House of Reps member, Nse Ekpenyong, remanded for certificate forgery

A Federal High Court, sitting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, on Thursday ordered the remand of Nse Ekpenyong, member representing Oron Federal constituency, in the National Assembly over alleged certificate forgery.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, had arraigned the lawmaker on a 9-count charge of forgery and alteration of documents. Ekpeyong was alleged to have forged an Abia state polytechnic Ordinary National Diploma, OND, certificate.

EFCC also accused the lawmaker of altering a December 1999 West African Examination School Certificate, WASSCE, which he presented before an electoral tribunal, claiming they were genuine.

The lawmaker, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were read to him. The prosecuting counsel, Ahmed Arogha, shortly after he pleaded not guilty asked for a trial date and accelerated hearing on the matter.

Counsel to the lawmaker, Emmanuel Isangidoho, told the court that he had filed an application for the bail of his client, and urged the court to admit him to bail.

The trial judge, Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu granted the defendant bail in the sum of N10 million, with one surety in like sum. Justice Ojukwu ordered that the defendant remain in custody pending the perfection of his bail.

The case has been adjourned to April 26.

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Yakubu Dogara, sacks appropriation committee chair, Abdulmumin Jibrin

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, today announced the sack of the chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin. 

Jibrin has been enmeshed in controversy following revelations that he allocated projects worth over N4 billion to his Kiru/Bebeji Federal Constituency of Kano State in the 2016 budget. 

He was replaced with Mustapha Bala Dawaki who was until now was the chairman of the Committee on Housing.

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Reps urge NFF to pay Shuaibu, Keshi entitlements

The House of Representatives on Tuesday urged the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) to immediately pay entitlements due to late former Super Eagles’ coaches, Stephen Keshi and Amodu Shuaibu.

The house mandated its Committee on Sports to liaise with the NFF to ensure that the payments were made without delay. This was sequel to a motion under “matters of urgent public importance” sponsored by Rep. Sam Onuigbo (PDP-Abia), which was unanimously adopted.

Presenting the motion, Onuigbo said that payment of the entitlements would serve as a conscious effort toward cushioning any pains and financial pressures on the families of the deceased. Onuigbo expressed worry that Shuaibu was being owed arrears of salaries running into many months.

According to him, Shuaibu was equally being owed by Edo State Government, having worked as the Director of the State Youth Football Development Agency, a position from which he resigned last year.

The lawmaker, who said that the two coaches served the country meritoriously, pointed out that their deaths were huge losses to Nigeria.

“These iconic Nigerians exercised leadership in football administration and impacted positively on the nation and the world in ways that their outstanding accomplishments brought happiness to Nigerians.

“Even in the periods of economic and political adversities, they died at a time like this when football as a sport enjoyed by Nigerians is taking a nose dive.

“Now, their demise is not only a huge loss to Nigeria and their families but to the international community as well, and we can understand the pains both families and Nigerians are currently going through.

“Nigerians and the international community as a whole have lost the experiences of these patriots and heroes of football, whose services have been lost forever.”

Onuigbo further urged the Federal Government to immortalise the football icons who served the country selflessly so as to encourage younger ones to always give their best for the development of the country.

The two former national football coaches died within a space of four days. Keshi, 54, died on Wednesday, while Shuaibu, 58, died on Saturday.

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$3.1bn recovered by EFCC in 6 months – Reps

The Chairman of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Financial Crimes, Hon Kayode Oladele has revealed that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has in the past six months recovered over N600 billion.

Speaking with newsmen in Abuja, the lawmaker explained that not all recovered property, cash or any other asset by EFCC are immediately forfeited to government’s coffers, stressing that they remain exhibits until when a judicial pronouncement is made by the court.

The lawmaker criticised politicians over their constant bashing of the anti-graft agency’s mode of operation.

He said, “People just bring up questions to discredit and to reduce the credibility of the agency. So far, with an agency collecting $3.1 billion in less than six months, people should really give them a lot of accolades.

“When you talk of money being remitted to the national treasury, it is something you have to look at very well in a different perspective because when you collect money and unless somebody voluntarily says this money is stolen and he is really giving it up, any money collected by EFCC, unless there is voluntary admission of guilt, is still regarded as an exhibit for the purpose of conviction.”

Oladele disclosed that the commission operates a Recovery Account where the recovered funds are deposited to yield interest, adding that an accused will get his money back with interest if not convicted.

“So, EFCC cannot just collect money and begin to pay into national treasury. What if at the end of the day the person from whose hand they collected the money is acquitted? Who will pay back the money,” the lawmaker said.

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2016 Budget: NASS will not override Buhari’s veto yet – Dogara

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt Hon Yakubu Dogara, has said the National Assembly and the Executive are likely to resolve issues surrounding the 2016 budget very soon.

Dogara, who made this known when he received a delegation of the All Progressives Congress elders and stakeholders from Kwande/Oshongo federal constituency of Benue State in the National Assembly, also stated that the executive and the parliament will not have any fight over their differences arising from the 2016 budget as passed by the National Assembly.

He stated, “We know that our people cannot wait forever for the budget and as a responsible government, we cannot afford to go to sleep on this. As we speak to you, I know that the Executive has sent observations on the budget, areas they termed “grey areas”. We’ve taken delivery of that document, we are looking into it in collaboration with the Senate, and we have arrived at a decision which I will not announce here because it is for the ears of Mr. President only.”

“In the overall national interest, we know that we have to find a solution and sooner than later, I believe that as leaders, having put on our thinking caps, we should be able to come up with a solution that will address this problem.”

A statement signed by the Speaker’s spokesman Mr. Turaki Hassan, quoted him as saying that the National Assembly is well within its powers to make amendments to the budget before passing it because the role of the Executive stops at providing estimates to the legislature which now goes further to prepare it into an appropriation law.

Dogara explained, “the truth is that even though it is the responsibility of the parliament, constitutionally speaking, to prepare the budget, because I haven’t seen any region anywhere in the world where the executive does that, the constitution recognizes that the executive will prepare the estimates and revenues and present it before parliament and then the parliament, in exercise of its duties, will make appropriation in a document called budget. Budget is always a law, it is not a policy statement and there is no government arm, no institution of government that can make laws except the National Assembly. We have exercised that constitutional right and privilege which is exclusively reserved for the National Assembly using the document that is before the President and as we all know, a law requires the assent of the president; that is one of the instrumentalities of checks and balances that democracy guarantees and if it is not assented to after some time, then the parliament can summon the courage to say they are overriding the veto powers of the president or say the bill will have to commence de novo."

“But in this situation we are not there, even though there are discussions and people instigating a fight. We know that as leaders, our responsibility is not to fight. It is one government and this government will take the active collaboration of the Judiciary, Legislature and the Executive to be able to deliver on the mandate. We cannot form an opposition within the same government. The Executive cannot constitute itself into an opposition within the system in the same government; neither can the Parliament, even though it is a bipartisan one.”

The Speaker also gave the assurance that the present administration is committed to keeping up with its electoral promises, especially through the instrument of the budget, while urging the citizens to collaborate with the government to make it a success.

“I know that we promised a lot and the question on the lips of many Nigerians, including some of us who really fought for change is: “where is the change?” When we made those promises, we knew that change is constant, but if you want positive change, it has to be a guided one and it just doesn’t come easily. I can assure that all hands are still on deck to ensure that all that was promised is delivered to the people of Nigeria.”

Dogara also used the occasion to express his condolences to the government and people of Benue State over the “very sad and incessant incursion” into some of their communities, especially Agatu, while adding that though it has been the subject of many motions on the floor of the House, he is happy to note that the government has started doing something about it.

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