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Drama as nominee for NCC job wants Senate scrapped

By Adamu Abu and Azimazi Momoh Jimoh, Abuja
20 October 2016   |   4:35 am
It was drama yesterday as a presidential nominee for the membership of the governing board of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Aliyu Saidu Abubakar, declared that the Senate should be scrapped because...

Nigerian Senate in rowdy session over Lagos bill

• Reps flay executive directors positions in FERMA

It was drama yesterday as a presidential nominee for the membership of the governing board of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Aliyu Saidu Abubakar, declared that the Senate should be scrapped because it consumes too much money from the treasury.

Abubakar, who is from the North-East, made the statement before the Senate Committee on Communications that was screening him for the job.

He said the payment of huge sums of money as transport allowances in addition to expensive vehicles amounts to clear economic loss to the country.

When the committee confronted him with several photographs of how he had at different times led protests against the continued existence of the Senate, particularly at the gate of the National Assembly, Abubakar maintained that he had no regret for his actions and added that he was still convinced that the Senate was an avenue for the wastage of scarce economic resources of the country.

Abubakar, in an interview with journalists after the screening, insisted that the Senate should be scrapped. “They asked me whether I was part of the group that agitated for the scrapping of the Senate and I said yes because of so many things involved in the Senate and their budget.

“They asked me to state the reasons we were agitating for the scrapping of the Senate. I said it was because of their huge budget. They consume a lot of resources from the government, they put it in their own budget. Also, they have transport allowances and, yet, they budget a lot of money to acquire vehicles.”

Abubakar confirmed that the panelists brought out several photographs showing him during the ‘Occupy National Assembly’ protests, including the ones held at the National Assembly and in Bauchi, which he did not deny.

When asked if he still stood by his words that it was a waste to keep the Senate and that it should be scrapped, Abubakar replied: “The Senate must go because something has to be done to cut down the expenses of the Senate. I still maintain that.”

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has faulted the authorities of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) over the creation of the positions of executive directors for the outfit.

The House at the plenary presided over by the Deputy Speaker, Sulaimon Lasun yesterday, also called on the authorities to declare a security emergency in the southern Kaduna senatorial district.

The resolution followed the adoption of a motion sponsored by Mr. Kamale Adamu and four others.

The House mandated its committee on FERMA to investigate the unilateral, arbitrary and unauthorised creation of the positions of executive directors in the agency in violation of section 2 (2) of the FERMA Establishment Act 2002.

The lawmakers also resolved to probe the operational activities of FERMA from 2015 till date, especially the use of billions of naira released to it from September 2015 till date in ensuring that Nigerian roads were fixed.

While moving the motion, Kamale expressed concern that the creation of the positions of acting executive directors in FERMA by the acting managing director amounts to executive recklessness and a violation of the law.

30 Comments

  • Author’s gravatar

    Abubakar, you are great man. It is hard to find men like you in Nigeria.

  • Author’s gravatar

    Very funny, scrapping the senate.

    • Author’s gravatar

      Yes, you do not have to practice Bi-camera legislature which require 2 houses of legislature. We can make do with the House of representative like what you have in the states.

  • Author’s gravatar

    The man is clown and does not know the workings of government. If he does then he know better things to say.

  • Author’s gravatar

    The man is a clown and does not know the meaning of government and the type of government we are in to. The best thing was for him to say that Nigeria should change from presidential to any other form of government

  • Author’s gravatar

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  • Author’s gravatar

    Great audacity, good job!!!

  • Author’s gravatar

    It just goes to show that the protests were sponsored by Buhari. Now he nominates one of the leaders to ncc job.
    Sane as the bring back our girls progenitors. One of their leaders is now the NPA Director general.
    Now this illiterate alhaji to be a member of ncc?

  • Author’s gravatar

    This man is bold.. and sincere to his course… he really has the courage

  • Author’s gravatar

    Did he pass the interview/screening ? Guardian, please get back to us!

  • Author’s gravatar

    SENATE IS A HOUSE OF FRAUD.

    POT BELLY SENATORS ARE AN ELITE GROUP OF THIEVES, FRAUDSTERS AND INDEED TREASURY LOOTERS. THROUGH LOOTING, A MAJORITY OF THEM HAVE BECOME MULTI BILLIONAIRES. NIGERIA DOES NOT NEED THESE LOOTERS WHO ARE LOOTING NIGERIA RAW DAY AND NIGHT.

    SENATE HAS OUTLIVED ITS USEFULNESS AND MUST BE SCRAPED, HENCEFORTH.

  • Author’s gravatar

    Good Mallam Abubakar. I like your courage. Let us now see what the senate will do with your application to helm the affairs of the NCC. Truly, the Senate is a waste of the nations scarce resources. We have charlatans and big time thieves, some of whom have stolen from their respective state treasuries having served as governors. They left their states in conditions unbefitting of human habitation, with no accountability and yet come to the Senate to continue the stealing. From inception of the Senate to date, one is yet to point at a milestone achievement for the country from the senate. All we hear is looting and more looting through scrambling for very unproductive, docile and money wasting committee memberships at the hollowed chambers. The Senate should truly be scrapped as it is rogues infested.

  • Author’s gravatar

    The siege of armed men against
    the people of Southern Kaduna since 2011 is most pathetic. Inhabitants of whole villages are presently
    being systematically wiped out one after the other, and the security agencies
    act like they are helpless to intervene. Though the people have lots of farm
    products to sustain them, armed men in the farmed territories kill those that
    dare to step out to attempt any kind of harvest. And so, needless hunger is ravaging the land.
    The bill calling for the establishment of a security outfit that will be
    sincerely responsive to distress calls when they are made by the people in the
    day or in the night is a welcomed development. May God help them and their little ones in
    this terribly pathetic situation.

    • Author’s gravatar

      And there are sieges everywhere in this nascent siege democracy. Even this morning there were news headlines that a lady who wants to head a federal medical centre in imo simply went to abuja,mobilized its help maybe as a party insider ,then got police brigades to tear gas,stampede, terrorize and chase away all the patients including women in the labour rooms and operating theatres until they shot their way to the md,s office and installed her in a now deserted, terrified hospital.. The number of casualties were not certified by the news. Never before had nigeria witnessed such a lawless,brutal,,concatenating paradigm,not even during the military era

  • Author’s gravatar

    This is a real man of truth and should not have been confronted with such threatening and blackmailing scenario in a senate constitutionally sworn to uphold freedom of expressiion..The masses should march on that depraved legislative chamber if they fail to confirm him for speaking the truth. For centuries nigeria feasted on lies and diversionary mechanisms that made it to totally waste the 19 th, 20 th and almost the first quarter of the 21 st century ,all lost to superstitious and diabolical political intrigues which an unfocussed,momentary media and a rogue judiciary could never ever hope to mitigate

  • Author’s gravatar

    Lets keep the pressure up on this very important issue for the survival of our republic. The senate and house system was copied from the American constitution by some military and political idiots ruling at that time. This system, as shown to be the most corrupt and most expensive democratic system in the world. They think with petrol dollar we can afford it, their own way of getting their share of the national cake. Why do we need the most expensive democratic system to run a developing country like ours? It’s stupid, expensive to run, and very corrupt to maintain as we all can see with the Americans. We don’t need it at this stage of our country history and it has to go if we are to make any progress forward. The cost of running it can be use for something more meaningful in the life our the people not the vagabonds parading as senators.

  • Author’s gravatar

    Corruption does not know any system of government. If people are corrupt, they will corrupt any system of government.

  • Author’s gravatar

    This is the type of people we want in Nigeria. Someone who will speak truth to power. I love him for not backing down and everyone should summon the courage to give Aliyu Saidu Abubakar a rousing applause for sticking to his gun. It is indeed correct, there is no need having the Senate. Nigeria should adopt a unicamera legislation. SCRAP the SENATE NOW

  • Author’s gravatar

    For those who don’t know, the true motive behind the call for the scrapping of the Senate is not about the allowances they receive, it’s about the dominance of the north. The North would be so so happy if the Senate was scrapped because they have the advantage in the House of Reps. Has anyone wondered why they are not calling for the scrapping of the House of Representatives? Don’t they also collect Bogus Salaries? This is all about dominance. In the House of Representatives, The Northern states dominate the House, so it will only be wise if they called for the scrapping of the Senate arm. The senate is the only house that has equal representation, each state producing 3 senators with abuja having one. This gives better representation to the diversity of Nigeria. Do we prefer a legislative arm that is not representative of the population of the country to make just laws for us? Kano has 24 house of Reps members while states like Rivers Has 13, Jigawa has 11 Members while Enugu has 8, Katsina has 15 while Bayelsa has 5, Bauchi has 12 while Plateau has 8, Sokoto has 11 while Ondo has 9. This is all about political and economic dominance. and until we see it for what it really is, we will continually get it wrong. They want to paint the senate black using remuneration of members

    • Author’s gravatar

      Why don’t we then ask for scrapping of both house of Rep & the Senate and let states do as they please. Better still, we should go back to the parliamentarian system of governance.

  • Author’s gravatar

    Sometimes i wonder what would be our faith in this country called Nigeria. We are crying about recession and allot of money are been wasted in the so called Senators and house of representatives and by my own understanding our system of government is borrowed from one of the richest country in the word and which it is not in any way solving our system of living. So the best thing we can do as people that want to help ours selves is to adopt a system of government which would be pure African method of leadership by doing that we can grow more higher to compare were we are. That is my own contribution.

  • Author’s gravatar

    Let us do our things in our own ways. Let not copied from other people because we are not the same people. We cant get it right from copied from someone neither we can only get it right by discover our problem by our selves and choose the way forward by our own ways of life.

  • Author’s gravatar

    Naked truth!!! well done Abubakar……..

  • Author’s gravatar

    The Abubakar fellow is just an agent of the corrupt, incompetent, nepotistic, tribalistic General Muhammadu Buhari, the leader of the current brutal, murderous Nigerian junta, which murders it’s own people just because they are Shiites. The Senate must not confirm that idiot, and do away with that demented tyrant, Buhari.

  • Author’s gravatar

    I agree the senate consumes a lot of resources. The member should at best be reduced to 37- one from each state and Abuja.

  • Author’s gravatar

    Me thinks the house of representatives should also be scrapped or made to have equal representation per state say 3 per state maximum. That is the only way this nation can move forward, the northern advantage over the rest of us is too much to be taken for granted. I propose have a senate that has a single representative from each state as . There should also be retirement age (65) as well as minimum qualification (Masters degree min) and age (40) to represent the State in both houses. No representative should serve more than two terms. This way, Nigeria will begin to move forward democratically because that is when our reps will begin to think of those they are representing rather than their tummy. On a final note, a senator’s salary should be at par with that of a perm-sec in federal civil service while that of house of rep should be at par with a director in federal civil service. I can assure you We wont have the charlatans and murderers filling up the national assembly because there will be no millions to serve as a lust bait drawing in nincompoops and unsavory characters to the house, why? because it will suddenly become unattractive!