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TUESDAY APRIL 11, 2017 • T H I S D AY
NEWSEXTRA
El-Rufai Replies Dogara, Gives Details of Security Vote, Salary Challenges Dogara to do same
John Shiklam in Kaduna The Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, yesterday disclosed details of expenditure by the state government following last Friday’s accusations by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara. Yakubu and the governor had last Friday challenged each other on issues of accountability while speaking at the end of a retreat for the management of the National Assembly in Kaduna. El-Rufai had in his remarks during the occasion, asked the National Assembly to make its budget public for the sake of accountability. However, in his comments, Dogara had challenged state governors to make public how they spend their security votes and local government funds. The governor in a statement in Kaduna yesterday said he operates a transparent government, adding
that there was nothing to hide about his expenditure. The governor who gave details of the state government expenditure including his salary and pay slip, also challenged Dogara to present details of the National Assembly budget. The governor reiterated his call on the National Assembly leadership to also disclose the details of the National Assembly budget and the salaries and allowances of its leadership. The statement said the call to the National Assembly was not a personal one, but it is one which the leadership of the National Assembly owes to all Nigerians. The statement signed by Samuel Aruwan, spokesman to the governor, said the challenge is a necessary step to improve and strengthen democracy, stressing that the Kaduna State Government has consistently made public all its budget details. Explaining, further, the statement
disclosed that details of actual spending in 2015 for security in the state budgets are also publicly available via the annual report of the Accountant-General of the Federation accessible on www.kdsg.gov.ng. adding that the 2015 accounts of the state government have been audited, and the audit summary published in major newspapers and on the state website on June 2016. The statement said the state government would continue to remain transparent and open in all its finances. “El-Rufai is today making publicly available his pay-slip as
governor of the state. In February 2017, the state government paid the governor a net salary of N470,521.74, with the following details: Income, Deductions, Basic Salary N185,308.75, Hardship Allowance -N370,617.50, Gross PayN555,926.25 PAYE - N85,404.51, total deduction - N85,401.51, Net Pay- N470,521.74. “The amount may appear puny but it reflects what the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) approved as the salary and allowances of every state governor adjusted to reflect provision in-kind of accommodation and transportation.
“El-Rufai would like to reiterate his call for the National Assembly leadership to do the same and disclose the details of the it budget, and the salaries and allowances of its leadership. “The call to open National Assembly is not a personal one. It is one which the leadership of the National Assembly owes to all Nigerians. It is therefore disingenuous for the Speaker to use sate government budgets as the excuse for the opacity of the National Assembly budget. In 2016, the National Assembly budget for its 469 members was larger than the capital budget
of Kaduna State, with close to 10 million inhabitants. It is also larger than the entire budget of several Nigerian states. Indeed, over the past 10 years from 2008, the National Assembly as an institution has cost the country over a trillion naira without any detail on how this amount was allocated and spent. “There is no state government in Nigeria with a budget nearly as opaque as that of National Assembly. In March 2016, this National Assembly, led by its Chairman, promised to provide a detailed breakdown of the National Assembly budget. Nigerians are waiting,” the statement said.
EFCC Uncovers Another Cash Haul A tip from a whistleblower yesterday led operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to intercept huge sums of money in various currencies at the popular Balogun market in Lagos. According to a statement by the commission’s spokesman, Mr. Wilson Uwajaren, the monies included €547,730 and £21,090 as well as N5,648,500. “The total haul was about N250million at the prevailing exchange rate at the parallel market,” he said. The interception followed information that about N250 million cash was being moved somewhere
in the market for conversion into foreign currencies by unnamed persons, he added. “Operatives responded timely, met the money in the bureau de change office, but a large chunk of it had been converted into Euro and Pounds Sterling. “The BDC operators found in possession of the monies claimed they were acting on behalf of their boss who sent the money to them from one of the Northern states in Nigeria. “Two persons apprehended in the course of the raid are helping the commission in its investigation,” EFCC added.
APC to Hold NEC Meeting April 25, Suspends Mini Convention Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja The National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been scheduled for April 25. The NEC is to take place after a national caucus meeting which will hold on April 24. The new fixtures were disclosed yesterday by the APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, while speaking with journalists at the party’s headquarters in Abuja. Oyegun confirmed THISDAY’s exclusive report last Sunday regarding the suspension of plans for a mini convention, saying the April 29 tentative date for the convention had been put on hold subject to confirmation by the NEC meeting. He said: “Well, the party would hold a caucus meeting on April 24, NEC on April 25 and it is NEC that would decide the date for the convention.” The National Working Committee (NWC) of the party had fixed the April 29 mini convention after its consultative meeting with the APC governors in the month of March at the national secretariat of the party. Although the party leadership
keep denying it, THISDAY learnt that the convention had to be shelved due to paucity of funds and other unresolved issues. As part arrangements for the non-elective convention, APC had it would hold state congresses to nominate delegates and to fill vacancies that occurred principally from political appointments, deaths and resignations. It also plans to carry out constitutional amendments to accommodate some changes in the nomenclature and composition of its Board of Trustees (BoT) . Meanwhile, Oyegun yesterday made some clarifications over the nature of the ongoing continuous membership registration in the party. In a statement issued by Oyegun, he assured members and supporters of the party that the membership registration exercise is for new members only. “The ongoing nationwide membership registration is neither a fresh registration exercise nor a re-registration exercise for old members. All existing registered members are therefore excluded from the fresh exercise. The clarification comes in reaction to uncertainties raised by some of our esteemed members on the exercise,” he said.
GIVE ME MY MONEY
Former First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan (second right), at the Maitama Branch of Skye Bank House in Abuja....yesterday Kingsley Adeboye
PDP Accuses APC-led Government of Muzzling Opposition Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja The National Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by Senator Ahmed Makarfi has raised the alarm over the alleged unconstitutional and indiscriminate arrests and detention of its members and supporters nationwide by the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led federal government. It said it had been alerted of plans by the federal government to tap mobile telephone lines and hack other devices of citizens as a way of harassing and intimidating them into silence. The PDP, which warned that it would no longer tolerate the high handedness of the APC, demanded the unconditional and immediate release of Mr. Austin Usman Okai and all other members held in several detention centres of security agencies across the country. In a statement issued by the
spokesman of the caretaker committee, Mr. Dayo Adeyeye, the main opposition party said it was drawing the attentions of the international community and world leaders to the serious issues of human rights violation in Nigeria since the APC administration took over power in May 29, 2015. PDP described the alleged actions of the APC-led administration as disheartening and serious threat to democracy. “These actions of the ruling party, the APC, is absurd, disheartening and a serious threat to our hard- earned democracy. Nigerians cannot and should not be arrested and detained indiscriminately for criticising and holding the government accountable. Constructive criticism is the primary responsibility of opposition in a democracy all over the world, and Nigeria cannot be an exception,” it said. The statement a catalogue of
several cases of unlawful arrests and detention of PDP members across the country, including its chapter Chairman in Jigawa State, Mr. Salisu Mamuda, who was arrested for criticising the Jigawa State Government for allegedly spending the sum of N400,000,000 to entertain defectors from PDP to APC. It also said its governorship aspirant on the platform of the party in Lagos State, during the 2015 gubernatorial election, Mr. Babatunde Gbadamosi, was arrested by men of the Department of State Service (DSS) on account of exposing the forex racketeering by the APC-led government at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). “Also on March 3, 2017, Alhaji Abdulrahman Mohammed, a PDP chieftain in Kogi State was arrested on trump-up charges and detained illegally for criticising the wrong policies, mis-governance and
non-performance of Governor Yahaya Bello. “Just yesterday, April 9, 2017, Mr. Austin Usman Okai, a PDP youth leader and frontline critic of the Bello’s APC-led government in Kogi State, was arrested by men of the Police Special Anti-Robbery Squared (SARS) on phantom petitions by some cronies of the governor. “There are also reports of indiscriminate arrest and detention of citizens of this country in Kaduna, Edo, Nasarawa States among others at both the federal and state levels controlled by the ruling APC,” PDP said. According to the statement, PDP will ensure that the unholy practices of the APC-led administration is resisted by all Nigerians. “We will mobilise Nigerians at all levels to fight against the use of arms in a democratic system to ridicule and intimidate citizens of this country.”
FG Denies Plans to Wire-tap Nigerians Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja The federal government has denied reports alleging that the Ministry of Interior Affairs is planning to stifle the freedom of speech being enjoyed by Nigeirans by ordering all phones calls and social media
posts to be recorded and monitored. The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, denied the report via a statement signed on his behalf by his Special Assistant on Media, Segun Adeyemi. He likened the report to classic disinformation that has permeated the media space,
insisting that government has no intention to wiretap phone calls made or received by members of the public. ‘’There is no regulation, old or new, from the Ministry of Interior or any federal government agency requiring the recording of all calls or the monitoring of social media
platforms like WhatsApp, Twitter or Facebook,” Mohammed said. He said those behind the false news wanted to give the impression that government was working to stifle freedom of speech. He appealed to the public to disregard the news being spread as falsehood.