The President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki on Thursday vowed that the Senate and indeed the Legislature would not concede its powers to the Executive.<\/p>\n
This followed a Point-of-Order raised by the Deputy Leader of the Senate, Sen. Bala Na\u2019Allah at plenary.<\/p>\n
Quoting Order 43 of Senate Standing Rule, Na\u2019Allah said that there were media reports credited to Acting President Yemi Osinbajo to the effect that the National Assembly did not possess any power to alter the budget.<\/p>\n
He expressed concern that such statement was attributed to the acting president, saying that he was knowledge enough in law.<\/p>\n
\u201dWe have operated the Constitution from 1999 to date and I have had the privilege to work with the Acting President while I was practicing in Lagos as a lawyer.<\/p>\n
\u201dWe did a lot of things together. So, he is somebody that I know so much.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will rather believe that what was alleged to have been said could not have been said by him and even if he spoke on the matter, he was misquoted.<\/p>\n
\u201dFor the avoidance of doubt, this same Constitution we operated from 1999 to date has section 80, and the title of section 80 is `Power and Control over Public Funds\u2019,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
He read out the provisions of sections 2, 3 and 4 of the Constitution to support the argument, adding that the Constitution recognised that Nigeria operated a federal structure.<\/p>\n
Na\u2019Allah said that the Constitution also recognised that Nigeria was multi-lingual, multi-ethnic and multi-religious and hence, was the reason issues of domination were raised in the constitution-making process.<\/p>\n
He explained that it was the fear of domination that made framers of the Constitution to provide for representation on the basis of population and land mass and on the basis of equality of states.<\/p>\n
\u201dThis is what gave birth to a bi-cameral legislature \u2013 the Senate and the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n
The House provides representation based on population and land mass while the Senate is based on equality of states.<\/p>\n
\u201dSo, I know that the Acting President who is a Professor of law is sufficiently trained in law to know that the National Assembly has powers to tinker with the budget.<\/p>\n
\u201dI am not making a case for him and I do not want to believe that he said what has been alleged that he said.<\/p>\n
\u201dI also want to assuage the fears of my colleagues that what was alleged to have been said does not represent the spirit of the framers of our Constitution,\u201d Na\u2019Allah said.<\/p>\n
He said that the explanation was necessary to allay the fears of the lawmakers.<\/p>\n
In his remarks, President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, said that there was no ambiguity in the Constitution on the responsibility of the National Assembly.<\/p>\n
He commended the deputy leader of the senate for raising the point, and said that he also sure that the acting president must have been misquoted on the issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis matter has been cleared and settled by the Constitution. So, I don\u2019t think there are any issues here that are vague.<\/p>\n
\u201dI will like to believe too that the Acting President must have been wrongly quoted,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Saraki said that the leadership of the national assembly has had consultations with the Executive.<\/p>\n
According to him, those consultations did not in any way suggest that we will give up legislative powers as contained in the Constitution.<\/p>\n
\u201dI want to reassure our members on this because it is very important.<\/p>\n
Based on what we have heard, you may be concerned that one way or another, the leadership has given up some of these powers.<\/p>\n
\u201dThat is not the case. I believe that as responsible statesmen, there are times we consult and do our best to work with the Executive and assist them.<\/p>\n
\u201dBut, as we bend backwards, I don\u2019t think that it should be misrepresented that powers given to us in the Constitution do not exist.<\/p>\n
\u201dThat is not the case, and this Senate will continue to defend the Constitution and ensure that anything we do is in line with the laws of the land,\u201d Saraki said.<\/p>\n
He announced the adjournment of plenary until July 4.
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