as good-spirited individuals to come to the aide of the surviving victims, “the women, children, the aged that are today totally helpless”.

Lawan spoke of a humanitarian crisis in the area, recounting that the town was shut down for three days.

“Therefore, this aid should come on time,” he said.

The lawmaker thanked President Goodluck Jonathan for setting up the amnesty committee as, according to him, “the ultimate solution to this insurgency is a genuine dialogue that must necessarily address the immediate and remote underlying causes of the insurgency”.

“As I said, almost two years ago on the floor of this Senate, boots and bullets cannot solve the problem. Let’s put our thinking caps on and take advantage of this amnesty initiative and face the problem headlong.”

On the takeover of 10 council areas: he said: “The truth of the matter is that when JTF intensified their operations in Maiduguri, of course, they were concentrated in Maiduguri, understandably because it is the state capital.

“It was too hot for them (insurgents). They ran out and fizzled into the countryside. In the country side, people are helpless. There is no police post standing. In Borno North, there is no police outpost or divisional offices standing. That is the truth.

“What was written is not true of everywhere, but there are certain areas that government officers don’t go for fear of their own lives.

“Ask the immigration officers or custom officers when last they visited their Banki outpost?

“Ask the police inspector when last he was sitting in his outpost where there is supposed to be an inspector and three constables?

“They are not there and when they are not there and there is somebody with a gun, he rules. I thought we are informed enough about the gravity of the situation in Borno.

“Not just Borno but the Borno State in general. So, when the papers reported that government officials have abandoned their posts, whether federal or state, apart from areas where the military are operating, I am afraid, it is largely true.

“And that is exactly why we are talking of this brute application of force.

“About one third of neighbourhoods in Maiduguri are closed already where you see grasses as tall as myself.”

Senate President David Mark said there was no need to debate the motion. He described the Borno situation as “grave” and insisted that the deaths were “totally unacceptable”.

Mark said: “Maina Ma’Aji Lawan discussed the publications with me and it is in almost all the international media.

“Because of the security implications, the importance of it notwithstanding, I think we don’t really need to have any debate on it.

“But the number of people who are said to have been killed, irrespective of who did it is totally unacceptable. That number is just too much.

“I know that Gen. Mohammed Magoro and Saleh would say that fighting in a built-up area is a very difficult operation, but that notwithstanding, there must be standard of engagement and those rules of engagement does not include mass killing or extra judicial killing in any form.

“But I don’t want any debate on it because there is already a committee that has been set up to probe it by the executive.

“We in the legislature will set up a committee to investigate the facts – whether the reports we get are correct or not – and I urge that those who will appear before this committee must have the courage to come up because the problem is not setting up the committee, it is whether people will come and give evidence before it.

“But I urge Nigerians who know the facts to appear before this committee. I will say that the committee on Defence, Police and National Security and Intelligence, the three committees to form a joint committee to investigate and report to us within 14 days.”

Lawan was alleged to have committed the crime while he served as Chairman of the House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee on Monitoring of Fuel Subsidy Regime.

The trial proper was scheduled to commence on Wednesday but counsel for Lawan and his co-accused, Mr. Boniface Emenalo, Chief Rickey Terfa, argued that the court must first hear and determine the application to quash the charges.

Terfa noted that the application to quash the charges also challenged the jurisdiction of the court to conduct the trial.

The defence counsel argued that the court should not have granted ICPC’s application for leave to prefer the charges because the prosecution failed to provide materials which were required for the judge to grant the application.

Arguing that the foundation of the case was faulty, Terfa asked the court to discharge the accused persons since no prima facie case had been established against them.

According to him, the prosecutor failed to comply with the provisions of section 155 (1)(b) of the Criminal Procedure Code which required that statements of witnesses be attached to the application to prefer charges.

But the prosecution counsel, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, asked the court to dismiss the application, which he described as a tactic to waste the time of the court.

Awomolo maintained that the Supreme Court had held, in many cases, that the purpose of seeking for leave of courts to prefer charges was to ensure that frivolous criminal charges were not filed and not to allow the accused persons to see the details of the charges against them.

He argued that the charges remained valid adding that non-attachment of witnesses’ statements did not undermine the legality of the charges.

Lawan and Emenalo had pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were arraigned on January 31, 2013.

-Punch

Although, details of the invitation were sketchy on Wednesday, The Punch confirmed that he had yet to honour the invitation.

Confirming the report, the EFCC spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren said, “It is true we invited the clerk of the House of Representatives, but I cannot comment on the reason.”

It was difficult to get the details of the reasons for the summon of Omolori by the EFCC, a competent source in the anti-graft agency informed our correspondent on Wednesday night that the Reps Clerk was invited to help the commission in the pending case of alleged fraud involving the former Speaker of the House, Dimeji Bankole.

Omolori was a Prosecution Witness in the controversial N38bn loan obtained by the leadership of the sixth session of the House under former Speaker Dimeji Bankole.

Bankole and his erstwhile deputy, Usman Nafada, were slammed with a 17 counts of criminal breach of trust, dishonest use of House of Representatives bank account to obtain loan before Justice Suleiman Belgore.

Justice Belgore had since struck out the case.

Although, Omolori was brought as a witness by the anti-graft agency, he cleared the accused persons of any wrongdoing.

Omolori, the fourth EFCC witness, told the court that the two accused persons did not benefit from the loans taken, as the running costs of their offices were, “drastically decreased to N100m for the Speaker and N80m for his Deputy”.

Under cross-examination by Bankole’s counsel, Wale Akanni (SAN), and that of Nafada, Chief Tayo Oyetibo (SAN), Omolori said, “Sometimes in March 2010, the leadership of the House caused a briefing to be made to the House, in an executive session, about the import of the 2010 budget and members, who were duly briefed expressed dissatisfaction with a number of areas in the budget, one of which was the running cost. They advanced various reasons why the leadership of the House should enhance members’ running cost.”

-Vanguard

The Senate and the House have embarked on the review of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) since June 2011.

A budget of about N1bn is set aside for the exercise, shared N500m apiece by the two chambers.

Deputy Speaker of the House and Chairman of its Constitution Review Committee, Mr. Emeka Ihedioha, had in May last year, assured the nation that a new constitution would be ready in April.

However, the Senate recently shifted its deadline to June.

Investigations by The PUNCH on Sunday showed that a week into April, work on the constitution was far from nearing completion.

For example, up till March 27 when lawmakers proceeded on the Easter vacation, fresh bills on constitution amendment were still being referred to the Ihedioha committee.

“If you consider the fact that amending the constitution is a tedious process, you do not need a soothsayer to tell you that the April target is a mirage already.

“All the work the ad-hoc committee has done and the new bills will still be subjected to public hearings.

“Besides, the report of the National Assembly on the proposed amendments will be endorsed by the 36 state Houses of Assembly (two-thirds majority) before a new constitution can be in place.

“When the House reconvenes on April 16, there will be less than two weeks to the end of April.

“Clearly, it will be impossible to complete the process this month”, a source close to the ad-hoc committee, confided in our correspondent.

The House also conducted Peoples’ Public Sessions on the constitution on November 8, 2012, but it is still awaiting the final report.

However, five months after the sessions closed, the final report has yet to be made public.

An attempt by the House to present the report to the public in February was stalled after many lawmakers protested that they had yet to scrutinise the document.

It was learnt on Sunday that work on the constitution progressed slowly at the Senate as well.

“The Senate conducted six zonal public hearings before senators went on the Easter break; there is no report of the hearings for now.

“Of course, the fact that the Senate and the House are doing separate constitution review means that they will have to harmonise their findings before sending the final document to the state assemblies for endorsement.

“This is not something that is feasible in April; if one chamber has indicated that its own report will be ready in June, that explains that April is ruled out,” another National Assembly source added.
Via Punch

ABUJA- Justice Adamu Bello of the Federal High Court in Abuja, Wednesday issued an order of perpetual injunction restraining the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, from arresting the embattled Chairman of the disbanded Pension Reform Task Team, PRTT, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina.

The court made the order after it vacated the warrant of arrest that was issued against him by the Nigerian Senate.

Senate had declared the ex-pension boss wanted following his alleged refusal to appear before it to explain his alleged complicity in the illegal diversion of funds meant for pensioners across the federation.
Meantime, sequel to intensified bid by the Senate to apprehend him for questioning, Maina, approached the high court, alleging threat to his fundamental human right to life and liberty as enshrined in section 35 of the 1999 constitution.

Arguing through his lawyer Mr M. A Magaji, SAN, Maina, insisted that the Senate acted beyond its powers when it ordered his arrest, contending that “nowhere in the entire provision of section 89 of the 1999 constitution which was relied upon by the Senate, was the word ‘Arrest’ mentioned.

He equally adduced eleven exhibits he said would prove that he was being witch-hunted unnecessarily, just as he urged the court to award to him the sum of N1.5billion “for the trauma, psychological pain they have subjected me to.”

-Punch