The Chief Whip, Orji Uzor Kalu, has the NWC and 108 senators-elect of his interest to become Senate president.

This is contained in a statement issued by the Media Office of the Chief Whip of the Senate, yesterday, in Abuja.

He, however, refuted the report that South East senators-elect have endorsed him. He said senators-elect from the South East only met to make a demand from the President-elect and the party and had not endorsed any candidate.

Kalu, in the letters which he personally signed and addressed to each of the NWC members and senators-elect, said he was offering himself for the position with sincerity of heart, humility and candour.

He explained that his seemingly inactive disposition in the contest of the senate presidency was because of the one month dedicated to mourning of his late wife, Ifeoma.

Attached to the letters of intent is Kalu’s Legislative Agenda, which has six priorities – economic growth and reform; constitutional and electoral reform; national security; improved social conditions and welfare; efficient and effective National Assembly and global influence. The former Abia governor  promised to promote and defend the constitution as well as foster a congenial and cordial relationship between the executive and the judiciary.

Part of the letter read: “It is with a deep sense of joy and humility that I bring you warm greetings and that of Abia North Senatorial zone. My emergence as the Senator to represent Abia North in this critical time in the history of our dear nation comes with huge responsibilities, top of which is to make quality laws for the good governance of our people. To be able to achieve these enviable goals, we require good leaders who will pilot the affairs of the 10th Senate. Leadership of a sophisticated Senate at the 10th Session will need men and women with abundance of shared vision, consensus building, charisma, credibility and pragmatism in the saddle. This is why I most humbly write to officially inform you of my interest to be elected the next Senate President. I make this offer to serve you and the Nigerian people with sincerity of heart, humility and candour.

“The biggest asset I bring to the table is wisdom and experience garnered over the years in the management of human and material resources. I promise to work for you, promote and defend the constitution and the party, and foster a congenial and cordial relationship between the party, the executive and judiciary. One thing is indubitably certain: working together in unity and mutual love and respect, we can take Nigeria to real next level of peace, progress and development,” the letter read in part.

•APC’s micro-zoning faces setback

Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Advocacy Network (PAN Nigeria), has rejected what it called political shenanigans, executive recklessness/misadventures and unwanted interferences in the selection of presiding officers of the National Assembly.

The group, with bias for the independence of national and states Houses of Assembly, noted with dismay how what ought to have been a simple, seamless and innocuous parliamentary process is being allowed to overheat the nation’s political system in a manner that is reminiscent of the weeks and days leading to the February 25 and March 18 general elections.

It stated this at an emergency meeting in Abuja held to deliberate on issues at stake across the country, especially the choice of presiding officers for the National Assembly by the incoming administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

In a communique signed by Sunny Anderson Osiebe,  national coordinator, Fred Itua, national secretary and Nkem Anyata-Lafia, national publicity secretary, the Network said: “We have also noted the widening and dangerous predilection to what looks to be a budding and rising incidence in executive interference and rascality in the activities of the National Assembly, which we perceive deeply as a misconception of what in political parlance is, usually, termed as lobbying.

“While we condemn this overbearing attempt to railroad the emerging 10th National Assembly in the direction of a particular mind-set, we wish to inform Nigerians that the legislature is one of the three arms of government, whose independence is guaranteed by our Constitution and the principles of democratic governance.

“The fact of the above, therefore, compels the need for Nigerians of all tongues and creeds to rise in unison in condemnation of the aforementioned activities in order to nip in the bud the general tendency by members of the executive and their powerful individual agents of coerciveness to take over the activities of the legislature in the emerging 10th National Assembly.”

•Ex-senators back aspirant Seventy-two non-serving senators have endorsed former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, for the position of Senate President.

Addressing a press conference in Abuja, yesterday, on behalf of the  ex-senators, Basheer Lado, former senator representing Kano central, said in the spirit of fairness and equity, the number three position should be zoned to the South South and given to Akpabio.

Lado, convener of the group, said Barau Jibrin, senator representing Kano north, contender for the senate president position, should be given the deputy senate president position.

•Yari’s supporters flay endorsement 

A group, Good Governance Initiative (GGI), backing Senator Abdul’aziz Abubakar Yari a has berated the 72 non-serving senators of the Second to Fourth Republics for backing Senator Akpabio and calling other presidential aspirants to step down.  The pro-Yari group said the call amounted  to double standard as many members of the  group had championed the independence of the legislature in the past when it suited their interests.

Its President, Kunle Sanusi, while reacting to the endorsement of Akpabio said said Yari would remain in the race to resist the gang-up against his candidature.

“Senator Godswill Akpabio was part of the PDP Senators who voted for a Senate president to ensure the independence of the legislature in 2015. Now he has changed, he want to be handpicked and not emerge through a democratic exercise. That tells you the kind of Senate President they want to install on the 10th National Assembly,” Sanusi said.

[Sun]

Ahead of the May 29 inauguration of a new administration, civil society organisation (CSO), Fixing The Future, has called on President-elect, Bola Tinubu, his deputy, Kashim Shettima, governors and other public officials to declare their assets. 

Urging politicians to comply with the extant law on asset declaration, the organisation equally advised them to declare assets of their spouses and unmarried children under the age of 21, as prescribed by the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act. 

The Executive Director, Stanley Ekpa, who addressed journalists yesterday in Abuja, said the demand followed findings that public officials only declare their personal assets and exclude those belonging to members of their households in contravention of existing law.

He regretted that about 94 per cent of public office holders do not comply with Section 15 (1) (c) of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act on full disclosure of assets and liabilities.
 
According to him, unless the nation’s asset declaration and declared asset verification system is made efficient, contract and procurement corruption would not abate.His words: “We want to draw attention of public officials to Section 318, Paragraph 19 of Part I and Part II of the Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) that the law requires all public officials, their spouses and unmarried children under the age of twenty-one (21) to declare their assets and liabilities in the asset declaration forms as prescribed by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB). 
“The scourging cost of corruption is staggering. Of the approximately $13 trillion that governments spend on public projects across Africa, more than 45 per cent is lost to contract corruption. Data from the African Union show that Nigeria loses over $7 billion to corruption yearly. At the continental level, it is estimated at $140 billion. 

“A figure that is equivalent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of five countries in Africa. PwC projects that corruption in Nigeria could cost up to 37 per cent of GDP by 2030 if it is not curtailed. As we all know, corruption drains public finances, affects efficiency in governance and lowers standard of living. 
 
“To curtail corruption in public service in Nigeria, public officials must observe and obey provisions of the extant law on full disclosure of their assets and liabilities before and during their tenures.”

Ekpa added: “Consequently, we are going beyond just this press conference to holding a National Symposium on Asset Declaration and Declared Asset Verification in partnership with relevant stakeholders. The symposium is to raise awareness with both outgoing, incoming and existing public officials on the need to comply fully with legal requirements for asset declaration and seek creative ways for collaborative action in verifying declared assets.”

[Guardian]