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Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Politics / Senate Forgery: Lawmakers Ready For Showdown With Buhari (792 Views)
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Senate Forgery: Lawmakers Ready For Showdown With Buhari by Bimpe29: 1:00pm On Jun 25, 2016 |
There are strong indications that the National
Assembly is on the war path with President
Muhammadu Buhari over the prosecution of the
Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, and his
deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, for alleged
forgery of the Senate Standing Rules 2015.
Saturday PUNCH gathered on Friday that although
some of the legislators were uncomfortable with
the anti-corruption war of the President, the
relationship between the two arms of
government came to a head with the senate
forgery rules suit filed by the Federal
Government.
It was learnt that many National Assembly
members had concluded plans to frustrate any
request by the President because of his anti-
graft war.
Besides the senate president, who is standing
trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, eight
senators, including the Chairman of the Senate
Committee on Appropriation, Senator Danjuma
Goje, and a former Plateau State Governor,
Senator Joshua Dariye, are being prosecuted for
corruption related offences.
Goje is standing trial at a Federal High Court,
Jos, for allegedly awarding contract for the
purchase of N1bn dictionaries without due
process, while Dariye is being prosecuted by the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on a
23-count charge bordering on money laundering
and diversion of the state’s ecological fund.
It was gathered that among the plans of the
anti-Buhari senators, consisting of members of
the Peoples Democratic Party caucus and their
others colleagues in the All Progressives
Congress sympathetic to Saraki, was to delay
approval for Buhari’s appointments.
Investigations by Saturday PUNCH showed that
those who could be affected by the hard stand
of the National Assembly included the Acting
Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, whose
appointment had not been confirmed by the
Senate.
Others in this category, it was learnt, included
ambassadors, who would mainly be politicians.
An APC senator, who is sympathetic to Saraki,
confided in Saturday PUNCH that the National
Assembly would be strict in its oversight
functions.
He said, “As part of the measures to reveal to
Nigerians that there is corruption in the
executive too, we will be strict in screening
appointees and in our oversight functions.”
Following the frosty relationship, it was learnt
that the lawmakers had vowed to ensure that
the principle of separation of powers was
enforced between the two arms of government.
One of the Like Mind senators, who preferred
anonymity, alleged that the Presidency, in
collaboration with some APC leaders, had made
up their minds to get Saraki and Ekweremadu out
at all costs.
Like Mind senators, consisting of the PDP
members and their colleagues that are
supporting Saraki, were instrumental to his
emergence as senate president last year.
The senator, who spoke with Saturday PUNCH ,
said, “When the Presidency and some of these
party leaders discovered that they could not
remove Saraki and Ekweremadu on the floor of
the chamber, they are now trying to carry out
their agenda using the court.
“Their intention is to ensure that both Saraki and
Ekweremadu are arraigned in court on Monday
(next week) and make sure that they are
remanded in prison afterwards so that we would
be forced to change our leadership.”
The senator from the North Central geopolitical
zone vowed that all legal and constitutional
means would be explored by his colleagues to
ensure that the Presidency was paid back in its
coin.
Efforts to get the reaction of the senate
spokesperson on the issue were futile as of the
time of filing this report.
The PDP senators during the week announced
the withdrawal of their support for Buhari’s
government over what they called, “unwarranted
threats to the legislative arm of government.”
But 16 members of the APC, led by the Chief
Whip, Senator Olusola Adeyeye, addressed
journalists on Thursday under the aegis of APC
Senate Caucus and expressed their support for
Buhari.
In the House of Representatives, there are also
signs of a deepening frosty relationship between
the executive and the legislative arms.
On Friday, some members called on Buhari to
adjust his administration’s “style of approaching
issues relating to the National Assembly.”
Members of the APC caucus and the main
opposition PDP shared the same view, noting
that there was a drift to military style of
leadership.
The members stated besides ignoring the
resolutions of the National Assembly, the
ongoing move to prosecute Saraki and
Ekweremadu for alleged forgery of the Senate’s
rules was a step taken too far.
Some of the APC members opted to speak on
condition of anonymity for fear of being accused
of fighting the President.
One of them said, “Truly, we are worried that
things are beginning to go wrong; the President
has to start making corrections.
“This issue of hounding everyone all over the
place as if our laws or courts are no longer
functioning is creating anxiety.”
Speaking on the development in the Senate,
another APC lawmaker stated, “The feeling of
members is that the executive is taking the
National Assembly for a ride. The President and,
especially some of his ministers, treat our
resolutions with levity.
“If we say we have a democracy, we have to ask
questions. Look at the case of Kogi State House
of Assembly crisis.
“There was a joint resolution of the Senate and
the House that the National Assembly should
assume control of that Assembly until calm
would have returned there. We were ignored
because a particular minister had overriding
interest. “
Call your errant ministers to order, House tells
President
The Chairman, House Committee on Media and
Public Affairs, Mr. Abdulrazak Namdas, also told
Saturday PUNCH that members were feeling that
certain actions of the executive were not
necessary, if the Presidency expected any
cordial relationship to thrive.
He explained that while the feeling of members
did not mean that they would withdraw support
for Buhari, they believed that he could adjust.
He said, “The prosecution of the senate
president and his deputy is unnecessary,
especially considering that this is an internal
affair of the Senate.
“At the last dinner we had with Mr. President, he
even reiterated that he would love to improve on
the executive-legislature relationship. That is
what we are expecting.
“Again, the actions and utterances of some
ministers portray them as constantly being at
loggerheads with the National Assembly.
“We want some actions to be taken in this
regard. We in the House in particular, we are not
saying we are withdrawing our support for Mr.
President, but we are committed to improvement
in our relationship.”
Asked what actions the House would take should
the executive continue to ignore the resolutions
of the legislature, Namdas replied that the House
would wait to see how the executive behaved
henceforth.
“We have passed our resolution and we will wait
and see how those in the executive, especially
some ministers, will react henceforth,” he said.
Members of the PDP caucus in the House said
they had yet to withdraw their support for Buhari
unlike their counterparts in the Senate.
But they stressed that they would not support
any decision that did not promote democracy.
The Minority Leader of the House and leader of
the caucus, Mr. Leo Ogor, advised Buhari to
draw the line between democracy and military
dictatorship.
Ogor said, “We are not supporting whatever the
President is doing that is not in the interest of
democracy. That is not the same thing as saying
that we have withdrawn our support for the
Federal Government.
“There is a difference between democracy and
military dictatorship. What we see happening
seem to us that due process is no longer being
followed.”
The Leader of the House, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila,
could not be reached as of the time of filing this
report.
Text messages sent to him were also not
replied.
But a source told Saturday PUNCH that
Gbajabiamila had regularly preached “patience”
to his colleagues.
Buhari won’t slow down anti-corruption war
despite criticism –Presidency
The Presidency said Buhari would not slow down
his administration’s anti-corruption war despite
the recent criticism by some federal lawmakers.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media
and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, told one of our
correspondents that Buhari would not slow down
the anti-graft war in view of the criticism that
had trailed the Federal Government’s decision to
file forgery charges against Saraki and
Ekweremadu.
Adesina said, “The anti-corruption war will not be
slowed down for any reason whatsoever. Let me
refer you to what the President said on
Wednesday while addressing Presidency staffers.
The war on corruption will never be slowed
down.”
He also said Buhari was not in any way
entertaining any fear that he would be finding it
difficult getting Senate approvals for some of his
appointments and policies because of the
development.
He said, “The President is not here to serve
himself. If the lawmakers are also not out to
serve themselves, then nothing should frustrate
the process of getting approvals.
“The President will always maintain cordial
relationship with other arms of government since
the purpose of being elected is to serve.”
We are reaching out to PDP senators –Enang
When contacted, the Special Assistant to the
President on National Assembly Matters (Senate)
, Senator Ita Enang, said, “On the purported
withdrawal of support by distinguished senators
of the PDP, all hands are on deck to ensure that
the executive maintains the cordial relationship
that exists between it and the legislature.”
|
Re: Senate Forgery: Lawmakers Ready For Showdown With Buhari by chimoskyg(m): 1:11pm On Jun 25, 2016 |
The president alone can not fight corruption 1 Like |
Re: Senate Forgery: Lawmakers Ready For Showdown With Buhari by Nobody: 1:15pm On Jun 25, 2016 |
Even the likes of Napoleon, Stalin, Idi-amin, Abacha, Gadaffi and Mugabe are not dictatorial as the Nigerian Dullard. Buhari is fighting everything he sees as threat to his government not knowing that Nigerians deserve good governance. people are suffering, there's not electricity, businesses are folding up, foreign investors are leaving in their droves, workers are getting retrenched and naira is practically dead. There are so many things to fix in this country and everything has gone from bad to worse. May God deliver us from the leadership of this man whose only aim is to bring an end to our beloved nation. 1 Like |
Re: Senate Forgery: Lawmakers Ready For Showdown With Buhari by PRYCE(m): 1:20pm On Jun 25, 2016 |
Sauce? |
Re: Senate Forgery: Lawmakers Ready For Showdown With Buhari by dadebayo1(m): 1:26pm On Jun 25, 2016 |
They all run to the Senate for cover after stealing our collective wealth... Well it is just a matter of time before the cookie crumbles... Anyone who is clean has nothing to fear.. If truly they did not commit forgery they should be bold and coregious to face the charges against them. |
Re: Senate Forgery: Lawmakers Ready For Showdown With Buhari by nnachukz(m): 1:30pm On Jun 25, 2016 |
Has Buhari cleared his name for result forgery charge and perjury? If he hasn't, then he has no moral right to demand same from others. |
Re: Senate Forgery: Lawmakers Ready For Showdown With Buhari by pode(m): 1:35pm On Jun 25, 2016 |
Fight to finished for the strongest |
Re: Senate Forgery: Lawmakers Ready For Showdown With Buhari by pode(m): 1:36pm On Jun 25, 2016 |
Fight to finished for the strongest, surviver of the strongest |
Re: Senate Forgery: Lawmakers Ready For Showdown With Buhari by bodeemen(f): 5:03pm On Jun 28, 2016 |
http://newsdiaryonline.com/forces-hijacked-buharis-govt-saraki/ Saraki, “what has become clear is that there is now a government within the government of President Buhari who have seized the apparatus of Executive powers to pursue their nefarious agenda. http://newsdiaryonline.com/forces-hijacked-buharis-govt-saraki/ Newsdiaryonline.com |
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