The senate president and his deputy
In a statement released late yesterday, Senator Aliyu Sabi
Abdullahi, the spokesperson of the Nigerian Senate, alleged that the
President Buhari-led government was planning to get the Senate
President, Bukola Saraki, his Deputy, Ike Ekweremadu and two others
remanded in Kuje prison as they're set to appear before a Federal High
Court in Abuja today.
The senate spokesman who spoke over the FG's alleged criminal
conspiracy and forgery of the Senate Standing Rules, 2015 on the
lawmakers, said the case was an attempt by the executive to muzzle the
legislature and criminalise legislative processes, adding that the aim
was to cause leadership change in the National Assembly.
"We are compelled to alert the good people of Nigeria and the international community, that our democracy is in danger," he said.
He warned of a return to the era of impunity and lack of respect
for due process even as he urged President Muhammadu Buhari to call the
Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to order.
Abdullahi stressed that the Senate voted freely to elect its leadership into office and that the 'continuing
attempts to change that leadership through the wanton abuse of judicial
processes cannot stand in the eyes of the world.'
He accused the Attorney General and some unnamed party leaders for
being behind the current action, pointing out that they either lacked
the understanding of the principles of separation of powers or cared not
about the survival of present democracy.
“We are in a state of economic emergency such that what the
National Assembly needs at this time are executive bills and proposals
aimed at resolving the crises of unemployment, currency depreciation,
inflation, crime and insecurity.
“Instead, we are getting hostile actions aimed at destabilising
the National Assembly, distracting Senators from their oversight
functions and ensuring good and accountable governance.
“Or how does one interpret a move in which the two presiding
officers are being set up to be remanded in Kuje Prison or incapacitated
from sitting at plenary through a day-to-day trial on a matter that is
purely an internal affair of the Senate.
“The move against the two presiding officers were clearly a
coup against the legislature” and a plan to return Nigeria to the era of
dictatorship.
"The Rules of the Senate and how the institution elects its
leadership are internal affairs. It has always been so since 1999. After
the inauguration of the Senate, if Senators have objections to any part
of the Rules, they can follow the procedure for changing it.
“Senators of the Eighth Senate have no control on the rules
applied in the elections of June 9, 2015 because until after their
inauguration, they were only Senators-elect and therefore mere
bystanders in the affairs of the Senate,” he said.
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