The Nigerian Senate has accused the Buhari administration
of plotting to muzzle the legislature and criminalise legislative processes.
The upper chamber said the plot was to cause a leadership change in the
National Assembly.
The senate’s stance followed criminal charges of forgery
slammed on Senate President Bukola Saraki and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, by
the Federal Government.
“(This) is a return to the era of impunity and lack of
respect for due process which we all fought to abolish,” the Senate said in a
statement signed by its spokesperson, Aliyu Sabi.
Also charged alongside the two presiding officers are
former Clerk to the National Assembly, Salisu Maikasu, and his deputy, Benedict
Efeturi. The four are accused of conspiracy and forgery of Senate
Standing Rules that brought Saraki and Ekweremadu to office last year.
The suit was filed on June 10, almost a year after
Suleiman Hunkuyi, secretary of anti-Saraki Unity Forum, petitioned the
Inspector General of Police, demanding criminal investigation into allegation
of forgery of Senate Rules used for the elections of the presiding officers
last year, June 9.
Read the full statement by the Senate:
1. After reading in the
national newspapers and online platforms of the planned charges of forgery and
conspiracy preferred against the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki,
his Deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, immediate past Clerk of the National
Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa and the Clerk of the Senate, Mr. Ben Efeturi
and reviewing the circumstances leading to the filing of these charges, we are
compelled to alert the good people of Nigeria and the international community,
that our democracy is in danger and that the attempt by the Executive Arm of
the Federal Government to muzzle the legislature and criminalise legislative
processes in order to cause leadership change in the National Assembly is a
return to the era of impunity and lack of respect for due process which we all
fought to abolish.
2. We urge President
Muhammadu Buhari to please call his Attorney General and Minister of Justice,
Mr. Abubakar Malami, to order. The Senate of the Federal Republic voted freely
to elect its leadership into office and continuing attempts to change that
leadership through the wanton abuse of judicial processes cannot stand in the
eyes of the world. It is clear that the Attorney General and party leaders
behind this action either lack the understanding of the underlining principles
of constitutional democracy, the concept of Separation of Powers, checks and
balances and parliamentary convention or they just simply do not care if the
present democracy in the country survives or collapses in their blinded
determination to get Saraki and Ekweremadu by all means necessary, including
abuse of office and sacking the Constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria.
3. The Nigerian people have
enough economic hardship at this time requiring the full attention and
cooperation of the three arms of government, instead of these attempts to
distract and politicise governance. We are in a state of economic emergency
such that what the National Assembly needs at this time are executive bills and
proposals aimed at resolving the crises of unemployment, currency depreciation,
inflation, crime and insecurity. What the National Assembly needs now are
executive bills to build and strengthen institutions to earn revenues, fight
corruption and eliminate waste. Instead, we are getting hostile actions aimed
at destabilising the National Assembly, distracting Senators from their oversight
functions and ensuring good and accountable governance.
4. We must make it clear here
to the individuals in the Executive arm and party leadership behind these plots
not to mistake the maturity and hand of co-operation being extended to the
Presidency by the legislature as a sign of weakness.
5. This latest plot is
directed at forcing a change of leadership in the Senate or, in the extreme
case, ground the Red Chamber of the National Assembly. Or how do one interpret
a move in which the two presiding officers are being set up to be remanded in
Kuje Prison or incapacitated from sitting at plenary through a day-to-day trial
on a matter that is purely an internal affair of the Senate.
6. This obviously is a
dangerous case of violation of the independence of the legislature, undue and
unnecessary interference in the internal affairs of the Senate and blatant
abuse of the judicial process. The matter now being criminalised was brought to
the plenary of the Senate in session, over a year ago. And because it had no
support, it was overruled and roundly defeated in chambers. To now take a
matter that was resolved on the floor of the Senate to the police and then make
it form the subject of a criminal prosecution of freely elected legislators
beats all imagination of free thinking men all over the world. The implication
is that any matter that fails on the floor of the National Assembly will now be
taken to the Police, thereby endangering every Senator and House member. This
current move clearly runs contrary to the Doctrine of Separation of Powers and
Checks and Balances which are fundamental to the successful operation of the
Presidential System of government. It runs counter to the principle outlined by
the Supreme Court in the Adesanya Vs Senate case where it was held that nobody
should seek to use the courts to achieve what he or she has failed to push
through on the floor of the National Assembly.
7. This present efforts,
therefore, is clearly a coup against the legislature with the ignoble aim to
undermine its independence and subject the law making institution to the whims
and caprices of the executive. It is a plan to return Nigeria to the
dictatorial era which we have, as a nation, voted to reject. It is a dangerous
trend with grave implications for the survival of our democracy and the
integrity of the component institutions. This rule of men as against the rule
of law is also the reason why the War Against Corruption, one of the cardinal
objectives of the present administration, is losing credibility because people
perceive it to be selective and, in most cases, aimed at settling political or
partisan scores.
8. The Rules of the Senate
and how the institution elects its leadership are internal affairs. The Rules
of a new Senate are provided by the National Assembly bureaucracy. It has
always been so since 1999. After the inauguration of the Senate, if Senators
have objections to any part of the Rules, they can follow the procedure for
changing it. Senators of the Eighth Senate have no control on the rules applied
in the elections of June 9, 2015 because until after their inauguration, they
were only Senators-elect, and therefore mere bystanders in the affairs of the
Senate.
9. We therefore urge all
Nigerians and the International Community to rise up and condemn this blatant
attempt to subject the legislature to the control, whims and caprices of the
executive. If the Legislative branch falls, democracy fails as there will be no
other institution empowered by the Constitution to check and balance the
enormous powers of the Executive branch. We also call on the judiciary as the
last hope to save our constitutional democracy and stand up for the rule of
law, by doing that which is right in this case.
N.B. Item 4 in the press
statement was amended based on a revised press statement sent by the Senate
spokesperson after our story was published. The original item 4 in the earlier
statement we published is reproduced below:
4. We must make it clear here
to the individuals in the Executive arm and party leadership behind these plots
not to mistake the maturity and hand of co-operation being extended to the
Presidency by the legislature as a sign of weakness. The National Assembly bent
backwards to accommodate various infractions and inefficiencies in pursuit of
inter-arms co-operation and national interest. We did not follow up the various
infractions because we believe there are bigger issues which the government has
to attend to in order to ensure that every Nigerian have food on his table and
live comfortably in a secure environment. We know that the country is actually
in a state of economic emergency and all hands must be on deck.
No comments:
Post a Comment