Taraba State house of Assembly impeaches Deputy Governor, Sani Abubakar for '' gross misconduct''

Sani Abubakar

Alleged Misconduct
Taraba State house of Assembly impeaches Deputy Governor, Sani Abubakar for '' gross misconduct''  But in a swift move that caught not a few people unawares, a notice of allegations of gross misconduct was presented to the Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Istifanus Gbana, on the floor of the Assembly by over two-thirds of the members of the Assembly on the September 4. This signalled the commencement of impeachment proceedings against the deputy governor. The house drew three allegations against the deputy governor, which he is expected to respond to within 14 days.

In the notice, dated September 4, 2012 and signed by 19 out of the 24 members of the Assembly, the house drew three impeachable offences against Danladi who they accused of using his office to, among other things, loot and divert public funds. The legislators also accused him of lacking the capacity to function as the deputy governor of the state.
Out of the 21 members that attended the September 4 sitting, only two – Dr. A.A. Jugulde, representing Sardauna Constituency, and Hon. Aminu J. Umar, representing Jalingo II on the platform of Congress for Progressive Change – refrained from signing the document while another member, Hon. Emmanuel Dame, representing Ardo-Kola Constituency was absent during the sitting.

Alleged Diversion of  Funds
In the particulars of the allegations, the deputy governor was accused of using his office and influence to divert Millennium Development Goals facilities such as ICT Centre, motorised borehole and solar lights to Yagai Academy, a private school owned by him. By so doing, according to the legislators, Danladi denied the underprivileged members of the state access to and use of the facilities, thereby contravening the oath of office he swore to observe and protect. He was said to have perpetrated the acts in 2010.

The Assembly also accused the deputy governor of using his office to acquire a large expanse of land in Jalingo, the state capital, on which he built Yagai Academy  and other multi-million naira business ventures, among which are Yagai Water, Yagai Printing Press, and Yagai Restaurant, which in the estimation of the house are worth over a billion naira.

The legislators held that Danladi engaged in sharp practices in government to unlawfully enrich himself with the funds with which he and his company used in acquiring, building and funding Yagai Academy, which unarguably has the best facilities among private schools in the state.

According to the signatories to the notice, the total emolument of Danladi as deputy governor cannot justify his investments and in so doing, they said, he not only breached the code of conduct for public office holders but also created in the minds of the people of the state the impression that the government condones, with impunity, the looting and diversion of public funds.

Furthermore, the legislators stated that the declared assets of the deputy governor as at the time of his assumption of office was not more than N56 million and that Yagai Academy was incorporated in 2009 with a share capital of N2 million. They stressed that before he became the deputy governor in 2007 he was neither in business nor owned any business that could yield reasonable income.

Capacity Issues
On his alleged lack of capacity to discharge his functions as deputy governor, the Assembly noted that since assuming office as Chairman of the State Boundary Commission, he had failed, neglected or refused to call any board meeting in the face of several community rivalries/disputes bordering on boundary delineation, which is the statutory responsibility of the board of the commission.

Besides his alleged refusal to properly discharge the functions of his office, according to the members of the House of Assembly, Danladi engendered disaffection, favouritism and undue interference in the running of government contrary to the oath of office he took just. He was accused of unduly interfering with the postings and transfers of indigenes of Karim-Lamido local government, where he hails from, in circumstances that has caused disaffection among the people and portrayed the government in bad light.

Signatories
The notice of allegations of gross misconduct was signed by Deputy Speaker of the House, Hon. Abel Peter Diah, representing Mbamnga Constituency; Majority Leader, Hon. Charles Maijankai, representing Karim 1 Constituency; and 17 other members of the Assembly.
Other signatories of the impeachment notice were Hon. Daniel Ishaya Gani (Wukari 11); Hon. Mohammed D. Gwampo (Yorro); Hon. Ibrahim Adamu Imam (Jalingo1); Hon. Yahaya Abdulraham (Gassol 11); Hon. Bonzena K. John (Zing); Hon. Edward G. Baraya (Karim 11) and Hon. Gambo Maikudi representing Bali 1 Constituency.

The notice was also signed Hon. Hamman’Adama B. Abdullahi (Bali 11); Hon. Haruna Tsokwa (Takum 1); Hon. Iratsi Yohanna Adaki (Ussa); Hon. Joseph Albasu Kunini (Lau); Hon. Josiah Sabo Kente (Wukari 1); Hon. Adamu Tanko Maikarfi (Gassol 1); Hon Mark Useni (Takum 11); Hon. Mohammed Abdulkarim (IBI) and Hon. Mohammed G. Umar (Gashaka) as well as the only female member of the House, Hon. Rashida Abdullahi representing Nguroje Constituency.

Subterranean Influence
However, there are insinuations that the members of the Assembly are not alone in the move to impeach the deputy governor today . They are alleged to be acting the script of the state governor, Mr. Danbaba Danfulani Suntai.
“The drama playing out in the state House of Assembly can be described as the hand of Esau and the voice of Jacob. There is no way members of the House of Assembly would unanimously move to impeach the deputy governor without the consent and approval of the governor. In fact, the house can be described as an appendage of Government House,” stated a civil servant in the state who simply described himself as Mr. Haruna.

Despite the myriad of allegations levelled against him, we gathered that the move to impeach Danladi might not be unconnected with the current faceoff between the governor, on one hand, and Senator Aisha Jummai Alhassan, Senator Abubakar Tutare, and the immediate past PDP chairman in the state, Alhaji Abdulmumini Vaki, on the other.

Though members of the same political camp, Alhassan fell apart with the governor during the last PDP congresses in the state where herself, Tutare, and Vaki accused the governor of sidelining them in the composition of party executives in their various wards. Vaki is also said to be aggrieved over the governor’s decision to throw his weight behind the present chairman of the party, Chief Victor Bala Kona.

We investigations revealed that the deputy governor was alleged to have held a meeting with the trio in Saudi Arabia during the last Ummura, though associates of the deputy governor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, debunked the allegation. They insisted that Tutare did not go for Ummura while Vaki had already returned to Nigeria before Danladi went for the religious exercise just, as they maintained that Alhassan was in Dubai for a knee operation while the deputy governor was in the holy land.

Jolly Nyame Factor
  A PDP chieftain in the state, Emmanuel Ando, told THISDAY that the decision to impeach the deputy governor was part of the conditions given by former Governor Jolly Nyame before his return to PDP with his supporters. Though, supporters of the governor insist that the last thing he would do is to accept to be given conditions by the Nyame camp before they return to the party.

Meanwhile, We gathered that a former chairman of Jalingo Local Government Area and immediate past special adviser to the governor on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Hon. Ali Sani Kona, is being tipped as the replacement for Danladi.
Ali Sani Kona, who played a very prominent role in Suntai’s re-election last year, is said to have tremendous goodwill across the state based on his above-average performance as Chairman of Jalingo local government and Special Adviser on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, a position that gave him leverage at the grassroots and within the traditional institution in the state.

Honour Bound
The raging hostility between the deputy governor and his boss notwithstanding, both men have been named as awardees of this year’s national merit award. This, many believe, is in apparent recognition of their collective contributions to the development of the state in the past five years. While Suntai would be conferred with the award of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON), Danladi would receive the award of Officer of the Federal Republic (OFR). The awards would be given by President Goodluck Jonathan at a colourful ceremony in Abuja tomorrow. It is an event that may draw the curtain on a hitherto cordial relationship between the governor and his deputy. 

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FG to challenge ICJ judgment on Bakassi

Abuja – President Goodluck Jonathan has set up a committee to look at the option of appealing the judgment of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the Bakassi peninsula.

The decision was reached at a meeting between the President, the leadership of the National Assembly and other stakeholders at the State House in Abuja.

The meeting which started late Wednesday night ended in the early hours of Thursday.

Cross River’s governor, Liyel Imoke, told State House correspondents after the meeting that the committee would also consider how to take care of the displaced people of Bakassi.

Imoke who did not disclose the composition of the committee said it would work within a specified time.

Nigeria has an Oct. 9 deadline to appeal the ICJ ruling which ceded the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula to neighbouring Cameroon was delivered on Oct. 10, 2002.

Imoke said Jonathan had shown great leadership quality by convening the meeting and standing firm on some of the decisions taken.

Speaking also, the Senate President, Sen. David Mark, said the executive arm of government and the lawmakers were now on the same page on the Bakassi issue.

He said they would work together to achieve results.

A former Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Prince Bola Ajibola who was at the meeting, said the federal government had shown candid concern on the Bakassi issue.

He commended the move by government to follow dialogue, the rule of law and diplomacy in ensuring that Nigeria gets justice and the people were not wrongly dealt with.

Ajibola expressed optimism that the committee set up would handle the matter accordingly and in good time.

The meeting was attended by Vice President Namadi Sambo, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, and some other principal officers of the National Assembly.

Also in attendance were Akwa Ibom governor, Godswill Akpabio, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Sen. Anyim Pius Anyim, and the Minister of Justice and AGF, Mohammed Adoke.

Some leaders and representatives of selected groups from Bakassi, as well as presidential aides, were also in attendance.

The Senate had last week unanimously passed a resolution mandating the federal government to appeal the ICJ ruling because of the new facts which had emerged over the matter.

The motion which gave rise to the resolution was sponsored by Sen. Abdul Ningi (PDP-Bauchi Central).

He had argued that it would be wrong for Nigeria not to appeal the judgment because there was still opportunity to do so before the statutory expiration time.(NAN)
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GENOCIDE : Northern Muslims demand N105bn compensation from FG

Muslims members of Southern Kaduna community in Kaduna State has asked the ECOWAS Court of Justice sitting in Abuja to order the Federal Government to pay them the sum of N105bn as compensation for failing to protect them from an alleged ethno-religious cleansing carried out by indigenous members of the community after the April 2011 presidential election.

The suit, which came up for hearing on Wednesday, was filed on behalf of the Southern Kaduna muslims by the plaintiffs – the Registered Trustees of Jamaa Foundation, Alhaji Suleiman Ahmed, Alhaji Muhammed Zailani, Malam Sale Waziri, Wada Balarabe and Yakubu Yunusa.

The Federal Government of Nigeria and the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice were listed as the respondents.

Southern Kaduna muslims claimed that the Federal Government failed to protect them from a premeditated mayhem which led to the death of 838 members of their community on April 18 and 19, 2011.

In the suit filed by their lawyer, Abdulfatah Bello, they claimed that “the premeditated mayhem was executed in Kamuru Ukulu on the 18th day of April 2011.”

They said, “In the evening of the said day while the Muslim community were enjoying the peace of the after effect of the presidential election, their habitat was surrounded by some indigenous youths who mounted illegal road blocks to and from the town.”

The plaintiffs claimed that, in the civil disturbances that ensued shortly after the road block was set up, their members lost lives and property while relevant agencies of the government failed to restore order in the community.

The plaintiffs also claimed that, so far, none of those responsible for the alleged crime has been arrested.

They therefore asked the court to declare that the failure of the respondents to provide timely protection for them was unlawful and violated their human rights, as guaranteed under the African Charter of People and Human Rights, and the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Also, the Southern Kaduna Muslim community asked the court to order the Federal Government to pay them a total of N105bn as compensation.




Source: PUNCH
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CBN : I’m tired of National Assembly summons — Sanusi

when he appeared before the House of Representatives Joint Committees on Finance, Legislative Budget and Research, National Planning and Aids, Loans and Debt Management over the 2013-2015 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and the Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) yesterday in Abuja, Sanusi said that no previous CBN governor had been so frequently invited like him. He told his hosts that his itineraries were being obstructed.Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has said that the incessant summons on him to appear before different committees of the National Assembly were becoming too much to bear“I don’t think there has been any CBN governor that has been brought here (the National Assembly) as much as me. I have even offered to be moved, or open my annex office here. Nobody asks me how my itineraries are before inviting me.The CBN governor was responding to observations made by a member of the panel, and chairman of the House Committee on Legislative Budget and Research, Rep. Opeyemi Bamidele (ACN, Ekiti) who wanted to know why it was always difficult for the CBN governor to honour their invitation without making an issue out of it, or refusing to come at the appropriate date and time.

Sanusi was to appear before the joint committee on Tuesday but some high ranking officers of the CBN went instead, only to be turned back by the legislators who insisted that the CBN governor makes a personal appearance. He told the committee yesterday that he was not aware of the invitation.

Lead chairman of the joint committees Rep Abdulmumin Jibrin (PDP, Kano), said the panel had to insist that Sanusi appears in person because the Central Bank plays a very important role in the overall economic decisions of government.

“You must come and explain things to help our understanding of the fundamentals of our economic decisions,” Rep Jibrin said.

“You don’t devalue the institution of the National Assembly because it will outlive all of us.”

Sanusi then stroke a joke, saying he envied Rep. Abdulmumin’s position as the chairman of the committee because it wields a lot of powers, and that when he retires as CBN governor, he may consider contesting election for the House of Representatives.

Just yesterday the Senate also summoned the CBN Governor alongside the minister of finance Dr Igozi Okonjo-Iweala and the Accountant General of the Federation for allegedly withholding funds meant for the Petroluem Technology Development Fund.

The apex bank’s boss also denied having any rift with the National Assembly as being insinuated in some quotas saying, “I don’t have problem with you.”

It would be recalled that in 2010 Sanusi raised the alarm when he delivered a lecture at the University of Benin in which he said National Assembly members get 25 percent of Federal Government’s overhead vote.

The submission appeared to have marked the beginning of a very frosty relationship between him and the national legislators who are currently working on a bill to whittle down powers of the CBN governor.

Last year, the House also summoned Sanusi over the controversial cashless policy and the introduction of the non-interest banking system. However, Sanusi insisted and went ahead with the policies.

Also, in February this year, the CBN boss refused to submit the apex bank’s annual budget estimate to the National Assembly for legislative scrutiny as provided for by law.

He rather wrote a letter to the House committee on Banking and Currency on 10th February 2012, informing it that the National Assembly had donated its appropriation powers to the CBN board in the CBN Act of 2007 and as such he does not require the approval of the legislature to pass his budget.

Infuriated by Sanusi’s comments, the legislators increased their momentum to curtail the powers of the CBN by initiating amendments to the CBN Act 2007 to insert clauses that will compel the apex bank to forward its annual budget to the parliament. The amendment bills have since passed second reading in both Senate and House of Representatives.

As if that was not enough, during the investigative hearing on the “near collapse” of the Nigerian capital market by an ad-hoc committee led by Rep. Ibrahim Tukur El-Sudi (PDP, Taraba), Sanusi again, refused to submit some documents requested by the panel arguing that the law does not compel him to do so.

Consequently, the committee recommended that he be charged to court for contempt of parliament. The report was adopted by the House in plenary on July 19th 2012. However, implementation lies squarely on the table of the President, who Sanusi work for.

Last month, the two chambers also banged their legislative hammer on the botched N5000 note and currency restructuring proposed by the CBN when they passed resolutions on September 18th asking President Jonathan to stop him from printing and issuing the new note. The president fainally acceded to the demand and suspended the plan.

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Men Beware! Beautiful Women Are Dangerous To Your Health

A beautiful woman is the envy of many. While being beautiful does have numerous advantages, there are also disadvantages – one of which is being harmful to men’s health.

It has long been said that beautiful women are hard on men’s hearts and therefore, getting in contact with them might be harmful to men’s health, raising stress hormones to dangerously high levels, says a new study.

According to the study which was carried out by Spanish researchers, when men are in the presence of a beautiful stranger they view as “out of their league,” the risks are even higher, with cortisol levels rising so high that heart attacks and strokes become real possibilities.

“This is another case of hard science proving the obvious,” said a psychiatrist, Irvin Wolkoff, who was involved with the study.

In carrying out the study, the researchers tested 84 male students by asking each one to sit in a room and solve a Sudoku puzzle. Two strangers, one male and one female, were also in the room.

The outcome of this experiment showed that when the female stranger left the room and the two men remained sitting together, the volunteer’s levels of the stress hormone cortisol did not rise. But, when the volunteer was left alone with the female stranger, his cortisol levels rose, as measured by a saliva swab.

The researchers, also explained that for most men, the presence of an attractive woman may induce the perception that there is an opportunity for courtship.

It all boils down to evolution. Since cavemen days, men have been hardwired so that when they see an attractive woman, their cortisol response kicks in to tell men to seek out that woman for mating purposes, Wolkoff says.

Even though today’s man is sophisticated and enlightened, underneath, when he sees an attractive female, he feels stress about wanting to mate with her, and worrying about whether she might already have a mate or be unresponsive.

“So by definition, sexual encounters are in the same general category as fighting or fleeing. These are stressful situations,” he says.

Wolkoff says there’s nothing wrong with feeling cortisol or andrenaline in small doses. But he says if elevated levels are sustained over extended periods of time, stress can be very unhealthy.

Dr Charles Agadu, a physician explains: “When a man sees a beautiful lady, his cortisol level rises and when the level gets too high it could lead to cardiac problems”.

Cortisol is a one of the hormones secreted by the adrenal glands in the body and this hormone is also called the fright hormone, i.e the hormone that also produces the very well known adrenalin, Agadu said.

Facts have it that when some men spend just 5mins with a beautiful lady, it causes so much stress which is not good for the heart. So for such men ,their anxiety rate will be very high as their cortisol levels will rise even higher .This might cause heart attacks and strokes because exposure to physical and psychological stresses for a long time may chronically increase cortisol levels, Agadu explains further.

Agadu stated however that, cortisol impairs the immune system thereby worsening diabetes, hypertension and impotence. But this is not to say that on sighting a beautiful woman a man just develops heart attack on the spot, but constant contact and exposure to beautiful women over time is what could make cortisol level to rise to dangerously high levels to the extent of posing a threat to a man’s life.

An Abuja based psychologist , Rukayat Jubril says that naturally, when we see beautiful things we stop to look.

According to her, this is not particular to men alone because even when a woman sees a fellow woman that is very beautiful she stops to look and admire her. If a woman experiences this, then one should expect a more spontaneous reaction from the opposite sex.

"When a man sees a beautiful woman, what comes to his mind is an imagination of what she would look like without clothes. Again, he could get worried whether if he approaches her for a relationship she would accept", Rukayat pointed out.

Fear of rejection is what can easily trigger a heart attack , especially when a man is crazy about a particular woman. There is always this fear that he might be rejected. Living with the situation for a long period of time could eventually result in the cortisol level rising gradually until it gets too bad to trigger heart problems.

This is not to say that the heart starts malfunctioning as soon as a man sets his eyes on a beautiful woman. In a situation where this suddenly happens, then the man must have had an underlying critical heart condition, she stated.

Mindset has a great role to play in his situation. There are some men that are not moved at all when they get in contact with women while some on just seeing them get aroused. It all depends on individual, the psychologist concluded.

Written by RALIAT AHMED-YUSUF....... Olu famous