Reps to release Dogara’s pay slip, blasts El-Rufai for ‘undermining’ Buhari, legislature

​Nigeria’s House of Representatives ha​s accused Kaduna State Governor of undermining President Muhammadu Buhari-led government and the National Assembly.

A statement on Tuesday by Chairman, Committee on Media and Publicity, Hon Abdulrazak Namadas, advised El-Rufai to concentrate on the job of governance for which he was elected and allow others do theirs.

The statement recalled that Speaker Yakubu Dogara on Friday April 7, 2017 in response to calls by El-Rufai, disclosed that the leadership of the National Assembly had directed the bureaucracy and all other agencies under the National Assembly to make available details of their annual budgets beginning from 2017 budget which is still under consideration in the parliament.

​Continuing, it said; “Nigerians may further recall that the Rt. Hon. Speaker requested Kaduna State Governor, El-Rufai who is known for his consistent advocacy for openness in the budget of the National Assembly, to, in the spirit of good governance, transparency and accountability extend his campaign to other arms and tiers of government beginning from the Judiciary, to State Governments and Local Governments. The Speaker specifically urged Malam El-Rufai who has been championing this cause to impress on his colleagues (Governors) to disclose their Security votes and also publish what they do with local government funds under their jurisdictions.

​”Thus, the call by the Speaker was for Malam El-rufai to extend his advocacy on transparency and accountability to other arms and tiers of government in order to remove the lid of secrecy that has beclouded expenditures at the state level led by his colleagues especially on their security votes and not the states’ security budget. We note that what Malam El-rufai published was the security budget of Kaduna state and not his security vote expenditure as such.

​”We wish to advise the Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai to concentrate his efforts in Governing Kaduna State and stop undermining and distracting the National Assembly in playing its constitutionally assigned role in nation building. He launched an attack on the National Assembly on Friday, 7th April, 2017 and continued on Monday 10th April 2017. We are aware that there are serious security issues he should be grappling with in Southern Kaduna and other governmental issues facing him. He should not give the impression that he has no challenging work to do in Kaduna State.

​”​These attacks are coming on the heels of his now famous letter to Mr. President, Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, where he made strenuous effort to undermine his government, by openly lampooning him when he has unhindered access to His Excellency, Mr. President. As a senior citizen, he has a responsibility not to unnecessarily overheat the polity with tendentious and unfounded outbursts.

​”The National Assembly Budget is not opaque. Since 2010 when the Constitution was amended and National Assembly was placed on the first line charge, its budget became part of Statutory Transfers, together with the Judiciary, INEC and others. You cannot find details of the Budget of the Judiciary and INEC in the National Budget. It exists elsewhere. Of course from 1999 to 2010, the details of the National Assembly Budget was contained in the National Budget.

​”The leadership of the National Assembly has already directed the Clerk to the National Assembly to publish details of the National Assembly Budget from 2017 and so to continue to repeat the same call made 3days earlier smacks of propaganda and cheap blackmail.

​”​The Kaduna State Governor chose to give headings of its budget on security related matters. Maybe he will give further details of actual security expenditures at the appropriate time. He claimed that the State’s accounts have been audited. No grounds have been broken here. The response by the Kaduna State Governor completely missed the point. Mr. Speaker’s call was for El-Rufai to extend the campaign for openness and transparency to other arms of government, including the Governors’ expenditures on security votes and Local Government funds. He merely doubled down on his campaign on National Assembly Budget leaving out the other aspects of Mr. Speaker’s request.

​”The Kaduna State Governor claimed that “in 2016, the National Assembly budget for its 469 members was larger than the entire budget of several Nigerian States”.

​”This statement is patently misleading and a terrible display of ignorance and falsehood or a deliberate attempt to blackmail the parliament. For the avoidance of doubt, the National Assembly budget includes the salaries, allowances, expenditure and running cost of 469 members. It includes the salaries, allowances of about 3,000 Legislative Aides; it includes the salaries, allowances, equipment and maintenance of about 5000 staff in the Bureaucracy of the National Assembly.

​”​The National Assembly has agencies too. The National Assembly Service Commission has a staff strength of about 500. The National Institute for Legislative Studies is also a parastatal of the National Assembly that serves as a legislative think-tank and a highly rated academic institution, which serves not only the National Assembly but also State Houses of Assembly and the international community. It is currently building its headquarters which is world class. It has to be funded. El-Rufai’s mischievous publication carefully ignores the fact that the Bureaucracy of National Assembly and its agencies and 469 members need travel and transport support. They require medical attention, offices, equipment and all the support available to others in the public service.

​”El-Rufai conveniently forgot that the National Assembly has buildings to build and maintain. He discountenanced the need for training and re-training of staff and even capacity building for members. The narrative is such that he excludes the need for National Assembly members and bureaucracy to attend conferences both local and foreign. Some of the most critical work the National Assembly does is Oversight. It costs a lot of money to conduct proper oversight of executive agencies to save money and ensure governmental efficiency for the Nigerian people. Public Hearings by the National Assembly and its Committees have become a regular feature of our democracy, because citizen engagement and consultation is cardinal for running a democratic government. It costs a lot of money.

​”​It is most uncharitable to ignore the fact that the National Assembly is an arm of government, not a department in the Executive branch. The Budget of so many agencies in the Executive is higher than that of National Assembly, an arm of government. Such agencies as NCC – N102billion, CBN – N421billion, NPA – N250billion, NIMASA – N100billion, FIRS – N146billion, Customs – N81billion and NNPC whose budget runs into trillions are some examples. Indeed, the National Assembly Budget is about 2% of the National Budget. Yes, the National Assembly has voluntarily agreed to publish its Budget from 2017, as a responsible and accountable democratic institution. What happens to 98% of the National Budget should engage our attention too. We are sure that if 10% of the public scrutiny National Assembly receives is also devoted to those spending the other 98%, Nigeria would be better for it.

​”​We decided to respond only to correct some factual inaccuracies and set the records straight.

​”I am directed by the Hon. Speaker, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, to also in the spirit of transparency release his pay slip for the past 6 months from October 2016 to March 2017​”, it added.

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Court orders DSS to produce Suswam for arraignment

A Federal High Court, Abuja, on Tuesday ordered the Department of State Service (DSS) to produce former Benue Governor, Gabriel Suswam in court on May 11 for his arraignment.

The Federal Government had accused Suswam and two others of diverting N9.7 billion being part of funds from the Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment Programme.

The fund was allegedly diverted between 2012 and 2015 while Suswam was the governor of the state.

The other defendants facing the 32-count charge are the former Commissioner of Finance, Mr Omadachi Oklobia and former Accountant, Benue State Government House, Mrs Janet Aluga.

The arraignment was, however, stalled following Suswam’s absence in court.

Suswam and Oklobia are also standing trial at the Federal High Court, Abuja, on different matter bordering on embezzlement of state funds.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Suswam is currently in the custody of the DSS over another matter bordering on an allegation of illegal arms possession.

Mr Aminu Alilu, the prosecuting counsel, told the court that Suswam could not be served with the charge because he (Suswam) was being held by the DSS.

“Efforts to serve him in accordance with Section 2 (3) of the Administration of the Criminal Justice Act failed, therefore we served his counsel in compliance with Section 379 (3) of the ACJA, instead,” he said

Alilu further said the prosecution also made futile attempt to serve the ex-governor through the DSS.

“We have a letter to that effect and the acknowledged copy by the office of the DSS,’’ he said.

Mr Adedayo Adedeji, counsel to Suswam on other matters, said the prosecution misled the court to submit that Suswan refused to be served.

“Tuesday at about 3: p.m. two officers from the police walked into our office, seeking to serve Suswam, but because of respect for this court, we received it.

“Our objection is that being an originating summons, the first defendant ought to have been served personally.

“The fact that we are representing him in another matter does not mean that we must represent him in all of his cases. We were never briefed by Suswam to represent him in this case.

“It cannot now be correct to say that Suswan refused to be served, we submit that in the absence of the first defendant, this matter cannot go on,” he said.

The judge, Justice Gabriel Kolawole, therefore, instructed the DSS to ensure Suswam was present in court in the next adjourned date.

The judge ordered that Oklobia and Aluga should still enjoy their administrative bail

Justice Kolawole subsequently adjourned the matter till May 11 for the arraignment of the defendants.

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Zamfara meningitis outbreak was avoidable – WHO

…..as UNICEF warns against spread to North-East

The World Health Organization (WHO) has blamed the outbreak of meningitis in some parts of Nigeria, particularly Zamfara State on lack of robust surveillance, saying the Zamfara outbreak was avoidable.

This was also as the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) warned against spread of the meningitis outbreak to the North Eastern part of Nigeria, which it said is already suffering from malnutrition.

The development partners spoke in Kaduna on Tuesday at the Emergency Meeting of Northern Traditional Leaders Committee on Primary Health Care (PHC) delivery and some Northern Governors on Cerebrospinal Meningitis outbreak in the country.

According to WHO Country Representative, Wondimagegnehu Alemu said, Nigeria henceforth needs to spend more and invest on outbreak investigation and detection, particularly in rolling out robust surveillance system.

He said, 500 cases of meningitis discovered sometimes last year in Zamfara would have been been avoided if there was a robust surveillance system.

His words: ‘We really appreciate the timely response of the Federal Government’s team to this outbreak. We also appreciate that there is enough space for us to work with governments both at federal and state levels, that is well appreciated by us.

“We also value the critical role of traditional leaders in promoting health, preventing diseases and encouraging compliance of people affected by the diseases. It is often said, health is wealth and none of you likes to see or have sick people. It is from that perspective I see committed leaders, officially elected, as well as traditional leaders, standing for their people.

“I am not going to go into the details, but in the past, meningitis type A was the one that ravaged most of these areas. Since you have successfully conducted the preventive vaccination, it has now shifted.

“The current type C is a new one. It has never been known to cause this magnitude of outbreak; it used to be only sporadic cases. So, that has left us with no option than to rely on few of the tools that we have including few number vaccines that are available at global level, through the strategy contingency plan. The government has applied and has received and judiciously distributed to the affected places and the vaccination has taken place. More is coming on the way.

“Now, I will like to take this opportunity as I conclude that, in as much as we are happy that the surveillance work was able to pick up, the response was very good and the timely response, particularly from all levels was commendable, but going forward, we believe that we need to spend more and invest on detection, outbreak investigation and detection, particularly in rolling out robust surveillance system, robust surveillance system is required to identify initial cases that have been occurring in those areas particularly.

“A good example is the number of 500 cases accidentally discovered sometimes last year in Zamfara. That would have been been avoided if there was a robust surveillance system.

“WHO is committed to work with government, particularly with the Federal Ministry of Health and with the states, starting with Sokoto and Zamfara to Katsina, depending on the availability of resources to build that robust surveillance system, starting from health facilities, to LGAs and finally at the national level. The reason is that, these colleagues at LGA level could spend more of their time, analysing the data and find out needs to be done as a matter of rapid response. The second one is along with this, having a stock of vaccine, medicine, depending on their availability and also the medical supplies. These are the areas where the Honorable Minister, the officials of the ministry of health and Governors need to please invest and help to particularly avoid any future outbreak or stampede at initial stage”, he said.

In his own goodwill message, UNICEF County Representative, Mohammed Fall said, children in the North East were already facing the burden of malnutrition. and all the consequences of the devastating conflicts and letting meningitis penetrate the region would increase the burden.

According to him, “We express appreciation to the Northern Traditional Council for the long term partnership with UNICEF with regards to primary health care in Nigeria. One example was just given by the Governor of Kaduna State of the partnership we have on polio. Today, Nigeria is very close to being a polio-free country; this is largely because of this partnership.

“Building on this critical role, I think the calling of this meeting to get your involvement in the control of the outbreak of meningitis could not have been more timely than now. Your role cannot be overemphasised, as communities listen to you, they accept your guidance and what we need today is to ensure that the messages get to the households, through the communities, through the families and there is no best partner than you in this fight.

“Meningitis is a highly communicable disease, but it can be easily controlled through very simple improved hygiene measures, understanding the mode of transmission, early health seeking behaviour can help very much to roll back this disease.

“I need to call attention of your excellences to the situation in the North East. We know that, in the North East, children are already facing the burden of malnutrition. They are already facing all the consequences of the devastating conflicts. Now, letting meningitis penetrate this area would increase the burden and this is why I want to take this opportunity to appeal to the Federal Minister Health, to appeal to all the partners for special attention to be paid to avoiding this disease get and spread into the North East”, he said.

Meanwhile, the Representative of the Department for International Development (DFID), Salma Kolo blamed the outbreak of the scourge on weak health system in Northern Nigeria, calling on the leaders of the region to improve on their efforts to fix the health system.

According to her, “The government of United Kingdom is concerned about the outbreak of meningitis in Northern Nigeria, just like it is concerned about the case of maternal and new born mortality. It sympathises with the government and people of Northern Nigeria and people of Nigeria in general.

“The United Kingdom government had immediately sent its contribution of 800,000 dozes of meningitis vaccines through WHO and that has been acknowledged and it is already being utilised in the country.

“As part of other programmes funded by the UK government, one of which is reduction and averting maternal death in Northern Nigeria and also improving child survival.

“The outbreak of meningitis is an indication of weak health system in Northern Nigeria. And I want to use this opportunity to plead with the leaders, especially the Executive Governors to continue to put in more efforts in strengthening the health system, especially the primary healthcare system.

“Unfortunately we in Northern Nigeria are not privileged, the vulnerable groups are mainly women and children that are jobless, have no access to funds. Therefore, their care must be provided for free of charge, 100 per cent free of charge and that is possible. It has been demonstrated in Nigeria and we are beginning to see the outcome of such commitment through the work that we do with the state governments’, said DFID representative.

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Kogi: Police arraign Online Publisher over alleged sedition against govt

The Police on Tuesday arraigned Austin Okai, 35, an Online-Publisher in a Lokoja Chief Magistrates’ Court on alleged sedition against the Kogi State Government.
Okai was arraigned on a four-count charge of inciting disturbance, criminal defamation, causing the disappearance of evidence and sedition against the state.
The Prosecuting Officer, ASP. Gabriel Otowu told the court that the offences contravened Sections 104, 392, 416 and 167 of the state’s Penal Code Law.
Otowu said Commodore Jerry Omodara (rtd), the Security Adviser to the governor reported the matter to the Commissioner of Police, Kogi State Police Command on April 7.
The prosecutor said Omodara had complained that Okai made some on-line publications which were later investigated.
He said the publications were false and amounted to blackmail on the governor and his entire cabinet.
Otowu also told the court that the publisher allegedly used the publications to set the indigenes of the state against the government.
The prosecuting officer further said that Okai also issued a false publication labelling the governor as a “disaster and pain to the state.”
He also told the court that it was discovered that the defendant allegedly orchestrated the false publication of the governor’s recent death rumour.
The prosecution also alleged that Okai had recruited some like-minded youths that attempted to burn down the state’s revenue house on the first anniversary of the government.
The defendant, however, pleaded not guilty to the offences.
Okai described the suit as a sheer confrontation of the media by the state government, adding that he had only kept the people updated with activities in the state on his platform.

Mr Williams Aliwo, counsel to Okai applied for bail of his client.
He brought the application pursuant to Sections 36(5) and 35(4) of the constitution as well as Section 341(2,3) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC).
Aliwo assured the court that his client would be available to stand trial when admitted on bail.
He further prayed the court to grant Okai bail with lenient conditions, adding that he had not been charged with any criminal matter before.
The prosecuting officer, however, opposed the application, adding that the defendant should be remanded in police custody.
He said his prayer was predicated on the ground that investigation was on-going.
Otowo further said the prosecution had a reservation on the release of the defendant from custody as he could influence the ongoing investigation.
He also said the offences were serious, adding that the defendant could escape justice.
Ruling on the bail application, Chief Magistrate Levi Animoku held that the court had jurisdiction over the charges brought against the defendant with exception of sedition.
Animoku held that only the High Court had jurisdiction to try the offence of sedition under Section 416 of the Penal Code.
“The content of the First Information Report (FIR) touches on the state and the public.
“For now, I intend to tread softly on the issue of bail of the accused. This will enable the prosecution to conclude their investigation,” he said.
He, therefore, ordered the defendant to be kept in police custody.
Animokun then adjourned the case till April 13, for the mention.

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