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Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Saraki Won’t Resign, Let Abu Ibrahim Do His Worst, Say Senators

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By Senator Isa Hama Misau, Chairman, Senate Committee on Navy; and
Senator Rafiu Ibrahim, Chairman, Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions

Misau and Ibrahim, in a statement jointly signed by them in reaction to an interview granted by the Katsina Senator to the Cable online newspaper, stated that Abu Ibrahim and his colleagues will meet their match if they tried anything illegal even with all the deployment of security forces which they might have been assured of by the executive arm of government.
“It is obvious from the statements of Abu Ibrahim that he and his cohorts are not democrats. They do not believe in the rule of law, the provisions of the constitution, the standing order of the Senate, parliamentary procedure and the due process.
“How will a supposed democrat be threatening disruption of peace in the parliament because his party lost members and lost its majority status? His statements showed why one of them led thugs to disrupt the proceeding of the Senate, steal the mace, the symbol of authority of the legislature, and yet there is no consequence. Both the mastermind and his thugs have been protected from being prosecuted. Now, Abu Ibrahim has given us an insight into what they are planning and we will be ready for them. He has also shown an indication of how he, as the Chairman of the Police Affairs Committee, has been misusing the police against other Senators.
“APC should note that they are now the minority party. PDP has more members. When we resume, if they push us, we will move for a head count of members and change some of our principal officers to reflect party strength. Today, by the list paraded by APC themselves, they have only 48 Senators and PDP has 54, APGA has 2 and ADC has 2. There are two vacancies. That is the distribution in the Senate. Let them continue to deceive themselves.
“We will use our strength to defend the position of the present leadership of the Senate under Dr. Saraki and Senator Ike Ekweremadu. We will defend democracy and rule of law against the pretenders. We will show that every Senator represent different constituencies in our country.
“Our colleague from Katsina State has equally demonstrated that even though he has spent four terms in the legislature, he has not imbibed parliamentary ethos. Even his knowledge of the provisions of the law and the Senate rules is suspect. That is why he misrepresented the provisions of Rule 12 order 1, 2 and 3 of the Senate about the process of reconvening the Senate after it properly adjourned. By the provision, without all the leaders of the four parties initiating the reconvening of the Senate before the adjourned date, nothing can legally happen. Also without the consent of the Senate President, nothing can happen.
“We urge him and his colleagues to know that if they tried anything illegal and indecent, we will resist it through legal means. They saw an instance with the way our colleagues in the House of Representatives quickly gathered to foil their failed coup early this week.
“Abu Ibrahim and his cohorts have shown that they are desperate to win the 2019 elections at all cost by all means. We are surprised that this defection is making APC so uncomfortable that they are ready to bring the country down because some Senators left their party. We gave them all the opportunities to make amends from their destructive, non-inclusive and dictatorial ways. They did not take the chances and were behaving as if nobody matters. They are running a government by cabals, serving selfish interests and forgetting all the promises the party made to the people before being elected into office.
“The APC government has always demonstrated serious contempt for the legislature. That is why they have sent only a paltry 11 executive bills to the National Assembly in 38 months despite their promise of reform in various sectors of the country, The APC government came in 2015 and the first proposal they put forward was to have emergency powers in a democracy. Thank God we did not fall for their antics.
“We call on all Nigerians and the international community to take note of the threat by Abu Ibrahim and know that if there is any illegal move to reconvene the Senate or there is breakdown of law and order in the Senate, the man has leaked their plan.  The APC cabal in the Senate should be held responsible. Nigerians and the global community should know the type of people in charge of Nigeria now and how they seek to desecrate and destroy democratic institutions at will”, Misau and Ibrahim stated.
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By thecable.ng

Katsina senator: There’ll be no peace until Saraki resigns

Abu Ibrahim, senator representing Katsina south, says there will be no peace in the upper legislative chamber until Senate President Bukola Saraki resigns.
Speaking with journalists in Abuja on Thursday, Ibrahim said going by conventions around the world, it is the majority party that produces the leadership in parliament.
The senator said by leaving the All Progressives Congress (APC), the senate president has chosen a path of “political survival”.
“I think it is commendable that he has left the party. He has chosen the path of survival because it is the issue of political survival not any thing for Nigeria,” he said.
“But next is for him to resign as senate president, because by all conventions all over the world, the majority party produces the leadership; senate president, the majority leader and others.
“Again, let him be gentleman enough and resign as senate president. If he does not, we will never have peace in that senate because it is absolutely clear that APC has majority to produce the leadership.
“I hear the PDP claiming majority, but it is crystal clear that APC has majority. We will have more members. We will conduct two bye-elections and we will have the two members.
“We also have some alliance with APGA. It is clear that APC has majority. APC with majority should produce the leadership in the senate. Forty-nine cannot produce the leadership. Saraki should resign as senate president.”
The senator said there was no attempt to break into the chamber as alleged by the PDP.
“How do you break into the chamber? If we like we can reconvene legally because it is legal for us to reconvene. We do not need to break into the chamber when we have the number. I will never subscribe to that we can reconvene. The rules are there that if we are up to 30 we can reconvene,” he said.
“Why should we break into the chamber when we can reconvene legally and do what we want to do. It is legal. I do not see why anybody should contemplate that we can break into the chamber.
“I do not know about it and even if I know about it, I will say it is unwise. However, if the leadership does not ask for peace, it will not get peace. Peace is a function of leadership. I have been in the Senate for about four times. I cannot allow anybody to manipulate me. I cannot take it.”
The senator alleged that had been undermining the federal government in the last two years.
“There are some losses that will give you sleepless night. There are others that will not give you sleepless night. We have made our calculation and I am confident that we will not lose. For the past two years, Saraki has undermined the government,” he said.
“He has allowed frivolous motions to attack the President and the government. His continued stay as senate president did not augur well for the APC government. For somebody to be in the same party, same government and he did not see any thing good in the president was disturbing

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