There are strong indications that the National
Assembly is on the war path with President
Muhammadu Buhari over the prosecution of the
Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, and his
deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, for alleged
forgery of the Senate Standing Rules 2015.
Our source gathered on Friday that although
some of the legislators were uncomfortable with
the anti-corruption war of the President, the
relationship between the two arms of government
came to a head with the senate forgery rules suit
filed by the Federal Government.
It was learnt that many National Assembly
members had concluded plans to frustrate any
request by the President because of his anti-graft
war.
Besides the senate president, who is standing trial
at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, eight senators,
including the Chairman of the Senate Committee
on Appropriation, Senator Danjuma Goje, and a
former Plateau State Governor, Senator Joshua
Dariye, are being prosecuted for corruption
related offences.
Goje is standing trial at a Federal High Court, Jos,
for allegedly awarding contract for the purchase
of N1bn dictionaries without due process, while
Dariye is being prosecuted by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission on a 23-count
charge bordering on money laundering and
diversion of the state’s ecological fund.
It was gathered that among the plans of the anti-
Buhari senators, consisting of members of the
Peoples Democratic Party caucus and their others
colleagues in the All Progressives Congress
sympathetic to Saraki, was to delay approval for
Buhari’s appointments.
Investigations by our source showed that those
who could be affected by the hard stand of the
National Assembly included the Acting Chairman
of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, whose
appointment had not been confirmed by the
Senate.
Others in this category, it was learnt, included
ambassadors, who would mainly be politicians. An
APC senator, who is sympathetic to Saraki,
confided in our source that the National Assembly
would be strict in its oversight functions.
He said, “As part of the measures to reveal to
Nigerians that there is corruption in the executive
too, we will be strict in screening appointees and
in our oversight functions.”
Following the frosty relationship, it was learnt that
the lawmakers had vowed to ensure that the
principle of separation of powers was enforced
between the two arms of government.
One of the Like Mind senators, who preferred
anonymity, alleged that the Presidency, in
collaboration with some APC leaders, had made
up their minds to get Saraki and Ekweremadu out
at all costs.
Like Mind senators, consisting of the PDP
members and their colleagues that are
supporting Saraki, were instrumental to his
emergence as senate president last year.
The senator, who spoke with our source, said,
“When the Presidency and some of these party
leaders discovered that they could not remove
Saraki and Ekweremadu on the floor of the
chamber, they are now trying to carry out their
agenda using the court.
“Their intention is to ensure that both Saraki and
Ekweremadu are arraigned in court on Monday
(next week) and make sure that they are
remanded in prison afterwards so that we would
be forced to change our leadership.”
The senator from the North Central geopolitical
zone vowed that all legal and constitutional
means would be explored by his colleagues to
ensure that the Presidency was paid back in its
coin.
Efforts to get the reaction of the senate
spokesperson on the issue were futile as of the
time of filing this report.
The PDP senators during the week announced the
withdrawal of their support for Buhari’s
government over what they called, “unwarranted
threats to the legislative arm of government.”
But 16 members of the APC, led by the Chief
Whip, Senator Olusola Adeyeye, addressed
journalists on Thursday under the aegis of APC
Senate Caucus and expressed their support for
Buhari.
In the House of Representatives, there are also
signs of a deepening frosty relationship between
the executive and the legislative arms.
On Friday, some members called on Buhari to
adjust his administration’s “style of approaching
issues relating to the National Assembly.”
Members of the APC caucus and the main
opposition PDP shared the same view, noting that
there was a drift to military style of leadership.
The members stated besides ignoring the
resolutions of the National Assembly, the ongoing
move to prosecute Saraki and Ekweremadu for
alleged forgery of the Senate’s rules was a step
taken too far.
Some of the APC members opted to speak on
condition of anonymity for fear of being accused
of fighting the President.
One of them said, “Truly, we are worried that
things are beginning to go wrong; the President
has to start making corrections.
“This issue of hounding everyone all over the
place as if our laws or courts are no longer
functioning is creating anxiety.”
Speaking on the development in the Senate,
another APC lawmaker stated, “The feeling of
members is that the executive is taking the
National Assembly for a ride. The President and,
especially some of his ministers, treat our
resolutions with levity.
“If we say we have a democracy, we have to ask
questions. Look at the case of Kogi State House of
Assembly crisis.
“There was a joint resolution of the Senate and
the House that the National Assembly should
assume control of that Assembly until calm would
have returned there. We were ignored because a
particular minister had overriding interest. “


Call your errant ministers to order, House
tells President
The Chairman, House Committee on Media and
Public Affairs, Mr. Abdulrazak Namdas, also told
our source that members were feeling that
certain actions of the executive were not
necessary, if the Presidency expected any cordial
relationship to thrive.
He explained that while the feeling of members
did not mean that they would withdraw support
for Buhari, they believed that he could adjust.
He said, “The prosecution of the senate president
and his deputy is unnecessary, especially
considering that this is an internal affair of the
Senate.
“At the last dinner we had with Mr. President, he
even reiterated that he would love to improve on
the executive-legislature relationship. That is what
we are expecting.
“Again, the actions and utterances of some
ministers portray them as constantly being at
loggerheads with the National Assembly.
“We want some actions to be taken in this regard.
We in the House in particular, we are not saying
we are withdrawing our support for Mr. President,
but we are committed to improvement in our
relationship.”
Asked what actions the House would take should
the executive continue to ignore the resolutions
of the legislature, Namdas replied that the House
would wait to see how the executive behaved
henceforth.
“We have passed our resolution and we will wait
and see how those in the executive, especially
some ministers, will react henceforth,” he said.
Members of the PDP caucus in the House said
they had yet to withdraw their support for Buhari
unlike their counterparts in the Senate.
But they stressed that they would not support
any decision that did not promote democracy.
The Minority Leader of the House and leader of
the caucus, Mr. Leo Ogor, advised Buhari to draw
the line between democracy and military
dictatorship.
Ogor said, “We are not supporting whatever the
President is doing that is not in the interest of
democracy. That is not the same thing as saying
that we have withdrawn our support for the
Federal Government.
“There is a difference between democracy and
military dictatorship. What we see happening
seem to us that due process is no longer being
followed.”
The Leader of the House, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila,
could not be reached as of the time of filing this
report.
Text messages sent to him were also not replied.
But a source told our source that Gbajabiamila
had regularly preached “patience” to his
colleagues.


Buhari won’t slow down anti-corruption war
despite criticism –Presidency
The Presidency said Buhari would not slow down
his administration’s anti-corruption war despite
the recent criticism by some federal lawmakers.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and
Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, told one of our
correspondents that Buhari would not slow down
the anti-graft war in view of the criticism that had
trailed the Federal Government’s decision to file
forgery charges against Saraki and Ekweremadu.
Adesina said, “The anti-corruption war will not be
slowed down for any reason whatsoever. Let me
refer you to what the President said on
Wednesday while addressing Presidency staffers.
The war on corruption will never be slowed
down.”
He also said Buhari was not in any way
entertaining any fear that he would be finding it
difficult getting Senate approvals for some of his
appointments and policies because of the
development.
He said, “The President is not here to serve
himself. If the lawmakers are also not out to serve
themselves, then nothing should frustrate the
process of getting approvals.
“The President will always maintain cordial
relationship with other arms of government since
the purpose of being elected is to serve.”


We are reaching out to PDP senators –Enang
When contacted, the Special Assistant to the
President on National Assembly Matters (Senate),
Senator Ita Enang, said, “On the purported
withdrawal of support by distinguished senators
of the PDP, all hands are on deck to ensure that
the executive maintains the cordial relationship
that exists between it and the legislature.”

predear:
Dis is getting very interesting...... Now everyone will knw who is realy clueless

DaBullIT:
Pasuma even said Ijoba Federal

E demo kee ku


FG has all the power

Do rubbish and die

989900:
Too much talk. Did you, or did you not commit forgery? Simple!

Have at it at the court.