Ajibola Basiru
Senate: National Assembly won’t gag media
The Senate has said it was not possible for the 9th National Assembly to stiffen the media in Nigeria with its current amendments to the acts which established the National Broadcasting Commission and the Nigerian Press Council. The Spokesperson for the Senate, Dr. Ajibola Basiru, who gave the assurance on Monday, said the amendments to the acts and other relevant laws should not be misinterpreted as an attempt to gag the freedom of speech and free press in the country. Basiru spoke in an interview with journalists at the sidelines of a two-day capacity building training for Media Aides to Principal Officers of the National Assembly, organised by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies in Abuja on Monday. Basiru said, “The freedom of speech is an inalienable right of ...
Senator calls for removal of AGF over remarks on herdsmen
Senator representing Osun Central Senatorial District, Dr. Ajibola Basiru, has called for the immediate removal from office of the Attorney General of the Federation, Alhaji Abubakar Malami, SAN, over his argument, equating open grazing with Southerners’ selling spare parts in the North. Dr. Basiru, who spoke in his personal capacity as a patriot and Senator said that, “anyone who cannot rise above primordial sentiments and pursuit of parochial ethnic agenda need not occupy position of trust especially at this time of sectional agitations. It was not dignifying of the status of the nation’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice to make such remarks. The Senator said that equating the activities of nomadic herdsmen, destroying people’s means of livelihood with others, legitimately carryi...
Senate: National Assembly panels will probe ‘missing N4.4 billion’
The Senate said the National Assembly Committees on Public Account would probe the allegation of misappropriation of N4.4bn by the federal parliament, as contained in an audit report. The Deputy Director of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, Kolawole Oluwadare, had in a statement alleged that an audit report revealed that the fund budgeted for the National Assembly, was misappropriated. SERAP has therefore given Messrs Ahmad Lawan and Femi Gbajabiamila, President of the Senate and Speaker, House of Representatives, respectively, 14 days ultimatum to address and implement the recommendations contained in the audit reports. But the Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Ajibola Basiru, in his reaction said the alleged infractions occurred during the 8th Na...
Senate faults minister for blaming legislature for bad roads
The Senate has described as, “fallacy of the highest order,” a statement credited to the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), on the state of Nigerian roads. Fashola, according to the red chamber, had alleged that the National Assembly members should be held responsible for the poor state of the federal roads in Benue State. The upper chamber accused the Minister of trying to incite members of the public against the federal lawmakers by his allegation. The Senate stated this in a statement by its spokesperson, Dr. Ajibola Basiru, titled, “Senate debunks Minister’s claim on budgetary allocations to road construction,” issued in Abuja on Sunday. The red chamber said it took exception to the statement credited to Fashola, that the National Assembly should be held respon...
Senator Basiru: Senate has no plan to secretly pass social media bill
Senator representing Osun Central and Chairman Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Ajibola Basiru, has said the Red Chamber has no plan to hurriedly pass the controversial Protection from Internet Falsehood and Manipulation and Other Related Matters Bill 2019 into law. An online platform, SaharaReporters, has published that the Senate on its resumption on September 15 has sealed a plot to pass the Bill popularly known as Social Media bill for presidential assent. Sponsored by Senator representing Niger East, Sani Musa, the bill was unanimously rejected at the Senate Public Hearing. Reacting to the report at the weekend, Senator Basiru dismissed it as “false and a lie concocted by the medium to ridicule and tarnish the image of the senate.” The former Attorney General and ...
National Assembly urges President Buhari to suspend plan to recruit 774,000 Nigerians
The Senate and the House of Representatives yesterday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to suspend the implementation of the plan to recruit 774,000 Nigerians for Special Public Works across the country. The position of both chambers of the National Assembly followed a sharp disagreement between the National Assembly Joint Committee on Labour, Employee and Productivity and the Minister for State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, SAN, over the modalities for appointing the 20-member Selection Committee for the programme. Keyamo who had appeared at an interactive session organized by the joint committee opposed a resolution of the Joint Committee to resolve into a closed door session. The Minister said he rejected the lawmakers decision to quiz him behind closed doors because of the n...
Nigerian National Assembly spends billions of naira on constitution review
The perennial constitution amendment exercise by the National Assembly is characterised by proposals that keep resurfacing despite gulping billions of naira yearly, an analysis has shown. The federal parliament had from the 5th to the current 9th National Assembly made several attempts to amend some provisions of the 1999 Constitution to no avail. At every session, the parliament officially spends N1 billion shared equally between the Senate and the House of Representatives. There are reports that the lawmakers spend more than what is appropriated for the exercise. While some amendments were successful, several others suffered serial failures but kept appearing in new proposals. Considering the huge spending, lawyers and civil society groups have pointed out that no significant amendments ...