In this piece, MUYIWA OYINLOLA examines the frosty
relationship between Senator Ali Ndume and the Senate President Bukola
Saraki’s camp in the Senate since the former’s removal as Senate
Majority Leader in January
Not in the last one year or thereabout has the Senate been enmeshed in internal crisis as it now obtains.
The last time the Upper Legislative Chamber was in disarray was during its choice of leadership in June 2015 and shortly thereafter.
It was not so long after that the it settled down for business even though Senate President Bukola Saraki was soon alleged to have been involved in asset declaration scandal, of which he is still facing litigation even though he has pleaded not guilty and
the Senate appears to be moving on with its assignment.
Given his emergence which was supported by majority of his colleagues, over half the 108 remaining lawmakers often follow him to the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Abuja, where the trial is being held.
Saraki has often expressed that his trial at the CCT is because of his emergence as Senate President. It will be recalled that although Saraki emerged with the support of his fellow lawmakers, his political party, which is also the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), had a preferred candidate, Ahmed Lawan for the position of the Senate President.
Saraki’s sin was not just that he emerged Senate President against the preference of the party, his major crime was that the political arithmetic that produced him went into an alliance with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which foisted one of its own, Ike Ekweremadu, as the Deputy President of the Senate.
The APC then ordered him to toe the party line by ensuring that Ekweremadu was replaced by an APC member and other principal officers be APC members, of which Saraki was adamant because of the support and the deal he had sealed with the PDP.
While Saraki remained adamant, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara played along with the party dictates. There was also relative peace in the Senate because of Saraki’s popularity and acceptance among his colleagues.
The condition proffered to Saraki was to pave way for the emergence of Ahmed Lawan as the new Senate Leader and George Akume as his Deputy in exchange for his victory at the CCT.
It was gathered then that whereas Deputy Majority Leader, Ibn Na’Allah, had agreed to the deal by stepping down on the condition of being named Chairman of any grade A committee of his choice, the arrangement was rejected by the then majority leader, Ali Ndume.
Saraki’s concern was that he would not sacrifice the people that worked for his emergence on the platter of party loyalty. This position was sustained despite pressure until Ndume burnt his finger and was replaced this January with Ahmed Lawan.
Ndume’s removal, according to Saraki is in line with the decision of the caucus of the majority APC in the upper chamber.
Recall that Lawan is one of the most experienced lawmakers in the National Assembly right now to become Senate Leader. He spent two terms in the House of Representatives and this is his third term in the Senate. He only shares that rank with Senator David Mark, who is the all-time most experienced by having spent five straight terms in the Senate since 1999.
But speaking on his removal, Ndume said he was removed for insisting that the Senate did not follow the proper procedure before declaring that it had rejected the nomination of Ibrahim Magu as head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC).
Ndume said he insisted that in view of the Senate’s standard procedures and practice, Magu had not been rejected by the Senate because there was no confirmation hearing for the nominee to defend claims made against him.
His words: “What I said was that for us (Senate) to claim to have rejected a nominee sent to us by the president, we have to follow the right procedure, and observe our rules.”
Meanwhile, Magu’s rejection followed a report sent to the Senate by the State Security Service which accused the acting EFCC chairman of corruption.
But there was also another report by the DSS which advised that Magu be confirmed in view of his sterling performance since he started working in acting.
Ndume reportedly argued that what the Senate should have done was to call attention to the two security reports, and then ask the president whether to continue with the confirmation process or not.
However, Kabiru Marafa, an ally of Lawan, the new majority leader, hailed the leadership change as “victory for APC”, saying the party had long wanted Lawan to serve as Senate Leader following the crisis sparked by Saraki’s emergence.
He slated that there had been a caucus meeting during which the decision to remove Ndume was taken.
Recall also that the APC in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Bolaji Abdullahi, also commended the party caucus for effecting the change describing the change in leadership “as concrete expression of faith by the APC Senate Caucus in our efforts to resolve the lingering issues that have trailed the election of Senate leadership”.
The APC said that Ndume’s removal as Senate majority leader is good for the party.
“We believe this is a major step forward in our efforts to reunite the various interest groups in that Senate election, thereby presenting a common legislative front for our great party.
“We are particularly delighted that the consultations that were initiated towards the end of 2015 between the party caucuses in the National Assembly and the party executives as well as other leading stakeholders of our party has yielded these results and the Senate has demonstrated its willingness to finally submit to the will of the party in this regard,” the statement said.
Since his removal as Majority Leader, Ndume appears to have drawn a battle line with the Saraki-led group. The politician who was one of those singing the praise of Saraki to high heaven has since been raising his voice against the former Kwara State governor and other outstanding members of the camp, especially Senator Dino Melaye.
The tone that Ndume had drawn the battle line was set during the debate on the general principles of the 2017 Appropriation Bill when the lawmaker tackled Saraki for allegedly skipping his name on the list of lawmakers billed to speak on the budget, after Saraki had announced at the beginning of the debate that 39 senators had been listed for the exercise for the day.
After Melaye had made his contribution, Saraki, who presided
Ref: http://leadership.ng/
Not in the last one year or thereabout has the Senate been enmeshed in internal crisis as it now obtains.
The last time the Upper Legislative Chamber was in disarray was during its choice of leadership in June 2015 and shortly thereafter.
It was not so long after that the it settled down for business even though Senate President Bukola Saraki was soon alleged to have been involved in asset declaration scandal, of which he is still facing litigation even though he has pleaded not guilty and
the Senate appears to be moving on with its assignment.
Given his emergence which was supported by majority of his colleagues, over half the 108 remaining lawmakers often follow him to the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Abuja, where the trial is being held.
Saraki has often expressed that his trial at the CCT is because of his emergence as Senate President. It will be recalled that although Saraki emerged with the support of his fellow lawmakers, his political party, which is also the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), had a preferred candidate, Ahmed Lawan for the position of the Senate President.
Saraki’s sin was not just that he emerged Senate President against the preference of the party, his major crime was that the political arithmetic that produced him went into an alliance with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which foisted one of its own, Ike Ekweremadu, as the Deputy President of the Senate.
The APC then ordered him to toe the party line by ensuring that Ekweremadu was replaced by an APC member and other principal officers be APC members, of which Saraki was adamant because of the support and the deal he had sealed with the PDP.
While Saraki remained adamant, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara played along with the party dictates. There was also relative peace in the Senate because of Saraki’s popularity and acceptance among his colleagues.
The condition proffered to Saraki was to pave way for the emergence of Ahmed Lawan as the new Senate Leader and George Akume as his Deputy in exchange for his victory at the CCT.
It was gathered then that whereas Deputy Majority Leader, Ibn Na’Allah, had agreed to the deal by stepping down on the condition of being named Chairman of any grade A committee of his choice, the arrangement was rejected by the then majority leader, Ali Ndume.
Saraki’s concern was that he would not sacrifice the people that worked for his emergence on the platter of party loyalty. This position was sustained despite pressure until Ndume burnt his finger and was replaced this January with Ahmed Lawan.
Ndume’s removal, according to Saraki is in line with the decision of the caucus of the majority APC in the upper chamber.
Recall that Lawan is one of the most experienced lawmakers in the National Assembly right now to become Senate Leader. He spent two terms in the House of Representatives and this is his third term in the Senate. He only shares that rank with Senator David Mark, who is the all-time most experienced by having spent five straight terms in the Senate since 1999.
But speaking on his removal, Ndume said he was removed for insisting that the Senate did not follow the proper procedure before declaring that it had rejected the nomination of Ibrahim Magu as head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC).
Ndume said he insisted that in view of the Senate’s standard procedures and practice, Magu had not been rejected by the Senate because there was no confirmation hearing for the nominee to defend claims made against him.
His words: “What I said was that for us (Senate) to claim to have rejected a nominee sent to us by the president, we have to follow the right procedure, and observe our rules.”
Meanwhile, Magu’s rejection followed a report sent to the Senate by the State Security Service which accused the acting EFCC chairman of corruption.
But there was also another report by the DSS which advised that Magu be confirmed in view of his sterling performance since he started working in acting.
Ndume reportedly argued that what the Senate should have done was to call attention to the two security reports, and then ask the president whether to continue with the confirmation process or not.
However, Kabiru Marafa, an ally of Lawan, the new majority leader, hailed the leadership change as “victory for APC”, saying the party had long wanted Lawan to serve as Senate Leader following the crisis sparked by Saraki’s emergence.
He slated that there had been a caucus meeting during which the decision to remove Ndume was taken.
Recall also that the APC in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Bolaji Abdullahi, also commended the party caucus for effecting the change describing the change in leadership “as concrete expression of faith by the APC Senate Caucus in our efforts to resolve the lingering issues that have trailed the election of Senate leadership”.
The APC said that Ndume’s removal as Senate majority leader is good for the party.
“We believe this is a major step forward in our efforts to reunite the various interest groups in that Senate election, thereby presenting a common legislative front for our great party.
“We are particularly delighted that the consultations that were initiated towards the end of 2015 between the party caucuses in the National Assembly and the party executives as well as other leading stakeholders of our party has yielded these results and the Senate has demonstrated its willingness to finally submit to the will of the party in this regard,” the statement said.
Since his removal as Majority Leader, Ndume appears to have drawn a battle line with the Saraki-led group. The politician who was one of those singing the praise of Saraki to high heaven has since been raising his voice against the former Kwara State governor and other outstanding members of the camp, especially Senator Dino Melaye.
The tone that Ndume had drawn the battle line was set during the debate on the general principles of the 2017 Appropriation Bill when the lawmaker tackled Saraki for allegedly skipping his name on the list of lawmakers billed to speak on the budget, after Saraki had announced at the beginning of the debate that 39 senators had been listed for the exercise for the day.
After Melaye had made his contribution, Saraki, who presided
Ref: http://leadership.ng/
No comments:
Post a Comment