Monday, 13 July 2015

Senate on a collision course with Buhari over Perm Sec’s refusal to honour invitation

On Sunday, there seemed to be an imminent clash between the Presidency and the Senate over an alleged attempt by the Presidency to disrespect the senate president.
Pro-Saraki senators are accusing the Presidency of asking the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Mrs. Anastacia Nwaobia, to an invitation by the upper chamber.

 
Nwaobia had informed the Senate that she could not honour its invitation without an approval by her supervisors but Saraki loyalists said the Senate had the constitutional power to invite Nwaobia and that her refusal constituted an affront to the legitimacy of the senate president.
Saraki loyalists said:
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“It will not augur well for our democracy if the Presidency will not allow civil servants to do their jobs. We should not carry the crisis in the APC to the Senate,” a pro-Saraki senator told one of our correspondents in Abuja on Sunday.
Both Saraki and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, had spurned the party’s directive on who to lead the National Assembly and had ridden on the back of an alleged alliance with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party members to clinch the leadership posts in both chambers.
The APC had preferred Ahmad Lawan, a Senator from Yobe State, as the president of the Senate.
The Lawan group in the Senate on Sunday said it supported Nwaobia because Saraki was said to lack both legitimacy and the moral right to invite the permanent secretary to brief the senate on the state of the economy.
It was learnt that senators loyal to the Senate President were angry that the Presidency could encourage the civil servants to disobey the Senate.
The Senate ad hoc committee on Finance, in a letter dated June 29, 2015, had invited Nwaobia and some officials of the finance ministry to appear before the committee on July 8.
But when the permanent secretary did not honour the invitation at 11am on July 8, the Clerk to the National Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa, wrote another letter to her the same day, restating the invitation.
The permanent secretary was said to have sent a text message to the Senate on July 7, explaining why she could not come.
The senate said:
“Your action is a deliberate violation of the provisions of Section 67(2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999(as amended).
“You are, therefore, requested to appear before the Senate leadership as contained in your aforementioned letter on Wednesday July 8, 2015 at 2.00pm prompt.”
The third letter to the Permanent Secretary, written by the Chief of Staff to the Senate President, Issa Galaudu, also stressed the importance of the meeting. It read,
“Please note that your text message of yesterday, Tuesday, July 7, 2015, which I received by hours of 20:02 pm, suggesting that you would not make today’s meeting, is unacceptable.
“This is an affront to the President of the Senate and its leadership. The provision of Section 67(2) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), is very clear and unambiguous in this regard. Hence, you do not need the permission of any official before you attend or appear before the Senate.
“Consequently, I have the instructions of the President of the Senate and leadership that you do appear before them on the date and time earlier communicated to you, Wednesday, July 8, 2015 by 11am prompt. It is my belief that you will comply unconditionally.”
A source in the ministry said that, based on civil service procedures, it would be wrong for the permanent secretary to honour the invitation without first getting the approval of the Head of Service of the Federation.
The source said since the permanent secretary reports directly to the HoS and not the Senate, it would amount to a breach of protocol for her to appear before the lawmakers without getting the consent of the HoS.
A pro Lawan group, in a statement by its spokesman, Senator Kabir Marafa, on Sunday, said that since Saraki had allegedly violated some sections of the Constitution to emerge as senate president, he could not accuse another person of committing the same offence.
The senator said,
“I read with open mouth amazement, the letter written by both the Chief of Staff to the Senate President and that of the Clerk to the National Assembly on the refusal or inability of a government functionary to honour the invitation of the “leadership” of the senate.
“They were saying the refusal violates section 67(2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Can somebody please tell them that they are guilty of similar, if not higher offence?
“They, in fact, not only violated the Constitution to ascend to the Senate leadership, they murdered it.”
The Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the Senate President, Mr. Yusuph Olaniyonu, declined to  comment.


Punch.

The state of the road on Lucky Igbinedion Way

This is the state of Lucky Igbinedion Way in Ikpoba Hill, Benin City, Edo State. Once it rains, driving in and out becomes a problem. The Local/State Govt should find a permanent solution to the road. More photos after the cut...

See pics of the 3 siblings who survived trailer accident in Anambra yesterday



These are photos of the three surviving members of a family whose parents, Mr and Mrs Okechukwu Odinigwe and the eldest son were crushed to death after a trailer who was running from FRSC officials in Awka rammed into their family car and fell on their car at Esther Obiakor Junction, Agu Awka on the Onitsha-Enugu Expressway yesterday, killing the man, his wife and their first son.

The surviving children aged 7 years old, 4 years old and 6 months old are being treated at the Regina Caeli Hospital in Awka the state capital. Another pic after the cut...


Photo credit: The Nation 

FG threatens to stop Sunday Oliseh’s unveiling as new Super Eagles head coach on Wednesday



The Federal government through the National Sports Commission (NSC) has threatened to stop the planned unveiling of Sunday Oliseh as the new head coach of Super Eagles by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on Wednesday July 15th.

According to The Guardian, a letter was sent to NFF from the office of the NSC yesterday July 12th, stating that Sunday Oliseh's appointment as the new head coach for Super Eagles after Stephen Keshi's sack did not conform with the Procurement Act procedure for engagement.

According to NSC, the office of the head coach of the Super Eagles is still vacant and no one has been appointed to take over from Stephen Keshi. A source in the Nigeria Sports Commission's management team said
"The procedure for hiring Sunday Oliseh did not pass through the Procurement Act. It was the same when the NSC employed the High Performance Directors. The Sports Commission requested for waiver for selective bidding, which enabled us to select people based on their credentials. We selected people and interviewed them in the United Kingdom. The Deputy Director in charge of Procurement attended because it is a procurement exercise, which must go in accordance with the Procurement Act. The engagement of Oliseh is a contractual one but it is unfortunate that the federation may not have been guided accordingly. If the federation goes ahead to unveil Oliseh on Wednesday without following the due process, they would be violating the Procurement Act, they would be found liable. The truth is that even if they have secured the consent of a private company to pick Oliseh’s bills, the law of the land on engagement must be observed. The procedure is for the NFF to write to the Sports Commission informing them of their plans to engage a technical expertise like the Eagles chief coach and his assistants, specifying the terms of relationship. If they don’t want to advertise, they can do selective bidding. If they must interview and hire Oliseh alone, they must apply for waiver of certificate of no objection giving reason for the decision to settle for him alone. Unveiling him on Wednesday is tantamount to violation of the due process of the procurement in accordance with Procurement Act. Writing to NSC is just a point of information and point of information is not a legal process. NSC has no business with their day-to-day operation but if the operation violates the law, we will draw their attention to it and take any managerial and administrative measure that must be taken. As I speak to you, NSC does not know whether there is any unveiling this week because we are an institution guided by official communication and far as we are concerned, nobody from the federation has communicated to us officially if there will be any unveiling". he said

Serena Williams stuns at Wimbledon' Champions dinner (photos)



The 33yr old sports legend stunned in a peach-coloured floor-length gown at last night's Wimbledon Winners dinner. After beating Garbine Muguruza on Saturday, Serena became the oldest ever Wimbledon Champion and now holds the titles for the world's four major tournaments in one year.
 

Basketmouth celebrates wife as she turns a year older today



Comedian Basketmouth's wife is a year older today and he took to instagram to send her a loving birthday shoutout. These two have been together for over 10 years. Amazing! What he wrote below
"For the wonderful times we’ve shared together, for the adventure,the love,the laughter,the friendship and all,I’m thankful for your life and I look forward to making many more memories with you. Birthdays come around every year, but you @elsieokpocha come once in a lifetime. Words cant express how much I love you, so I have decided to use numbers.... 123456789." Happy birthday, Elsie!!!

Aww, how sweet! Footballer Neymar inks sister's face on his arm, she inks his eyes on her arm

Isn't this so sweet? Last month, Barcelona and Brazilian football star Neymar unveiled his new tattoo of his younger sister Rafaella on his arm. And Rafaella returned the gesture by tattooing Neymar's eyes on her left arm. She unveiled it over the weekend. See it after the cut...

Sunday, 12 July 2015

Four killed after Boko Haram attacks prison in Niger Republic



Four persons have been confirmed dead after suspected Boko Haram members attempted a jail break at a prison in the southern Niger town of Diffa yesterday July 11th. The sect members attacked the prison with the hope of setting some of their members free. Three of the sect members and a soldier were killed during the incident. 

NLNG Funds: Stop lying to Nigerians, PDP replies APC


Press statement from PDP
Our attention has been drawn to the misleading and outright falsehood by the APC. The truth is that the NLNG had been on a 10-year tax haven until 2014. Within this period, successive governments, right from President Olusegun Obasanjo never shared nor tampered with the cumulative dividends over the years.
Whatever taxes paid from the NLNG go through the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) and recorded as part of the income of the Federal Government.
It is imperative to note that by the end of the tenure of President Goodluck Jonathan, NLNG dividends had risen to a cumulative $5.6billion and not a single cent was ever taken from the funds.
Although it is within the rights of the APC administration to spend the funds in any way they may decide, it is however cruel for them to inflict on us all such malicious falsehood while the current Presidency without the benefit of economic advisers and relevant statutory organs of government, unilaterally decided to deplete the funds without thinking of the attendant future investments and financial obligations of Nigeria in the NLNG project.

The APC must note that there is a limit to propaganda and lies. Now is the time for governance and this government has shown total unpreparedness to face the challenges of governance at the center.
Signed

Chief Olisa Metuh
National Publicity Secretary

Meek Mill & Nicki Minaj loved up on set of their music video (photos)


The lovebirds shared behind the scenes from their new music video for 'AllEyesOnYou'. More photos after the cut...