President, Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Augustine Alegeh
The President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Augustine Alegeh (SAN), has said the emergence of Senator Bukola Saraki as the Senate President is not illegal.

About 51 senators of the All Progressives Congress had, on Wednesday, threatened to go to court to challenge Saraki’s emergence.

However, Alegeh told our correspondent during a telephone interview on Thursday that Saraki’s emergence as Senate President was a moral issue and not a legal one.

An APC senator, Barnabas Gemade, had said that the 57 senators that were present when the election for the Senate President took place were not enough to pick a new leadership of the Senate.

However, Alegeh said the 57 senators that were in the chamber when the election of Saraki took place were enough to form a quorum. He explained that having formed a quorum, the decision taken at the time was binding on the Senate.

He said, “Inaugurating the National Assembly is considered as an ordinary business and for an ordinary business, the requirement of a quorum is one-third. So, legally, there was a quorum. You can argue from a moral perspective but legally, it is in order.”

He said, “The general election was held in March/April and we are in June. There was enough time for the party to meet with the lawmakers and agree on all these issues. Why wait till the last minute?

“We must understand that if a time had been fixed for the inauguration, one would expect that all those who want to be inaugurated, given the importance of that event, should have arrived on time. The Clerk of the National Assembly, who is in charge of determining such, said there was a quorum. It will be difficult for me to fault that.

“We must understand that the National Assembly belongs to the entire country and parties from both sides are members of the Assembly. So, for a meeting of one of the parties to lead to the closure of the Assembly would be unfair.”

“There is a need to have respect for institutions. If the Senate was having an inauguration, other people should respect that fact and schedule meetings appropriately. The day for the inauguration of the House is a very important day in a democracy.”

The senior advocate said the incident showed that the National Assembly was becoming increasingly independent.

He said the fact that Saraki emerged Senate President against the wishes of his party did not imply that Saraki would fail.

He said, “The APC were very active in aiding Aminu Tambuwal to become Speaker in 2011 even though the PDP wanted somebody else. And if you look at the performance of Tambuwal, you will find it admirable to a large extent. He was not impeached and there were hardly any threats of impeachment. He had a handle of the House even though he was not the favoured candidate of the party.

“The lesson to learn is that the legislature is becoming increasingly independent of the party and the executive.”

The NBA president said now that elections were over, the National Assembly needed to be more united in order to deliver the change Nigerians demand.

He commended President Muhammadu Buhari for not interfering in the affairs of the legislature. He urged the APC to quickly resolve its internal conflict so as not to make the same mistakes that the PDP did.

He said, “The issue that led to some APC members joining the PDP should not be quickly forgotten.”

http://www.punchng.com/politics/sarakis-emergence-not-illegal-nba-president/

Noted.

Modified...
In just few minutes, I made FP twice but my bank account still remain same.
So what's the fuss of FP and FTC all abt?

Of course we know..... .... .. ...... ... Only fools think so



Welcome to national politices

isi4:
Noted.

We have heard.. Grammar or no grammar

This is a good one from the NBA President. God bless Nigeria.

The NBA president is wasting his time educating those aggrieved careless senators that left their own issue unattended to and went for a non-existant meeting at the icc...

They should go ahead and waste their stolen loot in the court of law on a baseless suit...

Mr Alegeh is telling some of us what we have already known but I hope other people who thought Saraki had committed the worst crime should read it.

Its like having Jamb exam and attending a meeting expecting the examiner to wait for you. Lmao yeye APC senators

Good..let's d battle begins .. Nw dat NBA pressy has make it clear... Bt it will be better if d aggrieved APC/senators can learn their lesson in such a hard way and forget abt it then support Saraki... Dis is not a state house of assembly dat a lot of state governors tossed them around to do what pleases them...

Toh, magana yakare

Legal or illegal, anybody that is not satisfied with it should go and hug transformer

However they pursue it in the court of law,it will end up affecting negatively the unity of the party. These politicians are outrageously selfish. Seriously,our government at the centre needs our prayer,for if things continue like this,the change might be fictitious

Ok

However, Alegeh told our correspondent during a telephone interview on Thursday that Saraki’s emergence as Senate President was a moral issue and not a legal one.

The emboldened part reminds me of the PMB certificate issue that taniods were all crying over on all threads


Let watch and see how this pans out

Not Illegal, but it was betrayal.

There are two sides to a coin, APshit just felt betrayed for pulling a fast one on them

Buhari has already said he's going to work alogside both him and Dagoro , Oju_igo thifnubu should go and hang himself



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The APC is still playing opposition even when they are now the ruling party. It won't be far from the truth to say that opposition is in their DNA with the way they are opposing even themselves.

They should learn to accept the things they cannot CHANGE.

He should just perform and make Nigeria better, Thats all.

No be mistake, Na baba God do am.

Make dem dey there dey contemplate
He as won and that's it.
Make dem dey there make pant dey wear dem.

Lessons learnt . Know your priorities and don't put party interest above Nation interest. Saraki we are Behind you.. !

I voted for these guys but they are messing up and making me feel like I voted minors.
They don't even know the law
They are wasting time debating on election instead of working.


Buhari has started work but these guys are still chasing shadows. They should simply mend fences with saraki and move the f0rk on.

Haba!!!

Saraki

...

my signature is more important

Its difficult for them to accept the truth but that does not change it anyway.

Thank God

The ruling party better choose their battles carefully.

These are yet early days.

I agree.

I still wonder why they waited to the very last minute to decide on their Consensus. They had over a month which was more than enough.