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Tag: Saraki

  • Saraki, Dogara’s triumph

    The emergence of Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara as the president and speaker of the Senate and House of Representatives respectively is now a settled issue. So also are the treacheries and high-wire politics that followed the contests. This conclusion is however, without prejudice to threats from some quarters to challenge the elections in court. If what we have been told about extant procedure for inaugurating the assembly is anything to go by, it does appear not much will come from such litigation.

    Diverse interpretations have been given to events that brought that pass. And they vary depending on the divide from which it is being viewed. Blames have also been freely traded.

    But the commonly held view is that the APC did not properly handle the crisis arising from disagreements over its mock elections. Not only was the party tepid in its resolution of the rebellion of some of its legislators, it committed a tactical error to have called for a meeting in another venue on the day of the inauguration. With the letter of proclamation, date and time duly signed and delivered by President Buhari, it is curious a meeting with APC senators-elect was hurriedly summoned for another venue around the same time. This says volumes about the handling of the schism arising from the mock elections. The argument that Buhari had just arrived that morning from a foreign assignment may not sway anybody given that the issue was there before he travelled.

    Obviously, the PDP put the situation to its advantage and could have taken up the senate presidency but perhaps, for the firm agreement they reached with Saraki. The PDP is now touted to have come into reckoning again such that its capacity to play the role of an effective opposition is being further strengthened. The election of Ike Ekweremadu as deputy senate president again, illustrates this viewpoint. There is also the argument in some quarters that even if all the APC senators-elect were at the chambers that morning, the outcome would not have changed. The numerical strength of the PDP and that of the dissenting senators-elect is cited to buttress this. This angle cannot be discounted. If anything, the election of Dogara with the full complement of legislators from all divide gives fillip to this perspective.

    However, there are those who scorn the success of the PDP as pyrrhic victory given that both Saraki and Dogara are all of the APC stock. This standpoint is no less appealing depending on how the game unfolds in the days ahead.

    It would appear all the contradictions that shaped those elections are not very obvious now. They are more likely to take clearer shape as the Buhari administration settles for the business of statecraft. All that can be reasonably conjectured, is that the way the coalition of forces at play during those elections manifest, will have wider repercussions for the party especially given that it has before now, been criticized as an amalgam of strange bedfellows with no soul of its own. Possibly, it is the above scenario that is bubbling.

    Various possibilities have been visualized. And much of these raise fresh challenges for the ruling party in terms of its cohesiveness, party supremacy, the discipline and commitment of members to party goals and objectives. There are also issues relating to principles and lack of party ideology.

    Expectedly, the APC has shown serious discomfort with the development. The party has rejected the emergence of Saraki and Dogara lamenting that it amounts to the highest level of “indiscipline and treachery to subject the party to ridicule and create obstacles for the new administration”. The party is highly piqued that the duo entered into an unholy alliance with the same people they worked hard to replace and promised to wield the big stick against them.

    But President Buhari had a different perspective and has gone ahead to recognise the new leadership promising to work with them to deliver his campaign promises to the people. Though he would have preferred the party choices to have prevailed, nonetheless he recognized that a constitutional process had been concluded through the rights of the legislators to elect their leaders.

    There are issues of interest for our democracy in the position taken by Buhari. And they strike a chord with that of former President Jonathan in the aftermath of the last presidential election. Buhari would have preferred his party’s choices to prevail. But events did not dictate so. He has accepted the outcome and promised to work with the new leaders for the stability of Nigeria’s constitutional order and in the overall interest of the common man. The president’s decision has all the trappings of patriotism and shares much in common with that of Jonathan when he saw the outcome of the last elections had tilted in favour of Buhari. Both are concerned with order, peace and the deepening of the democratic process irrespective of their own interests and preferences. That is the way to go.

    There is little doubt that such compromise positions will go at length not only to stabilize the country but the democratic process especially given the schism that trailed the last elections. If this represents a new frame of mind by our leaders, we will soon be on the path to real progress and sustainable development.

    But for the APC, it will go for broke with errant members. It is utterly averse to any alliance with the PDP that would incapacitate the party from delivering on its promise.

    The party leadership is within its rights to be livid with errant members. They are also right in their anger especially given the emergence of Ekweremadu of the PDP as the deputy senate president. In their calculations, there is no way they would have factored in either the PDP or the South-east in the sharing equation.

    That alone may sustain allegations of betrayal, treachery and an attempt to ridicule the party. It is also at the root of the accusation that the action of the dissenting members would create obstacles for the new administration. Should it necessarily be so? That is the issue to ponder.

    The APC is at pains with the reality of sharing power with the PDP, a party they fought very hard to defeat at the elections. The feeling is that the PDP, still nursing the wounds from the last elections, may be out for vengeance. But the APC legislators will somehow, still have to work with their PDP counterpart even if things had gone their way. So instead of court action or the impeachment option, the legislators should cultivate each other and rise to the challenges of law making for the order and good governance of the country.

    We would not have arrived at this point if all were well within the party. And the situation may not easily abate as indications are there is more to it than the selfish interests of the dissenting members. Saraki and Dogara may be the arrow heads of the rebellion. But the tunes they are dancing are definitely coming from drum beats hidden elsewhere.

  • Saraki and APC’s seething cauldron

    Saraki and APC’s seething cauldron

    It was clear from the beginning that the All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders were deeply suspicious of Senator Bukola Saraki, and were unwilling to have him elected as the Senate President of the 8th Senate. He had been Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governor of Kwara State, a defector among many others, including five sitting governors, to the APC since 2013, and one-term senator. He worked hard for his new party, risked so much, and together with scores of APC leaders and bulwarks, secured sweet victory against the prematurely ageing and considerably conceited PDP. In a party of some 60 senators, 210 Representatives, and 22 governors, he had a following that could not be ignored, and a presence that transcended but unfortunately divided his new party. To many party faithful, leaders and the wider public, it was inconceivable that a few APC leaders, essentially ensconced in the party’s headquarters, could seek to elbow Senator Saraki out of the senate leadership race.

    The distrust for him was, however, deep, though constricted. Without saying it, his opponents thought him excessively ambitious, unprincipled, amoral, ruthless, and without filial — whether of party or family — loyalty. Before and during his brief campaign for the senate presidency, he was accused of bringing every vice in his being into the service of that ruthless ambition. He disagreed. He believed he had a right to be ambitious, and in particular to aspire to the leadership of the senate. He saw nothing deeply offensive about being Machiavellian, for in his estimation, no one approaches the goals of power and office with the squeamish diffidence of a neophyte. As a veteran of many political wars with an eye permanently fixed for the main chance, he intuitively understands the need for strong-arm tactics. But in executing his plans for the senate leadership, he inadvertently but remorselessly justified the fears and suspicion of the party leadership.

    The party had conducted a mock election to present consensus candidates for the National Assembly (NASS) leadership, to wit, Senator Ahmed Lawan and Representative Femi Gbajabiamila. That consensus, from which Senator Saraki and his counterpart in the lower chamber, Yakubu Dogara, from Bauchi State dissociated themselves, woefully failed to fly in the face of what many uncritical members of the public regarded as the APC’s distasteful attempt to circumscribe the tenets of democracy. The consensus, they said, was either undemocratic, unrepresentative, or that it dangerously impugned the virtues of fairness and equity. Senator Saraki represented a solid group of PDP defectors in the APC, and that group was in danger of being short-changed. Worse, they argued, rather than view the party consensus as a real consensus, it was in fact a consensus engineered by Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the party leader accused of being both a control freak and power monger.

    Even though he and his group were invited to all APC meetings where the consensus was to be built, Senator Saraki was smart enough to recognise that the party leadership was suspicious of him. He rightly gauged that the leaders had no intention of giving him the ticket. He therefore took his destiny in his own hands and planned his war. He discountenanced his party’s change mantra and deployed all the old tactics the PDP was famous for to build a devastating coalition. He coaxed and cajoled legislators and reporters, and adopted scaremongering tactics.  No one could quote him directly on some of the stories that inundated mainstream and social media, but the suggestion came from his bivouac that Asiwaju Tinubu was deliberately and malevolently running rings round President Muhammadu Buhari, after virtually installing many other party leaders and popularly elected officials. No one in the party should have so much power concentrated in his hands, they concluded.

    The consequences of these campaigns were that Senator Saraki upped the ante, played Senators Ali Ndume and Ike Ekweremadu against each other, negotiated his party’s clear victory away by supporting a PDP senator for the position of deputy senate president, and seized upon the APC’s momentary lapse of concentration to engineer an election in which more than 50 senators were away at a botched meeting with the president. There were indications he could still have won had he and his backers, most of them snickering PDP ranking senators, allowed polling to proceed honourably. But citing legalistic reasons, and feigning ignorance of the meeting called by the party with the president, Senator Saraki stole behind his opponents and dealt them a death blow. The style, not to say the motive, rankled against the new philosophy the APC sold to the electorate during electioneering. But Senator Saraki justified his methods as completely legal, and even moral, for his opponents also deployed underhand methods to disenfranchise him.

    It is not certain what the APC can do to remedy the problem or assuage the deep public embarrassment and humiliation it faced with Senator Saraki’s election. The party’s leaders have, however, finally reconciled themselves to his victory. But, in a perverse way, given the style, method and the structure of Senator Saraki’s victory, the APC leaders’ opposition to him was comprehensively justified. It is not easy to defy your party, but he did it robustly. In addition, he struck a deal with the opposition PDP, undermined his own party, and vitiated its March and April polls victory. He underscored what APC leaders probably feared most: that Senator Saraki was definitely not sufficiently APC, and could not be trusted to lead the party’s policy and ideological charge in the senate or elsewhere, notwithstanding his contributions. There was no emotional commitment between him and his new party other than as a vehicle for achieving political goals, they insinuated. Though he scorned the idea of returning to the PDP, as some have speculated he might do soon, it is all but clear he remains indistinguishable from his former party. He may not defect; but he is not in love either. As every family knows, there is no marriage as sterile as one in which a spouse is emotionally indifferent.

    Senator Saraki is not only capable, as he has shown, of brutally hurting party relationships over what he described as unjustifiable wrong done him, his election and the cohabitation he has consummated with the PDP will inordinately complicate the task of building the APC into a left-of-centre organisation with clear, progressive and enduring philosophy. His style is idiosyncratically PDP. He is, therefore, inured to the PDP’s vices, shenanigans and deplorable style. In any relationship he strikes, Senator Saraki will most probably insist on his own way, no matter the cost. But more humiliatingly for the APC, its failure to enthrone its candidates will considerably weaken it as a party, structurally and morally, and make it almost redundant. It is so weak now that rather than any of the coalition of victors in the NASS leadership contest defecting to another party, the possibility of seizing control of the party at a later date is even much more likely. To all intents and purposes, the APC is now either asphyxiating or already apoplectic.

    The party will have to fight scrupulously and cleverly to reclaim respect and impose discipline. If they push too hard, they could self-destruct. And if they approach the grave challenges facing them so early in the day lackadaisically, the party could become inconsequential. It is even harder to understand why some notable party leaders were not sensitive to the deeply nuanced politics of the NASS elections. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, probably because of his ambition for 2019, has thrown in his lot unreflectively with Senator Saraki. He is himself not the most principled politician around, given his capriciousness and flighty political dalliances. He has built a reputation for unpredictability to the point that every scintilla of presidential character in him seems irretrievably lost. Surprisingly too, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, whom many, including this column, had touted as a future president, was disappointingly unable to appreciate the nuances and implications of the Saraki revolt, and had indeed even celebrated the comprehensiveness of his party’s humiliation in both legislative chambers, humiliations he regarded as triumphs.

    President Buhari may have his misgivings about the role the party attempted to play in the NASS elections, especially in view of his conviction that the legislature should be completely independent. Nor, is it clear how much he is bothered by insinuations of the role and influence Asiwaju Tinubu is alleged to be amassing to himself. But so far, neither the president nor Alhaji Atiku, nor still Mallam Tambuwal, has demonstrated deep understanding of what their party should be, and how it should be run, not to talk of the power and influence it should command. If they understand that without the party, their positions and ambitions could suffer constant reverses, none of them has shown it. Indeed, it is not even clear where analysts got the impression that it is wrong for either the president or the party to show interest in who become NASS leaders. Nor is it clear where they adapted their theory of complete legislative independence. The president in particular has been misadvised on the legislature, especially the relationship between the presidency and the lawmakers. It is certainly not undemocratic for him to be interested in who lead NASS, or have friends and supporters in both chambers. More, he should be interested in NASS leaders whom he can described as passionate party men and loyalists, those who can help give a concrete feel to his ideas and visions of the country.

    President Buhari may be seeking to burnish his suspect democratic credentials by bending over backwards to allow democracy to take root in all the branches of and arms of government. But the country still needs a strong president, one who has definite and visionary ideas of what to do, how to do them, and when. Those who have the president’s ears must nudge him to open up to edifying power groups across the country rather than inadvertently sequester himself in the captive hands of eloquent, sinister and capricious politicians and governors. He should have studied the implication of a Saraki senate before deciding on non-interference. Senator Saraki’s campaign style was so open, so disavowing of everything the APC stands for, and so pregnant with gloomy forebodings that they recommend themselves for the president’s determined, even if subtle, countervailing moves. His refusal to intervene, not to add his reluctance to inaugurate the 8th NASS, spoke more to his incomplete understanding of democratic precepts than his salutary regard for democratic norms and an independent legislature. Even his statement after the NASS elections neither captured the tragic undertones of those elections nor gave a clue as to just how forceful, prescient and powerful he hoped to be as president.

    Senator Saraki’s campaign style and controversial election have given fillip to a weak and struggling PDP. He exhumed them, and gave them life. He also surrounded his campaign with men like Dino Melaye, a politician so enamoured of injustice and undemocratic practices that he poisons everything he touches. The PDP, which should strive to redefine itself, and especially the ideas it hopes to project in the next few years, has instead been given a soft landing and leeway to take a shot at the presidency in 2019. The APC has not really and fully defined itself. The PDP’s unprecedented involvement in the leadership of the NASS will complicate APC’s journey of discovery and definition. What is clear now in NASS is the triumph of a group dedicated to conservative approach to politics, society and economy. Because the NASS elections witnessed dangerous compromises, APC will be compelled to tread softly and slowly, if not emptied of its soul and inner core.

    The NASS elections also indicate that the APC has not found the formula to grapple with the inchoate ideas, controversial standards and acute restiveness of the party’s Young Turks, many of whom resent party discipline and control, and don’t get along very well with party leaders. Senator Saraki’s election in particular has left a deep wound in the party that will be difficult to treat. APC leaders must therefore adopt more imaginative consensual and inclusive political tactics to cater to the needs of the many groups in the party. But perhaps the frictions and fractures displayed so early in the day will help the party to moderate its methods and find more ingenious ways of communicating its nuanced march into the future. If this is not done forcefully and soon, the PDP, which has found the APC’s fault lines, will exploit the situation desperately and ruthlessly.

    Nigerian democracy lacks depth, direction and quality. The APC was expected to be the tool to recalibrate these standards. In view of what happened last Tuesday, especially how some analysts erroneously thought the results of the NASS leadership elections bode well both for democracy and diffusion of power, Nigeria still has a long way to go. That journey cannot be helped by Senator Saraki’s victory, let alone his style and ambition, which come at the expense of his party. Sadly for the APC, it seems that only a few of its members really appreciate what the country is up against and how it should transcend the self-inflicted problems of a poorly drafted constitution, national redefinition, and national rebirth. The problem is enormous. Given the fractious coalition that gave APC victory in the general elections, not to talk of the anticipated clash of egos in the party, that problem will be with us far longer than we fear.

  • Saraki: PDP warns against action on National Assembly Clerk, others

    Saraki: PDP warns against action on National Assembly Clerk, others

    THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has cautioned the Presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC) against any attempt to intimidate the Clerk of the National Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa, and the National Assembly Service Commission “for performing their statutory functions in Tuesday’s inauguration of senators”.

    The PDP said any attempt by the Presidency and the APC to transfer their frustration to the clerk would amount to witch-hunt and victimisation, adding that what happened at the legislature was as a result of the ruling party’s ineptitude.

    The opposition was reacting to a statement by presidential spokesman,Mallam Garba Shehu, which indicated that the National Assembly clerk was adequately requested to shift the time for the Assembly’s inauguration, to enable President Muhammadu Buhari address the APC lawmakers, but that the Clerk ignored the request.

    No fewer than 51 APC senators were shut out of  the election of the Senate President and his deputy.

    Only 57 of the 108-member Senate participated in the election where Senators Bukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu were elected as president and deputy president.

    But a statement yesterday by PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, said Shehu’s statement amounted to putting undue pressure on civil servants in the National Assembly for performing their legitimate duties, describing it as a serious signal, which should not be ignored.

    “The National Assembly is the citadel of democracy and represents the collective voice of all Nigerians. The PDP, even in opposition, will continue to protect its sanctity and will, therefore, resist any attempt by the APC to undermine its independence and those of other democratic institutions in our country,” the statement said.

  • Saraki: Sanction for erring members will respect due process, says APC

    Saraki: Sanction for erring members will respect due process, says APC

    The party’s position was stated by the National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed after a meeting of the National Working Committee (NWC) with some of the federal lawmakers yesterday.

    The NWC held two separate meetings with Senator Ahmed Lawan and Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila groups who lost out in Tuesday’s leadership tussle in the National a Assembly.

    The Unity Forum that worked for the emergence of Senator Ahmed Lawan as senate president arrived at the party secretariat state at about 12.45 pm.

    The NWC led by National Chairman Chief John Odigie-Oyegun met with them for about 50 minutes.

    The Senators refused to speak on the outcome of the meeting but Mohammed restated the party’s position to sanction erring members, but was silent on the type of sanction which he said must follow due process.

    Mohammed said the party was not aware of any move by the Unity Forum to challenge the emergence of Saraki as Senate President in court.

    Mohammed said the Senators came to confer with the party leadership, saying “that is all I am allowed to say. They are our senators that came to confer with the party leadership on the crisis in the National Assembly.”

    On the threat of sanction for erring members of the party for disobeying the party, Mohammed said, “the party has not changed its position on the matter. The sanctions must follow due process.”

    “I think the party made its expression clear on the matte; that it is unhappy with the outcome of the election and I think we won’t say anything beyond that. What the senators will do is within the capability and rights of the senators. I’m not aware they have gone to court.”

    Among those at the meeting were Senators Ahmed Lawan, Abdullahi Adamu, Kabiru Gaya, George Akume, Barnabas Gemade, Abu Ibrahim,. Ajayi Boroffice, Senator Sola Adeyeye, among others.

    Members of the NWC at the meeting apart from Odigie-Oyegun are Deputy National Chairman, South, Segun Oni, Deputy National Chairman, North, Senator Lawal Shuaibu, National Secretary, Alhaji Mai Mala Buni, Auditor, National Publicity Secretary.

    The party executives also held another meeting with some members of the House of Representatives led by Gbajabiamila.

  • Saraki reaches out to senators as Lawan plans suit

    Saraki reaches out to senators as Lawan plans suit

    Barely 24 hours after the controversial inauguration of the Eighth Senate, Senate President Bukola Saraki and his loyalists have started reaching out to his rival, Senator Ahmed Lawan and 50 other aggrieved senators shut out of the process.

    A source, who spoke in confidence, said: “The President of the Senate and members of his group of Like Minds, have started reaching out to Lawan.

    “They have also sent emissaries to him on how the issues arising from the choice of the Senate President and Deputy can be resolved. They are asking for what can be done.

    “It was learnt that at a stage, Lawan had to switch off his phone when the pressure became persistent from some senators and eminent Nigerians who were soliciting on behalf of Saraki group.”

    Also yesterday, Dr. Saraki, in a statement from his media office, urged all members of the National Assembly to put politicking behind them and settle down for the proper business of legislating.

    “Our country is going through  very trying times. We have the challenge of insecurity in the Northeast. The massive problem of youth unemployment and general economic challenges occasioned by mako fall in revenue. All these against the huge public expectation that propelled our party into office. We  have pursued our legitimate aspirations appropriately. Now that the issues have been settled, we need to move on in the larger interest of our people without whose mandate we would not have been in a position to aspire to these positions in the first place.”

    He expressed his readiness to embrace every member of the Senate, regardless of their political leanings in the leadership elections.

    Saraki described President Muhammadu Buhari’s reaction to Tuesday’s election of National Assembly leaders as a “great mark of leadership” and a demonstration of  the President’s commitment to democracy.

    He lauded Buhari for remaining steadfast in his commitment to the principle of non-interference in National Assembly politics even in the face of great pressure on him to act otherwise.

    “This shows that Mr. President is a man of great conviction who, in his own words, belong to everyone and to no one,” he stated.

    Saraki denied that he planned to defect to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    He described the insinuation as “absurd and laughable”.

    “It is just cheap blackmail by political adversaries who want to call a dog a bad name in order to hang it,” he said, adding:

    “And those making such desperate allegations should remember that I willingly left the PDP on matters of principle when the party was in power.

    “Is it now that the party is out of government and in opposition that I will now return, having worked so hard for my party in the last general elections?”

    He stated his commitment to the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying he remains a loyal party member and a leader of the party, committed to contributing his quota to building the party and helping it to deliver its promise of change to Nigerians.

    It was also learnt that a team of 10 Senior Advocates of Nigeria on Tuesday night met with Lawan and volunteered to handle his brief in court.

    Lawan is expected in court today to challenge the election of Saraki and the Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu.

    The position of Lawan is that the Senate was not “properly constituted” for the election of its principal officers.

    According to the legal advice made available to Lawan, if two-thirds of members of the Senate can remove a Senate President or deputy, only two-thirds must be present for the election of the same officers.

  • Saraki rules senators out of order

    Saraki rules senators out of order

    Senators who raised points of order in an attempt to question Tuesday’s election of the Senate President were ruled out of order during the first plenary of the Eighth Senate yesterday.

    After the inauguration of about 28 mostly All Progressives Congress (APC) senators, the inaugurated senators filed to shake hands with  Senator Bukola Saraki, who  presided over the plenary – his fisrt as Senate President.

    But Senator Oluremi Tinubu did not shake his hand when he offered a handshake.

    She instead took a respectful bow and moved on.

    Senator Kabiru Marafa (Zamfara State) raised the order of privilege, but Saraki ruled him out of order.

    Marafa said: “June 9, 2015 was slated for the inauguration of the National Assembly. Mr. President, who is the head of the government and the leader of the most populous party in West Africa and the party that controls the majority of this Senate, I and all the members of APC were summoned to a meeting with Mr. President through a well-signed and delivered message to all members-elect of the APC.

    “Mr. President, while I was away and a lot of other members of this Senate, especially of APC extraction attending a meeting with Mr. President, this Senate went ahead to commence the process of inauguration, thereby infringing on my rights and privileges as enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by disenfranchising me and my colleagues from participating in the election of the Presiding Officers of this Senate.

    More strange is the news item that the Senate was inaugurated with 57 members and the 51 Senators-elect absent.

    “The word absent portrayed me and many of my colleagues as some kind of irresponsible members of this hallowed chambers to absent ourselves from an event that was well-announced, well publicised that everybody was expected to attend with his spouse, well-wishers  and constituents.

    “That singular act also caused an unwarranted embarrassment and a lot of other members here, our families that felt embarrassed by the announcement that I was absent during the inauguration of this National Assembly.

    “Mr. President, I want to put it on record that after being sworn in today, I was handed over the Senate Standing Orders 2015 as amended. Mr. President, I want to say that as an active member of the 7th National Assembly, I cannot recall when the Senate Standing Orders were amended or tabled before this hallowed chambers for any amendments or corrections. I think it is worthy of notice that this act was perpetrated and I think Senate should call for a full investigation of what happened and where this document emanated.”

    Saraki ruled that since Marafa came under Order 15 and Order 43, “I am sure you read both and in reading it Orders 15 and 43 came out and said categorically that you must have previous discussion with the President of the Senate and I think to the best of my recollection and yours, this did not happen. Based on that, I think I have to rule you out of order.”

    Senator Mohammed Danjuma Goje (Gombe Central) who was one of Saraki’s loyalists, said that those who went to meet President Buhari were on their own.

    He cited Section 64(3), which provides that the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is empowered to order the proclamation of the Senate.

    Goje noted: “What happened yesterday was in compliance with that Constitutional provision. Not only that, yesterday in this hallowed chambers the Clerk of the National Assembly read a letter written and signed by Mr. President himself.

    “So for anybody to now say this hallowed chamber should ignore that constitutional provision, which was backed up by a letter from Mr. President, I think it is for that person to say that we should disobey the Constitution and disobey Mr. President.

    “Therefore, let it be on record that whoever decided to go for another meeting is on his own.”

    Saraki ruled that since Goje “came under the order of the Constitution, which is in line with what is in the constitution, so the Order is sustained.”

    Gemade again raised a matter of privilege that he was not allowed to participate in the election of the Senate President, but Saraki also ruled him out of order on the ground that the matter had already been addressed.

    Before the end of the plenary, 28 Senators, mostly APC lawmakers, were inaugurated in line with constitutional provision.

    Also yesterday, the Senate adopted a motion to write President Muhammadu Buhari to inform him that the presiding officers of the Eighth National Assembly had been elected.

    The motion was raised by Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu.

    The motion, which was unanimously adopted, said: “That a message be sent to President and C-in-C informing him that the Presiding Officers of the Eighth National Assembly of the Senate have been elected as follows:

    1. Senator Bukola Abubakar Saraki, Senate President

    2.      Senator Ike Ekweremadu, Deputy Senate President

    II. “That a congratulatory message be sent to the Hon. Speaker and Deputy Speaker on their election.

    iii. That a message be sent to the following bodies, informing them that a quorum of the Senate of the Eighth National Assembly has assembled and ready to receive any communication”

    Ekweremadu listed the bodies to include African Union (AU), Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Pan African Parliament and Association of Senate, Shoora and Equivalent Council in Africa and the Arab World (ASSECAA).

  • Saraki group: no information on meeting

    Saraki group: no information on meeting

    The group backing Dr. Bukola Saraki for Senate President —The Like Minded disagreed with the Unity Forum.

       Its Spokesperson Dino Melaye, who addressed reporters, said President Buhari in his constitutional duty had sent a proclamation that the inauguration at the National Assembly was to begin at 10a.m. on June 9. He wondered how the president could have called a meeting for the same time.

    He said there was no official communication that the President wanted to have a meeting with the members.

    “If Mr. President wants to meet legislators, the Defence House, the Banquet Halls are there, so why at the ICC.

    “He didn’t attend to anyone in ICC.

    “The President has consistently said he does not have a hand in the election and is ready to work with whoever emerges as the Senate President but some people have decided to drop the name of Mr. President.”

    In addition, he said a text message was sent on Monday for the lawmakers to meet with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the same venue and no one showed up.

    “We waited for the VP for hours but he didn’t show up.

    “Having seen that the previous day, you get another text at 7:30am in the morning to meet with the President at the same venue.

    “Do you think anyone who is rational will go for that meeting?

    “I want to believe that it was a calculated attempt,” Melaye said.   Dino Melaye disagreed with the Unity Forum, saying there was no information on the 10:00a.m. meeting.

    At a new conference, he said: “President Buhari in his constitutional duty had sent a proclamation that the inauguration at the National Assembly was to begin at 10a.m. on June 9. He wondered how the president could have called a meeting for the same time.

    He said there was no official communication that the President wanted to have a meeting with the members.

    “If Mr. President wants to meet legislators, the Defence House, the Banquet Halls are there, so why at the ICC.

    “He didn’t attend to anyone in ICC.

    “The President has consistently said he does not have a hand in the election and is ready to work with whoever emerges as the Senate President but some people have decided to drop the name of Mr. President.”

    In addition, he said a text message was sent on Monday for the lawmakers to meet with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the same venue and no one showed up.

    “We waited for the VP for hours but he didn’t show up.

    “Having seen that the previous day, you get another text at 7:30am in the morning to meet with the President at the same venue.

    “Do you think anyone who is rational will go for that meeting?

    “I want to believe that it was a calculated attempt,” Melaye said.

  • Speaker writes Buhari, Saraki

    Speaker writes Buhari, Saraki

    Yakubu Dogara has written to President Muhammadu Buhari of his emergence as the Speaker of the House of Representatives and Olasunkanmi Sulaimon as the Deputy Speaker.

    The Senate President was also notified officially of the development.

    In the letter read on the floor of the House yesterday, Dogara said the emergence of the two House leaders followed the assembly of a quorum of the House that elected them.

    The letter further directed the Clerk of the National Assembly to notify the President through the Secretary to the Federal Government (SGF) that, having assembled and properly constituted, the House is ready to recieve any message he may wish to transmit.

    Plenary was however adjourned to 23 June, 2015 without the selection of  Principal officers of the House.

    In its first sitting, the 8th House debated a motion of urgent national importance by Kingsley Chinda (PDP, Rivers) on National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members.

    The motion was unanimously supported and passed.

    Before the adjournment,  however, the Speaker informed members of the provisions of the standing rules of the House on the selection and composition of principal officers and Standing Committees.

    He said the Principal Officers and the Selection Committee to be chaired by the Speaker would be compared soon.

    Plenary resumes on 23 June, 2015.

  • Saraki: no plan to defect to PDP

    Saraki: no plan to defect to PDP

    Senate President Bukola Saraki yesterday said he had no plan to defect to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    He described the insinuation as “absurd and laughable.”

    According to him, “it is just cheap blackmail by political adversaries who want to call a dog a bad name in order to hang it.

    “And those making such desperate allegations should remember that I willingly left the PDP on matters of principle when the party was in power.

    “Is it now that the party is out of government and in opposition that I will now return having worked so hard for my party in the last general elections?”

    He stated his commitment to the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying he remains a loyal party member and a leader of the party, committed to contributing his quota to building the party and helping it to deliver its promise of change to Nigerians.

    He urged all members of the National Assembly to put politicking behind them and settle down for the proper business of legislation.

    Saraki said: “Our country is going through very trying times. We have the challenge of insecurity in the NorthEast.

    “The massive problem of youth unemployment and general economic challenges occasioned by the fall in revenue.

    “All these against the huge public expectation that propelled our party into office. We  have pursued our legitimate aspirations appropriately.

    “Now that the issues have been settled, we need to move on in the larger interest of our people, without whose mandate we would not have been in a position to aspire to these positions in the first place.”

    He stated his readiness to embrace every member of the Senate regardless of their political leanings following the leadership elections just concluded.

    He described President Muhammadu Buhari’s reaction to Tuesday’s election of National Assembly leaders as a “great mark of leadership” and a demonstration of the President’s commitment to democracy.

    In a statement issued by his media office in Abuja, Saraki lauded Buhari for remaining steadfast in his commitment to the principle of non-interference in National Assembly politics even in the face of great pressure on him to act otherwise.

    “This shows that Mr. President is a man of great conviction who, in his own words, belong to everyone and to no one,” he stated.

  • ‘Saraki, Dogara plan coup against APC’

    ‘Saraki, Dogara plan coup against APC’

    A political scientist, Dr. Gbade Ojo, yesterday described the emergence of principal officers of the National Assembly as a “civilian coup”.

     He said the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki and the  House of Representatives Speaker, Yakubu Dogara,  did not consider the supremacy of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Ojo, a Special Adviser to the Oyo State Governor, said their action was against the party’s constitution, noting that it was absolutely unacceptable to have the opposition hold key position in the Senate.

    He said: “The voting pattern can be described as a civilian coup against the APC. The legislators’ action is disobedience to the party’s directive. It’s  lack of discipline on their part. There is party supremacy, which must be respected.

    “Nigeria is a deeply divided and plural  society in which federal character should be in operation, which will hold all the ethnic groups together. But this was thrown into the bin.

    “The electorate voted the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) out but it now came back to the National Assembly through the back door. That is not acceptable.

    “The APC members are supposed to bury their  inordinate ambitions for national integration. Principal positions are to be distributed taking into consideration religious and zoning cleavages. The party believes in zoning to achieve national integration.

    “We are supposed to operate a guided democracy. It has worked in many countries.”

    Ojo called on the leadership of the party to quickly revisit the issue before it is gone out of hand because if not properly managed, PDP may use the avenue to topple the president.