Saraki: No Row With Executive, Senate Ministerial Confirmation to Go Ahead

• Says Ndume’s recall beyond him
• PDP Senate caucus affirms THISDAY’s story, meets again today

Olawale Olaleye in Lagos and Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja

Senate President Bukola Saraki and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, on Monday dismissed the widespread perception that the Senate was at loggerheads with the executive, insisting that the National Assembly’s relationship with the executive remained cordial.

Against this background, Saraki said the screening and confirmation of two ministerial nominees whose names were sent to the Senate last week by President Muhammadu Buhari would go ahead.

He said the Senate’s rejection of some presidential nominees and the decision to stand down the screening and confirmation of the Residential Electoral Commissioner-nominees for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), were not enough to conclude that there was a quarrel between the two arms of government.

He also advised Nigerians against judging the relationship between both arms of government on the basis of the rejection of the acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu and some nominees for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

The Senate President also said such rejections were bound to happen in a democracy and reminded the public about other executive matters such as the 2017 budget, Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and amendments to the Electoral Act which he said were given due attention by the Senate.

Insisting that the relationship between the two arms was cordial, Saraki said the president, for instance, was excited about the passage of Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill.
“It is cordial. You cannot examine the relationship based on the NDDC matter, based on the EFCC matter. We have other issues. We have the confirmation of ministerial nominees that we are going to be working on.

“We have the budget that is more important. We have INEC, PIB matters. We have so many important things and I think it is a mixture of all that, that should guide us. Don’t let us overheat some of these things.
“As I said, this is a routine meeting. There are many things that are important but there are other things that are even more important to do such as the budget.

“We talked also about the INEC Bill that we have passed. I took the president through some of the areas, very important areas because you know the president over many years is someone that has gone through so many elections.
“So that was something he was really excited about. Some of the new amendments like electronic voting, the electronic process for collation of results, those are landmark achievements that we hope that very soon, the House will concur with and we will all come here for the president to assent,” he said.

Also speaking on the suspension of the confirmation process for the REC-nominees, Saraki said consultations were ongoing over the matter, even as he described the decision by the executive to set up a committee to iron out the differences between the two arms as a welcome development.
He said: “It is one of these other issues. It will happen but I don’t think it’s a major issue, but we are still moving ahead and still consulting.”

Saraki also explained that the Senate was working on the 2017 budget, pointing out that he briefed the president on the current state of the budget process in the parliament.
“We are working on the budget; just to let the president know how far we have gone with it. We are on course as you noted last week. We did ask all the sub-committees to submit their reports to the Appropriation Committee.
“All that has been done now. It is now collation and review that are ongoing. Then hopefully it will be passed very soon,” he added.

When asked if the Senate would reverse last week’s suspension of its former majority leader, Senator Ali Ndume, after the delegation led by the governor of Borno State, Kassim Shetima to plead with him, Saraki said he lacked the unilateral powers to reverse a decision collectively taken by the Senate.

“We should try and understand how the parliament works. I wish I had such powers. These powers you give me, I wish I had them. The (Senate) President or Speaker is just the first among equals. They are just presiding officers.
“But unfortunately, you know the legislative arm is the youngest organ of government. So people don’t understand; people give us these powers that we don’t have.

“Decisions that are taken in plenary are decisions of all, but I have a role to be able to convey the message. I will convey the message of the visit of the governor of Borno State and the Senate is the one that will decide.
“We are all one family. There will be issues like that. There is nothing that is sacrosanct or rigid,” he stated.

Earlier, Dogara, who met with the president, told journalists that a disagreement in a given system was normal.
According to him, disagreements should not be viewed from a negative perspective, but viewed as the catalyst for growth and development. According to him, disagreements should be welcomed and not viewed as a problem.
“You might look at it as a crisis but I don’t look at it as a crisis. You know I have always said that as a government, our values will be the problems we have solved.

“We cannot be remembered for avoiding issues, we cannot be remembered for running away from problems, it is only when we provide solutions to some of the things that you refer to as crisis and we look at it as opportunities to begin new things that people will now remember us for putting down enduring legacies.

“But when we run away from everything that appears to be trouble, we will not make it,” Dogara stated.
In a related development, the Senate caucus of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is set to meet today in affirmation of THISDAY’s exclusive report on Sunday, which spilled the beans on the collusion between a former governor of Lagos State and one of the leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bola Tinubu, and the leadership of the EFCC to destroy the Senate.

The opposition senators who were disappointed over the attempt by The Nation newspaper, one of the media organisations owned by Tinubu, to undo the incontrovertible facts in the THISDAY report, said it was about time that the public gets to know some of the undercurrents in the present power tussle.

In addition to today’s agenda, the caucus has also resolved to sanction any member that dissociates him or herself from the THISDAY report, adding that there was nothing in the report that was incorrect.
Senate Minority Whip, Philip Aduda, who hinted at the development, said the caucus was irked by the tone of the report by The Nation newspaper, which attempted to discredit the story by describing it as sheer fabrication by THISDAY.

Senate sources also informed THISDAY that some of the PDP caucus members who attended the meeting, from which the report on Sunday emanated, were unhappy about the alternative facts that were churned out by The Nation newspaper and were determined to set the records straight.

They said it was mischievous and most uncharitable for the national daily to insinuate that the report was a subtle attempt to deflect attention from the alleged diversion of the Paris Club refunds.
Another senator, who also spoke to THISDAY but preferred to remain anonymous until after today’s meeting, said: “We are not unaware of what is happening and we stand by the Senate. This is not about any individual but the institution of the Senate that must be preserved from the inordinate attempt to hijack it.”
THISDAY had reported that Tinubu and EFCC were working together to demystify the Senate and demonise its leadership.

The report also indicated that the former governor had resolved to open media attacks against senators, using among others, two national media outfits believed to be owned by Tinubu.
Although the PDP Senate caucus said it was not perturbed by the plan to destabilise the Senate, the meeting held penultimate weekend was aimed at discussing the implication of the plot and the appropriate strategy to address it.

A source further revealed that Tinubu’s influence over the EFCC derives from the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, under whom Magu served as aide de camp (ADC) when Akiolu was an Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of Police.
Akiolu is a very close ally of Tinubu and owes his ascendancy to the revered Lagos throne to the former governor of the state.

There has been no love lost between the Senate and Magu since the former refused to confirm him as the substantive chairman of the EFCC over a damning report from the Department of State Services (DSS).
Ever since, the EFCC boss has been accused by the Senate of leaking a series stories targeted at denigrating some senators and undermining the institution of the Senate.