MKO Abiola: Bill to make June 12 Democracy Day passes 2nd reading

A Bill for an Act to amend the Public Holidays Act in order to declare June 12 as Democracy Day in Nigeria has passed the second reading at the House of Representatives.

The bill, which was jointly sponsored by Rep. Edward Pwajok (APC-Plateau) and Rep. Kayode Oladele, seeks to bring the Act in tandem with the present realities and exigencies of the modern times.

Leading the debate, Pwajok said that before 1979, there were separate Acts regulating public holidays in the country.

He said the situation led to indiscriminate declaration of public holidays which had negative consequence on the nation.

Pwajok recalled that in 1975, a law was made to repeal all state laws on public holidays and to streamline the process of declaring holidays for the federation.

According to him, by law, the President may declare any day as public holiday by public notice or Act through the Minister of Internal Affairs.

He said that by the schedule of the Act, some days such as New Year Day, National Day like Oct. 1 and religious festivals are set aside for public holidays.

He said that in 2000, the National Assembly amended the schedule to add May 29 as Democracy Day.

The lawmaker said that in May 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari announced June 12 as the new Democracy day.

He explained that for the pronouncement to become effective there has to be an amendment on the Public Holidays Act.

Pwajok said if the bill is passed into law, subsequent June 12 will become public holidays to commemorate Democracy Day.

He said May 29 would be celebrated every fourth year when there is an inauguration of a new president.

In his ruling, the Speaker of the House, Mr Yakubu Dogara forwarded the bill to the House Committee of the Whole for further legislative actions.

Comments

Kenyan Law Court dismisses case of man seeking compensation after his wife eloped with another man from hospital

A lawsuit filed by a man seeking to be compensated by St Mary's Mission Hospital in Kenya for allowing his wife to leave the hospital with another man after giving birth, has been struck out by a law court. The appellant had sued the St. Mary's Mission hospital at Kakamega law courts in 2020 seeking general damages from the facility on grounds that the hospital had discharged his wife and allowed her to leave with another man. After delivering and at the time of discharge, the wife of the appellant claimed he was the baby's father. The court of appeal judges Patrick Kiage, Mumbi Ngugi and Francis Tuiyott sitting at the Kisumu Court of Appeal, empathized with the man, but disagreed that he (the appellant) be compensated by the hospital for not detaining his wife. They upheld the lower court's judgement which added that there's no remedy that lies in the law for such grievances. Kiage said; "I agree that if a man takes the woman he loves to t...

Hurricane Hits Texas, One Person Reported Dead

Hurricane Harvey hit Texas as a Category 4 storm on Friday, battering the coast with 130-mph winds and torrential rain. It was the strongest hurricane to hit the United States in more than a decade leaving a massive destruction, loss of electricity, wrecked buildings and has so far killed at least one person. Scroll down to see more pictures of the incident:

Floyd Mayweather backs out of fight with 20-year-old kickboxer after receiving bashing from 50 Cent and others

American professional boxer, Floyd Mayweather, has dramatically made a U-Turn and won't be fighting 20-year-old Japanese kickboxer,Tenshin Nasukawa anymore for his comeback fight. The 41-year-old had initially confirmed the bout for 31st of December 2018 during a press conference which took place on Sunday night in Tokyo. It was also understood that he revealed that he signed with Japanese mixed martial arts promotions company RIZIN Fighting Federation. After the announcement, his enemies, 50 Cent, Conor McGregor and many others blasted him for agreeing to fight a younger kickboxer. Taking to his Instagram account this night, Mayweather denied he agreed to an official bout with Tenshin Nasukawa. He wrote: Now that I am back on U.S. soil after a long and disappointing trip to Tokyo, I now have the time to address you, my fans and the media in regard to the upcoming event on December 31st that was recently announced. First and foremost, I want it to be clear that I, F...

BAMY BLOG

Search This Blog