The leadership of the People’s Democratic
Party (PDP), has accused the Presidency and
the All Progressives Congress (APC) of
inducing senators to impeach the President of
the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki.
The opposition party also alleged that the
government was in the process of forcing the
reopening of the Senate, contrary to Section
12 of the Senate Standing Rules.
The Senate is currently on annual recess and
is expected to resume session on September
25, to begin legislative business.
But the PDP said the Presidency was offering
each lawmaker $1 million to impeach Saraki
for defecting from the APC to PDP.
The Presidency however, said its call for the
National Assembly to resume duties was to
enable the federal legislature process the
2019 election budget for the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC).
President Muhammadu Buhari had, a week
before the National Assembly proceeded on its
annual vacation, submitted a budget of N242
billion for the INEC for the consideration of
the lawmakers.
But at a media briefing at its Abuja secretariat
on Monday, the PDP queried the timing of the
submission of the INEC budget seven months
to the general elections.
Read Also: Resign now, Falana
tells Saraki, others
Besides, the party, through its spokesman,
Kola Ologbondiyan, said the Presidency does
not have the powers to order or call for the
reopening of the National Assembly, as
suggested by the presidential liaison officer
for the Senate, Ita Enang.
Ologbondiyan said, “What Enang had done is
just a mere wish. He does not have the power
to order or call for the reopening of the
Senate. He is just expressing his personal
wishes.
“As a matter of fact, Sen. Ita Enang has been
the chairman of the Senate Rules and
Business Committee both in the House and in
and the Senate. Would he have listened to
anybody from outside the chamber to come
and dictate to the presiding officers.
“It is unfortunate that people who have
experience in legislative practices and
procedures, when they get to the executive
arm, instead of telling the executive the limit
of their powers, they pretend to know it all,
and by so doing, they mislead the executives.
That is exactly what Enang is doing.
“There are set rules: Section 12 of the Senate
Standing Rules puts the opening of the
Senate within purview of responsibility of the
President of the Senate and the operational
word there is “may”; that is if the Senate
President is convinced to reopen the Senate.
“We must not allow those who have no
respect for laws to take charge of our lives
because what they are plotting to do have a
huge capacity to create anarchy for the
nation.
“This is not a local government parliament, we
are talking about our national parliament and
some characters are sitting somewhere and
dominating ideas that suit their own interests.
And they want to use that to subdue what the
rules and the laws say. It is totally
unacceptable”.
Comments
Post a Comment