This came after the Senate confirmed that it had received the communication on the proclamation of the emergency rule in the states.

The upper legislative chamber is expected to vote for or against the declaration with two thirds majority of all 109 senators on Tuesday.

Although as at Thursday, the notification was being expected, it was gathered that the communication reached the Senate on Friday.

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Information, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, told our correspondent on Sunday on the telephone that the Senate had received it.

Asked if the letter had been received, he simply replied, “Yes.”

President of the Senate, David Mark, had urged all senators to attend Tuesday’s plenary, saying that, “decisions on critical national issues would be taken.”

The Clerk to the Senate, Benedict Efeturi, also in a statement on Thursday, called on senators to ensure they were present at Tuesday’s plenary session on the same subject matter.

The statement titled, ‘Matters of Urgent National Importance’, stated, “This is to inform all Distinguished Senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that the plenary session of Tuesday, 21st May, 2013 will consider Matters of Urgent National Importance.”

-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

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.”

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

The alleged Ferari gift

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By Charles Mgbolu

The onslaught from the public came almost as soon as the news broke on social networks and blogs; a metalic orange Ferari sports car pictured at the venue of Tuface and Annie’s wedding in Dubai with words Wedding gift from Senator David Mark to Tuface, Annie scribbled on cardboard paper and stuck to the car, almost ruined the news of Tuface, Annie’s wedding.

Vanguard had not reported this as we awaited confirmation from the Senate president who has now through a statement issued by his Senior Special adviser on Media& Publicity Mr Kola Ologbondiyan denied buying this car gift for Tuface and Annie Idibia.

The statement reads

Senator Mark did not visit Dubai for Tiface wedding rather he attended the 128th Inter parliamentary Union (IPU) conference currently holding in Quito, Ecuador. He was also not represented at Mr. Idibia’s wedding. It is also instructive to state that the President of the Senate, Senator Mark, did not make a car donation of any kind to Tuface before departing Nigeria for Ecuador neither did he purchase nor send any car to Dubai as a wedding gift for the musician or his wife. Who made the donation on behalf of the President of the Senate?

It is therefore a puerile lie for anybody to state that Senator Mark bought a Ferrari car worth N47m for Tuface. The allegation is wicked, ridiculous and irresponsible.

Signed: Kola Ologbondiyan

Special Adviser, Media & Publicity to the President of the Senate David Mark.

We await reactions from Tuface’s camp.

ABUJA—Senate has begun moves to cripple what it described as the overbearing powers of the Ministry of Finance in the budgeting process, just as it wants to be involved fully and not only wait for information from the executive arm of the government.

The upper chamber accused the Ministry of Finance of being responsible for the nation’s economic woes and the dwindling growth because of what the Senators described as the Ministry’s poor budgeting system, adding that over the years the country had not improved employment or dividends of democracy to Nigerians as expected by the citizens.

The Senators also vowed to sanction those they have accused of hijacking the jobs and responsibilities of other agencies and Commissions of government, even as they also plan to ban the long-introduced envelop system by Federal Government where all Ministries, Department and Agencies of government can embark on projects not really tied down to budget.

Following discussions by the lawmakers on a motion yesterday by Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi, ACN, Ekiti North, and 46 others, entitled Call for Review of National Planning and Budgeting Process, the Senate also resolved to empower the National Assembly in determining the pegging of budgets.

The resolution of the Senate is coming barely 48 hours after President Goodluck signed the 2013 Appropriation Bill into law after intrigues between the National Assembly and the executive months after the budget was passed by both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Senate President

Meanwhile, Senate President David Mark, who described the motion as “one of the most important motions we have seen on the floor of the Senate,” noted that it was time for the National Assembly to sit up and take over its constitutional responsibilities, which he said had been snatched from it by the executive.

Senator Mark said: “People have failed to do what they are supposed to do. Some others have become too powerful and hijacked other people’s work and refused to allow those who have been charged with specific responsibility to do what they are supposed to do.”

Mark, who noted that the duty of planning the national budget rested squarely with the National Planning Commission, wondered why the Ministry of Finance had hijacked such duty from the commission.

He stressed that there must be a return to status quo against the backdrop that the Ministry was carrying out a responsibility outside its schedules.

Earlier in his motion, Senator Adetunmbi said: “Senate notes the subsumed role of the national planning function in the Nigerian budget process.

“It further notes that despite its declining influence in western economies, national development planning continues to be a dominant policy instrument in many low-income and emerging market economies.

“Observes that the traditional five-year development plans have been replaced by a Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, and believes that linking multi-year development plans to the national budget is fundamental to economic growth.”

- Vanguard

The case was brought against Wabara and the other accused persons by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission in 2005.

The other accused persons are a former Minister of Education, Prof. Fabian Osuji; Senator Ibrahim AbdulAzeez, Senator Azuta Mbata and Garba Matazu.

Two other accused persons – Senators Emmanuel Okpede and Badamosi Maccido – have died since the case commenced, and their names have been struck out.

The Supreme Court ordered the retrial in its judgment in an appeal brought by the ICPC against a decision of the Court of Appeal on June 1, 2010.

The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, had on June 1, 2010, dismissed the 15 counts against the accused persons.

Dissatisfied, the ICPC appealed at the Supreme Court.

In its judgment in the appeal on Friday, the panel of justices of the Supreme Court agreed with the ICPC that the Court of Appeal erred in dismissing the charges.

The Supreme Court therefore remitted the suit to the trial court for retrial.

Delivering the apex court’s verdict, Justice Sylvester Ngwuta said, “I hereby set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal and remit the case to the trial court for retrial.”

The Supreme Court also ordered accelerated retrial of the case.

The suspects were on April 11, 2005, arraigned before Justice Hussein Mukhtar of the FCT High Court for allegedly demanding, and obtaining monetary gratification to facilitate easy passage of the budget of the Federal Ministry of Education in 2005.

The alleged offence was contrary to sections 9 (1) (a); 17(a); 23 (2); and 26 (1) of the ICPC Act, 2010, and punishable under sections 8 (1); 9 (1) (b); 17 (c); and 23 (3) of the same Act.

The accused persons had earlier applied to the FCT High Court to quash the charges against them, but Justice Muktar dismissed their application in a judgment delivered on November 10, 2005.

Thereafter, three of the suspects – Wabara, AbdulAzeez and Osuji – approached the Court of Appeal in Abuja to challenge the judgment of the FCT High Court.

Consequently, in a judgment on June 1, 2010, the Court of Appeal set the three accused persons free and quashed the charges brought against them by the ICPC.

In the judgment delivered by Justice Mary Peter Odili, the Court of Appeal held that the charges were bogus and failed to disclose a prima facie case against the accused persons.

Justice Odili also ruled that the charges were frivolous, baseless and lacking in merit and as such cannot be sustained by any prosecution.

The ICPC headed for the Supreme Court to appeal the verdict, a development which resulted in Friday’s order for retrial.

When the matter came up for hearing at the Supreme Court, the ICPC had insisted that the accused persons must face trial.

ICPC counsel, Chief Niyi Oshe, SAN, and Mr. John Bayeshea, SAN, had argued that, “It is ridiculous to say no prima facie case was made against the accused because the statement of Prof. Osuji was enough to establish that they have a case to answer.

“Prima facie case cannot be equated with proving a case beyond reasonable doubt.

“At this stage of arraignment, it is too early to assume that there is no case against them.

“The Court of Appeal went to the extent of treating Sen. Chris Adighije as a tainted witness. But our position is that the court cannot treat anyone as a tainted witness until trial takes place.

“Accused persons should not be discharged on the basis of preferment of charges.

“If the position of the Court of Appeal is sustained to the effect that there was no prima facie case against the accused, a c ombination of these errors will make criminal prosecution almost impossible in this court.

“The court should let the accused face trial, it should not discharge them on mere preferment of charges.”

On the other hand, the defence counsel, including Osuji’s lawyer, Mr. Goddy Uche, had insisted that there was no prima facie evidence against the accused persons.

Via Punch

Zakari Mohammed, chairman House Committee on Media and
Public Affairs who spoke at a press briefing in Abuja, noted that
“the constitution demands 30 working days, as far as we are
concerned, it is not yet time.”

He explained that the Senate and House will give one-week grace
to the Presidency before moving to make the budget operational
without the need for President’s assent.

Mohammed said “right now as we speak, the leadership of the
National Assembly are interacting with Mr. President about the
2013 budget and by next week, if nothing has been achieved, we
are going to apply the Constitution that gives us powers to
override his (President) veto.

“We are not afraid to take that decision, we must explore all
means available before taking a decision, and we still have time
before we go into that, the National Assembly will act at an
appropriate time.”

Mohammed noted that some of the reasons why the President
declined from signing the budget was over “the issue of
benchmark which has been lingering for some time now, the
unresolved issue of the director general of Security and Exchange
Commission (SEC), and the issue of rollover of the 2012 budget.

“What it means is that even the fourth quarter allocation that was
done few days ago would definitely be utilised properly because
the implication is that if we end the budget by December 31 it
means that some money may have to be returned to the treasury
and as the case with some MDAs, the monies because of the rush
getting their records together might even be misapplied.”

ABUJA—THE Senate, Wednesday, descended heavily on terrorism perpetrators as it recommended a capital punishment for those found guilty of the act.

Considering a report on “a Bill for an Act to amend the Terrorism (prevention) Act, 2012,” brought forward by its Conference Committee during plenary, the Senate in a unanimous resolution, held that there was no alternative to punishing terrorism offenders than death.

All the senators who contributed to the issue, did not spare persons or corporate bodies linked to any terrorism acts in the country as they said people knowingly in or outside Nigeria directly or indirectly and who “willingly assist, facilitate, organise or direct the activities of persons or organisations engaged in acts of terrorism are liable on conviction to maximum of life imprisonment.”

Members of upper (red) chamber
The Terrorism (prevention) Act 2011 (amendment) Bill, 2012 was passed by the Senate on October 17, 2012 and in the House of Representatives on October 11, 2012 but after the development, some differences were noticed in the two versions of the Bill, prompting it to be re-submitted where the Conference Committee was constituted comprising both chambers on October, 2012 to reconcile the areas of differences, which appeared in six clauses of the Bill.

New amendments to Section 17 of the Terrorism Act, gave a clear distinction between “an act of terrorism” and “an act of conspiracy.”

For the latter, an imprisonment for a term of not less than twenty years is prescribed.

A new provision (section 1A) dealing with national co-ordinating bodies in counter terrorism designates specific institutions and vest specific powers and functions.

In line with the new amendments, the Office of the National Security Adviser , ONSA, shall be the co-coordinating body for all security and enforcement agencies including the Attorney General of the Federation ,AGF, under the Terrorism Act.

The new version of the bill stipulates that the AGF is to ensure conformity of Nigeria’s counter-terrorism laws and policies with international standards and United Nations conventions on Terrorism as well as maintain international co-operation required for preventing and combating international acts of terrorism.

The Conference Committee added a new section (30) under clause 14 dealing with detention of conveyance. Accordingly, any person who without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with the requirement of a detention order or intentionally obstructs or hinders any person acting in accordance to detention order shall on conviction be liable to a fine of N5,000,000 or imprisonment for not less than five years.

Amendments of Section 26-29 of the prior Terrorist Act produced a new Section 28 which allows relevant law enforcement or security officials to detain suspected terrorist for a period not exceeding forty-eight hours arrest without having access to any person, a medical officer.

Anti-terrorism act, gives law enforcers greater powers to detain and prosecute suspects and gave judges more guidance on handing down punishments.

Via Vanguard