Politics
Ikunyi Owaji-Ibani, the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, has resigned
House Of Reps Crisis And Buhari’s Magic Wand
Reports suggesting a deadlock in last Monday’s meeting President Muhammadu Buhari had with APC members of the House of Representatives stemmed from reporters who did not reckon with the president’s dexterity in conflict resolution, GEORGE AGBA writes.
Most of the reports that filtered in from Aso Rock last Monday on the outcome of the meeting President Muhammadu Buhari had with the All Progressive Congress (APC) members in the House of Representative were that the meeting was domed to failure. The president, according to the reports, failed to resolve the fracas that that had confined the house in a legislative impasse since inception of the 8th National Assembly.
When the House eventually finished its plenary on a peaceful note the next day and Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila emerged the house leader, not a few Nigerians considered the reports that there was a stalemate a hoax after all. The thinking was that the authors of the said report wouldn’t have claimed the president’s meeting with the lawmakers ended in deadlock when everything ended peacefully on the floor of the house the next day.
But to be candid, the State House reporters should not be blamed for the said report, or else it would amount to killing a fly with a sledge hammer. In keeping faith with objectivity, which the ethics of their profession demands, the journalists actually reported what they saw on the surface. They relied on a very popular concept in the country’s political lexicon- body language- in drawing their conclusion about the outcome of the meeting.
In journalism parlance, it is normal for an Editor to ask a reporter to rely on the mood of those present in a story scenario in drawing conclusions about situation report. The meeting of President Buhari and the lawmakers perfectly matches this scenario since it was a closed-door parley from which inferences were expected to be drawn about what transpired.
So, the Villa reporters relied heavily on the body language of the lawmakers and even that of the meeting itself which lasted for just about 20 minutes in arriving at a conclusion that it all ended in a deadlock. Therefore, reports that the meeting failed to resolve the leadership crisis in the lower chamber of the National Assembly was not totally out of place. Not when the honourable members came out of the very brief meeting fusing like a hen in search of a nest.
After the meeting, the legislators stepped out looking like cannons over charged with double cracks. Keen observers believe strongly that save for the Aso Rock environment, with its heavy security presence and the aura of a President like Buhari saturating its vicinity, the lawmakers from the green chamber of the National Assembly would have once again turned honourability into a dishonourable act right in the forecourt of the president’s office.
The House members walked out of the new banquet hall, venue of the meeting before their principal officers and the APC national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun. They wore disturbed looks and appeared divided among themselves. They were quite willing to talk to the press on what they may have interpreted to be the President’s position at the meeting to they way it favoured their camps. One after the other, members of both factions struggled to grant interviews to State House correspondents.
While a member of one faction addresses the press, another member from the other camp would crane his ears to listen to what he is saying in order to enable him prepare his own counter. And as soon he senses that the colleague from the other camp was interpreting the president’s position differently from the way his own camp understood it, he runs to the camera immediately to oppose it. It continued that way until the journalists said they were no more conducting interviews.
It was when Gbajabiamila, Speaker Dogara and Chief Odigie-Oyegun came out to address journalists that it became clear that President Buhari recorded a major success in resolving the crisis. Gbajabiamila noted that, while everything at the meeting bordered on party supremacy, before the end of the day, Nigerians would be briefed on the decision reached. He said, “We are still talking. But I think this is the first time everybody is coming together in a cordial atmosphere.
“We came together for the first time as one family, with a lot of camaraderie. I think we are almost at the point where all of these would be behind us, hopefully by tomorrow (Tuesday). It is not about magic; it is about what should have been done a long time ago. We have finally sat down together and we will resolve it before the night, in a couple of hours.
“The important thing is that the country wants to move ahead. The House wants to move ahead and the party wants to move ahead. Move ahead, we shall. Whoever or whatever outside forces that might have been stoking the fire, I think we would put that to an end this evening at the meeting”.
The party’s national Chairman, Odigie-Oyegun, who spoke next said a lot was achieved during the brief meeting. He said, “Everything is upbeat. You can see that I am smiling. You will be very surprised that a lot was achieved in 20 minutes. As the chairman of the party, I can say that there are no discordant tunes. You can see the Speaker of the House standing firmly besides me and I have a feeling that in another three or four hours and by tomorrow, we will have good news for the nation”.
Speaker Dogara who concluded the session with journalists said he had always remained on the side of the party. “I have always stood firmly by the party. There has never been a time that I never stood firmly by the party. So, like my chairman has explained, we are going into consultations with the party and I am sure that sooner than later, we will have good news for Nigerians”, he stated.
Many Nigerians say they are still wondering the kind of magic President Buhari performed in resolving the matter especially when it was remarkably swift in the way he presided over the meeting. In just 20 minutes, he was able to set the pace for reconciliation and asked the lawmakers to go and meet again and bring him feedback that same day on what they would have agreed on. This, pundits say, was just a tip of the Iceberg of the kind of leadership Nigerians would see in Buhari in the next four years.
The general expectation was that the meeting was going to drag for hours, with members of the two factions engaging themselves in accusations and counter accusations before the president. This is even so taking into cognizance that the rift in the house had culminated in physical combat. The lawmakers had engaged themselves in fisticuffs before the House was compelled to go on recess some weeks ago. But when all hope seemed to have gone, President Buhari stepped in and the rest is now history.
Political analysts have also suggested that details of that peace meeting Buhari had with the APC members of the House should be made available to institutes and departments of Conflict Resolution as part of its curriculum. The thinking is that both teachers and students of the course of study may find it to be a very useful reference point in determining how conflicts should be resolved speedily.
The Anglican Bishop of Evo Diocese in Rivers State, Rt Rev Innocent Ordu, has called for an end to the face-off between Rivers State governor, Chief Ezebunwo Nyesom Wike and his predecessor, Rt Hon Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.
Ordu made the call while speaking at the 3rd session of the 2nd Synod of the Anglican Diocese of Evo, held at the Chapel of Grace and Knowledge, Archdeacon Crowther Memorial Girls’ School, Elelenwo, Port Harcourt, with the theme, “Recapturing the spirit of excellence and integrity in service: The Daniel example”.
The Bishop said, “We also commend the outgone governor, Rt Hon Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi for all his achievements while in office. We, however, feel deeply pained by all the strife and distractions that characterised the closing period of that government.
“We plead with both the former and new governors, Amaechi and Wike, along with their supporters to seek and follow the path of lasting peace and reconciliation with each other and with all their political foes in the state in the interest of a greater Rivers State.”
He pleaded with members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state to give peace a chance as the people of the state will never be comfortable with the attacks and all manner of bickering between leaders of the two political parties on one hand and officials of the past administration and the present administration on another hand.
Ordu said, “Whatever the outcome of the case at the tribunal may be, we plead with all politicians in the state particularly members of the APC and PDP to give peace a chance.”
We have never been and are still not comfortable with the attacks, insults, abuses, lies and all manner of bickering stills going on between the leaders of both political parties on one hand and officers of the past and present governments on the other even after the elections. This is not healthy for our democratic process.
“The greater well-being, peace and development of the state should be of primary concern to all the major actors in the on-going tensions. In our opinion, religious and traditional leaders in the state should now come together and prayerfully proffer lasting solutions to the troubles in the state, rather than continue in their present aligned postures.
New Senate Bill:- Life Sentence For Rape And HIV Passage
The Nigerian Senate bill passed into law has stated that anyone found guilty of rape, knowingly infecting another person of HIV/AIDS and child s*x tourism will face life imprisonment.
This was among the Sexual Offences Bill sponsored by Senator Chris Anyanwu which was passed into law on Wednessday.
The bill insures that rape offenders will get life imprisonment while incest will get 10 years , another 10 years imprisonment for child pornography or more and a fine of N2 million as well as 14 years jail term for sexual offences.
The Chairman of the Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, Umaru Dahiru presented the report and said that the law was meant to consolidate existing laws on immoral acts.
Senator Anyanwu who represents Imo East was visibly delighted that the bill has been passed after being pending in the senate since since 2013.
Anyanwu said the law will “seeks to make a comprehensive legislation on sexual offences by criminalising certain acts such as sexual tourism, child pornography and cultural and religious sexual offences in our criminal jurisprudence.
For witnesses, too
“The new law also provides for effective witness protection programme to protect victims and witnesses in trial for sexual offences.
“It also provides for compulsory documentation, supervision of sexual offenders and medical treatment for victims, which is in line with the global trend and finally, and most importantly, it provides for adequate and stringent punish-ments to perpetrators.”
The new law also goes hard after criminals who drug people to later sexually abuse people, prostitution of persons with mental disabilities, among others.
This law will go against criminals who drug women to take advantage of them, like in the case of Cynthia Udoka Osokogu who in July 2012 was drugged and killed by men she met online.
Without stating his reasons for leaving, Owaji-Ibani said: “In life, there is time for everything.
“I was called to serve and I think I have served you well. At this juncture, I want to announce that I am stepping aside for reasons best known to me.”
Leadership however reports that Hon. Ikuinyi-Owaji Ibani’s decision to resign from his position was based on personal reasons.
Following Ibani’s decision to thrown in the towel, Hon. Adams Dabotoru Dima, the member representing Okrika Constituency in the House, was elected as the new speaker of the House, which 23 lawmakers voting in favour of him nomination.
Ibani, who represents Andoni Constituency in the House of Assembly, is among about 30 members of the House, whose elections were nullified by the Rivers state elections petition tribunal sitting in Abuja.
While, the newly elected speaker, Dima is the only Peoples Democratic Party member of the House
House Of Reps Crisis And Buhari’s Magic Wand
Reports suggesting a deadlock in last Monday’s meeting President Muhammadu Buhari had with APC members of the House of Representatives stemmed from reporters who did not reckon with the president’s dexterity in conflict resolution, GEORGE AGBA writes.
Most of the reports that filtered in from Aso Rock last Monday on the outcome of the meeting President Muhammadu Buhari had with the All Progressive Congress (APC) members in the House of Representative were that the meeting was domed to failure. The president, according to the reports, failed to resolve the fracas that that had confined the house in a legislative impasse since inception of the 8th National Assembly.
When the House eventually finished its plenary on a peaceful note the next day and Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila emerged the house leader, not a few Nigerians considered the reports that there was a stalemate a hoax after all. The thinking was that the authors of the said report wouldn’t have claimed the president’s meeting with the lawmakers ended in deadlock when everything ended peacefully on the floor of the house the next day.
But to be candid, the State House reporters should not be blamed for the said report, or else it would amount to killing a fly with a sledge hammer. In keeping faith with objectivity, which the ethics of their profession demands, the journalists actually reported what they saw on the surface. They relied on a very popular concept in the country’s political lexicon- body language- in drawing their conclusion about the outcome of the meeting.
In journalism parlance, it is normal for an Editor to ask a reporter to rely on the mood of those present in a story scenario in drawing conclusions about situation report. The meeting of President Buhari and the lawmakers perfectly matches this scenario since it was a closed-door parley from which inferences were expected to be drawn about what transpired.
So, the Villa reporters relied heavily on the body language of the lawmakers and even that of the meeting itself which lasted for just about 20 minutes in arriving at a conclusion that it all ended in a deadlock. Therefore, reports that the meeting failed to resolve the leadership crisis in the lower chamber of the National Assembly was not totally out of place. Not when the honourable members came out of the very brief meeting fusing like a hen in search of a nest.
After the meeting, the legislators stepped out looking like cannons over charged with double cracks. Keen observers believe strongly that save for the Aso Rock environment, with its heavy security presence and the aura of a President like Buhari saturating its vicinity, the lawmakers from the green chamber of the National Assembly would have once again turned honourability into a dishonourable act right in the forecourt of the president’s office.
The House members walked out of the new banquet hall, venue of the meeting before their principal officers and the APC national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun. They wore disturbed looks and appeared divided among themselves. They were quite willing to talk to the press on what they may have interpreted to be the President’s position at the meeting to they way it favoured their camps. One after the other, members of both factions struggled to grant interviews to State House correspondents.
While a member of one faction addresses the press, another member from the other camp would crane his ears to listen to what he is saying in order to enable him prepare his own counter. And as soon he senses that the colleague from the other camp was interpreting the president’s position differently from the way his own camp understood it, he runs to the camera immediately to oppose it. It continued that way until the journalists said they were no more conducting interviews.
It was when Gbajabiamila, Speaker Dogara and Chief Odigie-Oyegun came out to address journalists that it became clear that President Buhari recorded a major success in resolving the crisis. Gbajabiamila noted that, while everything at the meeting bordered on party supremacy, before the end of the day, Nigerians would be briefed on the decision reached. He said, “We are still talking. But I think this is the first time everybody is coming together in a cordial atmosphere.
“We came together for the first time as one family, with a lot of camaraderie. I think we are almost at the point where all of these would be behind us, hopefully by tomorrow (Tuesday). It is not about magic; it is about what should have been done a long time ago. We have finally sat down together and we will resolve it before the night, in a couple of hours.
“The important thing is that the country wants to move ahead. The House wants to move ahead and the party wants to move ahead. Move ahead, we shall. Whoever or whatever outside forces that might have been stoking the fire, I think we would put that to an end this evening at the meeting”.
The party’s national Chairman, Odigie-Oyegun, who spoke next said a lot was achieved during the brief meeting. He said, “Everything is upbeat. You can see that I am smiling. You will be very surprised that a lot was achieved in 20 minutes. As the chairman of the party, I can say that there are no discordant tunes. You can see the Speaker of the House standing firmly besides me and I have a feeling that in another three or four hours and by tomorrow, we will have good news for the nation”.
Speaker Dogara who concluded the session with journalists said he had always remained on the side of the party. “I have always stood firmly by the party. There has never been a time that I never stood firmly by the party. So, like my chairman has explained, we are going into consultations with the party and I am sure that sooner than later, we will have good news for Nigerians”, he stated.
Many Nigerians say they are still wondering the kind of magic President Buhari performed in resolving the matter especially when it was remarkably swift in the way he presided over the meeting. In just 20 minutes, he was able to set the pace for reconciliation and asked the lawmakers to go and meet again and bring him feedback that same day on what they would have agreed on. This, pundits say, was just a tip of the Iceberg of the kind of leadership Nigerians would see in Buhari in the next four years.
The general expectation was that the meeting was going to drag for hours, with members of the two factions engaging themselves in accusations and counter accusations before the president. This is even so taking into cognizance that the rift in the house had culminated in physical combat. The lawmakers had engaged themselves in fisticuffs before the House was compelled to go on recess some weeks ago. But when all hope seemed to have gone, President Buhari stepped in and the rest is now history.
Political analysts have also suggested that details of that peace meeting Buhari had with the APC members of the House should be made available to institutes and departments of Conflict Resolution as part of its curriculum. The thinking is that both teachers and students of the course of study may find it to be a very useful reference point in determining how conflicts should be resolved speedily.
Bishop Seeks End To Wike, Amaechi Faceoff
The Anglican Bishop of Evo Diocese in Rivers State, Rt Rev Innocent Ordu, has called for an end to the face-off between Rivers State governor, Chief Ezebunwo Nyesom Wike and his predecessor, Rt Hon Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.
Ordu made the call while speaking at the 3rd session of the 2nd Synod of the Anglican Diocese of Evo, held at the Chapel of Grace and Knowledge, Archdeacon Crowther Memorial Girls’ School, Elelenwo, Port Harcourt, with the theme, “Recapturing the spirit of excellence and integrity in service: The Daniel example”.
The Bishop said, “We also commend the outgone governor, Rt Hon Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi for all his achievements while in office. We, however, feel deeply pained by all the strife and distractions that characterised the closing period of that government.
“We plead with both the former and new governors, Amaechi and Wike, along with their supporters to seek and follow the path of lasting peace and reconciliation with each other and with all their political foes in the state in the interest of a greater Rivers State.”
He pleaded with members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state to give peace a chance as the people of the state will never be comfortable with the attacks and all manner of bickering between leaders of the two political parties on one hand and officials of the past administration and the present administration on another hand.
Ordu said, “Whatever the outcome of the case at the tribunal may be, we plead with all politicians in the state particularly members of the APC and PDP to give peace a chance.”
We have never been and are still not comfortable with the attacks, insults, abuses, lies and all manner of bickering stills going on between the leaders of both political parties on one hand and officers of the past and present governments on the other even after the elections. This is not healthy for our democratic process.
“The greater well-being, peace and development of the state should be of primary concern to all the major actors in the on-going tensions. In our opinion, religious and traditional leaders in the state should now come together and prayerfully proffer lasting solutions to the troubles in the state, rather than continue in their present aligned postures.
New Senate Bill:- Life Sentence For Rape And HIV Passage
This was among the Sexual Offences Bill sponsored by Senator Chris Anyanwu which was passed into law on Wednessday.
The bill insures that rape offenders will get life imprisonment while incest will get 10 years , another 10 years imprisonment for child pornography or more and a fine of N2 million as well as 14 years jail term for sexual offences.
The Chairman of the Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, Umaru Dahiru presented the report and said that the law was meant to consolidate existing laws on immoral acts.
Senator Anyanwu who represents Imo East was visibly delighted that the bill has been passed after being pending in the senate since since 2013.
Anyanwu said the law will “seeks to make a comprehensive legislation on sexual offences by criminalising certain acts such as sexual tourism, child pornography and cultural and religious sexual offences in our criminal jurisprudence.
For witnesses, too
“The new law also provides for effective witness protection programme to protect victims and witnesses in trial for sexual offences.
“It also provides for compulsory documentation, supervision of sexual offenders and medical treatment for victims, which is in line with the global trend and finally, and most importantly, it provides for adequate and stringent punish-ments to perpetrators.”
The new law also goes hard after criminals who drug people to later sexually abuse people, prostitution of persons with mental disabilities, among others.
This law will go against criminals who drug women to take advantage of them, like in the case of Cynthia Udoka Osokogu who in July 2012 was drugged and killed by men she met online.
