The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general elections, Atiku Abubakar has raised serious concern about who’s piloting the affairs of Nigeria following the absence of President Bola Tinubu and his Vice, Kashim Shettima....CONTINUE READING

While Tinubu is yet to return to Nigeria one week after his official trip to Saudi Arabia, his vice, Shettima is also out for the 2024 US-Africa Business Summit at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas, Texas, where he will be representing the President.

Reacting to this development, the former vice president said “it is unprecedented that the two leaders will be absent from the country at the same time.” The leader of the PDP said it’s more troubling that the two leaders of the country are out a time Nigeria is facing many challenges.

“I have been inundated by reports of the absence of the president and vice president from the country. “It is unprecedented that the two leaders will be absent from the country at the same time, especially now that the nation is faced with daunting challenges.

“The question that readily comes to mind is who is in charge of government at this point, or is it right to assume that we are on autopilot?” Atiku asked in a post made via his official X account.

A group of federal lawmakers identified as G-60 have stated that members of the Rivers State House of Assembly lack the legitimacy to amend the State Public Procurement law....CONTINUE READING

The legislators stated this while reacting to the alleged overriding of assent of Governor Siminialayi Fubara to pass the 2024 Rivers State Public Procurement (Amendment) Bill.

They argued that the purported veto of the powers of 27 persons parading themselves as Rivers lawmakers was nothing but legislative madness taken too far by some clowns.

Speaking via a statement by its spokesperson and the member representing Ideato North South Federal Constituency of Imo State in the House of Representative, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, the group described the veto as legislative rascality.

They maintained that the ‘Abuja based lawmakers’ who operates from a two room self contain in Emohua and Abuja are still moving on freely parading themselves on account of the mercy of Fubara in obedience to the peace accord orchestrated by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Ugochinyere said, “These clowns as far as we are concerned are still moving about freely parading themselves freely because of Governor Fubara’s Mercy and largely in obedience to the peace accord brokered by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to end the political crisis in the state.

“However, while the Governor has stick the accord, his predecessor and Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Minister, Chief Nyesom Wike has not with what his loyalists are doing.

“One of such evidence is the purported veto of Rivers procurement law which is an unenforceable legislative madness by impostors who scared of impact of Fubara’s infrastructure revolution.

“If not, how can people worth calling lawmakers even think that mobilisation fee of not more than 20 per cent of any contract sum is enough for suppliers or contractors to move to site or provide good and service in the present economic quagmire masterminded by their allies in the federal government?

“It is also on notice that these persons who seat in some hotel rooms in Abuja or anywhere their paymasters take them to make such pronouncements have lost the status of lawmakers ever since they dumped the party, the PDP which was a vehicle that brought them to power and joined APC.

“The action violated Section 109 (1) (g) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) which states that; Section 109 (1) of the 1999 Constitution provides that ‘a member of a House of Assembly shall vacate his seat in the House if … (g) being a person whose election to the House of Assembly was sponsored by a political Party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected.

“To this end, these person are not lawmakers and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should rise to the occasion and conduct election to fill those vacant seats and save Rivers from this continuous illegality and Nigeria the embarrassment that non-existing lawmakers are causing too often.”

The Rivers State Government has knocked the All Progressives Congress, APC, over its call on the State House of Assembly to immediately commence an impeachment process against the governor of the state, Siminalayi Fubara....CONTINUE READING

The state’s Commissioner for Information and Communications, Joseph Johnson, explained that the 27 lawmakers in the State House of Assembly lacked the moral standing to impeach the governor.

The commissioner warned the APC lawmakers, who are loyal to Federal Capital Terrority, FCT, minister, Nyesom Wike, against embarking on such a venture, stressing that any attempt to impeach the governor will be resisted by the Rivers people.

According to the Commissioner, attempts to impeach the governor would not be an easy journey, noting that the people of the state would resist such moves with their blood.

He said, “It is not going to be an easy journey. They should not imagine embarking on it because Rivers people will resist them. Rivers people will resist them because it is even baseless to think of it. They are not fighting with legitimacy; they are only fighting for their own survival. On what plank will you put that? The law says you can’t put legality on illegality.

“As far as we are concerned, they do not even have the locus standi to do that. They should not even bother to start it because Section 109(g) has settled the case. It says if an Assembly member defects from his own party that brought him to power, you automatically lose his seat. They have done that, and it is settled. Our Constitution is the grand norm.

“The court, the Supreme Court, is there to look at these elementary issues. There is also a subsisting judgement on this, so we don’t need a second opinion on whether we should respect them as Assembly members or not. The Supreme Court has already declared those seats vacant.

“Tony Okocha was just yesterday declared as not being a member of APC by a former chairman of the party, Sokonte Davies. He is a factional chairman. We want the faction led by Chief Emeka Beke to say the same thing. Okocha is standing on one leg. His call is an empty call. His advice to impeach the governor is a journey that leads nowhere, and they will not succeed. The lawmakers are not existent, and they are not seen in