Alleged Forgery of Senate Standing Orders: “My hands are Clean” – Ike Ekweremadu

20.06.2016 at 10:58 am By NAN Leave a Comment

Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu

The Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, said that he has no business with the production of the Senate Standing Orders, hence his hands are clean in the case of the alleged forgery of the document.

This is contained in a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity,Uche Anichukwu on Sunday in Abuja.

Ekweremadu reacted to his purported invitation by the police and the charges reportedly preferred against him before a Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja.

According to the statement, Ekweremadu said he will not be cowed by any attempt to distract him from carrying out his duties as a senator.

“The hands of Senator Ike Ekweremadu are clean because he has no business whatsoever with the production of Senate Standing Orders.

This is the latest attempt to try and convict him in the court of public opinion, notwithstanding that we do not want to mount a public defence.

We would rather meet them in court if they so wish.

We plead with our supporters across the nation to maintain the peace and go about their normal businesses unperturbed by this latest act of harassment and impunity.

We want to reassure them that no form of intimidation and onslaught to rubbish him will make him shy away from diligently carrying out the constitutional duties.

Ekweremadu will not legislate in fear, and he will certainly not fear to legislate,” the statement read.

The statement emphasised that though the deputy president of the senate had not been invited as reported, he would not be deterred.

“An attempt on his life in November 2015 did not deter him despite the fact that there is no information to show that the police investigated an incident of such magnitude duly reported to them.

Certainly not even a purported police invitation, lawsuit, propaganda, and intimidation would cow him because Nigeria belongs to all of us, irrespective of our different political, ethnic, and religious leanings,” it added.

The statement said the police had told Nigerians in 2015 that Ekweremadu was not invited for questioning on the matter.

“We are, therefore, as surprised as other Nigerians at the current twists and turns by the same police one year after.

Also after they had since submitted to the Attorney General of the Federation, their investigation report, which neither indicted nor made the slightest mention of Sen.atorIke Ekweremadu.

More so that the petitioners never named Ekweremadu in their petition in the first instance.

We wish to state that we only read reports of the so-called police invitation and charges allegedly preferred against Ekweremadu, the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki and others on the pages of the newspapers,” it added.

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Honourables Sex Scandal: Accused lawmakers remain innocent until proven guilty, says House of Reps Speaker Dogara 19.06.2016 at 12:46 pm By NAN 1 Comment PIC.13.THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, REP. YAKUBU DOGARA USING THE GAVEL AT THE INAUGURATION OF THE 8TH NATIONAL ASSEMBLY IN ABUJA ON TUESDAY (9/6/15). 3013/9/6/2015/CH/BJO/NAN The Speaker of The House of Representatives, Rep. Yakubu Dogara Abuja, June 18, 2016 (NAN) The Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has urged Nigerians to refrain from passing judgment on the three lawmakers accused of sexual misconduct, saying they remain innocent until proved guilty. This is contained in a statement issued by Turaki Hassan, Dogara’s Special Adviser and Public Affairs on Saturday in Abuja. Dogara asked Nigerians to wait for the outcome of investigation into the alleged misconduct. The Speaker said that judgment could only be passed when the allegation was proved. “As ambassadors of the House and indeed, the entire country, the members in the middle of the scandal have known not to bring dishonour to the institution they represent. “The House would conduct an investigation into allegations together with the US Embassy in Nigeria and we will get to the bottom of this matter,” Dogara said. He said apart from the letter, no evidence had been forwarded to his office, adding that there “can be no conviction without a trial.” “The lawmakers have said that they are prepared to defend themselves at their own cost. “However, the attempted rape allegation was not alluded to in the letter I received. We await the result of the investigation into the matter,” Dogara said. NAN About NAN The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) was established by the Federal Government of Nigeria in May 1976 to gather and distribute news on Nigeria and cover events of interest to Nigeria at the international level for the benefit of the Nigerian Media and the Public.

Honourables Sex Scandal: Accused lawmakers remain innocent until proven guilty, says House of Reps Speaker Dogara

19.06.2016 at 12:46 pm By NAN  leave a Comment

The Speaker of The House of Representatives, Rep. Yakubu Dogara

Abuja, June 18, 2016 (NAN) The Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara,has urged Nigerians to refrain from passing judgment on the three lawmakers accused of sexual misconduct, saying they remain innocent until proved guilty.

This is contained in a statement issued byTuraki Hassan, Dogara’s Special Adviser and Public Affairs on Saturday in Abuja.

Dogara asked Nigerians to wait for the outcome of investigation into the alleged misconduct.

The Speaker said that judgment could only be passed when the allegation was proved.

“As ambassadors of the House and indeed, the entire country, the members in the middle of the scandal have known not to bring dishonour to the institution they represent.

“The House would conduct an investigation into allegations together with the US Embassy in Nigeria and we will get to the bottom of this matter,” Dogara said.

He said apart from the letter, no evidence had been forwarded to his office, adding that there“can be no conviction without a trial.”

“The lawmakers have said that they are prepared to defend themselves at their own cost.

“However, the attempted rape allegation was not alluded to in the letter I received. We await the result of the investigation into the matter,” Dogara said.

About NAN

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) was established by the Federal Government of Nigeria in May 1976 to gather and distribute news on Nigeria and cover events of interest to Nigeria at the international level for the benefit of the Nigerian Media and the Public.

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President Mohamed Morsi sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Court Sentences Ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi to 40 years in Prison, 2 Al Jazeera Employees to Death

19.06.2016 at 11:20 am By NAN Leave a Comment

Mohamed Morsi

Egypt’s deposed Islamist presidentMohammed Morsi was on Saturday sentenced to 40 years in prison on charges of leaking secret state documents to Qatar when he was in office.

The decision was made by the Cairo Criminal Court, which announced two separate jail terms of 25 years and 15 years against Morsi on different counts.

Two former aides to Morsi were sentenced to life terms, which under Egyptian law is 25 years.

The court also confirmed preliminary death sentences given last month to six defendants in the same case.

The six, convicted of espionage, included three journalists, who were tried in absentia. Two of the three are employees of the Qatari television network Al Jazeera.

Confirmation of the death verdicts came after the country’s Chief Islamic legal authority – The Grand Mufti – approved them, as required by Egyptian law in cases involving death sentences.

The rulings against Morsi and all other defendants can be appealed.

Qatar was a key ally of Morsi’s now-banned Muslim Brotherhood.

Human Rights group, Amnesty International has condemned the death sentences.

“While this outcome is appalling, it is sadly not surprising,” Magdalena Mughrabi-Talhami, the watchdog’s deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme, said.

“Egypt’s broken and utterly corrupted justice system is now little more than a handy tool for the authorities’ repression of any vestiges of opposition or criticism,” she added in a statement.

The Egyptian government has repeatedly rejected criticism of heavy-handed sentences against Islamists, saying that the country’s courts operate independently.

Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president was toppled by the military in 2013 following mass protests against his rule.

In June 2015, another court sentenced him to death after convicting him of involvement in a mass prison escape during Egypt’s 2011 uprising. This sentence is also subject to appeal.

The court also handed him a life term on charges of conspiring with foreign organisations in conducting the jailbreak.

He is being tried in a separate case on charges of insulting the judiciary.

Several senior leaders in the Muslim Brotherhood and their followers have been sentenced to death in different cases since Morsi’s toppling.

The Islamist group has dismissed the sentences and other harsh verdicts as politically motivated.

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ECHOES OF IKPEAZU'S TOWN HALL MEETING WITH THE PEOPLE OF IKWUANO, UMUAHIA NORTH AND SOUTH LGAs.

ECHOES OF IKPEAZU'S TOWN HALL MEETING WITH THE PEOPLE OF IKWUANO, UMUAHIA NORTH AND SOUTH LGAs.

     A secondary school for the deaf, will be established in Abia State before December, this year . Directed the commissioner of Education Hon Ikechi Mgboji,  to fast track it.

This sheering news was announced by Governor Okezie Ikpeazu at a Townhall meeting with the people of Ikwuano/Umuahia extraction of Abia Central Zone held at Apumiri, Ubakala.

The Governor also disclosed that Abia has secured a #1 billion agricultural loan for farmers in the State, he stated  that the template for the disbursement of the loan will be made known soon and assured that the loan will be given to core farmers only.

Furthermore, he said that mechanised farming will be introduced in liaison with the Traditional Rulers and stated that it will help Abia to export agricultural produce.

The Governor also announced that food warehouses will be opened in all the LGAs in Abia for the school free meal programe of the State, Stressing that the initiative was to develop mental capacity of school children.

A detailed write-up is underway by Abia Online.

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Abia State Governor inaugurates free school meal.

(see how my governor ans the wife turn to caterers to feed the children)

The pilot phase for the Abia State Free Meal Initiative was inaugurated today in my hometown at Amapu Ntigha Primary School, Isiala Ngwa North LGA by Governor Okezie Victor Ikpeazu.

The scheme otherwise known as Abia Primary Schools Lunch Programme (APSLUP) is a Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative and its aims at:

Nurturing Healthy Children, Achieving high academic performance and boosting the agricultural economy. Promote free midday meals in all public primary schools in Abia State as a child right. Help meet the basic nutritional needs of children and expand their opportunity to reach their potential.

Significantly enhance the academic performance of children and increase their opportunities of reaching full potential; Enhance the implementation of the requirements of the child's rights act which Abia State domesticated in 2006.

Work towards the human development goals enshrined in the charter of the United Nations; Reduce the pressure on household budgets for food.

Also the initiative will bring the following values:

Develop the agricultural economy of Abia State by serving only meals prepared from grains and eggs produced within the State.
Empower women economically by engaging them as caterers to prepare the free midday meals.

#AbiaFeedAChild.

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