Senate President Bukola Saraki
has struck a deal with senators of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to stop
moves to remove him from office.
Saraki defected to Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) in July and since then he has been under pressure to
resign.
Adams Oshiomhole, national
chairman of the APC, said Saraki would be removed “according to the law and
democratic norms”.
When the senate reconvened from
its over 10-week recess on Tuesday it was expected that there would be a rowdy
session but they had a closed-door meeting where a peace accord was struck.
The
senators agreed to put aside their differences and opt for peace rather than
removing Saraki from office.
The sources said Saraki was asked
to ensure the confirmation of President Muhammadu Buhari’s nominees and passage
of pending bills sent by the executive.
COMPROMISE ON PENDING BILLS
“After the adjournment he started
moving round senators to seek their support but they gave him (Saraki)
conditions to make sure all outstanding bills are passed as sent by President
Muhammadu Buhari and to confirm pending nominees,” the source said.
“You will note that the INEC
budget was passed as originally sent despite adjustment by the committee.”
Since Buhari assumed office in
2015, he has sent 12 bills to the national assembly.
Of the 12 bills, five have been
passed: mutual legal assistance in criminal matters between Nigeria and other
foreign countries; mutual assistance in criminal matters bill; chartered
institute of directors of Nigeria bill; national centre for disease control and
prevention bill; chartered institute of forensic and investigative auditors in
Nigeria bill and the Nigeria natural medicine development Agency bill.
The bills pending are:
communications service tax bill, national lottery act (amendment) bill, federal
institute of industrial research bill, raw materials research and development
council (repeal and reenactment) bill and the national water resources bill.
Deliberation on the water
resources bill was suspended after the senators failed to agree on it.
The money laundering prevention
and prohibition bill was withdrawn by the executive following a disagreement
between Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation (AGF), and Ibrahim
Magu, acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Some of the pending confirmation
of the president’s appointees are Olanipekun Olukorede as secretary of EFCC; 13
commissioners for the federal civil service commission; and Festus Keyamo into
the board of Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) among others.
‘NATIONAL ISSUES FIRST’
On Friday, senate leader, Ahmed
Lawan, told reporters that members decided to attend to urgent national issues
after resumption.
He spoke after observing the
Juma’at prayers at the Aso Rock mosque.
“The national assembly will
continue to remain focused on national issues. We must be patriotic, we must be
nationalistic and we must put the national interest above individual and parochial
or partisan interest,” he said.
“We definitely had to bury our
hatchets for us to work for Nigeria and Nigerians therefore perhaps that might
have informed the disappointment of many people that there is no crisis in the
national assembly.”
Since the senate returned from
its recess on Tuesday, the electoral act amendment bill has passed second
reading – just within two days.
On Wednesday, Suleiman Nazif,
chairman of the senate committee on INEC, said all the issues Buhari raised
were considered. The third reading of the bill is slated for Tuesday. The bill
generated a heated debate among Nigerians after it was rejected by Buhari
thrice.
The upper legislative chamber has
also confirmed 20 commissioners for the National Population Commission (NPC)
and Folashodun Shonubi, a deputy governor nominee of the Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN).
It is also working to confirm the
nominees for the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences
Commission (ICPC). The senate had suspended the confirmation of nominees
following the refusal of the executive to replace Magu.
Also on Thursday, the senators
passed the N189 billion budget for the 2019 polls – the exact figure requested
by the president.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com