The government accepted a recommendation to extend the president’s tenure from four to five years and agreed in principle that Parliament should serve a corresponding five-year term.
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Constituency Projects: Is Buhari Guilty of Peddling Fake News?
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By Eric Elezuo
As the Federal Government is coming down hard on fake news peddlers, even as the syndrome is causing untold crisis in the national life of most Nigerians, President Buhari may have joined the mass of persons guilty of committing the fake news blunder.
Recall that the President has brazenly accused members of the National Assembly of fraud when he stated that about Ten trillion naira has been budgeted for constituency projects, yet nothing to show for it, a statement a cross section of the lawmakers including the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, have denied.
The President made the accusation in Abuja at a National Summit on “Diminishing Corruption in the Public Service organised by the Independent and Corrupt Practices and other offences Commission (ICPC) in collaboration with the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).
Buhari had categorically said that “It is on record that in the past 10 years one trillion naira has been appropriated for constituency projects, yet the impact of such huge spending on the lives and welfare of ordinary Nigerians can hardly be seen.”
Stakeholders, political and legal advocates have wondered if President Buhari did not make the statement in error, in as much it was claimed to have emanated from the office of the ICPC. They however, agreed that the peddler of fake news is as guilty as the originator.
Earlier, a bill to regulate the use of Social Media as well as curb fake news on the internet has passed second reading at the Senate. The bill, ‘Protection from Internet Falsehood and Manipulations Bill, 2019,’ sponsored by Mohammed Musa was introduced in the Senate about two weeks ago.
Musa said the bill does not intend to gag the media but to check the spread of false information on the internet.
“It is rather an opportunity to address the growing threats which if left unchecked, can cause serious damage to our polity and disrupt peaceful existence,” he said. That seems to be exactly what the Buhari comment has done.
Not long ago also, proposed a bill which recommends death by hanging and life jail term for peddlers of hate speech makers, invariably relating to fake news.
Only a few days ago, the Senate, through the senator representing Niger North Senatorial district, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, recommended that culprits of any form of hate speech should be penalised to die by hanging if convicted.
The Senate also provided that any person found guilty of the criminal act should be accorded life jail sentence and or five years imprisonment, depending on the gravity of the hate speech.
These severe penalties are provided in the proposed bill to establish the National Commission for the Prohibition of Hate Speech which has passed first reading in Senate.
According to the Bill, “hate speeches are comments that insult people for their religion, ethnic, linguistic affiliation, racial contempt among others.”
By the establishment of the commission, if the bill is enacted, hate speech would become criminalised and the severe penalties shall be applied to offenders.
Also, the Bill, if enacted, would provide the offenders an option of fine to the huge sum of N10 million.
The Bill is expected to eradicate all manner of hate speeches peddled by individuals or organisations.
This would further ensure that hate speeches against ethnic nationalities or persons become a serious unpardonable crime.
In his reaction, Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila noted that the statement credited to the President, and emanated from a report from the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) failed to distinguish between budgeted money and actual releases. He asked the commission and other related agencies to do due diligence in their investigation and not put the welfare of people at stake.
“I think it is a breach of our collective privilege as a house and not one person. My concern is the unintended consequences of words spoken. These are words emanating from a report by ICPC.
“There could be unintended consequences that could come out of it. You put people’s wellbeing at risk. I feel it is okay to use the National Assembly as the whipping boys. But it must be backed with facts. The fact is that there is the FoI (Freedom of Information) Act.
The Senate Minority Leader, Senator Emyinnaya Abaribe described Buhari’s statement as “erroneous.”
“We are not worried by the statement. The reason we are not worried is because we know that it was a statement that was erroneous, he said.
He noted that though the President’s utterance was a product of an ICPC report presented to him, there was still need for him to go through it, ask questions and make amendments before presenting it in the public domain, insinuating that having made the speech in the public made the utterance and as a result, the president is guilty of making erroneous and unconfirmed statement.
According to a legal practitioner, who craved anonymity, the President’s action is tantamount to agreement with the report, hence his reading it.
“If he had had any form of reservation, he would have questioned it,” he said.
Echoing Gbajabiamila’s position, Abaribe added, “Somebody must have written a speech and then put false information in the speech. I have done constituency projects and we have always said that they are not done by the Senators or members of House of Representatives.
“They are domiciled in the executive who execute the projects. If the President said he has not seen anything, he should ask his ministers and the agencies under him as the executive, as they are the people who have been executing these projects.”
A member of the All Progressives congress (APC) from Nasarawa State, who has become the Senate spokesperson, Godiya Akwashiki, dismissed the President’s accusation, saying it was mere comment since he had not written officially to the National Assembly about his concerns on the constituency projects.
He said the Senate would only react when President Buhari communicates his reservations over management of the Constituency Projects.
“Mr President has not written to the National Assembly officially on this matter. We have modes of communication and I want to believe if he has anything he writes to us, he will,” he explained.
Setting the records straight, House of Representatives Minority Leader Ndudi Elumelu from Delta State, explained that one trillion was actually budgeted but never released. So it was a disservice to the lawmakers for the President to tell the public about one trillion naira.
“Yes, in the last ten years, N1 trillion was actually made available by way of budgeting N100 billion annually for constituency projects. Truly, our constituent does not have value for such provisions.
“My worry and why I am bringing this up is that, yes I got N100 billion was budgeted annually, but actual releases were not up to 50 per cent. In actual sense, and even this year, we have not gotten releases of more than 40 per cent. I can conveniently tell you that only about 30 percent has been released.”
Citing Section 4 of the 1999 constitution as amended, the lawmaker stressed that “We don’t award contracts. I don’t know of any member who is a member of the tenders’ board. In effect, the National Assembly has nothing to do with the execution of any contract.
“It is painful that the agency that generated that information failed to state that while it is true that N1 trillion was budgeted in the last 10 years, this money has not been released.
“I am not happy because the information is capable of giving me a bad name before my community. The ICPC that wrote this report failed to tell the truth of how much was actually released.
“When you say N1 trillion is budgeted like the President said, if that money was released completely, there will be value commensurate to the money. I wonder why the ICPC man failed look at what was released. Why should ours be a subject of debate that they will tell Nigerians we received N1 trillion when that was budgeted, but not released.
“My message is that we should let them know that while N1 trillion was budgeted for constituency projects, by way of releases, we did not receive that because what was released was less than 40 per cent.”
Further breaking down the constituency projects budgetary allocation, the lawmaker representing Bende Federal constituency, Mr. Benjamin Kalu informed a lot of misinformation was contained in the ICPC report which Buhari presented copiously, noting that 372 projects in total where brought to accountability, out of which 255 projects were completed which represented 60 per cent. There were about 108 projects ongoing, representing 25 per cent of projects in review. Again, during the investigation, according to Kalu, only five projects, representing one per cent were abandoned. And only three projects did not commence at all. And then eight projects were recommended for prosecution while 34 projects went back to site when investigation started.
He asked: “why do this kind of reportage? Why was the whole analysis not published? Why did ICPC tell not Nigerians that only eight projects were recommended for prosecution, and only five projects did not commence? These are the details in the reports. This is what we mean when we are talking about fake news.
Kalu accused the ICPC of the same misinformation when in August, 2019 it was reported that N900 billion has been recovered from the National Assembly, only for the same ICPC to come back two months later to say it was not so. He condemned the trend with the graft agency.
“And who is the victims of this misinformation? The Nigerian public, the citizens. The reason behind the non completion of some of the projects was because the money was not released 100 per cent. What they do is called roll over. And that means releasing 30 or 40 per cent for a job of 100 per cent. There’s no way you will release 30 per cent and expect a job of 100 per cent.
Mr. Kalu pleaded that the National Assembly just like every other ministry, department and agency including the military should be benchmarked based on the money released to them, not the budgeted amount. He reminded President that it is the “irresponsibility of the executive” that creates whatever loophole noticed in incompletion of constituency projects.
He also noted, according to the President, that contractors, complicit civil servants and project sponsors are to be held responsible for lapses in projects, saying that of the three, two are under the control of the executives.
“The blame goes to the executives; they are the complicit civil servants; they are the ones who select, supervise and pay the contractors. Not the lawmakers who do not even stay in the biding rooms when it is done. There’s a lot of false information out there, and they put it upon the NASS.
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Former Vice President of Nigeria and Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has expressed bewilderment over President Bola Tinubu’s latest claim that “prosperity is on the horizon” and that “the quality of life is improving,” asking whether the President was referring to another country or the Nigeria that millions of citizens endure every day.
In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said the President’s remarks reveal a troubling disconnect between those who govern and the people they were elected to serve.
“Mr. President says prosperity is on the horizon. Nigerians are asking: whose horizon? Certainly not that of the market woman whose capital has been wiped out by inflation. Not that of the civil servant whose salary now expires before the month begins. Not that of the manufacturer struggling under crushing energy costs. Not that of the unemployed graduate who sees no future. Certainly not that of farming communities forced off their ancestral lands by terrorists and bandits, families mourning loved ones slaughtered in senseless attacks, or countless Nigerians who now live in daily fear of kidnappers who have turned human lives into commodities. And certainly not that of millions of households that have quietly reduced the number of meals they eat each day simply to survive.”
Atiku said that while no serious person disputes that President Tinubu inherited challenges, no President is elected to inherit excuses.
“The Constitution did not swear President Tinubu into office to explain history. It swore him into office to change it. Every administration inherits problems. Great leaders are remembered for solving them, not for endlessly rehearsing them.”
The former Vice President noted that after more than three years in office, the Tinubu administration can no longer govern by blaming its predecessors.
“The Nigerian people are not interested in who created the problem. They want to know who will solve it. A government that still blames its predecessors after years in office is, by its own conduct, admitting that it has run out of ideas. President Tinubu may find comfort in blaming those before him, but history will remember his administration as the one under which Nigerians endured unprecedented hardship, institutionalised fiscal recklessness, and one of the greatest appropriation scandals in the annals of our nation. The suffering of Nigerians today is driven not by the past, but by an administration that has elevated opacity over transparency, rewarded a privileged circle of cronies, and condemned millions to deepening economic pain, insecurity, and despair.
“It is even more astonishing that a President who constantly invokes China now blames Nigeria’s population for the country’s difficulties. China did not become an economic superpower by complaining about the size of its population. It became prosperous because visionary leadership transformed that population into its greatest economic asset through sustained investment in manufacturing, infrastructure, education, technology, and export-led industrialisation. Great leaders convert challenges into opportunities. They do not convert opportunities into excuses.
“That is precisely what an Atiku Abubakar administration will do. We will invest aggressively in manufacturing, modern infrastructure, quality education, skills acquisition, agriculture, and export-driven industries to unlock the enormous productive capacity of our people. Nigeria’s youthful population is not a burden; it is our greatest strategic advantage. Our people are not the problem. President Tinubu’s failed leadership is.”
He said it was particularly insensitive for the President to suggest that because hunger existed before his birth, Nigerians should somehow accept the unprecedented hardship confronting them today.
“Nobody ‘elected’ Tinubu to eliminate the hunger of 1940. Nigerians ‘elected’ him to confront the hunger of today. The fact that previous generations endured hardship is not a licence to deepen the suffering of the present generation.”
Atiku stressed that hope is not manufactured through speeches but earned through purposeful leadership and policies that improve lives.
“Hope cannot be preached to a hungry stomach. It cannot be legislated into existence. It cannot substitute for affordable food, stable electricity, productive jobs, quality education, accessible healthcare, or security for families to sleep with both eyes closed. Government inspires hope through performance, not rhetoric.”
He urged President Tinubu to step outside the comfort of official briefings and carefully choreographed ceremonies and reconnect with the realities confronting ordinary Nigerians.
“If the President truly believes that the quality of life is improving, then one must respectfully remind him that the Nigeria he is talking about exists only in his head. It is certainly not the Nigeria where families are choosing between food and medicine, where communities are fleeing armed violence, where kidnappers dictate the rhythm of daily life, and where hope is becoming more expensive than bread.”
Ghana has backed five-year presidential terms as part of a sweeping constitutional reform programme that could reshape elections, political eligibility, public appointments and institutional accountability in one of West Africa’s most stable democracies.
It argues that Ghana’s current electoral cycle leaves governments with too little time to implement and assess major policies because the early months of an administration are dominated by transition arrangements, while the final year is largely consumed by election preparations.
“The early months of every administration are consumed by transition matters, and the final year is largely consumed by elections,” Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Dominic Ayine said while announcing the government’s position.
The proposal forms part of a much broader attempt to rewrite important sections of Ghana’s 1992 Constitution, which came into force in January 1993 and established the country’s Fourth Republic.
Unlike constitutional changes elsewhere in Africa that have been used to remove presidential term limits or extend an incumbent’s stay in office, Ghana’s proposal does not alter the existing two-term limit. It would instead increase the length of each term from four to five years.
President John Dramani Mahama is also serving what the present Constitution treats as his second and final presidential term. He first led the country between 2012 and 2017 before returning to office in January 2025.
The government also accepted in principle a proposal to lower the minimum age for presidential candidates.
Ghana’s Constitution currently requires candidates to be at least 40 years old. The review committee recommended reducing the threshold to 30, but the government settled on 35, arguing that the existing rule excludes qualified citizens on the basis of what it described as an arbitrary age restriction.
Presidential and parliamentary elections would also move from December to the first week of November, creating a longer period between voting and the inauguration of a new government on January 7.
That change is intended to give the Electoral Commission more certainty and provide additional time for transitions and electoral disputes to be resolved.
Under another accepted proposal, presidential election petitions would have to be filed within 14 days of the declaration of results and decided by the Supreme Court within 30 days.
But the five-year term and lower presidential age represent only a small part of the reform package.
The government’s position paper responds to more than 147 proposed amendments and about 59 proposed new constitutional provisions.
The committee behind the report consulted more than 500 experts and practitioners, engaged groups representing more than 21,500 people and received 785 written submissions. Among the most consequential proposals is a plan to cap Parliament at 300 members.
Ghana presently has 276 constituency MPs. Under the government’s model, those 276 seats would remain, while another 24 would be filled through proportional representation and allocated among women, young people and persons with disabilities.
Ghana’s constitutional reform programme also proposes lowering the presidential eligibility age from 40 to 35 and moving elections to November
The government described the cap as a cost-saving measure that would stop the continuing proliferation of constituencies. It plans to commission a study on how the additional proportional-representation seats would be allocated.
The government also accepted a recommendation that Ghanaian citizens by birth should no longer be barred from Parliament simply because they hold another nationality.
Qualifying dual citizens would be permitted to contest parliamentary elections without first renouncing their second citizenship.
The government said the present restriction is inconsistent with Ghana’s growing engagement with its diaspora and reduces the pool of qualified candidates.
Another proposal would create a constitutional right of abode for people of African descent in the diaspora, subject to conditions established by Parliament.
The government linked the measure to Ghana’s Year of Return and Beyond the Return initiatives, which have sought to deepen ties with Africans and people of African heritage outside the continent. It said Parliament would determine the conditions for residence and any pathway to citizenship.
The package also reaches into the management of the economy and public institutions.
The review committee proposed stronger disclosure rules covering public debt, government guarantees, public-private partnerships and liabilities arising from state-owned companies.
It also recommended allowing Parliament to establish an independent fiscal council to scrutinise the sustainability of government finances.
However, the government concluded that several of those objectives could be achieved through existing public financial management laws rather than being written into the Constitution.
This reflects a broader pattern in its response: some recommendations were accepted as constitutional amendments, while others were redirected towards ordinary legislation to avoid creating rigid or expensive new institutions.
The government similarly supported creating a Public Ethics Commission and a body to regulate political parties and campaign financing, but rejected proposals to constitutionally establish some other commissions, saying their responsibilities could be handled by existing institutions or legislation.
It acknowledged that creating several new constitutional bodies would carry significant staffing, accommodation and operating costs at a time when Ghana must balance institutional reforms against spending on infrastructure, health, education and social protection.
The reform process is not Ghana’s first attempt to revise the 1992 Constitution.
A commission established in 2010 submitted its report in 2011, followed by a government White Paper in 2012 and the creation of an implementation committee.
However, the recommendations were not fully implemented. A later attempt to hold a referendum on local government reforms in 2019 was cancelled after political consensus collapsed.
The latest proposals are therefore, not yet law; Ghana’s government plans to appoint a Constitution Review Implementation Committee to prepare two amendment bills simultaneously: one covering non-entrenched provisions and another dealing with entrenched sections of the Constitution.
Non-entrenched amendments require the support of at least two-thirds of all members of Parliament. Entrenched provisions must go through a national referendum.
For a referendum to pass, at least 40% of registered voters must participate and at least 75% of the valid votes cast must support the proposed amendments.
The bills are expected to be ready by October 2026, while the referendum on entrenched provisions is expected in 2027.
That difficult approval process means the government’s endorsement is only the beginning.
But after two earlier reform efforts failed to deliver substantial constitutional change, the five-year presidential term will test whether Ghana can build the political and public consensus required to make its most extensive governance reforms in years a reality.
Source: Inside Africa
The Secretary to the Osun State Government, Teslim Igbalaiye, has been released by the Osun State Police Command.
Igbalaiye’s release was announced by Pelumi Olajengbesi, the spokesperson for the Imole Campaign Council, the group leading the re-election campaign of Governor Ademola Adeleke.
Olajengbesi shared the development on his verified Facebook page on Thursday.
“We sincerely appreciate the Inspector General of Police and the Commissioner of Police, Osun State Command, for listening to the voice of reason despite pressure and for responding to the people’s demand regarding the unlawful arrest of the Secretary to the State Government, Chief Igbalaye Teslim.
“The Nigerian Police Force best serves the nation when it stands against oppression and upholds justice and the rule of law. Welcome back, Chief Igbalaye Teslim. Your courage and sacrifice for the people of Osun State will not be forgotten. Our SSG is out, back and solid,” Olajengbesi wrote.
The spokesperson for the Osun State Police Command, Abiodun Ojelabi, also confirmed the release in a telephone conversation with journalists in Osogbo.
Igbalaiye and five others were arrested and detained by the state police command after a raid on his residence in Osogbo on Wednesday.
The police stated that among those arrested at the SSG’s residence was a suspect on the police watchlist in connection with criminal offences, Oladele Abiodun.
Ojelabi also said a sum of N4,810,500, two Permanent Voter Cards, a voter register, a Dynabook laptop, one photocopy machine and one printer were recovered from Igbalaiye’s residence.
Others arrested with Igbalaiye include Akande Taiwo, 60; Adeyemo Lukman, 45; Olaoye Muftau, 50; and Aderemi Musliu, 40
The PPRO said a police team, acting on intelligence that a criminal gang was hibernating at a location in Osogbo, carried out a lawful raid and apprehended the suspects.
He said, “During the operation, officers recovered exhibits comprising a cash sum of four million, eight hundred and ten thousand, five hundred naira (N4,810,500), one Dynabook laptop, one photocopy machine, one printer, two voter cards and a voter register for Wards 1-15.
“These exhibits have been secured and are currently in police custody for detailed forensic examination and further investigation.
“The recovery of the cash and the register containing voters’ details raises serious concerns regarding possible electoral offences and other criminal activities.
“While investigations are still ongoing, the facts presently available disclose reasonable grounds to investigate the commission of offences, which may include:
“Bribery of voters (vote buying), contrary to Section 121 of the Electoral Act, 2022, arising from the alleged distribution of money or other inducements to registered voters for the purpose of influencing their voting decisions.
“Criminal conspiracy, where two or more persons are found to have agreed to commit an unlawful act; harbouring or concealing a wanted criminal, where any individual is found to have knowingly sheltered or assisted a fugitive from justice; and any other offences that may be disclosed upon the conclusion of the ongoing investigation.”
The release came hours after the Speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly, Adewale Egbedun, alleged that the arrest of the SSG was ordered by the state Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Gotan, following an incident at an Independent National Electoral Commission stakeholders’ meeting.
Egbedun claimed the commissioner directed the arrest after he was booed by some attendees and noticed Igbalaiye laughing during the incident.
He also alleged that the SSG was later informed that police officers were waiting at his residence. The police, however, maintained that the raid and arrests were based on intelligence linking the suspects to alleged criminal activities and possible electoral offences.
Source: The PUNCH
