Meeting With Buhari: Senators Angry With Saraki Over Ali, Magu

News report’s indications emerged yesterday that the face- off between the Senate and the Presidency may not be over soon, in spite of the meeting President Muhammadu Buhari had with Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and House of Representatives Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, on Monday. Also yesterday, Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Prof Itse Sagay, asked the Senate to withdraw the resolution summoning him.

Many senators are peeved that none of the issues responsible for the face-off was discussed at the meeting. The Senate entered a closed session at 11.35 am where salient issues were discussed and the lawmakers came out at 12. 32pm. Soon after the meeting, Senate President Saraki, who noted that issues affecting the country in general and the Senate in particular were discussed, asked if that was the true reflection of what transpired and his colleagues agreed with him. However, a source told Vanguard that Saraki, while giving a report of the meeting he had with President Buhari, told them that the meeting centred around the quick passage of the 2017 Appropriation Bill and the immediate screening of two ministerial nominees forwarded last week. Saraki was said to have told the senators that the President at the meeting, pleaded that the legislative arm should put behind it any perceived frosty relationship and pass the budget in the overall interest of the country. It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had on December 14, 2016, presented the budget of N7.289 trillion to a joint session of the National Assembly.

It would also be recalled that as part of moves for early passage of the 2017 budget, the Senate had, after three days of robust debate on the general principles of the 2017 Appropriation Bill submitted by President Buhari on Thursday, January 26, suspended plenary for three weeks to enable the committees carry out a holistic work on the budget. At the executive session yesterday, Saraki told his colleagues that President Buhari also pleaded with them to urgently screen and confirm the two ministerial nominees, Prof. Stephen Ocheni from Kogi State and Suleiman Hassan from Gombe State. According to the source at the meeting, soon after the Senate President rounded off his briefing, some of the senators got angry. Their anger was said to have been propelled by the fact that the Senate President did not discuss with the President issues relating to the resolutions reached on Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, who they rejected twice and asked for a fresh nominee, which the President is yet to do and Magu is still acting.

The source added that the senators were not happy that at the parley with Buhari, Saraki failed to raise the resolution of the Senate which asked the President to urgently sack the Comptroller- General of Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, Col. Hameed Ali (retd), who they declared unfit to hold public office. The senators also expressed annoyance over refusal of the Senate President to raise the issue of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, who the Senate had urged the President to caution against interfering with the functions of the National Assembly.

The senators were also said  to have been peeved over comments made by the chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption, Professor Itse Sagay, SAN, and wondered why the Senate President did not raise the issue with the President. Consequently, some of the senators, especially those of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, stormed out of the chambers with anger boldly written on their faces. It  would be recalled that the Senate had, penultimate Tuesday, suspended for two weeks confirmation hearing on 27 Resident Electoral Commissioners, REC of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, nominated by President Buhari.

According to the senators, the two-week suspension was to enable the Senate President meet President Buhari to discuss issues relating to Ibrahim Magu’s continued stay in office as acting chairman  of EFCC, which senators considered an affront to the Senate.