Senators Accuse Apc Leadership Of Staying Aloof While Executive-legislative Crisis Worsens
BEVERLY HILLS, April 05, (THEWILL) – Members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, at the Senate have used Wednesday’s meeting they had with the party's National Working Committee, NWC, to express grievances against the executive arm of government.
The Punch gathered that senators, who are loyal to the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, demanded the withdrawal of the assets falsification suit against him at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, describing the trial as political.
The Senate Caucus was said to have taken on the national leadership of the APC, accusing the party’s national working committee, NWC, of staying aloof while the crisis between the executive and the legislature was worsening.
The lawmakers berated the party for failing to advise President Muhammadu Buhari to caution his appointees, even as they absolved themselves of blame over the non-confirmation of Mr. Ibrahim Magu as the substantive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
They told the party leaders that the confirmation of Magu “died” before getting to the Senate and that the senators only did its funeral.
The lawmakers drew the attention of the party leaders to the reports of the Department of State Services, DSS, that indicted Magu.
The Majority Leader of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan, said in his opening remarks that the meeting was historic as it was the first time the leadership of the party would be meeting with the senators.
“This will be the first meeting of the APC Senate caucus with our National Working Committee. On behalf of my colleagues here, Mr. Chairman, I welcome you to this historic, memorable and very important interaction with the Senate APC Caucus of the National Assembly,” he said.
Speaking to journalists after the meeting, the National Chairman of the APC, Odigie-Oyegun called on party stakeholders to observe a “cease fire”.
“My appeal is that as we start now the process of reconstructing relationships and consultations, there should be what I will call a ceasefire in terms of the kind of abuse that is used all round on one institution of government or the other, even principal parties of these institutions,” he said.
On his part, the Senate President, Saraki stated that whether there were issues or not, regular consultations between the caucus and the party were important, adding that “despite all the noise you heard last week, we still passed an amendment to the INEC law that had been there for over six or seven years”.
He said further, “By this time next week, our Committee on Petroleum will lay the PIB, which has never been done.
“It's unfortunate but the most important thing is that a lot of stakeholders must respect these institutions. These institutions are there now and they are going to be there after, and we should not allow our selfish interests to enable us to try and ridicule the institutions.”