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Lobby For Juicy C’ittee Intensifies In Senate

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Senate

Ahead of the composition of special and standing committees in the 10th Senate, intense lobby for the juicy ones has commenced among senators.

This is even as the minority caucus has resolved to fight for chairmanship of the juicy committees as a bloc.

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The fight for who chairs the 63 standing committees has become tensed, with the issue of ranking, party affiliation, loyalists, former governors and close associates shaping the composition.

Though the fight for who chairs the nine special committees and 63 others has been outside the  Assembly but with the resumption of senators from recess, intense politicking lobbying, intrigues and nocturnal meetings have reached a cresecndo.

READ ALSO: JUST IN: Bamidele, Umahi, Ndume Announced As Principal Officers Of 10th Senate

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It will be recalled that Senator Godswill Akpabio emerged president of the Senate on Tuesday, June 13, having scored 63 votes to defeat the former governor of Zamfara State, Senator Abdulaziz Yari (APC, Zanfara West), who polled 46 votes.

The lobby is more intensed for chairmanship of such committees as Appropriations, Services, Downstream Petroleum Sector, Upstream Petroleum Sector, Banking, Insurance and other financial institutions.

Others include Army, Defence, Finance, Navy, Niger Delta Affairs, Customs, Excise and Tariff, Gas, Works, Foreign Affairs, Health, and Power.

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Also, all the parties in the opposition have resolved to act as a bloc with regard to securing the chairmanship of juicy committees.

 

According to the opposition political parties, the decision to act as a bloc was taken to forward their demands to the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, who chairs the selection committee to enable him see and address the matter as a collective and very serious one, rather than individual negotiation that may not yield results.

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READ ALSO: NASS Leadership: APC Chairman, Adamu, Secretary, Omisore Meet Tinubu In Aso Rock

Vanguard gathered that this assignment was given to the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Simon Nwadkwon (PDP, Plateau North), and other minority leaders to handle during the Thursday, July 6 meeting.

A source told Vanguard that at the meeting held in Room 221 of the new Senate wing, a ranking senator from the North-East geo-political zone of the country told his colleagues that if results must be achieved with regard to getting chairmanship positions into Grade A committees, the minority caucus must go with list of committees as a bloc, instead of individuals going to lobby for them.

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According to the source, the suggestion was agreed on unanimously by the senators as the minority caucus was immediately mandated to carry out the assignment with other minority leadership, who are also members of the selection committee.

The source said: “At the meeting of the minority caucus, a ranking senator and one who has been around, advised us that we should make a bloc demand for chairmanship of committees, instead of going about lobbying as individuals, which may not achieve anything and it was accepted by all of us and the minority leader and his team were then mandated to carry it out.”

At the moment, ruling APC has 59 senators; the PDP 36; Labour Party, LP, eight; New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, two; Social Democratic Party, SDP, two; All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, and the Young Progressives Party, YPP, one each.
VANGUARD

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VIDEO: How Peter Obi Betrayed Me – Kenneth Okonkwo In New Interview

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Veteran actor and ex-spokesperson of the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council, Kenneth Okonkwo, has accused former presidential candidate, Peter Obi, of betrayal in the wake of internal party disputes.

In a viral interview with Symfoni which started trending on Saturday, Okonkwo, who officially exited the Labour Party in February 2025, revealed that Obi went against his advice and returned to support the embattled Julius Abure-led faction of the party, despite alleged warnings.

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According to him, Obi was misled by LP executives who claimed that the Independent National Electoral Commission had recognised them.

He said, “Any politician that knows what he’s doing cannot be betrayed by another. If there is anybody that betrayed the other, I can say it emphatically that Peter Obi betrayed me.

READ ALSO: Nigeria No Longer A Democracy, Peter Obi Laments

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“The Julius Abure-led LP members lied to Obi that the Independent National Electoral Commission had accepted them and Obi surreptitiously went back to them but I told him: ‘Sir, you have made a public statement on integrity and even if INEC has accepted them, that is not a criterion for you to go back and start dealing with them because they have shown that they are not democratic. If you go back to them, they will destroy your political career and everything you have said about integrity will die.’”

He said that despite privately urging Obi not to align with a group he described as “undemocratic” and “agents of the government,” Okonkwo said Obi went ahead to publicly endorse them.

“I told Obi that these people had become agents in the hands of the government to destabilise him. What they did was absolutely illegal and unconstitutional, I told him that if he went back to them, I wouldn’t join him in doing so.

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“Thereafter, I called all the people that were in the inner circle and told them the same thing about what Obi was trying to do. I told them he wanted to go back with the Abure people and if he did, I wouldn’t go back with him because I do not swallow back my words.

READ ALSO: Teen Who Stood In Front Of Peter Obi’s Convoy Freed After Months In Kirikiri

“And after saying all those things, within like 72 hours, Obi went back to Abure’s office to publicly endorse them and while he was there talking to them, one of the leaders in that executive sent me the video to mock me that the person I was fighting for against them has come to their office to endorse them.

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“It was when INEC dissociated itself from Abure that Obi came out to start acting neutral but I told him he could not be neutral and something had to be done,” he added.

The Labour Party has been embroiled in a prolonged leadership crisis, with opposing factions laying claim to the party’s national structure.

The Abure-led faction has faced allegations of financial mismanagement and anti-democratic practices, which critics say contradict the party’s reformist image.

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Okonkwo, a known loyalist of Obi’s political ideology, cited these irregularities as his reason for quitting the party earlier in the year.

Watch video below:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1933867577651925202https://twitter.com/i/status/1933867577651925202

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Amaechi Slams Tinubu’s Policies In Fresh Outburst

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Former Minister of Transportation and two-time governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, has asked the coalition opposition to kick President Bola Tinubu out of office if Nigeria is to escape its deepening economic crisis.

In a no-holds-barred interview with the BBC, Amaechi, a founding member and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, lamented the country’s deteriorating condition and signalled his willingness to help forge a new opposition coalition to rescue the nation.

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People are dying. People are starving. I myself am feeling the effects of hunger,” he said, painting a grim picture of life under the current administration.

Amaechi’s statement comes in the wake of the APC’s recent endorsement of Tinubu as its sole presidential candidate for 2027, a move Amaechi openly questioned.

READ ALSO: I Don’t Want To Join Issues With Children, Amaechi Hits Back At Wike

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While reiterating his loyalty to the party, he warned that fidelity to a political platform should never come at the cost of national conscience.

If the government is failing the country, you don’t just go along because you’re in the same party. You know that’s not right,” he stated emphatically.

Though he stopped short of confirming a 2027 presidential bid, the former minister said the option remained on the table.

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“Certainly, I believe I can make a meaningful contribution,” he added, hinting that his political journey may not yet be over.

READ ALSO: Democracy Day: Gov. Mohammed Advocates Unity, Good Governance

He spoke of widespread poverty, spiralling food insecurity, and daily tragedies that now dot the national landscape.

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Reflecting on his years as Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Amaechi lamented that the number of out-of-school children then pegged at 10 million, had since ballooned.

The economic hardship, he said, had also deepened insecurity.

“The Boko Haram insurgency is not just a religious crisis. Many of those involved are driven by desperation and hunger,” he asserted, linking terrorism, banditry, and kidnapping to a broader socioeconomic collapse.

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Amaechi’s declaration added momentum to an emerging political realignment.

 

Talks were already underway among key opposition figures, including Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party and Peter Obi of the Labour Party, as they explored the possibility of a unified front against Tinubu in 2027.

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Even ex-Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State and once a key Tinubu ally had signalled interest in backing an opposition alliance.

But as opposition forces stir, the ruling party continues to absorb defectors, prompting fears of Nigeria drifting toward a one-party state, a scenario Amaechi warned could undermine democracy and silence dissent.

We’re thinking that if we come together and win the election, the country will certainly witness change,” he said, suggesting an urgent need for a credible alternative.

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UNN Best Graduate Wins £33,000 Com

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A student of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka’s with the overall best graduating CGPA of 4.98, Chizoba Ejiofor, has secured a fully funded Commonwealth scholarship.

Education advocate and tech entrepreneur Alex Onyia, who made this known on social media on Thursday, said he had taken responsibility for supporting Ejiofor after the university failed to award him the promised N50,000 prize for academic excellence.

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I have a good news. A very good news. You remember Chizoba Ejiofor, who graduated as UNN overall best graduating student with CGPA of 4.98, that UNN refused to fulfill the N50k price promised to him?

READ ALSO: Crisis Brews In UNN As Court Restrains Varsity From Conducting Convocation Election

“I took him up as a full responsibility. We started working tirelessly together since last year to secure a fully funded scholarship, and today we have the good news,” Onyia wrote.

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Onyia revealed that Ejiofor was awarded a fully funded Commonwealth scholarship, valued at over £33,000. The package includes tuition, flight tickets, and monthly stipends.

This is fully funded scholarship from Commonwealth. Over 33 thousand pounds in scholarship, flight tickets and monthly stipends inclusive. No one can describe how happy and fulfilled I am today,” he added.

 

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