News

Senate Moves To Reduce President’s Power On EFCC Chair’s Removal

Published

3 years ago

December 13, 2022

A bill seeking to whittle down the power of the President on the termination of the appointment of the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Tuesday, passed the second reading in the Senate.

The piece of legislation titled, “Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act Amendment Bill and for other Matters Connected Therewith 2022”, sponsored by the Senate Minority Whip, Senator Chukwuka Utazi (PDP, Enugu North), also seeks the restriction of appointment into the office from EFCC staff.

Senator Utazi, while leading the debate on the bill, said in ensuring the security of tenure for the EFCC chairman, the Senate should approve the removal of any chairman on the firing line of the president as it does in the appointment.

He said: “One of the thrusts of this amendment is the issue of security of tenure for the executive chairman of the commission.

“For other anti-graft agencies created through the legislative instrumentality, before and later, that is, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC and Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, NFIU, the National Assembly ensured that the headship had security of tenure by ensuring that their appointments and removal, as the case may be, were subject to the confirmation of the Senate.

“That was not the case with the EFCC. Therefore, in this proposed amendment, it is intended to bring the EFCC in conformity with the other two anti-graft agencies of government. This will engender optimal performance by the commission of the very important mandate assigned to it.”

Senator Utazi added that the other thrust of the amendment, despite already being taken care of, by President Muhammadu Buhari with the appointment of Abdulrasheed Bawa as EFCC chairman in February last year, required law to restrict such appointment to EFCC staff as being sought by the bill.

“As a new commission, it was understandable that its headship was appointed from outside of the commission, for obvious reasons.

“However, the turning point of the commission came when this administration which has as its mantra in the fight against corruption, took the pioneering and audacious step by looking inwards, in the commission to pick the first Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to head it.

“This is very commendable and President Muhammadu Buhari has carved his name and administration in gold by this very singular action, and posterity will never forget him.

“All that is required of this Parliament is to endorse this executive action by amending the EFCC Establishment Act to restrict non-trained EFCC staff from the headship of the commission, going forward. This will enhance professionalism in the service of this anti-graft agency,” he stressed.

Many senators, who contributed to the debate, supported the argument of seeking approval of the Senate before the termination of the appointment of any EFCC chairman by the President but differed on restricting the appointment of the commission’s chairman to insiders.

In his remarks after the bill scaled second reading, the Senate President, Dr Ahmad Lawan, said restricting the appointment of the chairman of EFCC to insiders is a very good one but the proposed law, must state it clearly that the position is political and not civil service that will require the most senior officer to assume the chairmanship position.

The bill was accordingly forwarded to the Senate Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes for more legislative inputs within four weeks.

News

Senate Recommends Death Penalty For Kidnappers

Published

1 hour ago

November 26, 2025

Editor

The Senate has passed a resolution classifying kidnapping as an act of terrorism, stipulating that an amendment to the Terrorism Act be made to impose the maximum penalty of death.

The resolution was made during plenary on Wednesday.

Under the new law, according to the upper legislative arm, once a kidnapping conviction is established, the death penalty must be applied.

Nigeria suffers from a persistent security crisis fuelled by attacks and violence by “bandit” gangs that raid villages, kill people, and kidnap for ransom.

In response to recent kidnappings and attacks by terrorists, President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday ordered a total security cordon over the forests in Kwara State.

Series Of Abductions

Bandits had struck the Isapa community of the Ekiti Local Government Area of Kwara State, abducting 11 residents.

The attack came about two weeks after and 38 worshippers were abducted from a Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) in the Eruku community of the state.

Terrorists also attacked St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools, Papiri, in Niger State, abducting more that 300 school children and staff in a resurgence of the mass kidnappings that have long harrowed Africa’s most populous country.

In the same week, 24 schoolgirls were taken from the Government Comprehensive Girls Secondary School, Maga, Danko Wasagu Local Government Area in Kebbi State, but regained freedom on Tuesday.

At least 50 taken from St Mary’s Catholic school also managed to escape, but more than 265 children and teachers are still being held.

Nigeria’s high-profile mass kidnapping was that of the Chibok schoolgirls in 2014, when Boko Haram forced 276 girls from their dormitories in the North-East region.

More than a decade later, man of the Chibok girls are still missing.

News

FG Threatens To Seize Dana Air Assets

Published

2 hours ago

November 26, 2025

Editor

The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has disclosed that the Federal Government may recover and sell the assets of Dana Air to refund passengers and travel agents whose funds remain trapped following the suspension of the airline’s operations.

The Minister disclosed this in Abuja on Tuesday at the Ministry’s fourth quarter stakeholders’ engagement to enhance governance for effective service delivery in aviation with the theme: “leveraging public feedback to drive excellence in aviation services”.

According to him, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) will be directed to probe why funds trapped by the airline are yet to be refunded.

He revealed that the Authority suspended the operations of the airline as a matter of choice between safety and disaster.

“For Dana, the problem is that it was a choice between safety and disaster. So we didn’t take the commercial thing as priority. The priority was safety, and we all looked at the damning reports that we had met on the table.

“It was a decision of the NCAA to suspend them, but I pushed them to say, look, these are the reports we are seeing on the table about safety record, about lack of standards that put the lives of Nigerians at risk. If they continue flying, I don’t know whether most of us will be here. Many of us would have been victims of one of those flights. God forbid.”

According to him, “I have asked Najomo to dig deep to find out how those passengers and agents will be refunded. He has to dig deep on that.

“One solution will also be that if that same individual or those entities are trying to come back to aviation under any guise, whether to go and register a new AOC or use any business within the aviation sector, they have to go and settle their debts first.

“We should look at their assets. There are assets that are still available. Let them sell their assets. Let’s cannibalize their revenue and pay people. Let’s find a way to go after their assets and get money to pay Nigerians who are owed.

“NCAA should do that because they can’t get away with it.”

News

Tinubu Appoints Non-Career Ambassadors For US, UK, France

Published

2 hours ago

November 26, 2025

Editor

President Bola Tinubu has nominated non-career ambassadors for the United States, the United Kingdom, and France.

The three nominees are Ayodele Oke, Colonel Lateef Are (retd.), and Amin Dalhatu.

A post by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, on X revealed that the postings would be finalised following Senate screening.

According to the statement, Dalhatu previously served as Nigeria’s ambassador to South Korea under the Late President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

Oke, an alumnus of Emory University in Atlanta, is a former Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and previously served as Nigeria’s ambassador to the Secretariat of the Commonwealth of Nations in London.

Colonel Are was the director general of the State Security Service (SSS) from 1999 to 2007, served as National Security Adviser in 2010, and was an officer in the Directorate of Military Intelligence.

He also graduated with First Class honours in Psychology from the University of Ibadan in 1980.

Tinubu had on Wednesday forwarded the names of three non-career ambassadorial nominees to the Senate for confirmation.

The letter was read during plenary by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.

Akpabio has, therefore, directed the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs to review the nominations and report back to the chamber within one week.

There had been calls on the President to appoint ambassadors and high commissioners for foreign missions.

A former Nigerian External Affairs Minister, Bolaji Akinyemi, had argued that, despite internet access to information, diplomacy still required personal ambassadorial contact.

“I believe credible appointments should be made to the vacant ambassadorial posts. We need to fill them,” Akinyemi said during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today in September.

“The absence of ambassadors does not deny us information. But diplomacy runs on ambassadorial contact, the interaction between governments and ambassadors,” he added.

But while dismissing recent criticisms by the African Democratic Congress (ADC) about delays in ambassadorial appointments in June, the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Nigeria’s diplomatic missions remain fully operational and effectively represented by seasoned foreign service officers, including experienced chargés d’affaires.

The ministry, while acknowledging long-standing structural and funding challenges that predate the current administration, said that Nigerian diplomats continued to serve with distinction, often under difficult circumstances.

Tinubu recalled the country’s ambassadors were recalled by President Tinubu in September 2023.