The Newspaper headlines for Tuesday, April 4, are focused on several issues in the country such as the rift between the executive and legislative arm of government, Abacha loot and the breakout of meningitis.
This Day reports that Senate President Bukola Saraki and the speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, have denied reports that the legislative and executive arms of government were at loggerheads.
Speaking on Monday, they insisted that the National Assembly and the executive still had a cordial relationship.
ZENITHBLOG.com earlier reported that Saraki said reports of a rift between the two arms of government were exaggerated.
Saraki said the rejection of some presidential nominees and the decision to stand down the screening and confirmation of the Residential Electoral Commissioner-nominees for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by the Senate was not enough reason to conclude that there was a rift between the two arms of government.
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He noted that such rejections were bound to happen in a democracy.
The Senate president reminded the public that there were other executive matters such as the 2017 budget, Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and amendments to the electoral act which were given due attention by the Senate.
The Punch reports that the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party caucuses in the Senate will be meeting with the leaders of their parties today.
The objective of the APC and PDP caucus’ meeting is to discuss the disagreements between the Senate and the presidency.
According to report, the rejection of the nomination of the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, by the Senate is another issue on the agenda of the meetings.
A source in the Senate disclosed that the ruling party’s lawmakers, who are in the majority in the Senate, have been losing their grip on issues in the chamber and some are not happy about it.
On the front page of Vanguard is the headline “Why Obasanjo locked me up for 8 years – Bamaiyi”
Newspaper review: Saraki opens up about row with presidency
Former Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lt. Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi (retd), has claimed that his eight years incarceration was not just punishment for opposing the choice of former President Olusegun Obasanjo as successor to former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, but to keep him away for fear he would overthrow the Obasanjo government.
In Gen. Bamaiyi’s book, “Vindication of A General” which was unveiled last weekend in Abuja, he claimed that upon handing over power to Gen. Obasanjo in May 1999, Gen. Abubakar told the new civilian president that he must rein in General Bamaiyi, else he would overthrow the new government and that from that moment, General Aliyu Gusau, the then National Security Adviser and President Obasanjo made it a duty to imprison him (Bamayi) by all means.
Reacting to Bamaiyi’s claims, the former political adviser to former president Olusegun Obasanjo, Akin Osuntokun, said the former COAS
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Meanwhile, The Nation reports that the federal government is seeking “political solutions” to the conditions set by the Swiss government for accessing the ex-Head of State Gen. Sani Abacha’s loot.
The Swiss government would like to monitor what Nigeria does with the loot, a development which the Federal Government considers as an affront on the country’s sovereignty.
To repatriate a $550million loot traced to Abacha, the federal government is to resolve two legal hurdles in the United States.
Report has it that the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami (SAN) and EFCC boss Magu who returned from the US on Sunday have made progress in “negotiating the last phase of the process for the release of the $550million”.
A top source who spoke on condition of anonymity said: “The Federal Government is inching closer to the resolution of legal hurdles and the template for the release of the $550 million Abacha loot. We have spent close to 20 years pursuing the repatriation of these stolen funds; it is time to get over it.”
READ ALSO: Why Obasanjo kept me in jail for 8 years – Bamaiyi
In other news, there is a growing epidemic of cerebrospinal meningitis (CSM) and the scarcity of the needed vaccines to stem the disease is causing more deaths and its spread to more states.
The Guardian reports that the new outbreaks are caused by new strains of CSM, Neisseria meningitidis serogroup C (NmC), and the vaccines are not commercially available as they need to be acquired through a special process managed by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
More Nigerians may likely die from the deadly disease as the country does not have enough vaccine doses to deal with it. The drugs are too expensive at the cost of $50 (N18,000) per dose which is the national minimum wage.
According to the chief executive officer of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, the country was in urgent need of .3 million doses to meet its immediate targets but had taken delivery of only 500,000, which it plans to deploy in Zamfara State on April 7, 2017. He noted that they were expecting another batch of 800,000 doses this week.
What this implies is that Nigeria needs to spend not less than $65 million (N23.4 billion) to meet its needs.
Read more of these stories and many others on the pages of your favourite newspapers today, April 3.
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