– Abdulmumin Jibrin wants Muhammadu Buhari to take a more drastic step to put the members of the National Assembly in their places
– Inibehe Effiong says inviting Sagay is not constitutional while Denja Yaqub simply says the Senate is irresposible
Suspended member of the House of Representatives, Abdulmumin Jibrin, has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to quickly ensure that at least one principal officer of the National Assembly is arrested, arraigned, handcuffed and jailed if he is to be taken seriously.
The Senate led by Bukola Saraki has been in a recent rough ride with the executive arm led by President Buhari
Nigerians have been criticizing the Senate for days now for planning to ground the government of President Muhammadu Buhari.
ZENITHBLOG.com Senate recently rejected Ibrahim Magu as chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), disgraced Hameed Ali, the comptroller-general of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) and suspended the confirmation of some Resident Electoral Commissioners.
READ ALSO: Ndume’s suspension illegal – CASER tells Senate
The senators also summoned Professor Itse Sagay, the chairman of a presidential committee against corruption for allegedly saying the upper chamber is made of people with questionable character.
Jibrin said on Friday, March 31: “They will never take you serious until the day a presiding officer in NASS is picked up, handcuffed by anti-graft agency, prosecuted and JAILED.”
In his own position, a top official of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Denja Yaqub, simply said: “Of course, we need the senate but the 8th Senate is clearly useless, irresponsible, self-serving, anti-people, corruption driven and unhelpful to good governance.”
Reacting to the Senate’s invitation of Professor Sagay, a human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, said the upper chamber was acting against the law.
Citing similar cases to back his argument, Effiong said: “The Senate has absolutely no power whatsoever to summon Prof Itse Sagay to appear before it over his critical comments in the media.
“The law is settled and very clear on this. The Court of Appeal in 1983 and in 2003 decided that the Senate and the House of Representatives, respectively, lacks the power to summon people in this manner.
“Those citing the Legislative Houses (Powers & Privileges) Act in defence of the Senate are ignoring ELEMENTARY constitutional principles. There are arguments that no lawyer worth his salt should canvass. It will be unfortunate for ANY lawyer to defend the invitation of Sagay.
“You can read the cases of Momoh v Senate of NASS (1983) 4 NCLR 269 & El-Rufai v House of Reps. NASS of FRN (2003) 46 WRN 70 where the appellate court interpreted the scope and limitations of the investigatives of the National Assembly under Sections 88 and 89 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).
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“Note that the Tony Momoh’s case was decided based on the provisions of Section 82 of the 1979 Constitution (which is ipsisima verba of Section 88 of the 1999 Constitution). Do not be misled. These cases are reported in English language and available on the internet. Google them and peruse dispassionate.
“If after reading the two judicial authorities cited supra you still defend the Senate on this issue, it means you were NEVER interested in knowing the position of the law.
“The invitation of Sagay is patently ILLEGAL.”
Meanwhile, some women recently held a rally in Katsina state in favour of President Buhari. Watch the video:
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