Digital Leonard Blog

The leadership of the Senate and House of Representatives on Monday weighed in on the non-payment of severance allowances for legislative aides who served in the Eighth National Assembly between 2015 and 2019. President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan and Speaker of House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, met the relevant agencies of government led by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed. The behind closed doors meeting was attended by principal officers of the Senate and House of Representatives. Ben Akabueze, the Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation was also in attendance. While speaking on the reason for the meeting, Lawan said the essence was to make sure the severance allowances for legislative aides who worked between 2015 and 2019 were paid.   “The tenure of legislative aides employed by the National Assembly Commission and posted to members of the National Assembly is tied to the tenure of the National Assembly. The...

The Court of Appeal sitting in Kaduna on Friday ordered fresh election into the Kiru/Bebeji Constituency Federal Constituency seat in Kano State, sacking INEC-declared winner, Abdulmumin Jibrin. Jibrin, a former chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations, was declared winner of the election February, but the result was challenged by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Aliyu Datti Yako. Yako’s had his petition thrown out at the election petition but he went on to appeal the judgement. Justice Ajoke Adepoju in delivering judgment said the election in the two local governments of Kiru and Bebeji could not stand as the final result contained in Form EC (8) E was mutilated. Reacting to the judgement, Jibrin said confirmed his firm stance in the whole situation. He however in a statement on Friday night, faulted the court on the judgment, arguing that it was against the precedents set by the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. The lawmaker, who led the...

The Speaker of the House of the Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila has described the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari at the Supreme Court as a victory for democracy. Gbajabiamila, who said though the victory of the President at the February presidential polls was never in doubt, however, expressed his appreciation of the final victory, whereby Nigerian democracy was tested by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar. In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Lanre Lasisi, the Speaker said, “I want to use this opportunity to congratulate the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces on his final electoral victory that was challenged by PDP and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. Gbajabiamila said: “It is my conviction that this final victory, which has never been in doubt since the conclusion of the election would allow the President to concentrate on his determination to champion good gove...

The House of Representatives has promised to resolvethe deadlock between the Labour Union and the Federal Government over the implementation of the N30,000 national minimum wage. Labour is demanding 29 per cent salary increase for officers at salary levels 07 to 14 and 24 per cent adjustment for officers at salary grade levels 15 to 17, while the federal government had presented to labour a proposal of 11 per cent salary increase for officers at grade levels 07 to14 and 6.5 per cent adjustment for workers at grade levels 15 to 17, a situation which has created disagreement between the two parties. The Chairman, House committee on Labour, Engr. Muhammed Wudil, during the inaugural session of the committee, emphasized that labour leaders were supposed to meet with the committee Tuesday, but for an official engagement involving the Labour leaders with officials of the federal government, his committee would have waded into the matter Tuesday. He therefore promised to convene a meeting w...

Some members of the House of Representatives, under the auspices of Parliamentary Democrats Group (PDG) have cautioned the All Progressives Congress (APC) to avoid intimidating Speaker Yakubu Dogara over his plans to dump the party. Spokesman of the group, Timothy Golu (PDP, Plateau) who presented the lawmakers’ position after a meeting in Abuja yesterday, described “APC’s desperate attempt to keep Dogara in the party” as “sheer waste of time.” The group said, Dogara reserves the right to defect to any political party of his choice without fear of impeachment as the Speaker of the House of Representatives, saying APC has no right to sack him from the position. “It is laughable that the APC is begging the Speaker to remain in a party that has failed. Whereas the APC worked against his emergence, other members who saw his nationalistic spirit voted for him. “He is the speaker of the House of Representatives, not of the APC,” Golu said.  The group wondered why APC wants to retain the ...

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has assured a delegation of Southern and Middle Belt leaders that “restructuring is something that must be undertaken to reinforce Nigeria’s unity and development.” Speaking when the leaders paid him a courtesy visit in Abuja yesterday, Dogara said the House would look into all issues in the groups’ resolution, but admitted that consensus building was inevitable in selling the idea of restructuring to other groups in the country. “Restructuring is something we must undertake as a country. No parliamentarian will object to that. Whether we like it or not, something is wrong with Nigeria. It is a task all of us should be committed to, but we must generate consensus; it may not be 100 per cent but 70 per cent is excellent,” Dogara said. The delegation, which comprised Afenifere, Ohaneze Ndigbo, Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) and Middle Belt Forum, called on the speaker to key into the restructuring agenda as a way of sustaining t...

A former House of Representatives member, Dr. Haruna Yerima, has said he was suspended in 2005 for saying what Professor Attahiru Jega told the National Assembly that ‘it was mired in corruption’. Speaking yesterday, Yerima said he supported Jega for saying the truth. “No member of the National Assembly can deny that there is endemic corruption in the legislature,” he said. The former lawmaker said corruption was perpetrated by chairmen of committees who oversight federal agencies. The former INEC chairman said the National Assembly members were involved in bribe-for-budget extortion of heads of agencies. In his reaction, Senate President Bukola Saraki challenged Jega to name the bribe-seeking lawmakers.  Yerima however, said “what Jega said was exactly what I said in 2005 that earned me a suspension. As a former lawmaker, I can say without any contradiction that corruption is well entrenched in the National Assembly system.”   He said the lawmakers perpetrated their corr...