The Senate will confer with the House of Representatives in January, before taking a stance on President Muhammadu Buhari’s refusal to sign the electoral amendment bill. There were suggestions in certain quarters that the lawmakers intend to override the president’s veto on the subject. However, the national assembly intends to keep its powder dry until the new year. Members of the Senate will also discuss the president’s rejection of the bill with their constituents during the Christmas holidays. “In a closed session, the senate deliberated on matters relevant to the workings of the senate in particular and the national assembly…
Author: Ifeanyi Nwagboso
INEC presented a budget of N305 billion for the 2023 general elections to the National Assembly on Monday in Abuja. Its chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, made the presentation to the Senate Committee on Appropriations. The committee had invited INEC to present the budget so as to include it in the 2022 budget billed for passage by both chambers of the National Assembly on Tuesday. According to INEC Chairman, the N305 billion is different from the N40 billion yearly budget of the electoral body. He noted that while N100 billion had been released to the Commission out of the total projected…
Ortom wants the National Assembly to accept the president’s reasons for the rejection. Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for declining to assent to the 2021 Electoral Act Amendment Bill. Speaking to journalists on Tuesday in Makurdi, Ortom insisted that party primaries were the exclusive reserve of political parties. He said that direct primaries was expensive hence only big parties with enormous resources could afford them. On indirect primaries, he said that the process only differed with direct primaries in terms of election of delegates at the ward levels. Ortom said of all the processes of…
There was confusion on Friday, December 24, 2021 as the Osun State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) announced a new Acting Chairman. The Acting Chairman, Barrister Wale Ojo, according to sources belonged to the Olasoji Adagunodo faction of the party in the state. Barrister Wale Ojo is the Former Senatorial Chairman of PDP representing Osun East Senatorial district. The appointment was arrived at after the ratification of a resolution by some stakeholders of the Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State. Wale Ojo’s appointment, it was noted was intended to fill the vacuum created by the exit of Adagunodo as the Vice…
A possible Listeria contamination has prompted the recall of sliced white mushrooms sold in Ontario and Quebec and possibly other provinces or territories. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says a recall has been issued by Carleton Mushroom for the mushrooms, which were prepared for Metro Brands. The product was sold in 227-gram packages with a best before date of Oct. 25, 2021. Customers are being told to either throw the mushrooms out or return them to the store where they were purchased. There have been no reports of any illnesses linked to the product. Food contaminated with Listeria may not…
Sen. Sadiq Umar (APC -Kwara) says overriding President Muhammadu Buhari on the Electoral Amendment Act Bill by the National Assembly will have plunged the country into constitutional crisis. Umar, also Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business, said this when he interacted with the Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Ilorin on Friday. He said the senators decided not to act on the matter following the decision of the House of Representatives to stand down debate on the president’s letter. “What happened was that after the National Assembly passed the Electoral Amendment Act Amendment Bill, the…
Former Head of State, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida has described Vice President Yemi Osinbajo as a good man, who has what it takes to be a good leader. Babangida said this on Thursday, December 23, 2021, when the Osibanjo Grassroots Organisation visited him at his Hilltop residence in Minna, Niger state. He said, “I know the Vice-president very well. He is a good man. A man who has conviction about Nigeria; a man who can communicate with the country and inspire people. Such a man is worthy person to work with. We need good man to lead Nigeria. “A man…
Sheikh Ibrahim Khalil, a prominent Islamic scholar and former chairman of the Kano Council of Ulama, has announced his resignation from the All Progressives Congress (APC). Khalil announced his resignation from the party while a rift between Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje and Senator Ibrahim Shekarau, his predecessor, is raging. “Well, as an APC member and one of the elders and one of the caucus, I want to make sure I leave the APC,” he told the BBC. “Everything in life has a reason. There are three reasons: either the educated and the intelligent know, or everyone knows, or the person…
Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo State, Mr. Dayo Ogungbenro, has declared that the All Progressives Congress (APC) has gone to a long political voyage in the state. Ogungbenro noted that the APC cannot take over the state again in 2023. Our correspondent recalls that the PDP’s candidate, Engineer Seyi Makinde won the gubernatorial election and defeated APC candidate and other candidates of other political parties in 2019. But, Ogungbenro, who spoke with journalists on Thursday in Ibadan, noted that the erstwhile ruling party is not likely to return to government in couple of years to come. He said…
President Joe Biden on Thursday made two final nominations to the federal bench this year as he caps his first year in office with 40 judges confirmed, the most since Ronald Reagan was president. Nancy Gbana Abudu, his nominee for the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in the deep South, would be the first Black woman to sit on that court. The circuit covers Alabama, Georgia and Florida, where 8.5 million people are Black yet there is only one Black judge on the 12-person panel, Charles Wilson, and he was nominated by former President Bill Clinton. The…
Senator Alex Usman Kadiri, an APC stalwart, who represented Kogi East from 1999 to 2003 in the National Assembly, told JOHN AKUBO in Abuja that for refusing his assent on the 2021 Electoral Act the lawmakers should veto President Buhari. The National Assembly passed the electoral amendment bill 2021, which gives INEC leverage to transmit election results electronically at its discretion. The other is the Direct Primary to decide how parties decide persons to field for elections. As a former lawmaker, what’s your position on the controversial stalemate? The President is so weak that it is the governors that dictate…
Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly, Kennedy Ibe, has declared the seat of representative of Ngor-Okpala, Tochi Okere, vacant over absenteeism from sittings. Ibe, who stated this at the plenary, yesterday, also asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to conduct a by-election to elect a new member to replace his position. He said the sacking of the Ngor-Okpala member was in line with the House rules and the 1999 Constitution as amended, adding that Okere had not attended plenaries up to one-third since he was inaugurated as a lawmaker in 2019. The Speaker disclosed that the house…
The Convener, Lagos4Lagos movement, Abudul Azeez Olajide Adediran, popularly known as Jandor, has stated that it is time to take power from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State so as to set the state on the path of progress. Jandor, who spoke during his visit to the former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George at his residence in Ikoyi, expressed optimism that he would win the Lagos State election in 2023 if the PDP gives him the ticket. Jandor said his group, when combined with the PDP, has the numerical strength…
Senator Sani Musa currently represents Niger East senatorial district in Niger State. He is also the chairman, Senate Committee on Services. Musa has indicated interest to contest the post of national chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC) next year. He spoke with ADAMU ABUH and SEYE OLUMIDE on his plan to lead the party. There is fear that APC’s may have a turbulent national convention next year, what is your take on this? There is no cause for fear. I believe we are ready and we are going to have a hitch free national convention, which other parties will emulate. All…
Russian President Vladimir Putin urged the West on Thursday to move quickly to meet Russia’s demand for security guarantees precluding NATO’s expansion to Ukraine and the deployment of the military alliance’s weapons there. Speaking during a marathon annual news conference, the Russian leader welcomed talks with the US that are set to start in Geneva next month, but warned the discussion focused on Moscow’s demand needs to produce quick results. We want to ensure our security, Putin said. We put it straight: there must be no further expansion of NATO eastward. Last week, Moscow submitted draft security documents demanding that…
The Chief Press Secretary to the Osun State Governor, Ismail Omipidan has revealed that Governor Adegboyega Oyetola is not losing sleep over the purported plots to unseat him by a faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state. Omipidan who made this known while featuring on Arise TV on Thursday also said the governor was more concerned with delivering on his promise to the people during his electioneering campaign. While maintaining that Governor Oyetola has so far done well by keeping his promises, he added that it has become a feat because on the assumption of office as…
Primate Elijah Ayodele, the leader of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, has warned Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, former Governor of Lagos State, that nobody wants him at the federal level ahead of the 2023 general election. Primate Ayodele advised the All Progressives Congress (APC) leader to fight for his soul and remain in the southwest; otherwise, he would lose on both sides. The clergyman said this in a 90-page prophecy he released on Wednesday at his Lagos church. Ayodele said, “I foresee the people are going to fight a lot and they need to do the needful because if care is not…
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu has declared that the party will win the presidential election in 2023. Ayu also declared that the PDP will control states and the National Assembly in 2023. He spoke at the flag-off of the Oyigbo-Okoloma Road in Oyigbo Local Government Area, Rivers State, yesterday. The PDP Chairman applauded Wike and the governors on the platform of the party for their developmental strides in their states. “PDP is prepared to expand its base not only in control of states, but in control of the National Assembly and, ultimately, also the return to…
President Muhammadu Buhari’s Special Adviser on Political Matters, Babafemi Ojudu, has denied saying Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will run for the presidency in 2023. Some reports had claimed Ojudu hinted on Osinbajo contesting for the presidency in 2023. However, Ojudu said such pronouncement is not his call, adding that only the Vice President would disclose if he has a presidential ambition. In a statement he signed, Ojudu, however, affirmed that Osinbajo was qualified to run for the Presidency in 2023. According to Ojudu: “My attention has been called to a quotation attributed to me that is trending. It was to…
As Russia was working to subvert US elections and sow discord among Americans, Congress directed the creation of an intelligence center to lead efforts to stop interference by foreign adversaries. But two years later, that center still is not close to opening. Experts and intelligence officials broadly agree the proposed Foreign Malign Influence Center is a good idea. The US has lacked a cohesive strategy to fight influence operations, they say, with not enough coordination among national security agencies. Adversaries that tried to interfere in the last two presidential elections continue to bombard Americans with disinformation and conspiracy theories at…