Politics
PDP Faults APC Over Call For Ortom’s Impeachment
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has lampooned the All Progressives Congress (APC) over the party’s recent call for the impeachment of Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State.
The State Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mr. Daniel Ihomun had in a recent media outing in Makurdi called for the impeachment of Governor Ortom on the grounds that he allegedly refused to ensure the conduct of free and fair local government elections in the state, claiming also that he mismanaged the local governments in the state.
“We submit that, Governor Ortom’s acts of maladministration in piloting the affairs of Local Governments in Benue State, coupled with his illegal, unlawful and unconstitutional overlapping interference into the smooth running of the said Local Government Councils is unforgivable. Ortom must be impeached, so as to save the Local Government administrations in the State from being driven into total and comprehensive extinction,” Ihomun said.
Reacting, the State Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Bemgba Iortyom, who in a media briefing at the weekend in Makurdi, recounted the accomplishments of the present administration, dismissed the allegations of the APC against the Governor Ortom describing the party as “the most dysfunctional and most unpatriotic opposition political party ever in the political history of the state.”
According to him, “it is a manifestation of lack in depth of thought by the opposition party that they have shown themselves so incapable of comprehending even basically how the local government tier of administration functions, and also gone so far down the pedestrian lane as alleging unfounded acts of corruption against the Ortom administration and calling for his impeachment.
“Perhaps, APC in their latest call for Governor Ortom’s impeachment is still under the same temptation as propelled them to attempt the failed bid to impeach him in the buildup to the 2019 elections with only 8 out to 30 members of the state Assembly who were backed by “Federal Might”, otherwise how does the concoction of watery commonplace allegations against the governor amount to impeachable offences?
“By which consensus does APC hope to muster an impeachment of the governor in a legislative assembly where they have at the moment only 3 out of 30 members and it is doubtful by the trend of events if they will have even a single member by the turn of 2023?
“APC has shown itself an enemy of Benue by continually holding and bandying views which target at demarketing the state and seeking to scuttle the attainment of strategic gains being sought by the Ortom administration, all in furtherance of a scorched earth strategy which PDP had earlier condemned.
“Only recently the opposition party targeted the Benue Television which is another of the Ortom administration’s milestones with derisive commentaries in the media targeted to besmirch it when it was advertised that the station now airs on Channel 8 on the Free-to-Air satellite system, despite that this represents progress as even major television stations such as AIT climbed up the ladder to be where they are today, yet the same party’s spokesman has been using the television station and was even a couple of days back a guest on one it’s talk shows.
“The other day Benue APC came out condemning the calls by Governor Ortom for 13% derivation revenue allocation to Benue State from all mineral resources in the state, after the governor had mounted a case for the state to be designated a mineral producing state.
“This clearly is politics taken to the rock bottom of negativity where the very essence of society itself is put to jeopardy in the quest by a group to usurp access to power.
“This is politics which has not the interests of the state and the people in view as the objective, but rather that of a group and the self seeking interests of its members, but which are supposed to be subsumed under those of the state.
“To APC, winning power in Benue State at the 2023 elections is a matter of hook or crook as can be seen in the manner of the party’s approach to the processes leading up to the elections, with tell tale signs of a preference for mob rule over the lawful prescriptions of the rule of law.
“We call on Benue people to beware of this same children of ‘Federal Might’ as they have once again started the same and by now familiar dance steps targeted as usurping the popular mandate of the people which is being lustfully desired after by external forces which mean only ill for Benue and her people.
“PDP and the Ortom administration under the party’s control owe the people a duty of care to provide governance to them and a contractual obligation to discharge on the sworn oath of government to secure the lives and properties of the people while ensuring an enabling environment for them to thrive in private enterprise and industry.”
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.