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‘Worst Senate’: Senator Rafiu Ibrahim Exposes Governor El-Rufai

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Rafiu Ibrahim, senator representing Kwara south, says Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna state, is one of the people who got the All Progressives Congress (APC) into the current “mess” it found itself.

Ibrahim, one of the APC senators who joined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) earlier in the week, said this in reaction to the comment of el-Rufai that the 8th senate is the worst in the history of the country.
The lawmaker disagreed with el-Rufai, saying facts do not support his position.

“May be we need to educate this aggrieved governor that this senate in three years already has the highest number of bills with relevance to improving the economy, eliminating insecurity and corruption since 1999, even though we still have 10 months to the end of our tenure,” he said in a statement.

“Similarly, we have treated more petitions than the number that all the past senate combined had done. Our interventions on key issues that affect the day to day living of Nigerians have remained unparalleled.”

Ibrahim said el-Rufai is feeling pained by the rejection of the $350 million World Bank loan that the upper legislative chamber refused to give consent to.

He wondered why the governor could attack the senate when he allegedly tried to lobby Senate President Bukola Saraki over the issue.

“El- Rufai is an aggrieved governor. He is pained by the rejection of his request for foreign loans by the Senate committee on foreign and local debt which is headed by a senator from Kaduna state, Shehu Sanni. The Governor has been speaking from both sides of the mouth,” the statement read.

“He had sent several persons to the senate president on this loan. I am aware that when he sent the current minister of finance to Dr. Saraki, the latter made it known that he too was helpless on the issue as there was no personal reason that will make him stand against such a request.

The senate president advised the governor to reach out to the three senators from the state and get them to support the decision as he, the senate president, would find it difficult to overrule the senators, particularly since one of them is the chairman of the concerned committee.

The three Senators from Kaduna state insisted that an approval for the loan would sentence Kaduna State to many years of indebtedness.

“I am aware of the text message that this same wl-Rufai sent to Saraki few weeks ago,thanking him for the useful and supportive discussion the senate president had with the minister of finance on the Kaduna loan issue and commending this same Saraki for the leadership he has provided on a number of issues.

“For him to now be making this kind of nonsensical and reckless statements against the senate president shows that he is a double-faced, reckless and immature.

People should ignore him. He is one of the people who destroyed APC up to the point that it is and President Buhari had better realised that with a supporter like el-Rufai, he does not need an opponent again.”

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Edo PDP opposes suspension of LG bosses by state assembly, says ‘It’s unconstitutional’

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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo says the suspension of all the chairpersons and their deputies in the 18 LGAs of the state is “unconstitutional”.

The chairpersons and their deputies were suspended on Tuesday by the Edo state house of assembly for two months over alleged misappropriation of funds.

Blessing Agbebaku, the speaker of the house, said Monday Okpebholo, governor of Edo, had written a petition to the assembly regarding the chairpersons’ refusal to submit the financial records of their LGs to the state government.

In a statement, Anthony Aziegbemi, chair of the PDP in Edo, said the “illegal” suspension is a disregard to a supreme court decision that affirms the autonomy and independence of local governments.

“How can the governor direct the State Assembly to suspend democratically elected chairmen of the 18 local councils for insubordination when these elected officials enjoy autonomy and independence as enshrined in the constitution and are not subordinates of the governor, the state assembly, or any other arm of government?,” he said.

“We are also aware that the chairmen and their vices were not even given the opportunity to be heard in their detence and were suspended unheard on watery trumped up charges, in total disregard to the constitution.

“We want to restate that the constitution remains supreme, and any attempt to undermine its provisions or disregard the judiciary and its rulings is not only illegal but also a direct attack on democracy and the rule of law.

“The speaker of the Edo state house of assembly and the entire assembly have clearly overstepped their constitutional mandates with this illegal action and we urge them to immediately reverse its decision, in respect to the rule of law and democratic governance.”

Aziegbemi said the suspended officials should report to their councils on Wednesday and carry on with their normal duties.

Also speaking on the issue, Anthony Ehilebo, a PDP chieftain, said Okpebholo has no legal backing to request the financial records of the LGAs.

“In fact, the governor and the assembly members are in contempt of the supreme court,” Ehilebo said when he appeared on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme.

“The purported suspension of the local government chairmen by the state assembly is as absurd as the president asking the national assembly to suspend state governors because they refused to submit statements of accounts to him.

“This is a witch hunt. The LGA chairmen are all PDP members.”

The lawyer said the suspension “is unknown to law and will be ignored”.

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Ex-sports minister Bolaji Abdullahi resigns from PDP

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Bolaji Abdullahi, a former minister of sports and youth development, has resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He disclosed his intention to resign in a letter dated December 16 and addressed to the PDP ward chairman in Ubadawaki, Kwara state.

Abdullahi confirmed the development to TheCable on Monday.

The ex-minister also said he is yet to decide which political platform to pitch tent with.

“The decision of what to do and where to go will be taken in the future that’s left to God,” he said.

In the resignation letter, Abdullahi said he reached the “difficult” decision after days of reflection and introspection.

“I write to formally resign my membership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),” the letter reads.

“I have had ample time to reflect, and I have come to the difficult conclusion that this is the only tenable option for me at this time.

“Mr. Chairman, please permit me to express, through you, my gratitude to the leadership of the party for the opportunities that I have had to serve the state and the country on its platform, and for the great moments we have shared.”

Abdullahi was the PDP candidate for the Kwara central senatorial district election in 2023. He lost the race to Salihu Mustapha of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

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PDP debunks inviting Jonathan to contest 2027 presidency

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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says it has not extended an invitation to former President Goodluck Jonathan to contest the presidency on its platform in the 2027 election.

Speaking with BBC Hausa, Ibrahim Abdullahi, deputy spokesperson of the country’s main opposition party, said no ticket has been issued to the former president.

Abdullahi said the party has many eligible people who can contest for the presidency on its platform, adding that a recent interview he granted was interpreted to mean that Jonathan he asked to run on the PDP platform.

“The report that PDP has issued its presidential ticket to former President Goodluck Jonathan or invited him to contest the 2027 presidential election is not true,” he said.

“What happened is this, I had an interview with a journalist where we discussed some issues.

“But in the course of the interview, he mentioned President Jonathan, asking about our opinion of him, because there are reports that he is being urged to run for the presidency.

“I responded by saying that he (Jonathan) is eligible to contest the election, because he is a Nigerian and has the right to do that by the provision of the law, and he still has one more term left.

“So, there is nothing wrong about him contesting the presidential election because he is eligible in the face of the law.”

The deputy spokesperson said the ticket would be given to someone who has shown interest in running for the presidency.

Jonathan, then in the PDP, lost the presidential election to former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.

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