Impeachment threat: Jonathan invites Tambuwal for talks

By The Nation: Yusuf Alli 

 

Dr. Jonathan and Tambuwal

•Lobbyists mount pressure on Reps to end cold war •We’re not on witch-hunting mission but to make Nigeria work -Reps spokesman

President Goodluck Jonathan wants an immediate end to the cold war between him and the House of Representatives. 
He has invited Speaker Aminu Tambuwal for peace talks to iron out their differences. 
The duo were scheduled to meet last night at the Presidential Villa for the talks. 
The Presidency and the House are locked in a stand-off over alleged slow pace at which the 2012 Budget is being implemented with the Reps, on Thursday, threatening the President with impeachment for the situation. 
They gave him up to September to implement it to 100 per cent, failing which “we will begin drafting the article of impeachment.” 
Moments after the Thursday session of the House, the Presidency responded to the impeachment threat, saying it was on the same page with the Reps on the budget issue. 
Spokesman for the President, Dr.Reuben Abati, told reporters that his principal was as concerned about the budget’s performance as the Reps. 
However, The Nation on Saturday gathered last night that President Jonathan personally  reached out to the leadership of the House with a view to ending the stand-off. 
Besides, some top government officials, friends and associates of the President have, on their own, launched separate initiatives to stop the situation from degenerating. 
They were said to be lobbying the Reps to sheathe their swords. 
After harmonisation, the Senate and the House of Representatives had, on March 15, passed a budget of N4.88 trillion with a benchmark of $72 per barrel. The vote was increased from N4.65 trillion proposed by the Federal Government. 
The President, however, assented to a N4.7 trillion budget on April 13. 
But the House of Representatives on Thursday expressed displeasure that only 30 per cent of the budget had been implemented. 
Authoritative sources said the President was showing a lot of resolve to close the ‘communication gap’ between the Executive and the House. 
The President was said to have contacted Speaker Tambuwal to hear him out on the grievances of the lawmakers. 
A source said: ”s a leader, the President on Thursday invited the Speaker for interaction on issues raised by the House. I think they were expected to meet yesterday. 
“There were strong signals that the two leaders had opened up discussions on the telephone before the Speaker was invited by the President. 
“Neither the President nor the Speaker wanted the polity to be heated up by the budget palaver. 
“The Presidency had wielded enormous influence to lobby the House members to defer Thursday’s special plenary on budget implementation, but it did not work out at all. 
“Apparently, the Speaker deliberately switched off to also stave off pressure that could heighten the misunderstanding between the House and the executive arm. 
“What I can conveniently tell you is that the leaders have started talking. Apparently, there is a ‘communication gap’ between the two sides and there is need to improve working relationship.” 
Neither the Presidency nor the House was willing to officially comment on the rapprochement last night. 
Besides, some top government officials, associates and strategists of the President have been wooing House members to end the logjam over budget implementation. 
A principal officer of the House, who spoke in confidence, said: “Forces and people around the corridors of power have been calling us to sheathe the sword. 
“We have told them that the issues we raised were not personal. We were concerned about how to move Nigeria forward. 
“It got to an embarrassing level that some of us had to switch off our phones.” 
The Chairman of the House Committee on Media, Hon. Zakary Mohammed, said the House does not rule out dialogue with the Executive. 
“For us, we are after the right thing being done. The appropriation law is being addressed with impunity. We are empowered by the 1999 Constitution to raise questions like we did on Thursday on the floor of the House. 
“We owe our employers (Nigerian masses) a duty to ask questions on their behalf and protect their interest when things are upside down. 
“No one is after President Goodluck Jonathan, but we want the system to work. We are in July and the budget is not being implemented as expected. Even some approvals made for the execution of some key projects had no cash backing. That means, nothing is working. 
Asked if the Executive has reached out to the House, Mohammed said: “It is not impossible, because in a situation like this, they would want to market their position to the House leadership. 
“And going by what the Majority Leader, Mrs. Mulikat Adeola, said that the situation will be addressed before we resume from recess, there could be room for dialogue.”

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Over 30 die in Port Harcourt vessel explosion

 

Vessel explosion

•Three escape with injuries •Other boats badly burnt •JTF sets five fuel tankers ablaze

A fresh tragedy hit Rivers State yesterday, barely a week after the tanker explosion claimed close to 200 lives. 
The latest incident is the explosion of a vessel leaving 30 passengers dead. 
Three persons were injured and three other vessels were badly burnt. 
The tragic scene was the Abuloma Jetty, Port Harcourt. 
The ill-fated vessel, according to a source, belonged to a private company contracted to supply food and sundry items to off-shore employees of an oil company. 
It was found to be leaking and a group of welders was engaged to seal the leaking points. 
It was gathered that the welders were on the job when the explosion occurred. 
An eye witness said: “One of the welders was blown off by the explosion. He landed in the fire and died on the spot.” 
In the ensuing confusion, three of those in the vessel jumped into the river, despite their injuries, in a bid to swim to safety. They were rescued by sympathisers and rushed to the hospital, although two of them were said to be in critical conditions. 
There are fears that no other persons escaped. 
Most of the dead, a source said, were girls whose mission in the vessel was not immediately known. 
The owner of the vessel also could not be ascertained at press time. 
The Rivers State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Dr. Kayode Olagunju, said of the accident: “An oil vessel, at about 9.45 hours caught fire and exploded at the Abuloma Waterfront in Port Harcourt. The fire was still restricted to water area. FRSC, NEMA, Police, Fire Service and others were the rescue agencies on the ground. Casualty figures not yet known.” 
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, Deputy Superintendent Ben Ugwuegbulam, did not respond to telephone calls when The Nation on Saturday called. 
Three other vessels anchored near the burning vessel and other facilities were badly burnt by the raging fire, which could not immediately be confronted in view of the intensity of the heat. 
As the fire raged, men of the Joint Task Force (JTF), code-named Operation Pulo Shield, set ablaze five tankers used by illegal bunkerers for transporting petroleum products. Spokesman for the JTF’s Sector 2, Captain Sunny Samuel confirmed the burning.

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‘Why President declined House invitation’

By The Nation: Vincent Ikuomola 

 

Reuben Abati

Why did President Goodluck Jonathan not honour the House of Representatives invitation for interaction on the security situation in the country?
It is because he was not “formally invited, his spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati said yesterday.
Abati said the President is not averse to the invitation if it is properly channelled.
Abati spoke on a RayPower 100.5FM phone-in programme; Fact File, monitored by our correspondent.
He also commented on why the President has not assented to some bills passed by the National Assembly and sent to his office.
Abati said some of the bills when signed into law, would create additional bureaucracy leading to over-bloated governance that the Federal Government is trying to rationalise.
He cited the National Health Bill and the Biodiversity Bill as some of those bills.
Abati said: “The President does not have any problem with the invitation by the House of Representatives. But there should be a formal letter inviting him to come and address them on the floor of the House. Something will be said on the floor of the assembly and once the President does not have a formal letter inviting him, the President cannot, on the basis of newspapers report say he has been invited. 
“I am very sure that when there is a formal invitation from the National Assembly, the President will honour it. In any case, the National Assembly is dominated by members of the President’s party.
“Mr. President often invites members of the parliament to hold meetings with him in the Villa and they honour the invitation. So, when they invite him formally, he will go especially since the issues are of mutual interest to both arms of government and of interest to Nigerians. It is a procedural thing when the lawmakers ask the President to come and address them. You will remember that every year, he addresses them when presenting the Appropriation Bill. Whenever the President goes to event in the ruling party, he briefs them. When he does Presidential Media Chat, he gives reports to Nigerians. On a daily basis, we report the activities of government online, through newspapers and other possible medium to show that this is a Presidency that is transparent and has nothing to hide. His true mandate is to serve Nigerians. It is not that the President is avoiding the legislature; it is not that the President does not want to go to the National Assembly. Both bodies work together.
“Enshrining the State of the Nation Address into the Constitution is not a problem, what they are asking for is accountability. If there is a law like that, it makes it mandatory for the President to come to the parliament from time to time to give account, that is the law. It is the duty of the President to protect the rule of law and this President has shown in many instances that he respects the rule of law. Even with the just-concluded Edo election, the success was made possible by the President. Governor Adams Oshiomhole of the Action Congress of Nigeria has commended the President who is of the Peoples Democratic Party”.

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Mandela at 94, 12million pupils sings

 By The Nation: Reporter

 

•Mandela with his family during the celebrations…yesterday

South Africans rose in salute to their legendary former president, Nelson Mandela, who turned 94 yesterday, celebrating him with “67 minutes of good deeds”.
Leading the celebrations were no fewer than 12 million school children, who sang a specially composed birthday song for Madiba as Mandela is popularly known.
Each minute of the “67 minutes of good deeds” marks each year of Mandela’s struggle against white-minority rule. He was in prison for 27 years under the apartheid regime.
Mandela regained his freedom in 1990 and led the African National Congress (ANC) to victory in 1994 in elections that followed the post-apartheid years. He left office in 1999 after serving for one term.
Mandela marked the birthday quietly in his ancestral village of Qunu in the remote Eastern Cape province.
He spent the day with close family, friends and former United States (US) President Bill Clinton.
Clinton, accompanied by his daughter Chelsea, opened a new library for the No-Moscow Primary School in Qunu, ahead of his meeting with Mr Mandela. 
He told the children - believed in the future and not the past. 
“When I think about Mandela I always think about someone committed to the future,” Clinton said.
US President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, also paid tributes to Mr Mandela. 
The US first couple hailed Mr Mandela’s “extraordinary life and steadfast commitment to the principles of democracy and reconciliation”. 
Mandela’s birthday is traditionally celebrated with the poor communities receiving help from those who are more fortunate. 
To celebrate the number of years Mr Mandela spent in public life, people are encouraged to spend at least 67 minutes of their time helping those who are less fortunate. 
The guest list for a private lunch with Mr Mandela was kept a closely guarded secret. 
South Africans celebrated with giant cakes, mass renditions of “Happy Birthday” 
But beyond the mawkish tributes to South Africa’s first black president, the day revealed the unseemly scramble among companies, politicians and charities for a slice of the reflected glory of “Madiba”.
The ANC released a 1,450 word eulogy to its totemic former leader, exhorting the country’s 50 million people to “continue to build the South Africa of Madiba’s dreams”.
Yet only last week, anti-apartheid heroine and Mandela ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was accusing the ANC in a leaked letter of “shabby treatment” of the family and wanting to wheel them out only “when we have to be used for some agenda”.
The “67 minutes” Mandela Day charity push has also re-opened old wounds amid criticism it is merely a vehicle for whites and the newly rich black elite to assuage the guilt of living at the top of what remains one of the most unequal societies, even 18 years after the end of apartheid.
Leading the charge was Luther Lebelo, head of an ANC branch in Johannesburg, who wrote an article in the Sowetan newspaper suggesting the day was about “little cosmetic charity activities” that only served to perpetuate class divisions.
The Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, as the official guardians of his image are known,
hit back in the same paper, taking particular exception to Lebelo’s reference to the “so-called Mandela Foundation”.
The jibe reflects a view widely held among South Africa’s overwhelming black majority that whites have managed to co-opt Mandela and his image since the first all-race elections in 1994.
The Mandela centre has also become embroiled in a commercial battle with members of his family over the selling of Mandela-branded clothing via its ‘46664’ fashion range, named after the number he was given during his 27 years in prison.

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