Politics
2023: PDP Demands Emefiele’s Resignation
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has called on the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, to immediately resign from office following his campaign posters appearance in All Progressives Congress (APC) campaign plast forms
The party said his appearance in campaign posters ahead of the 2023 general elections “confirms his partisan affiliation and entanglement with the APC.”
The party, through its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, in a statement on Friday, alleged that the appearance of the CBN boss “who by law, ought to be non-partisan and apolitical, in APC campaign material is the height of impunity of President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC regime.”
In the statement titled, ‘Campaign Posters: PDP Demands Emefiele’s Immediate Resignation, Investigation’, the PDP noted that the move by Emefiele under Buhari’s regime “amounts to poking its fingers in the eyes of Nigerians and daring them to do their worse.”
The statement reads in part, “By engaging in partisan politics to the extent of appearing in APC campaign posters, Mr Emefiele has knowingly and deliberately violated the provision of Section 9 of the Central Bank of Nigeria (Establishment) Act
“Mr Emefiele has also desecrated the sanctity of his office as CBN governor, compromised the integrity of the apex bank, stripped it of the confidence reposed in it by Nigerians and the international community and as such, cannot legitimately continue to hold and function in that office.
“This further confirms that under Mr Emefiele, the CBN, as the custodian of our national economy, has become an appendage and cash cow of the APC in their reckless pillaging of our national resources, the resultant effect of which is now evident in the near-collapse state of our economy.
“The CBN governor must therefore resign immediately and subject himself to an investigation by anti-corruption agencies on various allegations of financial misfeasance including reportedly opening our national vaults to the cabal in the APC administration and operating a special fraudulent, corrupt and discriminatory foreign exchange regimes for APC leaders to fleece our nation.
“In addition, this further confirms allegation in the public space that the CBN had secretly released billions of naira through various petroleum sector underhand dealings to finance the APC National Convention.
“It is now crystal clear that President Buhari and the APC are not committed to providing a level playing field for free and fair general elections in 2023. As the banker of the federation, Mr Emefiele is in a position to have undue access to public funds to finance APC’s campaigns.
“Moreover, being in control of all the accounts of other Nigerians, the CBN governor is also in a position to use his office to clamp down on the finances of other contestants and stifle them of funds.
“It is only under the APC with its impunity and disregard for rules and sanctity of institutions that campaign posters with the portrait of the CBN governor side by side with that of the President can be condoned. That presupposes an endorsement of impropriety and we demand that President Buhari come clean on this monumental corruption of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
“History will note President Buhari’s legacy of destroying every segment of our national life; from security to the electoral process, unity of our nation and now the sanctity of the Central Bank. Our party cautions that the consequences of this are better imagined. Now that Mr Emefiele has openly identified with the APC, he should immediately resign and face an ill-fated career in the fizzling APC.”
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.