The last may not have been heard on the rift between President Muhammadu Buhari and Senate President Bukola Saraki as reports have it that the Presidency last week undermined the Senate by turning down a request for the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Anastacia Nwaobia to appear before the upper chamber.
Pro-Saraki senators on Sunday, July 12, 2015 accused President Buhari of instigating Nwaobia to turn down the invitation, as she had sent a text message to the Senate saying she needed to get an approval from her “supervisors” before she could honour the invitation.The Saraki loyalists said Nwaobia refused to honour the invitation because President Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have openly said they would not accept the leadership of Saraki.
One of the lawmakers said: “It will not augur well for our democracy if the Presidency will not allow civil servants to do their jobs. We should not carry the crisis in the APC to the Senate.”
Following Nwaobia’s refusal to appear before the Senate as at 11 am on Wednesday, July 8, 2015, the Clerk to the National Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa, wrote a letter restating the invitation.
The letter read: “I refer to our letter Ref. No. NASS/S//SP/ COS/CORRP/15/1/06 of June 29, 2015 on the above subject matter and your text message of July 7, 2015 to the Chief of Staff to the Senate President, signifying your inability to honour the invitation.
“Your action is a deliberate violation of the provisions of Section 67(2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999(as amended).
“You are, therefore, requested to appear before the Senate leadership as contained in your aforementioned letter on Wednesday July 8, 2015 at 2.00pm prompt.”
Another letter was also dispatched to Nwaobia by the Chief of Staff to the Senate President, Issa Galaudu. It read: “Please note that your text message of yesterday, Tuesday, July 7, 2015, which I received by hours of 20:02 pm, suggesting that you would not make today’s meeting, is unacceptable.
“This is an affront to the President of the Senate and its leadership. The provision of Section 67(2) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), is very clear and unambiguous in this regard. Hence, you do not need the permission of any official before you attend or appear before the Senate.
“Consequently, I have the instructions of the President of the Senate and leadership that you do appear before them on the date and time earlier communicated to you, Wednesday, July 8, 2015 by 11am prompt. It is my belief that you will comply unconditionally.”
All attempts to get comments from the Nwaobia, the Spokesman for the Ministry of Finance, Marshal Gundu, and the Special Adviser to President Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina all proved abortive.
Reacting to the claims by the pro-Saraki Senators, lawmakers loyal to the APC leadership and its preferred candidate for the Senate Presidency, Ahmed Lawan said Nwaobia was right not to honour the invitation.Spokesman of the group, Senator Kabir Marafa, said Saraki had no moral right to cry foul as he was also guilty of the same offence.
He said: “I read with open mouth amazement, the letter written by both the Chief of Staff to the Senate President and that of the Clerk to the National Assembly on the refusal or inability of a government functionary to honour the invitation of the “leadership” of the senate.
“They were saying the refusal violates section 67(2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Can somebody please tell them that they are guilty of similar, if not higher offence?
“They, in fact, not only violated the Constitution to ascend to the Senate leadership, they murdered it.”
He said Saraki and his loyalists “murdered section 60 of the Constitution that gives the Senate, and not any individual or group of persons, the powers to conduct the business of the Senate on the 9th of June 2015 using the forged document.”
He further alleged that the pro-Saraki group also violated section 65 (2b) of the Constitution that “recognises the supremacy of the political party in favour of the unmentioned, unrecognised and unknown zonal caucuses.”
He continued by stating that: “The presiding officer did not hit the gavel after announcing the names of the Senate leader and his deputy, this is required to give the announcement legislative authority.
“From the foregoing it is clear that the leadership and indeed the Senate itself are not properly and legally constituted.”
