Politics
Moribund refineries: Senate Threatens To Sack NNPCL GMD

The Senate, on Wednesday, asked the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and its subsidiaries to submit relevant documents relating to the Turnaround Maintenance projects of the Nigerian refineries.
The Senate noted that from 2010 to date, over N12tn has been spent on TAM. The Senate also said that it had records of over $592m, €4.8m and £3.4m spent between 2010 to date on TAM, yet none of the refineries was working.
The Senate ad hoc committee investigating the various Turnaround Maintenance projects of Nigerian Refineries gave the directive during an interactive session with NNPCL management and other executives of the oil sector.
Some of the heads of the affected agencies invited could not attend and sent representatives to the Senate investigative hearing.
The chairman of the ad hoc committee, Senator Isa Jibrin (Kogi East), noted that so much had been heard on the turnaround and so much had been spent on operational materials on the refineries that were not working.
He said that they want to know the solutions to all the leakages, as there are a lot of them.
The lawmaker said, “We will ask for refund and dismissal of all the chief executives involved in the Turn Around Maintenance.”
Jibrin said that for weeks, they had been asking for documents, which had not been given by the oil companies, a development that created suspicion.
“We sent them an invitation more than two weeks ago requesting documents and the documents have not been released after two weeks. So, we want the chief executives to be present.
“More worrisome is between 2010 and 2020, the sum of N4.8tn was said to have been spent as operational expenses. How do you incure operational expenses that have to do with the purchase of raw materials and similar expenses on factories that are moribund? How do we come about operational expenses? We need to know.
“These are issues that Nigerians want to know; they want solutions to all these leakages.
” We know they are leakages. We know and we will not hesitate to escalate it to the highest possible level, including the possibility of refund and outright dismissal of some of the heads of some of these agencies and possibly go to jail,” he said.
Also speaking, Senator Yahaya Abdullahi said that the NNPCL and management of other agencies, who came to represent their bosses, should be sent back to tell their chief executives that they should appear in person.
Angered by the whole development, Senator Sumaila Kawu said that the invitees knew the modus operandi of the civil service, adding,
“We are not in the Senate for personal functions. We are representing the entire legislature. You are in the civil service, we know how you are operating.
“We are in a very serious business. In the end, you will be at the receiving end. Nigerians are not satisfied with what you are doing and you will be at the receiving end.”
Politics
I won’t go on exile despite being told I’ll be arrested – El-Rufai

A former Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai has said that he has heard about his possible arrest.
A leader in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), who was denied ministerial clearance by the Senate in 2023 on failure to pass security screening, has been locked in a war of words with some members of the President Bola Tinubu administration.
The spat intensified after el-Rufai criticised the APC for ‘straying from its core values’.
In a post on X on Tuesday, El-Rufai, who served as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory from 17 July 2003 to 27 July 2007, said his adversaries intended to force him out of the country.
Responding to a post from X user, Imran Wakili on the alleged plot to arrest and detain him, El-Rufai, who disclosed that he is currently in Egypt, said he would return to the country before 20 February.
He wrote: ‘I will spend more time in Nigeria than ever before.
‘They have sent such similar messages of intimidation and threats through many of my friends, family and political associates because they want me to go on self-imposed exile.
‘I have now put all my previous academic and language-learning plans on hold. Silence is no longer golden. Inaction has never been an option.
‘The arrest, detention and torture of perceived political enemies are nothing new in human affairs. I have been arrested and detained thrice in the past for expressing my views of previous governments.
‘There is always a morning after the arrest or detention or torture, and political life continues. As for death, it is when Allah destines it, and it is ultimately the date of every human.
‘For the attention of the pathetic characters that don’t sleep well whenever I am in Nigeria, take notice that I intend to return in time for the launch of Pres IBB’s memoirs, in sha Allah, scheduled for 20th February.
‘We depend on no one but Allah. We fear no mortal but Almighty Allah. We always hope for the best but plan for the worst’.
El-Rufai has since become an ardent critic of the APC government of President Bola Tinubu government
News
Another PDP lawmaker defects to APC

Amos Gwamna Magaji, a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the House of Representatives, has defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Magaji, who represents the Jaba/Zango Kataf Federal Constituency of Kaduna State, attributed his decision to unresolved crises within the PDP at both the national and local levels.
Magaji, a two-term lawmaker and Chairman of the House Committee on Health Care Services, is also the Kaduna caucus leader in the House of Representatives. He serves as Deputy Chairman of the House Special Ad-hoc Committee on the Restructuring of Government Agencies and Commissions, which is reviewing the Stephen Oronsaye report. Additionally, he has been a member of several House committees, including Defense, Reformation Institutions, Rules & Business, Christian Pilgrimage, Police Affairs, FCT Area Councils, and Constitution Review.
Magaji’s defection makes him the third PDP member to cross over to the APC since the inauguration of the 10th Assembly, following Chris Nkwonta and Eriatheke Ibori-Suenu.
However, Minority Leader Kingsley Chinda objected to Magaji’s defection and called on the Speaker to declare his seat vacant. Citing Section 68(1g) of the Constitution, Chinda argued that while lawmakers are permitted to leave the platform on which they were elected, the law stipulates consequences, including the loss of their seat.
Chinda emphasized, “Members of the House are lawmakers, not lawbreakers. The lawmaker has not complied with the provisions of the law and should therefore be made to lose his seat.”
Politics
Kenneth Okonkwo resigns from Labour Party over leadership crises

Former Labour Party, LP, Presidential Campaign Council, spokesman, Kenneth Okonkwo, has officially resigned from the party.
Okonkwo said his resignation from the party will take effect from February 25, 2025.
In a statement he issued, the Nollywood veteran said LP has been impacted by ongoing internal conflicts and challenges in leadership.
He vowed to join other well-meaning Nigerians to chart a way forward for the country in the area of governance.
The statement reads: “My entrance to politics is for good governance, and I will continue to work for it to ensure that Nigeria becomes a great country of incorruptible men. This aim can no longer be realised within Labour Party as presently constituted.
“This resignation takes effect from the 25th of February, 2025, which marks the second anniversary of the presidential election of 2023, after which I will be at liberty to join other well-meaning, and like minded Nigerians in charting a great future of good governance for this great country blessed by God.”
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