Politics
Odje Urges Institutional Reform To Deepen Democracy
A Legal practitioner and humam rights activist, Dr Akpo Odje, wants increased institutional reforms in the country to deepen democracy.
He made the call in Yenagoa on Friday in a lecture entitled “Freedom of Information: The Right to Know”.
Odje said at the event to mark the World Press Freedom Day that the sack of Prof. Maurice Iwu as INEC Chairman would not bring an end to electoral fraud in the country.
Rather, he said, the nation should concentrate on reforming the entire political system in line with international practice.
The Warri-based lawyer said the reforms would engineer better progress for the country.
Odje said that no one could do any magic in terms of performance until the complete overhaul of the institutions.
“Even if you appoint tested hands, including Prof. Wole Soyinka to become INEC Chairman, there is only little he can do.
“The system is corrupt. Until the institutions are reformed, we may not be able to conduct free and fair elections,’’ he stated.
Odje expressed worry that barely 13 months to the next general election, there is no sign of preparations due largely to political crisis in the country.
“This is the month of May, and elections are been scheduled for January next year. As we talk now, no voter registration has been conducted.
‘’We don’t even know when political parties will conduct their primaries. How then can we have credible elections,” he queried.
The lawyer also faulted the manner in which the federal government was handling the post amnesty programme for ex-militants in the Niger Delta.
“We called the boys to come out of the creeks and granted them amnesty, even for not committing any crime. But the way it is going, it looks like we never prepared for the post Amnesty era,” Odje said.
He also picked on the oil companies, saying that they were “not helping matters”.
He said the companies’ failure to relocate their headquarters to their operational areas in the Niger Delta was a set back to the development of the region.
“They are impoverishing our people by paying their taxes in Abuja and Lagos,” Odje said.
He called on journalists to live above board in the discharge of their professional duties and expressed concerns over the delay in the passage of the Freedom of Information Bill by the National Assembly.
He also advised journalists to be security conscious as they remained targets of politicians who might not like them to report the truth.
“The Nigerian Constitution is not protective of journalists just like in Ghana and other developed countries. Your job is a very delicate one and you need to be careful,” Odje warned.
In an address, the Chairman of the occasion and Commissioner of Bayelsa State Ministry of Information, Strategy and Orientation, Mr Nathan Egba, described journalism as a noble profession.
He called on media practitioners in the state to see themselves as partners in the development of Bayelsa.
In his welcome address, the State Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr. Tarinyo Akono, said the body was disturbed by the recent killing of journalists across the country.
Akono used the occasion to announce the re-naming of the state NUJ Press Centre after veteran journalist, Late Ernest Ikoli, for his contribution to the growth of journalism in Nigeria.
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed, through a second reading, a bill seeking to retain immunity for the Office of the President and remove immunity from the Vice President, the Governors and the Deputy Governors.
The bill was one of the 42 considered and passed through the second reading stage during plenary presided over by the Deputy Speaker, Mr Benjamin Kalu, in Abuja.
Sponsored by Hon. Solomon Bob (Rivers PDP), the bill is seeking the amendment of Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution to guard against abuse of office and to ensure transparency in governance.
The long title of the proposed legislation read: “A Bill for an Act to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to qualify the immunity conferred on the President, remove the immunity conferred on the Vice President, the Governors and their deputies, in order to curb corruption, eradicate impunity and enhance accountability in public office and for related matters.”
Key amendments include changes to Section 308 of the Constitution, which currently grants immunity to the president, vice president, governors, and deputy governors while in office.
The proposed bill will amend subsection 3 to ensure that immunity only applies to the President and the vice president when acting as President under Section 145 of the Constitution.
Additionally, a new subsection 4 will be introduced to make the immunity clause inapplicable if the office holder is acting in an unofficial capacity, engaging in actions beyond the powers of the office, or involved in criminal conduct.
“The bill seeks to foster transparency and strengthen the fight against corruption by making public officials more accountable for their actions, both in and out of office.”
“Section 308 of the principal Act is amended by:(a) substituting a new subsection (3) as follows: “(3) This section applies to a person holding the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Vice President only when acting as President, in line with Section 145 of this Constitution.
Creating sub section (4) thereto as follows:”(4) The foregoing provisions of this section shall be inapplicable where the person to whom this section applies is acting in an unofficial capacity or where the conduct of the person is beyond the powers of his office or the conduct is criminal in nature.
“This Bill may be cited as the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Alteration) Act 2024.
The bill is currently awaiting further debate and consideration by the National Assembly.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has written to notify Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the senator representing Kogi Central, about the petition by constituents seeking her recall from the national assembly.
INEC said it has also received the contact details of the petitioners.
“Pursuant to section 69 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended, I write to notify you of the receipt of a petition from representatives of registered voters in your constituency seeking your recall from the senate.
“The notification is in line with the provisions of clause 2 (a) of the Commission’s Regulations and Guidelines for Recall 2024.
“This letter is also copied to the presiding officer of the senate and simultaneously published on the commission’s website. Thank you”, the letter read.
The letter was signed by Ruth Oriaran Anthony, secretary to the commission.
Meanwhile, in a statement issued on Wednesday, INEC said it has now received the updated contact details from representatives of petitioners seeking to recall the senator.
In the statement, Sam Olumekun, INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education, said a letter notifying the senator of the petition has been delivered to her official address, copied to the senate presiding officer, and published on the commission’s website.
“The next step is to scrutinise the list of signatories submitted by the petitioners to ascertain that the petition is signed by more than one half (over 50%) of the registered voters in the constituency. This will be done in the coming days.
“The outcome, which will be made public, shall determine the next step to be taken by the Commission. We once again reassure Nigerians that the process will be open and transparent”, Mr Olumekun said.
Sen. Akpoti-Uduaghan had recently accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of sexually harassing her.
The allegation came in the wake of seating arrangement related altercation between Senator. Akpabio and the Kogi Central senator at the red chamber
She was subsequently suspended from the senate for six months for “gross misconduct” over the incident.
The constituents behind the recall move also accused her of “gross misconduct, abuse of office, and deceitful behaviour”.
The senator has denied wrongdoing and called the recall effort a “coordinated suppression” of her voice.
The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed the second reading of a bill to upgrade the Lagos State 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) to full-fledged Local Government Areas (LGAs ).
The bill, was sponsored by James Faleke, Babajimi Benson, Enitan Badru, and 19 other lawmakers.
The bill is titled “A Bill for an Act to Alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) to Accommodate the Thirty-Seven (37) Development Area Councils of Lagos State as Full-Fledged Local Government Areas, Increasing the Total Number of Local Government Areas in the Federation to Eight Hundred and Eleven (811), and for Related Matters (HB. 1498),”
Once fully enacted, Nigeria’s total number of LGAs will rise from 774 to 811, with Lagos overtaking Kano and Katsina, which currently have 44 and 34 LGAs, respectively.
Proponents of the bill argue that granting full LGA status to the LCDAs would bring governance closer to the people. The 37 LCDAs were created by President Bola Tinubu in 2003 when he was governor of Lagos State.
However, it’s worth noting that the Lagos State House of Assembly has been working on a bill to replace the 37 LCDAs with newly designated administrative areas.