The president of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, said they visited President Muhammadu Buhari to discuss matters of “national interest”.

The leaders of the National Assembly met with the president behind close doors for 40 minutes.

Mr. Saraki told State House correspondents that the president “engaged them very well”.

He said they specifically “came to discuss issues and activities of the National Assembly during the absence of the president”.

Mr. Saraki said the meeting centred on the “budget, the economy, CBN, Euro bond, the issue of the ambassadorial list, the stability in the Niger Delta, and a whole range of issues”.

Mr. Saraki said the Senate has a target to pass the 2017 budget this month.

On his perception of the president’s state of health, the senate president said Mr. Buhari met with them for 40 minutes, adding “I was not talking to myself.? He is doing very well, we discussed issues of national interest”.

On his part, Mr. Dogara said they were not at the villa to assess the president’s health.

He said the journalists who are always there surely knew the president was doing well.

On the relationship between the executive and legislature, Mr. Dogara said it was not in the place of the legislature to fight the executive.

“We fight on issues but mostly issues of national interest. We fight on behalf of the people for the purpose of progress.

“There is one government and no division. If he fails, we all fail, so it is in realisation of this that we always extend the needed support to ensure that he succeeds, so that the government will be rated as a success,” he said.

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How Buhari called for impeachment of sick, absent Yar’Adua in 2010

Buhari urged the Executive Council of the Federation (EXCOF) to declare Yar'Adua incapacitated and have him impeached.

On Tuesday, March 9, 2010, former Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari called for the impeachment of then President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua who was ill and had not been seen in public since Monday, November 23, 2009.

Buhari urged the Executive Council of the Federation (EXCOF) to declare Yar'Adua incapacitated and have him impeached due to his inability to carry out his official duties.

The former Head of State said further that Yar’Adua’s removal was the only viable option out of the political logjam caused by his long absence.

Buhari made the comments when members of the National Unity Forum paid him a visit in Kaduna.

He also criticized the National Assembly for using “extra-constitutional measures” to empower Goodluck Jonathan as Acting President when the constitution already had a solution to the problem.

The Senate had, on February 9, 2010, controversially used the “doctrine of necessity” to transfer presidential powers to Jonathan, and declared him Acting President until Yar'Adua returned to full health.

“Political expediency won't remedy this kind of problem because if the Executive Council of the Federation had acted in accordance with the constitution, by invoking the necessary sections to declare the President incapacitated, we would not have found ourselves in this present situation," Buhari said.

“As you can see, adopting extra-constitutional measures have not addressed the problem. If it had, we would not have been subjected to the raging debates and controversy going on.

“So, we must go back to the constitution. The Executive Council of the Federation must do the right thing because once we start moving away from the constitution, then we are inviting anarchy,” Buhari added.

In response to Buhari however, the Senate said that it would not impeach Yar’Adua despite pressure to do so.

Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Information and Media, Anthony Manzo, said, after plenary on Wednesday, March 10, 2010, that the Senate “has already spoken,” citing the resolution “which is working, the one that enabled the Vice President to become Acting President.”