Sen. Bukola Saraki |
The All Progressives Congress caucus at the Senate on
Tuesday expressed its grievances against the executive at a meeting with the
party’s National Working Committee.
It was gathered that at the closed-door meeting, which
started at 2.45pm and ended at 5.25pm, the APC senators absolved themselves of
blame over the non-confirmation of the Acting Chairman of the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Ibrahim Magu.
It was learnt that the senators told the party leaders that
Magu’s confirmation “died” before getting to the Senate and that the senators
only did its funeral.
Investigations also showed that senators, who were loyal to
the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, demanded the withdrawal of the suit
against him at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, describing the trial as political.
The meeting, which was held in Room 022 in the New Building
section of the National Assembly Complex, Abuja, began shortly after Saraki and
the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, led others to the
venue at 2.30pm before journalists were sent out at 2.45pm.
In his opening remarks, the Majority Leader of the Senate,
Senator Ahmad Lawan, said the event was historic as it was the first time the
leadership of the party would be meeting with the senators.
“This will be the first meeting of the APC Senate caucus
with our National Working Committee. On behalf of my colleagues here, Mr.
Chairman, I welcome you to this historic, memorable and very important
interaction with the Senate APC Caucus of the National Assembly,” he said.
Odigie-Oyegun, who made reference to the point made by Lawan
in his remarks, also described the meeting as historic.
Oyegun calls for ceasefire
Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Odigie-Oyegun
called on party stakeholders to “cease fire.”
He said, “My appeal is that as we start now the process of
reconstructing relationships and consultations, there should be what I will
call a ceasefire in terms of the kind of abuse that is used all round on one
institution of government or the other, even principal parties of these
institutions.”
Saraki pointed out that whether there were issues or not,
regular consultations between the caucus and the party were important.
He stated, “Despite all the noise you heard last week, we
still passed an amendment to the INEC law that had been there for over six or
seven years.
“By this time next week, our Committee on Petroleum will lay
the PIB, which has never been done.”
“It’s unfortunate but the most important thing is that a lot
of stakeholders must respect these institutions. These institutions are there
now and they are going to be there after, and we should not allow our selfish
interests to enable us to try and ridicule the institutions.”
When asked if the suspension of the former Majority Leader
of the Senate, Senator Ali Ndume, was raised at the meeting, Saraki replied,
“Your question again is distracting from the issues. You have 108 senators here
and you have the National Chairman. Let us focus on national issues.”
Why Magu was not confirmed
A senator, who was at the meeting, but spoke on condition of
anonymity, said the lawmakers drew the attention of the party leaders to the
reports of the Department of State Services that indicted Magu.
It was gathered that the senators took on the national
leadership of the APC, accusing the NWC of staying aloof while the crisis
between the executive and the legislature was worsening.
The lawmaker, who confided in The PUNCH, said members of the
Senate APC Caucus berated the party for failing to advise President Muhammadu
Buhari to caution his political appointees.
Magu’s issue dead on arrival
The source said, “We told the leadership of our party that
political appointees of President Muhammadu Buhari were using the media against
us, especially Magu. We stated to them that Magu (case) was brought in dead;
that what we did was to only conduct his funeral.
“We called the attention of the party leaders to the fact
that an agency under the executive issues a damning report twice against the
nominee under the same executive. We told them we were not to be blamed for
what happened to Magu.
“Many reiterated the fact that Magu’s case was dead on
arrival at the Senate and there was no way we could have ignored the report and
clear him.”
‘SGF, Customs CG, others disrespecting Senate’
According to the source, the senators accused Buhari’s
appointees of disrespecting them, the senators said, “We also called for more
respect for the institution of the Senate, especially by those under the
executive. That was where the cases of the Secretary to the Government of the
Federation (Mr. Babachir Lawal) and the Director General of the Nigeria Customs
Service (Col. Hameed Ali) were cited.”
The senator further said the lawmakers reminded the NWC that
the National Assembly caucus of the party was critical to the existence and
well being of the APC as the members were the ones who were funding the party.
He added, “We told the party that we have been considerate
enough. In fact, we would have rejected about four ministerial nominees but we
felt we should not embarrass the President Buhari-led administration.”
When asked about the demands of the APC leadership, the
source said the members of the NWC could not refute some of the issues raised
by the lawmakers.
The Senator stated, “They also realised that they had not
been playing their role. We even asked Odigie-Oyegun if he usually takes
directives from President Buhari before taking actions regarding the party. We
told him that he did not need to consult with the President before playing his
role as the leader of the party. We also warned the leaders that our party might
find it difficult to win elections the way things are going.”
Saraki’s men demand withdrawal of CCT case
It was also gathered that some APC senators, particularly
those loyal to Saraki, urged the party to ensure that the ongoing trial of the
Senate President at the Code of Conduct Tribunal was stopped, describing it as
political.
Another source at the meeting, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, said, “The APC leaders said we were too confrontational against the
President.
“They said the Presidency was not supposed to be finding
things difficult with us since we belonged to the same party.
“However, several senators explained that they were not
happy with the President’s style. They complained that the President was not
giving them due consideration especially. They said most of the people the
President was appointing were unknown to them.
“Some of the senators also asked the party leadership to
ensure that Saraki’s trial at the CCT was stopped as this would be the perfect
way to reconcile the two arms of government.”
It was learnt that the party leaders promised to convey the
issues to Buhari while the senators said they would ensure that the 2017 budget
was swiftly looked into as well as the screening of the Resident Electoral
Commissioners and ministers.
Senate may resume RECs’ confirmation
There were also indications after the meeting that the
Senate was set to resume the confirmation hearing for ministers and the RECs
nominated by the President.
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