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, on Sunday.
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 Messrs.
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.
Earlier, in a statement, Mr. Ekweremadu
stressed neither he nor Mr. Saraki was invited
for interrogation by the Police or indicted in its
July 2015 report to the Attorney-General of the
Federation. He queried the basis for the fresh
charges filed.
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. 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.
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.
Source: Premiumtimes
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