Members of the House of Representatives are poised for a showdown with Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila over allegations of unfair distribution of $15million largesse from the executive arm of government, LEADERSHIP reports. The aggrieved lawmakers specifically alleged that Gbajabiamila had an underhand deal with the executive on behalf of the House to pass the N22.7trn Ways and Means borrowing from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) but ended up short-changing his colleagues in sharing the $15million made available to the House to sweeten the deal. The brewing crisis, it was learned, had forced Gbajabiamila to postpone resumption of plenary which was already slated for Tuesday so as to buy more time and pacify the aggrieved members. The speaker adjourned the plenary under the guise that the earlier date was announced in error. The clerk of the House, Yahaya Danzaria, in a terse statement on Monday said, “This is to inform all Hon Members and the general public that the House of Representatives will not resume plenary on Tuesday 16th May, 2023 as earlier announced. The next adjourned date will be Wednesday 17th May, 2023 at 11:00am. Please disregard earlier notice and date; it was made in error. All inconveniences are highly regretted.” It is, however, unclear whether the frayed nerves had not been calmed as at the time of filing this report. One of the lawmakers who confided in our correspondent said the majority of the lawmakers had an axe to grind with the speaker and that the House may be engulfed in a free-for-all when plenary is reconvened. The House had on Tuesday, 31st January, authorised the president to borrow a fresh N1 trillion from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to fund the 2022 supplementary budget. While the House approved restructuring of the N1tn WMAs, the lawmakers dropped the request for N22,719,703,774,306.90 from the CBN. After several negotiations with members of the concerned committees of the House and other critical stakeholders, Gbajabiamila secured commitment of the House to pass the request on Thursday, 4th May. The newspaper also gathered that the $15milion was allegedly negotiated for by Gbajabiamila but he kept it away from his colleagues until last week when lawmakers got wind of the funds and accused him directly. It was further gathered that the speaker immediately ordered disbursement of $10, 000 to each lawmaker, amounting to $3.6 million, as their own share of the largesse, and adjourned plenary. A rough calculation of the amount suggested that the speaker might have kept over $11million to himself. “You can see that he didn’t allow the plenary to reconvene as planned. He knows that there is a crisis and he doesn’t want the deputy speaker to preside over a plenary with the situation on ground. How can only one person even take more money than the entire 360 members and call himself a leader. He is too greedy,” the member said. Another member who spoke to our correspondent alleged that short-changing lawmakers had been Gbajabiamila’s stock in trade and that the speaker already bit more than he could chew. “Let me tell you, this is not the first time. The executive released about N10bn for members of the House ahead of the elections; we only got $10, 000 each. Members are asking, what did Femi do with the balance? A similar amount was approved for the Senate and each Senator received about $40, 000,” he said. The lawmaker said members who could not physically collect their own share were asked to send names and photos of their trusted aides to the staff in Gbajabiamila’s office as authorisation for pick-up.   A senior legislative aide (SLA) who collected on behalf of his principal confirmed the information. “Your principal would have to send your name and photo to the speakers’ SA via WhatsApp and you will pick-up the money with your National Assembly ID card,” the female SLA said. Gbajabiamila Keeps Mum, Plot To Adjourn House Indefinitely Thickens All efforts to get reactions from Office of the Speaker were abortive. The special adviser to the Speaker on media and publicity, Lanre Lasisi, refused to answer his calls or respond to text messages via his WhatsApp Portal on Monday and Tuesday. Another aide of the Speaker who was central to the transaction picked his call but as soon as the question was put to him, he hung up the phone on our correspondent and never picked repeated calls made to his mobile phone. A returning lawmaker from the North Central confirmed to our correspondent that the money was shared and he got his own $10, 000 share. When pointedly asked if it was for passing the N22.7 trillion, the ranking lawmaker said, “That is what they said, it is true, I have collected my own.” The member representing Makurdi/Guma Federal Constituency of Benue State, Benjamin Mzondu, however, denied knowledge of the transaction. Mzomdu in a telephone conversation with our correspondent yesterday said, “I am not aware of this, I am hearing it from you for the first time. I am a lawmaker and I didn’t get any money.” When our correspondent argued that the information was released on the lawmakers’ group chat, Mzondu said, “I didn’t see it on our platform, I am not aware of it.” The Ways and Means provision allows the government to borrow from the apex bank when in need of short-term or emergency finance to fund delayed government expected cash receipts of fiscal deficits. The federal government had said it would repay the loan, which as at December 2022 stood at N22.7 trillion, with securities, such as treasury bills and bonds issuance. President Buhari in December last year asked both chambers of the National Assembly to approve his proposal but the lawmakers, who had promised to consider it before proceeding for the election break, failed to do so. While presenting reports on the Ways and Means to the plenary in January, the chairman, House Committees on Finance, Banking and Currency and Aids, Loans and Debts Management,

  An indigenous woman in Mexico was sentenced to six years and two months in prison for the murder of her rapist. The court acknowledged that the woman, named only as Roxana N, acted in self-defence when she killed her attacker in 2021 but said she used excessive force. The woman, 23, first knocked the man unconscious, then strangled him and finally tried to dismember his body. She kept the body for at least 20 hours before putting it in a plastic bag on the street. The court said it took into consideration the woman’s “vulnerability as a woman and as an indigenous person” in its sentencing. “It was my life or his life,” the woman said. “I only wanted to defend my life from a rapist,” she said, adding that she acted out of fear. She can still appeal the verdict. The single mother from the southern state of Oaxaca is supported by women’s organisations.   She had already spent nine months in pre-trial detention before being released for the trial. (dpa/NAN)

  The Sole Administrator of Orsu Local Government Area of Imo State Hon. Onyekachukwu Matthew Ezenwa has described the insecurity in the communities in the council area as the handiwork of bandits, insisting members of the Pro-Biafra agitators known as the Indigenous People of Biafra, (IPOB) are not involved in it. Speaking to our correspondent in Owerri on Tuesday, Hon. Ezenwa regretted that bandits had earlier taken over his Local Government Area and other parts of Orlu Zone of Imo State in disguise of IPOB. He commended the Executive Governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodimma for his untiring efforts in the fight against the insurgency and hoodlums adding that his people are gradually coming back home as peace returns back too. In his words, “Governor Hope Uzodimma has done well in ensuring that peace returns to Orsu, but I can assure you that the last Orsu stakeholders meeting in Owerri has complimented the efforts of the governor. So in less than a month from now, Orsu will be captured back from the bandits as our people have realized their mistakes by earlier considering the insecurity as a political issue. But now it’s certain that the issue of insecurity in Orsu is completely caused by banditry, not IPOB members. “The security operatives have done well to get rid of some of the kingpin bandits, Odumodu, Overheat and Arinze who were their kingpins have met their waterloo. “Some people are linking the bandits to IPOB agitators, but they are not, but group of bandits who saw Orsu as a fertile ground to perpetrate evil and about eighty percentage of them are not indigenes of Orsu, but strangers. “My happiness is that our people have found out the truth. The insecurity is not a political party affairs, but the handiwork of the men of the under-world. And I am happy that my people have come out en-masse to seek for the solution. “So, with the efforts of the stakeholders and Governor Hope Uzodimma, the issue of insecurity will be a thing of the past soon”. He further stated, “we have to commend the Governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma for granting amnesty to the repentant hoodlums. This is a golden opportunity for them to turn a new leaf, and my people on their own, have also marshalled out formulas to reintegrate any of the hoodlums who forsakes his evil actions. And we shall ensure that they are gainfully assisted to do good work. Let those in the bush come back to the community and surrender their arms as the governor Senator Hope Uzodimma has promised to pardon them. “Security operatives must be commended also, for doing their best to quell the ranging tide of insecurity in Orsu Council Area where human lives and property worth billions of naira were lost. We have started renovating some of the damaged structures including, police Stations, Council buildings at Awo Idemili and many others”.

  The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has appointed a former Minister of State for Health, Gabriel Aduku, as the new chairman. Aduku, an architect, who served in the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, would lead the affairs of the forum for the next three years. He hails from Kogi State and holds the traditional title of Amana Ogohi 1, Ata Igala of Igala Kingdom. The current Secretary General of the forum, Murtala Aminu, retains his position. At the event, which was held yesterday, the outgoing ACF Chairman, Chief Audu Ogbe, said that politics alone was not viable to get the North out of poverty saying, the region must get it more involved in commerce and industry. Ogbe said, “The North is an agricultural area, if we can add more value before we sell our goods, there is no reason why people will come here, buy hibiscus (zobo) package and export to Mexico and sell for $38million when we are sitting here doing nothing. “There is no reason why they should buy our sesame seeds, our gum arabic, our yams and our soya beans and export because there is no reason why we cannot export ourselves because politics alone is not a viable industry, we must get it more in commerce and industry.” He thanked the members of the outgoing executives for their commitments and sacrifices and wished the incoming executives the same or even more.

  A high court in Port Harcourt, the Rivers capital, has issued a bench warrant against Rotimi Amaechi, former governor and Tonye Cole, governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the state. Chinwendu Nwogu, the judge, also issued a bench warrant against Sahara Energy Resources Limited, Chamberlain Peterside, NG powers HPS Limited, and Cenpropsaroten Management Limited over failure to appear before the court on Rivers State Government’s criminal charges against them. The presiding judge adjourned the case to July 5 for the plea. The Rivers government filed a fresh lawsuit on misappropriation of public funds against Amaechi during his tenure as governor of the state from 2007 to 2015   Nyesom Wike, Rivers state governor, had set up a seven-man panel in 2022 to probe Amaechi over an alleged withdrawal of N96 billion from the treasury during his tenure as governor. The panel had also investigated issues surrounding the “sale of assets” by the former governor. The listed valuable assets are Omoku Gas Turbine, Afam Gas Turbine, Trans Amadi Gas Turbine, Eleme Gas Turbine, Olympia Hotel, and the contract award for the execution of the monorail project. The panel submitted its report in 2015, while Amaechi has insisted that he is not guilty of fraud. However, on May 27, 2022, the supreme court dismissed an application by Amaechi, challenging the probe. Wike said criminal charges were filed against the former governor, as well as Sahara Energy, a firm indicted in the deals. Sahara Energy was co-founded by Tonye Cole.

  The Governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi has suggested that legislators should have fixed three-term tenure and age limit of 70 years. “I will suggest strongly that the tenures of the legislators should be fixed and there should be also age limit for legislators. This is very important. You can give them three tenures. Age limit of 70 years will be good,” Umahi said on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Wednesday. Umahi, who will be heading to the Senate in June after his eight-year two-terms as governor, disagreed with the notion that governors who are newly elected as legislators don’t have the prerequisite experience to function as lawmakers. “The National Assembly is not a retirement home for governors. It’s a place that they want to put the experiences they acquired over the years in the governance of their states to move the nation forward,” he said. Umahi, who will representing Ebonyi South Senatorial District in the 10th National Assembly that will be inaugurated in June, aspired to be the Senate President before the All Progressives Congress (APC) zoned the position to the South-South geopolitical zone, ceding it to former Akwa Ibom State governor, Godwill Akpabio.   The Ebonyi governor said he has accepted the party’s position because he respects the President-Elect, Bola Tinubu. He added that he now leads the campaign for the Akpabio-Barau Senate leadership aspiration.