Home FEATURES Senate Warns Executive: Any Attempt To Frame Saraki Again Will Endanger Democracy

Senate Warns Executive: Any Attempt To Frame Saraki Again Will Endanger Democracy

Senate-NigThe Senate has sounded a warning that any attempt to freshen up another charge against Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki and other Senators will threaten the democracy currently being practiced in Nigeria.

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, in a statement in Abuja, emphasized that the plan to prefer  fresh charges against Senate President Bukola Saraki and others will endanger Nigeria’s democracy.

“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.”

The statement, seen as a warning to the Presidency from the Senate, said:“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.”

Senator Abdullahi noted that forgery case  will be the second major battle for Saraki to contend with.He is presently under trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal over alleged failure to declare his assets properly while serving as governor of Kwara State.Saraki  said  the CCT trial  is a politically motivated case borne out of his emergence as Senate President against the wishes of some party chieftains.

Below is the full text of the Senate’s Statement:

Forgery Case, An Unconstitutional  Violation of Principles of Separation of Powers, Checks and Balances.

  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.
  1. 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.
  1.  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.
  1. 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.
  1. 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.
  1.  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. [myad]

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