Abaribe kicks as Buhari seeks confirmation of aide Lauretta Onochie, 5 others as INEC national commissioners

*Declines comment on assessment of 9th Senate performance

*Lawan, others score 9th Senate high on achievement

Tunde Opalana, Abuja

Senate minority leader, Sen. Enyinnaya Abaribe on Wednesday kicked against the re- nomination by President Muhammadu Buhari of his Special Assistant on Social Media, Lauretta Onochie alongside five others for confirmation as National Commissioners of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Before reluctantly supporting the decision of the Senate to refer the Presidential request to its Committee on INEC, Abaribe protested the resurfacing of Onochie’s name on the nomination list having been dropped almost eight months ago when it was first put forward.

He said “our people say, it is not when we have passed the Evil Forest that the demon will still catch us .

“In seconding this motion we have dealt with the matter of Lauretta Onochie so we feel surprised that the same name has resurfaced no longer as a National commissioner but now as a Delta State Commissioner.

 “Reluctantly I second the motion that this nomination be referred to the relevant committee for action and we shall meet in Philipi”

But Senate President, Ahmad Lawan quickly corrected Abaribe on the designation of the nominees as national commissioners and not resident commissioners.

Lawan said “before I put the question let me clarify an issue. The nominees are not State resident Commissioners. They are National Commissioners and there was no change, so they are not resident Electoral Commissioners. I think we need to clear that area”.

The leader of the Senate, Yahaya Abdullahi had read the Executive Communication from President Buhari requesting confirmation of  the nominations of six nominees for appointment as Commissioner of INEC in accordance with paragraph 14 part 1(F) of the Third Schedule of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,as amended.

Nominated are; Prof Muhammed Sani Kallah (Katsina), Lauretta Onochie (Delta), Prof. Kunle Cornelius Ajayi (Ekiti), Saidu Babies Ahmad (Jigawa), Prof.Sani Muhammad Adam (North Central) and Dr. Baba Bila (North East).

Shortly after referring the nomination to its Committee on INEC for screening, the Senate President, Lawan  gave a short speech enumerating achievements of the 9th Senate and opened the floor for comments by colleagues, starting with principal officers.

Abaribe who was expected to comment immediately after the Majority Leader, shockingly declined comment.

He said” Mr. President, I want to decline to comment on the assessment of the 9th Senate”.

Meanwhile, in a manner that suggested that Abaribe spoke for himself and not for the Minority Caucus, members of the Peoples Democratic Party spoke to the issue.

In what looked like replying to Abaribe, Sen. Gabriel Suswam (PDP Benue) said “if you have a problem and saying you won’t talk about it, that is not the solution”.

Suswam praised the 9th Senate for  taking steps to achieve the agenda set for ourselves.

“That the executive fails to implement some  of our resolutions does not mean that we do not achieve . We can’t say that it is our fault , we have tried”.

Also, Sen. Chukwuka Utazi (PDP Enugu) appreciated the leadership of the Senate for executing it’s parliamentary duties and for engendering cordial relationship between the executive and legislative.

Senators Nicholas Tofowomo (PDP Ondo), Istifanus Gyan (PDP Plateau), Clifford  Ordia (PDP Edo), were part of PDP lawmakers that spoke on personal ground.

During the special session to mark the second year anniversary of the 9th Senate, senators across board commended the leadership and membership of the Senate for performing above average and for not failing the expectations of Nigerians.

In a speech that captured the accomplishment of  majority of the items on a  comprehensive Legislative Agenda set  to guide the 9th Senate  in the pursuit of its  mandates of lawmaking, representation and oversight, Lawan  recalled that the Agenda was developed against the backdrop of an underperforming economy, security challenges, unemployment and a myriad of other socio-economic problems.

“The thrust of the Agenda was therefore to contribute solutions to those and other challenges and restore the hope of Nigerians in their country, and their confidence in its democratic institutions.

“The key focus areas of the Agenda are the economy, security, constitution amendment, anti-corruption legislation, judiciary reform, electoral reforms, and socio-economic development through poverty alleviation, jobs creation, education and healthcare. Permit me, therefore, to examine some of the interventions we have made in those areas”, said Lawan.

He said the Senate passed hundreds of bills, legislation, including confirmation of appointments for the Executive Arm of Government.

About 742 Bills were introduced during the two sessions of the Assembly, out of which 58 have been passed. 355 Bills have gone through first reading, 175 have gone through second reading and have been referred to the relevant committees for further legislative business, while 11 Bills referred by the House of Representatives for concurrence have also been passed. The Bills cut across all the sectors and touch most areas of needs in the lives of our citizens”.

On the economy, Lawan said  the most significant interventions of the Senate  in this sector is the restoration of the national annual budget to the January to December cycle which has made the nation’s fiscal plans more predictable and boosted the confidence of local and foreign investors in our economy.

The restoration, he said, was achieved in partnership with the House of Representatives and with the cooperation and commitment of the Executive Arm. And it signaled the possibilities in our country when all stakeholders are working together.

“Also noteworthy is the passage of the Deep Off-Shore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contracts Act CAP D3 LFN 2004 (Amendment Bill, 2009). We passed this very important law to increase Nigeria’s share of revenue from its crude oil.

“Other laws that we passed that are having significant impacts on the economy include the Finance Bill 2019 (Nigeria Tax and Fiscal Law) (SB.140), which amended seven existing tax laws.

“In our Legislative Agenda, we had also promised to create a legal environment conducive for ease of doing business.  We kept this promise by passing the Companies and Allied Matters Act, Cap C20 LFN 2004 (Repeal and Reenactment) Bill 2019 (SB.270).

“We also promised to break the jinx on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and we are on the verge of doing this by finally passing the Bill this month after about 20 years of failed attempts”, he said

Regrets, the Senate President said security challenges are currently pushing the  country to the edge of the precipice with  Insurgency, banditry, kidnapping and attacks on public facilities  occurring daily in many parts of the country with security forces stretched almost to their elastic limit.
 
However, he said to address the emergency, “we passed several resolutions as part of our legislative interventions and kept engaging with the Executive in order to achieve the desired outcome”.

Complementing efforts of the executive in the fight against corruption which is  critical to the progress of Nigeria and is a key point in the Agenda of the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government of President Muhammadu Buhari,the 9th Senate passed the Chartered Institute of Forensic Investigative Professionals of Nigeria (Establishment) Bill 2021 to boost institutional capacity for fighting corruption in Nigeria.

“We believe that the new institute will provide the kind of services that can nip corruption in the bud in both the public and private sectors.

“We had earlier passed the Public Procurement Act 2007 (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (SB.109); and the Public Procurement Act, 2007 (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (SB.158) also to block the avenues for corruption in the procurement process by MDAs.
Constitution Amendment”, he added.

On the constitution amendment process, he said the Senate is so Committee by setting a target to consider the report of the Committee on the Amendment of 1999 Constitution before we embark on this year’s summer break in July.

He also promised that the 9th Senate will do everything possible to pass the bill to deepen the nation’s democracy.