Politics
The history of the White House
With the Presidential odds pointing in Joe Biden’s favour, it seems possible that Donald Trump might end up having to pack his bags and move out of Washington’s White House. Over the years, the White House has been a home to almost every US President who has served a term for their country, although it’s certainly received many facelifts since it was first built.
George Washington was the country’s first ever president, and ahead of his second term in the role, in 1791, he selected the site where the White House would be built. The cornerstone for the structure was laid by 1792, and soon after, a design submitted by Irish-born architect James Hoban was agreed upon. Washington never actually got the chance to live in the finished residence, as it wasn’t completed until after his death. The first president to occupy the White House was John Adams, alongside his wife Abigail, in 1800, after a lengthy eight years of construction.
Thomas Jefferson and James Madison served as presidents respectively, however a few years after Madison was elected, the War of 1812 began, and the British set fire to the White House in 1814. Once these fires were put out, James Hoban was brought back in to rebuild the structure, ready for President James Monroe to move in by 1817. During Monroe’s administration, the house was further expanded – with the South Portico being constructed in 1824. Five years on, and President Andrew Jackson also oversaw an addition to the White House, the North Portico, which was built in 1829. During the latter half of the 19th century, there were even more proposals to significantly expand the President’s residence, as well as one that suggested building an entirely new house for future presidents to live in, but these plans never came to fruition.
By 1902, Theodore Roosevelt had been elected and subsequently began a major renovation of the White House. He went on to have the presidential offices relocated over to a newly constructed Executive Office Building, which is now known as the West Wing. Dubbed as the “Roosevelt renovation”, these plans were carried out by a famous New York architectural firm called McKim, Mead and White. President William Howard Taft was Roosevelt’s successor, as well as the man who had the globally recognised Oval Office originally constructed.
Almost 50 years on from Roosevelt’s overhaul renovation, the White House began to look a little worse-for-wear, showing signs of structural weakness. President Harry S. Truman was in office at the time, and decided to order yet another major renovation, in which the entire inside of the building was dismantled and reconstructed. Finally, by 1952, the work was complete and the Truman family could move back into the White House.
Since John Adams came into office, every US President that’s followed has lived in the White House, and made their own adjustments along the way. The White House holds the purpose of not only the home of the current president and his family, but also a museum of American history.
Quick facts:
- The White House needs 570 gallons of paint to cover the entirety of its outside surface.
- The White House has previously been known as the “President’s Palace”, the “President’s House” and the “Executive Mansion”.
- President Roosevelt is the one who originally gave the White House its name, in 1901.
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.