The Nigeria Senate has accused President Mohammadu Buhari of sinister plot
to remove the leadership of the National Assembly, using allegation of
forgery.
The Federal Government had formally accused the President of the Senate,
Bukola Saraki, and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, of forging the 2015 Senate
Standing Rules used in electing them to office.
But Spokesman of the Senate, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, in a Press
Statement issued on Sunday, said the move by the Federal Government is
aimed at removing the leadership of the National Assembly and a violation
of the independence of the National Assembly.
The Statement reads:
1. After reading in the national newspapers and online platforms of the
planned charges of forgery and conspiracy preferred against the Senate
President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, his Deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu,
immediate past Clerk of the National Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa and
the Clerk of the Senate, Mr. Ben Efeturi and reviewing the circumstances
leading to the filing of these charges, we are compelled to alert the good
people of Nigeria and the international community, that our democracy is
in danger and that the attempt by the Executive Arm of the Federal
Government to muzzle the legislature and criminalise legislative processes
in order to cause leadership change in the National Assembly is a return
to the era of impunity and lack of respect for due process which we all
fought to abolish.
2. We urge President Muhammadu Buhari to please call his Attorney General
and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, to order. The Senate of the
Federal Republic voted freely to elect its leadership into office and
continuing attempts to change that leadership through the wanton abuse of
judicial processes cannot stand in the eyes of the world. It is clear that
the Attorney General and party leaders behind this action either lack the
understanding of the underlining principles of constitutional democracy,
the concept of Separation of Powers, checks and balances and parliamentary
convention or they just simply do not care if the present democracy in the
country survives or collapses in their blinded determination to get Saraki
and Ekweremadu by all means necessary, including abuse of office and
sacking the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
3. The Nigerian people have enough economic hardship at this time
requiring the full attention and cooperation of the three arms of
government, instead of these attempts to distract and politicise
governance. 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. What the National Assembly needs now are
executive bills to build and strengthen institutions to earn revenues,
fight corruption and eliminate waste. Instead, we are getting hostile
actions aimed at destabilising the National Assembly, distracting Senators
from their oversight functions and ensuring good and accountable
governance.
4. We must make it clear here to the individuals in the Executive arm and
party leadership behind these plots not to mistake the maturity and hand
of co-operation being extended to the Presidency by the legislature as a
sign of weakness. The National Assembly bent backwards to accommodate
various infractions and inefficiencies in pursuit of inter-arms
co-operation and national interest. We did not follow up the various
infractions because we believe there are bigger issues which the
government has to attend to in order to ensure that every Nigerian have
food on his table and live confortably in a secure environment. We know
that the country is actually in a state of economic emergency and all
hands must be on deck.
5. This latest plot is directed at forcing a change of leadership in the
Senate or, in the extreme case, ground the Red Chamber of the National
Assembly. Or how do 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.
6. This obviously is a dangerous case of violation of the independence of
the legislature, undue and unnecessary interference in the internal
affairs of the Senate and blatant abuse of the judicial process. The
matter now being criminalised was brought to the plenary of the Senate in
session, over a year ago. And because it had no support, it was overruled
and roundly defeated in chambers. To now take a matter that was resolved
on the floor of the Senate to the police and then make it form the subject
of a criminal prosecution of freely elected legislators beats all
imagination of free thinking men all over the world. The implication is
that any matter that fails on the floor of the National Assembly will now
be taken to the Police, thereby endangering every Senator and House
member. This current move clearly runs contrary to the Doctrine of
Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances which are fundamental to the
successful operation of the Presidential System of government. It runs
counter to the principle outlined by the Supreme Court in the Adesanya Vs
Senate case where it was held that nobody should seek to use the courts to
achieve what he or she has failed to push through on the floor of the
National Assembly.
7. This present efforts, therefore, is clearly a coup against the
legislature with the ignoble aim to undermine its independence and subject
the law making institution to the whims and caprices of the executive. It
is a plan to return Nigeria to the dictatorial era which we have, as a
nation, voted to reject. It is a dangerous trend with grave implications
for the survival of our democracy and the integrity of the component
institutions. This rule of men as against the rule of law is also the
reason why the War Against Corruption, one of the cardinal objectives of
the present administration, is losing credibility because people perceive
it to be selective and, in most cases, aimed at settling political or
partisan scores.
8. The Rules of the Senate and how the institution elects its leadership
are internal affairs. The Rules of a new Senate are provided by the
National Assembly bureaucracy. 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.
9. We therefore urge all Nigerians and the International Community to rise
up and condemn this blatant attempt to subject the legislature to the
control, whims and caprices of the executive. If the Legislative branch
falls, democracy fails as there will be no other institution empowered by
the Constitution to check and balance the enormous powers of the Executive
branch. We also call on the judiciary as the last hope to save our
constitutional democracy and stand up for the rule of law, by doing that
which is right in this case.
Signed
Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi
Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs
June 19, 2016.