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Why Akpabio Should Not be a Scapegoat
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By Ezinne Chinda
In the last couple of weeks, the unfortunate allegations of budget padding has raised a lot of dust in the National Assembly as well as the public domain. However, it is intriguing that what was initially perceived as a straight united fight between the National Assembly, as an institution, and one of its rebels, Senator Abdul Ningi, has gradually been narrowed down to an ambush against the President of the Senate, Godswill Obot Akpabio
This followed the insinuations in some circles that an estimated N18 billion worth of projects was allocated to the North East Senatorial District of Akwa Ibom State in the 2024 budget. Incidentally, that is Akpabio’s constituency which he shares with four other members of the House of Representatives.
The Special Adviser to the President of the Senate, Hon Eseme Eyiboh, was in his elements, has taken the media space by storm in a bid to set the records straight and lay the controversy to rest.
Given his political pedigree, especially his past role as former spokesperson of the House of Representatives, Eyiboh offered to speak from the podium of the defender of justice and fairness.
He started by offering a schematic erudition of the budget process that starts with the president laying his proposals before the National Assembly.
“By the effect of Section 4(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, the legislative powers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall rest on the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Appropriation Act is one of those laws.
“A National budget defines the objectives of financial planning through the mechanism of Estimate, Projection and Forecasts for future applications and it is a product of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Now you hear people say Akpabio did this and did that,” he said.
Temporarily putting aside his current official garb as Akpabio’s spokesperson, Eyiboh said:
“I am talking not as his spokesperson, but as a former member of the House of Representatives and the position of knowledge. I understand the gamut of appropriation.
“When the House of Representatives will pass its version and the Senate its version, they come for harmonization, so it is the input of 360 members and 109 senators and once it is harmonized, in the full glare of the public, nobody can foist his will on another person in any guise.”
Expressing the fact that Akpabio is first of all a senator and has a senatorial district that he should also cater for, Eyiboh said:
“In that his senatorial district there are four federal constituencies and those four honourable members are entitled to input constituency projects on the basis of their representations.”
Citing Section 4(1) of the Constitution, he affirmed that the National Assembly performs its role by scrutinizing the proposals, removing and adding as the institution deems fit.
As with a former legislator, Eyiboh was quick to reiterate the National Assembly’s powers. However, he was also firm to assert that his principal could not have singly determined the projects in the senatorial constituency without the involvement of the House of Representatives members of the constituency.
Speaking as an apostle of justice, he further queried: “What is justice? Justice is to every man his own due. Does Akpabio deserve the due of being tagged along with a national budget that the presidency and even the man who raised this issue even mentioned that he has N2b for federal interventions?”
Eyiboh appeared pained by the attempt to single out Akpabio as the maker of the budget. He was, however, circumspect in not abusing privilege or alluding to what other presiding and principal officials of the National Assembly got in the budget for their constituencies.
A member of the Senate, Senator Ali Ndume, the Chief Whip of the Senate had in a famous interview had said that “all fingers are not equal” implying that some of the ranking legislators in the Senate and the House of Representatives could have gotten more than ordinary members.
Eyiboh, however, wondered why the focus has been on Akwa Ibom North-East Constitutency.
“We should not take this thing and begin to attach to an individual,” he said against perceptions of a campaign of calumny directed at Akpabio.
The outings on TVC, AIT and ARISE Tv were also revealing as they provided opportunities to remove the negative adornments on the Senate President and the National Assembly.
Hear Eyiboh:
“If the National Assembly has the appropriation powers to add or to subtract, whatever they added can it be said to be padded? It cannot be said to be padded. The only person who can pad is that person who has no powers over that budget.”
When asked about the justice of suspending Ningi, Eyiboh put it down to the abuse of the privilege of his fellow lawmakers which led to a cross party unanimity for his sanction.
Eyiboh even highlighted the kind and soft heart of his principal, who used the power of the gravel to mitigate the harsher sentence that many of the lawmakers wanted passed on Ningi.
“The suspension of Senator Ningi is an institutional enforcement of its rule. It was a clear breach of privilege and deserving of the punishment as prescribed. Senator Ningi led NSF members to see the President of the Senate on what he claimed to be a consultant’s revelations, the President of the Senate told him that if he had gotten a consultant who gave him the revelation, he should bring the said document to the floor so that everybody would engage on it.
“But instead of bringing it to the floor of the Senate or bringing it at all, he went to BBC Hausa Service. That was a breach of privilege of other senators and an institutional anarchy”
He observed that the majority of the senators wanted Ningi suspended for up to one year or six months but the humane side of Akpabio, which the public may not know, through the power of the gavel, pushed it to a three-month suspension.
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Barr. Nyesom Wike, has ordered the immediate demolition of houses found obstructing designated water channels in Maitama and other flood-prone areas of Abuja.
Wike, who issued the directive after inspecting flood-affected areas in Maitama on Tuesday, said the demolition would commence immediately and continue until Saturday, regardless of the ongoing political activities or the status of the owners of the affected properties.
The minister said the government would no longer tolerate the obstruction of waterways by property owners, warning that the exercise would affect all structures found to have been built on designated water channels, irrespective of the status of their owners.
“We will demolish all those houses found on the water channel. Some of them are senators. Some of them are big men,” Wike said.
“Whether there’s election or there’s no election, all those houses will go down. Heaven will not fall. Rather, heaven will be at peace that the right thing has been done.”
The FCT minister said the recent flooding had exposed several man-made factors contributing to flooding in the capital city, including the construction of buildings on waterways, blockage of drainage channels, indiscriminate dumping of refuse and failure by relevant officials to properly supervise developments and desilt drainage infrastructure.
According to him, the government had inspected the affected locations and discovered that some property owners had deliberately blocked channels designated in the Abuja Master Plan for the passage of stormwater.
“Unfortunately, we have gone there, and we have seen how people have blocked channels where, in the Master Plan, that is the right way where the water is supposed to be channelled,” he said.
Wike said the affected structures were not recently constructed and were largely owned by wealthy Nigerians, stressing that the government would no longer allow social status to prevent enforcement of development regulations.
“All those built-up areas that were not supposed to be built up, not a single poor person will live there. Those houses are houses built by well-to-do Nigerians,” he said.
“Those houses are not houses that were built last week. Those houses have been there 10 years ago, eight years ago.”
The minister said previous administrations might not have had the political will to enforce the regulations, while some government officials may also have failed to carry out their responsibilities effectively.
He, however, insisted that the present FCT Administration had the political will to tackle the situation.
“And let nobody make the mistake that this government lacks the political will to do anything. The person must be making a very big mistake,” Wike said.
“If there is one minister that has that political will, I have. I have the political will.”
Wike also rejected attempts to politicise the recent flooding, arguing that flooding was not a new phenomenon in Abuja or other major cities around the world.
He said while the intensity of rainfall experienced recently could be linked partly to climate change and natural factors, human activities had also contributed significantly to the flooding.
“Flood could be a natural disaster,” he said, citing flooding incidents in cities such as Dubai, the United States and the United Kingdom.
“We are in a climate change period. The kind of rains we have experienced, or we are experiencing now, we have not experienced before. But that is not that there are no man-made factors. There are.”
Wike identified the construction of buildings on waterways, development in areas not designated for construction, failure to desilt drainage systems and indiscriminate disposal of waste as major human factors responsible for flooding.
He therefore directed the relevant FCT authorities to commence immediate desilting of identified drainage systems.
“The facility management is not here. Director is not here. Yes, we have to immediately start desilting some of the areas we have identified,” he said.
The minister also appealed to residents, traders and other members of the public to stop dumping refuse into drainage channels.
The minister dismissed criticism from political commentators over the flooding and the administration’s response, saying he would not be distracted by political considerations.
“I don’t want to reply to political commentators. I don’t want to reply to people who think that appearing on TV, in their houses, will give them an edge to win an election that they have lost. No,” he said.
Wike maintained that the FCT Administration had recorded significant achievements in the past three years, while acknowledging that more challenges remained to be addressed.
“Nobody can diminish what this administration has done in the past three years. Nobody can diminish it,” he said.
“This administration has done very well as far as the Federal Capital Territory is concerned. That does not mean that I can claim that it has solved all problems, no. Are there problems? Yes. Have they solved major problems? Yes. Will they continue to solve problems? Yes.”
He also defended the administration’s record on the issuance of Certificates of Occupancy (Cs-of-O), saying 26,272 Cs-of-O had been signed within the past three years, compared with about 7,000 signed by two previous administrations over 13 years.
According to him, critics should assess the administration based on its overall performance rather than use the flooding incident to discredit its achievements.
Wike further dismissed anticipated criticism that the demolition exercise was politically motivated because of the election season.
He said enforcement of development regulations should not be suspended because of political activities.
“Now you have done your own by blocking the water channel and nothing has happened. Thank God the flood has come. It has drawn our attention to the place. Now something will happen,” he said.
“I’m going to bring those houses down. Any house that’s found on the water channel will go down.”
He directed the FCT Development Control Department to ensure that there was no delay in carrying out the demolition.
“From today to Saturday, if Development Control delay, let them find any excuse to run away. They cannot,” Wike warned.
The minister also criticised the conversion of designated green areas in the capital into other uses, insisting that the administration would protect Abuja’s environmental assets.
He said the government would continue to enforce planning regulations irrespective of the length of time illegal developments had existed.
“Something that was done wrongly will not be corrected? No, we will not allow that. We won’t,” he said.
Wike said the administration would continue to focus on solving problems in the FCT rather than engaging in political arguments, adding that residents who genuinely drew the government’s attention to problems in their communities would be listened to.
“My interest is we’ll continue to do the right thing in FCT, where no one will stop,” he said.
Veteran Nigerian actor, Taiwo Hassan known as Ogogo has reportedly been diagnosed with Stage 4 Cancer.
This revelation was made by his daughter who made a video requesting for medical assistance from people.
In a video circulating online, the daughter appeals for support to save her ailing father.
The war for the final seven teams to join the 2026/2027 UEFA Champions League phase commences next week, with 14 clubs to compete across seven two-legged ties.
The Genius Media Nigeria reports that winners in this play-off will join 29 direct entrants in the 36-team league phase, while all seven losing teams drop directly into the UEFA Europa League league phase.
The first legs of the play-off are scheduled for play on August 18 and 19, with the return fixtures scheduled for August 25 and 26.
Below are the seven UEFA Champions League play-off fixtures:
Fenerbahçe vs Lyon
Celtic vs LASK
N.E.C. vs Bodø/Glimt
AEK Athens vs Levski Sofia
GNK Dinamo vs Viking
Slovan Bratislava vs Celje
Hapoel Beer-Sheva vs Sabah
Meanwhile, English football analyst Jamie Carragher has considered Michael Carrick unqualified to deliver the Premier League title for Manchester United this season.
Not only the Premier League, but the former Liverpool player also didn’t see Carrick among managers who could contend for the Champions League this season.
Carragher, however, believes the Red Devils’ manager could do well in the season.
“I personally just don’t think Michael Carrick’s got that stardust as a manager to win a Champions League or a Premier League.Africans & Diaspora
“He could have a good season and put Manchester United in a position to then go and get a Champions League-winning manager,” Carragher said.
Naija News reports that the former Reds made this remark on The Overlap Fan Debate.
Maitama Flood: Wike Orders Demolition of Houses Blocking Water Channels(Photos)
Veteran Nollywood actor, Ogogo diagnosed of stage 4 cancer, daughter begs for support
See 2026/2026 UEFA champions league play-off fixtures, match dates
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