28032019 - NATIONAL ASSEMBLY LEADERSHIP:All clear for Lawan; fresh crisis brews over Gbaja

Vanguard, THURSDAY MARCH 28, 2019 — 51
9th Senate: Coalition warns
against imposition of leadership
•Don’t allow external bodies influence your
choice, it tells senators-elect
By Joseph Erunke
ABUJA — A
COALITION of
civil society and youth
groups under the aegis
of Partners for Legislative
Agenda
for
Nigeria,PLAN, has
asked senators-elect not
to allow external bodies
influence their decision
as they prepare to elect
the new leadership of the
9th Senate.
This was as it said the
North Central
geopolitical zone should
be completely out of the
race for the Senate
Presidency.
PLAN,a t a press
conference, Wednesday,
in Abuja, by its chairman,
Charles Ibiang, hailed
the ruling All Progressives
Congress,APC, “for
looking in the direction
of the North-East.”
It, however, warned
against imposition of any
particular candidate on
the upper legislative
chamber.
”We are concerned
about the need to avoid
the unnecessary
rancorous politicking that
led to the emergence of
Senator Abubakar
Bukola Saraki and the
subsequent psychological
and physical combat that
followed. This issue as we
all know, affected
governance negatively.
“The North-Central
should be totally out of
the race for the sake of
equity. If we must sustain
this political consensus
which is historic and very
politically healthy, we
strongly support the
zoning of the Senate
Presidency to the North-
East,” it insisted.
”PLAN therefore
sincerely commends the
APC for looking in the
direction of the North-
East. It is the right thing
to do. But we equally
disagree and warn
against any attempt to
impose a candidate.
“ While it is imperative
for a ruling political party
to introduce a semblance
of order and political
stability in the leadership
choice, historical
antecedent has shown
that imposition through
influence peddling and
invoking the name of the
President had led to
instability in leadership
succession in the National
Assembly in the past,”it
said.
The group, in a speech
•Oshiomhole, APC
Chairman
read to newsmen, said:
”There are a number of
experienced, exposed,
versatile, cosmopolitan
and broad-minded
ranking Senators from
the Northeast. The
search for a Senate
President must be
broadened to get for
Nigeria, the very best.
The idea of a handpicked
Senate President is as
undemocratic as it is
undesirable.
“The Senate must rise
to the occasion. It is
incumbent on it, on
behalf of Nigerians who
elected them, to choose
a Senate President that
can build bipartisan and
nationalistic bridges
which will contribute in
stabilizing the polity and
bridging the unity gap.
“We are also shocked
and disturbed that in
order to impose a
candidate, the name of
President Muhammadu
Buhari is being dragged
into the agenda of a few,
under the guise of the
vague term, Presidency.
BENUE: Why Ortom is
extending hand of fellowship
to his opponents — Akase
By Peter Duru
Mr. Terver Akase,
the Chief Press
Secretary, CPS, to the
Governor Samuel
Ortom of Benue State,
in this chat spoke on
Governor Ortom’s
victory in the 2019
governorship election
and the decision of the
All Progressives
Congress, APC,
governorship candidate
to challenge the victory
at the tribunal and tasks
before Ortom in his
second term.
His take on the decision
of the APC to challenge
the victory of Governor
Ortom at the tribunal?
Everyone has the right
to seek redress in court
if he or she is not satisfied
with any issue. So on that
basis one cannot blame
or fault the APC
candidate’s decision to
go to court.
Beyond that, Governor
Samuel Ortom has
already extended a hand
of fellowship to all those
who contested against
him and he made it clear
that this is our state, the
victory is for all and not
for Samuel Ortom as a
person in particular, not
for the PDP but for the
entire state. And he also
said he is the Governor
of all political parties, that
means that he is not
going to discriminate
against any Benue
person, and he went on
to promise that he would
set up a Truth and
Reconciliation
Commission to find ways
of bringing Benue people
•Akase
together to reason as one
family.
So with the posture of
the Governor there
wouldn’t have been any
need for anyone to say
they want to go to court,
but the constitution of
Nigeria confers on the
people the right to
express their opinion, the
right to live, the right to
do whatever they desire
as far as it falls within the
ambit of the law.
Hence we will not stop
the APC from going to
court because our victory
was clean and the
Governor overwhelmingly
won the election in both
the first and second
ballots.
You can’t fault such a
victory. If there was any
case of electoral
malpractice it was
perpetrated by the APC.
Even on the day of the
supplementary election
their supporters went to
one of the wards in Ukum
local government and
other places and
disrupted the elections.
So if anyone must
complain we should be the
ones complaining but we
didn’t complain because
we knew that we were
cruising home to victory.
UK PM vows to quit once
Brexit deal passes
THERESA May has
promised Tory
MPs she will stand down
if they back her deal. She
told backbench Tories: “I
am prepared to leave
this job earlier than I intended
in order to do
what is right for our
country and our party.”
The PM said she knew
that Tory MPs did not
want her to lead the next
phase of Brexit negotiations
“and I won’t stand
in the way of that”.
Boris Johnson has said
he will now back the
prime minister’s deal.
Mrs May did not name
a departure date at a
packed meeting of the
1922 committee.
But Laura Kuenssberg
said a Tory leadership
contest could be expected
in May.
Downing Street said it
would be a “different
ball game” if the deal
was not passed by Parliament.
It comes as MPs seize
control of the Commons
agenda to hold votes on
alternatives to the deal.
Mrs May told the 300
or so Tory MPs at the
meeting “we need to
get the deal through
and deliver Brexit”.
“I ask everyone in this
room to back the deal so
we can complete our
historic duty - to deliver
on the decision of the
British people and leave
the European Union
Trump tells Russia to get its
troops out of Venezuela
US
President
Donald Trump
has called on Russia to
pull its troops from Venezuela
and warned that
“all options” were open
to make that happen.
The arrival of two Russian
air force planes carrying
nearly 100 Russian
troops outside Caracas
on Saturday has escalated
the political crisis in
Venezuela.
Russia and China have
backed President Nicolas
Maduro, while the
United States and most
Western countries support
opposition leader
Juan Guaido. In January,
Guaido invoked the
constitution to declare
himself interim president,
arguing Maduro’s
2018 re-election was illegitimate.
The US government
EU recalls ships helping in
Mediterranean refugee rescues
THE
European
Union has announced
it will suspend
maritime patrols that
have rescued thousands
of refugees and asylum
seekers attempting the
perilous crossing of the
Mediterranean Sea.
The decision on
Wednesday followed deep
resistance from Italy,
where the anti-migrant
government said it would
no longer receive those
rescued at sea.
Instead, the new agreement
on Operation
Sophia, the EU mission
to reduce people-smuggling
in the Mediterranean,
will rely on extended
air patrols and close coordination
with Libya,
the main point of departure
by sea for refugees
and migrants seeking to
cross from North Africa to
Europe.
Sophia’s mandate was
due to expire on Sunday
but will now continue for
another six months with
the same aim of deterring
human traffickers in the
Mediterranean, according
to the new deal.
“Member States have
decided to extend the
mandate of Operation
Sophia for six months
with a temporary suspension
of its naval assets
while member states continue
working on a solution
related to disembarkation,”
said Maja Kocijancic,
EU spokeswoman.
However, Sophia “is
a maritime operation and
it is clear that without naval
resources, it will not
be able to carry out its
mandate effectively”, she
added.
with a smooth and orderly
exit.”
“I ask everyone in this
room to back the deal so
we can complete our
historic duty - to deliver
on the decision of the
British people and leave
the European Union
with a smooth and orderly
exit.”
Labour leader Jeremy
Corbyn tweeted that
Mrs May’s announcement
“shows once and
for all that her chaotic
Brexit negotiations have
been about party management,
not principles
or the public interest”.
He added: “A change of
government can’t be a
Tory stitch-up, the people
must decide.”
believes the Russian
troops include special
forces and cybersecurity
personnel.
“They’ve got a lot of
pressure right now. They
have no money, they
have no oil, they have no
nothing. They’ve got
plenty of pressure right
now. They have no electricity,”
Trump said.
“Other than military
you can’t get any more
pressure than they have.
All options are open,” he
added.
"'Russia has bilateral
relations and agreements
with Venezuela,
which it plans to honour,
Russian Deputy UN Ambassador
Dmitry Polyanskiy
said, in response to
Trump’s comments.
“It’s not up to US to
decide actions and fate
of other countries. It’s
only up to the people of
Venezuela and its only
legitimate president
Nicolas Maduro,” Polyanskiy
said on Twitter.
Entebbe pilot who stayed with
hostages dies
MICHEL Bacos,
the Air France
captain hailed as a hero
for refusing to abandon
his passengers when
Palestinian and German
hijackers seized
the plane in 1976, has
died in France aged 95.
The plane, carrying
some 260 people from
Tel Aviv to Paris, had
stopped off in Athens,
where the hijackers got
on board and demanded
it change course.
The hostage drama
ended six days later at
Entebbe airport in
Uganda, when Israeli
commandos stormed
the terminal.
Bacos died in the
French city of Nice.
Awarded France’s
highest civilian accolade,
the Légion
d’Honneur, he told the
BBC in 2016 that as captain
“it would be impossible
for me to leave my
passengers, unimaginable”.
The youngest of the
Entebbe survivors, Benny
Davidson, said Bacos
was a role model and
had taken a leading position
on behalf of all of
the hostages.
Nice Mayor Christian
Estrosi said: “Michel
was a hero. By bravely
refusing to give in to
anti-Semitism and barbarity
he brought honour
to France.”