2face, Wizkid, Flavour, Olamide, Basketmouth, other stars who failed to win @ MAMA 2015

Wizkid and Seyi Shay

Wizkid: The Ojuelegba crooner failed to pick the Best Male gong for the second successive year, losing on both occasion to his old friend turned foe, Davido, who is fast becoming his nemesis as well. Wizkid is yet to win a MAMA awards.

The 2015 MTV Africa Music Awards has been concluded with Nigeria as the biggest winner of the night.

Nigeria again dominated this year’s MTV Africa Music Awards, MAMA, carting away most of the coveted trophies.

Leading the way was Davido, who retained his title as Africa’s Best male Artiste of the year. Yemi Alade won the Best Female category while P-Square was voted as Best Group and also Artist of the Decade. 

Patoranking went home with the Best New Act trophy, Dorobucci was rated as the Song of the Year and the Kokomaster, D’banj won the maiden MAMA Evolution. The joint effort of South African artistes- AKA, Da LES & JR and Nigeria’s Burna Boy was rated as the Best Collaboration.

The victory of the Nigerian musicians ensured that the country won in eight (8) out of the 13 categories it was nominated. There were a total of 15 categories at the event.

However, there were other Nigerians who failed to win at the night.

Davido (Nigeria)- WINNER
AKA (South Africa), Diamond (Tanzania), Sarkodie (Ghana), Wizkid (Nigeria)

Seyi Shay: Yemi Alade beat Deborah Oluwaseyi Joshua and three others to the Best Female category. The London-born Nigerian singer will hope to get luckier in 2016.

Yemi Alade (Nigeria) – WINNER

Bucie (South Africa), Busiswa (South Africa), Seyi Shay (Nigeria), Vanessa Mdee (Tanzania)

Phyno and Olamide: Amazingly, the two indigenous rappers dropped a collaborative studio album titled 2 Kings on the first day of April but South African rapper Cassper Nyovest was the one sitting on the throne at the MAMA awards on 18th day of July as neither Phyno nor Olamide was considered good enough to wear the crown of the Best Hip Hop act in Africa.

Cassper Nyovest (South Africa) – WINNER

K.O. (South Africa), Phyno (Nigeria), Olamide (Nigeria), Youssoupha (DRC)

Davido and Iyanya: Davido’s The Sound featuring Uhuru and DJ Buckz was not good enough to win the Best Collaboration category. The Bum Bum effort of Iyanya and Diamond was also relegated as All eyes was on the joint effort of South African artistes- AKA, Da LES & JR and Nigeria’s Burna Boy which won the category.

Yemi Alade and Phyno

AKA, Burna Boy, Da LES & JR: “All Eyes On Me” (SA/Nigeria) – WINNER
Davido featuring Uhuru & DJ Buckz: “The Sound” (Nigeria/SA); Diamond & Iyanya: “Bum Bum” (Kenya/Nigeria); Toofan & DJ Arafat: “Apero Remix” (Togo/Ivory Coast); Stanley Enow & Sarkodie: “Njama Njama Cow Remix” (Cameroon/Ghana)

Lil Kesh and Yemi Alade: Mavins’ Dorobucci won the Song of the Year, at the expense of Shoki Remix by Lil Kesh featuring Olamide and Davido, not even the search for Johnny could help Yemi Alade to the gong. It was also another sad taste for Wizkid as he was ignored by voters and the organisers.

Mavins: “Dorobucci” (Nigeria) – WINNER

Cassper Nyovest: “Doc Shebeleza” (South Africa); Euphonik featuring Mpumi: “Busa” (South Africa); DJ Fisherman & NaakMusiQ featuring DJ Tira, Danger & Dream Team: “Call Out” (South Africa); K.O featuring Kid X: “Caracara” (South Africa); Lil Kesh Featuring Olamide & Davido: “Shoki Remix” (Nigeria); Sauti Sol: “Sura Yako” (Kenya); Toofan: “Gweta” (Togo); Wizkid: “Show You The Money” (Nigeria); Yemi Alade: “Johnny” (Nigeria)

Flavour: Flavour N’abania (Chinedu Okoli) was disappointed at the event as Tanzania’s Diamond Platnumz went home with the Best Live gong. The Ada Ada crooner can look to the brighter side of his career.

Diamond (Tanzania) – WINNER

Big Nuz (South Africa);Flavour (Nigeria);Mi Casa (South Africa);Toofan (Togo)

Seyi Shay, Wizkid, Davido and Clarence Peters: For Wizkid, it was another heartbreak on a crazy night as the Starboy, Seyi Shay and Meji Alabi were denied the prestigious Video of the year gong by Riky Rick’s Nafukwa video directed by Adriaan Louw. The Sound by Davido, directed by Sesan and Love you Everyday directed by Clarence Peters were also in the category.

“Nafukwa” – Riky Rick; Director: Adriaan Louw- WINNER

“Crazy” – Seyi Shay Featuring Wizkid; Director: Meji Alabi; “Doors” – Prime Circle; Director: Ryan Kruger; “Love You Everyday” – Bebe Cool; Director: Clarence Peters; “The Sound” – Davido Featuring Uhuru & DJ Buckz; Director: Sesan.

Nneka: Nneka Lucia Egbuna was unable to win the Best Pop & Alternative gong., losing the prize to Jeremy Loops of South Africa.

Jeremy Loops (South Africa) – WINNER
Fuse ODG (Ghana); Jimmy Nevis (South Africa); Nneka (Nigeria); Prime Circle (South Africa)

BasketMouth

Basketmouth, OC Ukeje: South African comedian and actor, Trevor Noah won the Personality of the Year ahead of Basketmouth and OC Ukeje.

Trevor Noah (South Africa) – WINNER
Basketmouth (Nigeria); Bonang Matheba (South Africa); OC Ukeje (Nigeria); Yaya Toure (Ivory Coast)

Asa, 2face and Psquare: The MAMA Evolution category was made up of the heavyweights on the continent. Kokomaster, D’banj won the trophy, which ensured that compatriots- Asa, 2face and Psquare were left out.

D’banj-WINNER

Asa (Nigeria); Psquare (Nigeria), 2face (Nigeria) ; Fally Ipupa (DRC); Samini (Ghana);HHP (South Africa) ;Chameleone (Uganda); Black Coffee (South Africa); Anselmo Ralph (Angola).

Buhari approves funds for All African Games

President Muhammadu Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has surprised those who think his administration will not accord sports priority by approving funds to ensure preparations ahead of the 2015  All African Games.

The Director General of the National Sports Commission, Alhassan Yakmut confirmed yesterday after addressing the athletes  undergoing training.

The All African Games is holding in Congo Brazzaville from September 4 to 19, 2015. This is a clear departure from the usual practice of releasing funds two weeks to a major international event.

An excited Yakmut promised to release the approved figure to the public in line with ‘Change Agenda’ which promotes transparency in governance.

“Mr. President has just approved the funds for the All African Games and I understand we shall be formally informed on Tuesday.

“So, as soon as we get the information about the exact figure approved from the budget we submitted, we will make it open to the public because we intend to run a very transparent administration.

“ And I think by the time we finish computing all what we have done in the last three months, we are going to say how much has been spent on each item of the projects that we have executed including the Federations.

“And I am sure that you have noticed that the Federations are beginning to feel the public funding scheme especially the ones regarding the All African Games,” Yakmut added.

According to him, apart from the 19 sports that Nigeria will participate in, two other sports namely swimming and gymnastics have been placed on standby in the event that there would be athletes that are exceptionally good to represent the country in the two sports.

To ensure that athletes have the best preparations, Yakmut said that the Federations that have requested for foreign technical support would have them.

The Director General spoke further on this, “We are taking part in 19 events and two other events that are actually on standby. If we have pockets of athletes that are exceptionally good like gymnastic and swimming, we will carry them on their merit.

“Regarding technical aid, in fact we are in global technical business and we cannot reduce ourselves to a situation that no matter how bad our coaches are, we must sustain and retain them.

“What we have done is to support the four federations that have requested that they will need technical back-ups from foreign countries.

“So, wrestling has requested for two back-ups either from Europe, the United States or Canada. Table tennis has also requested fat technical support from Sweden, China or Japan.

“Already, South Korea is supporting us on taekwondo and basketball has already recruited transparently.

“All these we are doing to make sure that we don’t leave technical opportunities unattended to,” Yakmut assured.

Arresting The Storm Within NIREC

THE Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) is an independent union voluntarily formed by the leaders of the nation’s two recognised religious faiths – Christianity and Islam. It is composed of 50 members, made up of 25 Christian and 25 Muslim leaders and co-chaired by the Sultan of Sokoto, the leader of the Muslims in Nigeria and his counterpart, the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria.

When leaders of the two groups came together to form this organisation in 1999, former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, was very supportive because he saw it as a very good thing. One of its cardinal mandates is to provide a platform for regular interaction and understanding between leaders of the two faiths to reduce the religious conflicts that have bedeviled the nation down the decades.

The Council carried on very well in the past sixteen years until recently. It has organised seminars on conflict manage-ment  and resolution, international relations and terrorism and offering advice to government on ways of governing to impact positively on the lives of people. In fact, as recently as the first quarter of 2013, NIREC had perfected plans to organise a youth summit to sensitise our young ones to the need for mutual peaceful co-existence.

However, it seems the National Conference organised during the President Goodluck Jonathan administration drove a wedge between the Christian and Muslim leaders of the Council. While the Muslim Leaders, with Ishaq Oloyede as spokesman, complained that the Conference was skewed against the interest of Muslims, his counterpart, Sunny Oibe, retorting that Sultan Sa’ad Abubakar (III) has frustrated attempts to convene meetings of the Council until the tenure of his co-chair, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor ends.

The effects of Boko Haram terrorism has also heightened suspicion between the two sides, with Oibe saying that most Northern Muslim leaders are secret supporters of the terrorists.

Though the Council has not been able to stop religious conflicts, one of its clear benefits is that it has helped to arrest the possibility of reprisal attacks since Boko Haram went haywire in 2011. Though their interfaces have not always been smooth, at least that they meet is beneficial.

We encourage them to continue to meet, but as peacemakers, they must come to the table with open mind and not as gladiators. The current storm in the Council is worrisome, and unless it is arrested quickly, it might turn to something else, whereby the Council will be adding to the problem they set out to help solve. At that point, govern-ment would have to dissolve it.

The National Conference was a collective Nigerian talk shop, with resolutions arrived at amicably. It need not breed bad blood between supposed peacemakers.

Reps leadership crisis: Gbajabiamila camp tells Oyegun to ignore Dogara

lSays federal character doesn’t concern N/Assembly

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru 

ABUJA—There appears to be no end to the leadership crisis in the House of Representatives, as the Femi Gbajabiamila group has faulted the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara over his claim that federal character involves selection of principal officers in the National Assembly.

The Gbajabiamila camp known as the Loyalists Group specifically told the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief John Odegie-Oyegun to ignore the Speaker’s reply to the directives of the APC leadership where he (the Speaker) claimed that the House has the tradition of respecting the spirit of federal character in the distribution of principal officers positions.

The group in the letter to the APC Chairman, yesterday, signed by Hon. Nasiru Sani Zangon-Daura, alleged that Dogara’s reply to Oyegun’s directives was fraught with fundamental flaws and that going by the House Standing Rules, the South East that had only two APC members who are first time members were not qualified to occupy any principal officers positions.

The letter read in part: “Our attention has been drawn to the letter written to you by the Speaker Hon. Yakubu Dogara in response to your letter to him almost a month prior.  We find Hon. Dogara’s letter fraught with several fundamental flaws in his analysis and interpretation of the Constitution and House rules. This is to set the records straight.

“We stand on our earlier position that whilst we accept and agree with the principle of Federal Character, the Constitutional provisions in that regard are strictly in reference to the appointment to the Federal Executive and its agencies. 

“The principle of Federal Character is not intended to be given such elasticity to the extent that it would extend to the running and internal workings of the House which is not a government agency and whose members are not appointed but elected. 

“Assuming Federal Character was meant to be applicable to the National Assembly, then certainly one of the Houses of the National Assembly must be headed by a Southerner. 

“Remember, sir, that in the run-up to the election of the Senate President and Speaker, our party made a deliberate choice, to apply this same principle of Federal Character such that all qualified zones will be represented in the spirit of national unity, which we embrace, but we all know how that ended. 

“Furthermore to accept the Speaker’s arrangement would mean the two most powerful positions in the Senate and House after the presiding officers would be occupied by the North.

“Whilst we maintain that our party’s mantra of ‘Change’ for the growth and development of our dear nation requires that merit should not be sacrificed on the altar of zoning, we have painstakingly ensured that in the selection of our leaders in the House, all zones are represented, except the South East, which unfortunately, are currently excluded from holding leadership positions because the House Rules disqualifies ‘inexperienced’ members from holding leadership position. 

“Unfortunately, all our party members from the South East are first term legislators. The South East can be adequately compensated through other means without violating our rule on appointment of principal officers.

“Hon. Dogara, in paragraph 7 of his letter quotes the provision of section 147 of the constitution which specifically requires that the President in appointing Ministers, shall observe the Federal Character principle as provided in section 14. 

“He has inadvertently made our point that Federal Character is applicable only to the executive and its agencies. If the framers of our constitution had intended same to apply to the running of the legislature Houses, similar provisions which mandated the president specifically, would have been included in the case of the National Assembly.

Three police killed in frash Damaturu bomb blast

Three police officers were killed in a bomb blast during a vehicle search at a checkpoint outside the northeast Nigerian city of Damaturu on Monday, police and a witness said.

Yobe state police spokesman Toyin Gbadegesin told AFP initially that two officers were among eight people who died, including two bombers.

But he later said: “More investigations as to the circumstances of the incident have revealed that all the other five people, including a woman, were in the car that exploded.

“Three policemen were killed in the blast,” he added.

The explosion happened at about 1:00 pm (1200 GMT) to the north of the city, which is the capital of Yobe state, on the main road to Maiduguri in neighbouring Borno state.

“A police highway patrol team was searching vehicles just outside the city and an SUV with a foreign number (plate) arrived at the spot,” said witness Umar Goni.

“The police were uncomfortable, so they decided to search the vehicle. While the search was going on, another SUV arrived. It was stopped for the same search.”

The second car exploded during the search, he added.

A reporter with state-run Yobe Television, who was at the scene shortly after the blast, said a handbag belonging to the woman in the car was found and some explosives were recovered and defused.

Gbadegesin confirmed his account.

It was not immediately clear whether the checkpoint was the target but Boko Haram Islamists have hit police stop and search points in the past.

Damaturu has also been repeatedly attacked during the six-year insurgency, most recently last Friday, when explosives strapped to three girls exploded near a Muslim prayer ground and a mosque.

Thirteen people were killed.

The latest deaths take the number of people killed this month alone to nearly 500, and nearly 760 since Muhammadu Buhari became president on May 29, according to an AFP count.

Buhari, who flew to Washington on Sunday for talks with US President Barack Obama on greater US help in defeating the militants, has vowed to crush the rebels.

Buhari meets Obama, to appoint ministers September

President Muhammadu Buhari and President of US Barack Obama during a meeting

By Hugo Odiogor, Clifford Ndujihe & Levinus Nwabughiogu

WASHINGTON, DC — PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, implored his United States counterpart, Barack Obama, to assist Nigeria in locating and returning about $150 billion looted by corrupt government officials.

President Buhari made the appeal in an article he published in Washington Post, yesterday, shortly before he met with President Obama as part of his four-day working visit to the United States.

The appeal for assistance came as Obama expressed confidence in the ability of President Buhari to tackle the multiple challenges facing Nigeria through his clear agenda.

Buhari, who enumerated what he has done so far to decimate the Boko Haram insurgents including replacing the service chiefs and how governance had been badly run in the country, stressed the need to recover the stolen funds.

‘’The fact that I now seek Obama’s assistance in locating and returning $150 billion in funds stolen in the past decade and held in foreign bank accounts on behalf of former, corrupt officials is a testament to how badly Nigeria has been run. This way of conducting our affairs cannot continue,’’ he said in the article.

We’ll assist, we‘ve confidence in Buhari — Obama

Welcoming President Buhari, the US President said the Nigerian leader had come with a clear agenda to tackle the problem of insecurity occasioned by activities of Boko Haram sect as well as other violent criminal activities.

Obama expressed appreciation over Buhari’s leadership style so far, saying that his administration would continue to assist and help Nigeria in overcoming her challenges.

He said: “It is a great pleasure to welcome President Buhari and his delegation here in the White House for his first visit since the historic election that took place. Nigeria is obviously one of the most important countries in the world, one of the most important countries in the African continent.

“Recently, we saw an election in which a peaceful transition to a new government took place. Nevertheless, the people of Nigeria understand that only through a peaceful political process that change can take place.

“President Buhari came into office with reputation for integrity and a very clear agenda that is to make sure that he has been bringing safely security and peace to his country. He is very concerned about the spread and the violence that is taking place there and the atrocities and has a very clear agenda in defeating Boko Haram and extremists.

“I want to emphasize how much I appreciate President Buhari’s work so far. I have seen him put together a team so that we can do everything that we can to help him succeed and help the people of Nigeria succeed.”

Obama also assured that the American government would continue to partner with Nigeria in ensuring political stability in Africa and around the world.He congratulated the country for conducting peaceful elections.

He also commended Nigeria for taking leadership position in the fight against the spread of diseases like Ebola and polio and pledged that his administration would continue to accord Nigeria the necessary recognition to bring peace to Africa and the world.

US pressure helped ensure credible polls  —Buhari

In his remarks, President Buhari commended the American government under the leadership of President Obama for mounting pressure on former Jonathan’s administration to conduct a free and fair election in Nigeria.

Buhari said US and European pressures to ensure the election was “fair and credible led us to where we are now.” According to him, Nigeria will remain forever grateful to America for this singular act.

“The visit of the Secretary of State before the elections to see the former president, the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission and the opposition was a positive trend that saw us through the elections.

“And the maintenance of pressure by United States mainly and Europe to make sure that the elections were free, fair and credible made us to be where we are now.

“It would have been almost impossible if the United States did not maintain the pressure on the former Nigerian Government.”

Buhari, therefore, thanked Obama for inviting him to visit his country as well as his administration’s support to Nigeria.

Governors of Nasarawa, Borno, Imo, Oyo and Edo states as well as some government officials accompanied the President on the visit.

Visit’ll strengthen US, Nigeria’s bonds —Adefuye

Nigeria’s Ambassador and Head of Missions in the United States of America, Professor Ade Adefuye, has expressed optimism that President Buhari’s four-day visit to the United States would strengthen the ties between the two countries.

Speaking to Channels Television at the Embassy of Nigeria building shortly before the arrival of  President Buhari, the envoy said the visit would also seek a renewed commitment towards solving the menace of Boko Haram in Nigeria.

According to the envoy, America was committed to the democratic process in Nigeria and the diversification of its economy to encourage a detour from oil to non-oil export.

He said: “Nigeria is the largest trading partner with America, and will want to maintain that. America would want to see a shift of the emphasis from oil to non-oil export, agriculture, power, infrastructure and solid materials and all the things that will help Nigeria to diversify.”

No rush to appoint ministers —Buhari

Buhari’s article in Washington Post read in part: ‘’This month, the world moved a step closer to the defeat of Boko Haram, the jihadist group that has terrorized hundreds of thousands in the northern states of Nigeria. In one of my first acts since taking office as President six weeks ago, I have replaced the heads of Nigeria’s Army, Navy and Air Force. Our new military leadership has not been chosen because of their familiarity with those in government, as was too often the case in the past, but on their track records and qualifications alone.

“These new military leaders will be based in Borno State in northern Nigeria, where the headquarters of the armed services has been relocated. This shift of resources and command directly to the frontline, in addition to the replacement of the head of the State Security Service, Nigeria’s intelligence organization, and a new emphasis on working in partnership with our neighbours, has equipped us to take the fight directly to Boko Haram.

“Already, we are beginning to see a degrading of Boko Haram’s capabilities as a fighting force. In recent weeks, it appears to have shifted away from confronting the military directly to an increase in attacks on civilian areas, as we saw only last week when an elderly woman and 10-year-old girl blew themselves up at a Muslim prayer gathering in north-eastern Nigeria. We should not be confused by this change, hateful as it is: It does not mean that Boko Haram is succeeding in its aims — it shows that it is losing.

“While we work to defeat the terrorists, I ask the people of Nigeria and the world for resolve and fortitude. The campaign we will wage will not be easy; it may not be swift. We should expect stages of success and also moments when it may appear that our advances have been checked. But no one should have any doubt as to the strength of our collective will or my commitment to rid this nation of terror and bring back peace and normalcy to all affected areas.

“Similarly, my determination should not be underestimated in other matters. This includes instilling good governance and tackling the scourge of corruption that has held Nigeria back for too long.

“As I meet with President Obama today — the first time a president of the United States will encounter a Nigerian counterpart following the peaceful transfer of power in a contested election in our history — I will be discussing my plans for critical reforms. So, too, will I discuss why the formation of my administration is taking time and, crucially, why it must. Already there are voices saying these changes are taking too long — even though only six weeks have passed since my inauguration. I hear such calls, but this task cannot and should not be rushed.

Ministers to be appointed in Sept

“When cabinet ministers are appointed in September, it will be some months after I took the oath of office. It is worth noting that Obama himself did not have his full Cabinet in place for several months after first taking office; the United States did not cease to function in the interim. In Nigeria’s case, it would neither be prudent nor serve the interests of sound government to have made these appointments immediately on my elevation to the presidency; instead, Nigeria must first put new rules of conduct and good governance in place.

Recovering  looted funds

‘’There are too few examples in the history of Nigeria since independence where it can be said that good management and governance were instituted at a national level. This lack of a governance framework has allowed many of those in charge, devoid of any real checks and balances, to plunder.

The fact that I now seek Obama’s assistance in locating and returning $150 billion in funds stolen in the past decade and held in foreign bank accounts on behalf of former, corrupt officials is testament to how badly Nigeria has been run. This way of conducting our affairs cannot continue.

Indeed, the failure of governance, it can be argued, has been as much a factor in Nigeria’s inability thus far to defeat Boko Haram as have been issues with the military campaign itself.”

Tension mounts as NASS awaits report on Ekweremadu’s alleged forgery of Senate Standing Rules

Revealed: The ‘forged’ 8th Senate voting rule

Tension is building up at the National Assembly as the Nigeria Police Force gets set to make public the report of its findings on the alleged forgery of Senate Standing Rules on the election of principal officers.

In the eye of the storm is the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who is being accused by his colleagues of using his position to alter the rules to favorite him during the controversial election whose result has polarized the Senate and caused acrimony of unimaginable dimension.

Although the politician is yet to be invited by the police in connection with the allegation, his supporters have already raised the alarm that he was being witch-hunted and threatened to cause trouble if any harm comes his way.

Vanguard’s investigation however showed that the uproar being orchestrated by both Ekweremadu’s Peoples Democratic Party and his office, were aimed at pre-empting the anticipated criminal charges likely to be pressed against him by the security agencies over the alleged doctoring of the Senate’s rules.

Sources close to both Ekweremadu and that of the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, confirmed that the DSP was never invited over any allegation regarding the altering of the Senate’s rules.

A  top police officer   confirmed that on Tuesday that the office of the IGP was shocked over the furore being orchestrated by politicians in the media regarding the purported move by the police to arrest and incriminate the DSP.

The officer, who works closely with the IGP, but pleaded anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, made it clear that at no time did the police write any letter or intend to write to summon Ekweremadu over the issue at stake.

When our correspondent raised the issue of inviting the DSP by the IGP, the officer was upset, saying that no such invitation had emanated from the NPF.

“I think the media is actually being used to cause avoidable heat in the polity because the police did not and has not invited any politician for interrogation.

A close ally of the Deputy Senate President confessed that though no invitation had been extended by the police to the politician, they needed to raise the alarm to prevent any threat to the Senator, who retained his position by default in a controversial election last month, to the chagrin of the ruling APC.

The Senate source said: “It is true that the alarm raised by us and the PDP has helped to calm things down.  We needed to make the noise to prevent the DSP from being arrested, investigated and harassed by the security agencies to please his opponents.

“As things are now, we are monitoring to ensure that the DSP is not implicated in any way over the last Senate election,” the source close to Ekweremadu, said.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that the police only wrote to the Clerk of the NASS asking for a convenient time and place to discuss issues relating to the alleged forging of the standing rules of the 8th Senate, a request which it claimed, was yet to be responded to by the CNA.

But Vanguard discovered that at the centre of the forgery is a slight difference between the voting procedures used in the election of the principal officers of the Senate in 2011 and 2015.

Vanguard’s finding shows that while the 2011 Standing Rules stipulated that the election of Senators should be done by dividing the members and taking the votes, that of 2015 says that the election should be done either through electronic voting or via secret ballot.

The 2011 standing rule which was used for the 7th Senate says: “When only two Senators –elect are nominated and seconded as President of Senate, the election shall be conducted as follows: The Senate shall divide with the proposers and seconders as tellers.

(ii) Voting shall be conducted by the Clerks-at-the-Table using the Division List of the Senate with the tellers in attendance. The Clerk of the Senate shall submit the result of the division to the Clerk of the National Assembly.

Strangely, the mode of voting was however changed in respect of voting in 2015 causing ripples in the upper legislative chambers.

Section 3(3) (e) of the 2015 Senate Standing rule states: “When two or more Senators-elect are nominated and seconded as Senate President, the election shall be conducted as follows: by electronic voting; or voting by secret ballot which shall be conducted by the Clerks-at-Table using the list of the Senators-elect of the Senate, who shall each be given a ballot paper to cast his vote, with the proposers and seconder as teller.

“The Clerk of the Senate shall submit the result of the voting to the Clerk of the National Assembly who shall then declare the Senator-elect who has received the highest number of votes ‘as Senate President-elect.

The question begging for answers now is: who changed the rules for 2015 election and who authorised it when the Senators had vacated office before the election on June 9, 2015?

Lufthansa sacks 13 Nigerian Amnesty pilots

By Soni Daniel, Regional Editor, North

The delay by President Muhamadu Buhari to appoint a new head to drive the Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP, has begun to take a toll on the beneficiaries of the scheme.

In far away Germany, no fewer than 13 Nigerians from the Niger Delta region undergoing commercial point training at the Lufthansa Flight Training School in Frankfurt, have been sent away for non-payment of fees.

Vanguard learnt that the Nigerian pilots who would have graduated from the prestigious aviation training institution, were axed last Friday due to their inability to pay for sundry fees stipulated in their training manual.

The fees were for accommodation and training logistics.

Apart from that, six of the pilots who had already completed their training had their licenses withheld by the school.

Two of the students sent home for non-payment, had only one test to complete their Programme for Commercial Pilot Licence, one was in his final stage of the CPL test while four had just started their type rating test and would have completed next month.

A source at the PAP confirmed to Vanguard yesterday that there was money in the account of the agency with the Central Bank of Nigeria but that there was no signatory to authorize the payment to the beneficiaries since the exit of the former presidential aide, Kingsley Kuku.

President Buhari is yet to name a Special Adviser on Niger Delta, who doubles as the chairman of the PAP and is the chief executive of the agency.

Before leaving office in May this year, Kuku had written PMB to either allow him to pay the May financial obligations to avoid a breakdown of law and order or appoint a new signatory for the account.

However, no appointment has been made and the ex-militants who collect a monthly salary of N65,000 and the students who are spread around major universities around the world and Nigeria, are suffering, as a result.