The crisis between the proscribed Parliamentary Support
Group and others senators deepened on Sunday, as the senior
lawmakers threatened to expose their colleagues in the
PSG.
Some senators, who confided in our reporter, said contrary to
the claim of the PSG members, they (PSG senators) were not working
for President Muhammadu Buhari. Members of the PSG are against the
amendment to the Electoral Act.
The Chairman of the Senator Committee on Petroleum (Upstream)
Senator Kabiru Marafa, who spoke to one of our correspondents on
Sunday, stated that efforts of the pro-Buhari group had been
counter-productive to the success of the President.
The Senate had two weeks ago proscribed the group but its
members had rejected the proscription. The upper chamber of the
National Assembly also suspended Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, who is
Secretary of the group, for dragging the Senate to court over the
Electoral Act amendment.
It was further learnt that as part of the group’s plans to fight
back, the PSG , at the plenary on Tuesday (tomorrow), would
challenge the ban on the activities of the group by the upper
chamber of the National Assembly.
Marafa however challenged members of the PSG to come forward and
express their grievances as they have planned, threatening that
they would be exposed on their anti-Buhari activities.
“Let them come. We will confront them and tell them the truth to
their faces. Let them call themselves anything but for God’s sake,
they should not call themselves lovers or supporters of Muhammadu
Buhari. They don’t support him; they don’t like him. That is the
truth.
“The President never came out to say he needed anybody’s
support. If you are talking about the elections sequence, he did
not say he wanted somebody to support him; he only said he did not
support certain clauses in the Electoral Act 2010 Amendment Bill,”
he said.
Describing members of the group as hypocrites, the lawmaker
recalled that they betrayed Buhari and the ruling All Progressives
Congress by working against their candidates for the Senate
leadership in 2015.
Marafa specifically cited the anti-APC/Buhari roles played by
Senator Abdullahi Adamu and Senator Ali Ndume, who are now leaders
of the PSG.
He recalled that while the ruling party and the President chose
the current Majority Leader, Senator Ahmad Lawan, to be the Senate
President, Adamu and Ndume rooted for Senator Bukola Saraki who
later became the Senate President.
He said while those loyal to the APC and Buhari were members of
the Senate Unity Forum, Adamu and Ndume had pitted their tents with
the pro-Saraki’s Like Minds Senators. He added that it was later
that both of them and several others “defected” from the LMS to
SUF.
“If they are truly lovers of Mr. President, why did they queue
behind the Senate President that time? Where was Ali Ndume? He was
part of the Like Minds. They rebelled against the party and against
the President. Why are they now creating another body to say that
they are supporting the President? When the President asked them to
do something, they refused to do it.”
The lawmaker added, “If Bukola Saraki is a devil today, who
installed the devil in the chamber? Are they not the people? Are
they not hypocrites? They are. If Bukola Saraki is a devil, who
crowned the devil as the Senate President? And from the time Bukola
Saraki ascended the presidency of the Senate to this time, what has
changed?”
Responding, Ndume said Buhari would now know who was more loyal
to him (President) between him and Marafa.
He said, “I don’t want to take issues with Marafa. He is a
senator and I am a senator but that is not to say that we are all
the same.ý All animals are equal but some are more equal than the
others. The good thing about this is that Buhari himself knows me,
knows Marafa; and he knows who is Marafa and who is Ndume.
“If at the beginning I was not with Buhari and now I am with
him, and then he was with Buhari and now he is with Saraki, which
one is better? ýLet us agree with what he said: at the beginning I
was not with Buhari and I have now realised that Buhari is good and
decided to be with him. But he was with Buhari and now, because he
was given Petroleum Downstream (committee to head), he is now a
defender of Saraki.
“The good thing is that Buhari knows me more than Marafa because
I only met Marafa in the 7th Senate but I have been with Buhari
since 2002. I only knew Marafa in 2011.”
Another senator, who spoke on the condition of anonymity,
recalled that he had initially signed on with the PSG but was
forced to back out of the group when he realised that it was
“self-serving.”
While dismissing the claim by the group that they had “over 50”
signatures to their credit, Marafa challenged them to publish the
identities.
Meanwhile, President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, on Sunday
visited a female sergeant-at-Arms, Mrs. Sandra Davou, who was
injured on Wednesday by the suspected thugs who invaded the Senate
chamber and snatched the mace.
Saraki described it as a “sad day” and “a disgrace” to Nigeria’s
democracy, while calling for unity and firmness in eliminating “all
such undemocratic tendencies.”
Davou and her colleagues had struggled to stop the thugs but she
fell in the process.
Saraki, who was accompanied by the Deputy Senate President, Ike
Ekweremadu; Senator Isa Misau and Senator Baba Kaka Garbai, was at
Davou’s home in Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital
Territory.
In a related development, Omo-Agege has denied signing the
report by the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public
Petitions, which recommended the suspension of Ndume in March
2017.
Culled from Punch
The crisis between the proscribed Parliamentary Support
Group and others senators deepened on Sunday, as the senior
lawmakers threatened to expose their colleagues in the
PSG.
Some senators, who confided in our reporter, said contrary to
the claim of the PSG members, they (PSG senators) were not working
for President Muhammadu Buhari. Members of the PSG are against the
amendment to the Electoral Act.
The Chairman of the Senator Committee on Petroleum (Upstream)
Senator Kabiru Marafa, who spoke to one of our correspondents on
Sunday, stated that efforts of the pro-Buhari group had been
counter-productive to the success of the President.
The Senate had two weeks ago proscribed the group but its
members had rejected the proscription. The upper chamber of the
National Assembly also suspended Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, who is
Secretary of the group, for dragging the Senate to court over the
Electoral Act amendment.
It was further learnt that as part of the group’s plans to fight
back, the PSG , at the plenary on Tuesday (tomorrow), would
challenge the ban on the activities of the group by the upper
chamber of the National Assembly.
Marafa however challenged members of the PSG to come forward and
express their grievances as they have planned, threatening that
they would be exposed on their anti-Buhari activities.
“Let them come. We will confront them and tell them the truth to
their faces. Let them call themselves anything but for God’s sake,
they should not call themselves lovers or supporters of Muhammadu
Buhari. They don’t support him; they don’t like him. That is the
truth.
“The President never came out to say he needed anybody’s
support. If you are talking about the elections sequence, he did
not say he wanted somebody to support him; he only said he did not
support certain clauses in the Electoral Act 2010 Amendment Bill,”
he said.
Describing members of the group as hypocrites, the lawmaker
recalled that they betrayed Buhari and the ruling All Progressives
Congress by working against their candidates for the Senate
leadership in 2015.
Marafa specifically cited the anti-APC/Buhari roles played by
Senator Abdullahi Adamu and Senator Ali Ndume, who are now leaders
of the PSG.
He recalled that while the ruling party and the President chose
the current Majority Leader, Senator Ahmad Lawan, to be the Senate
President, Adamu and Ndume rooted for Senator Bukola Saraki who
later became the Senate President.
He said while those loyal to the APC and Buhari were members of
the Senate Unity Forum, Adamu and Ndume had pitted their tents with
the pro-Saraki’s Like Minds Senators. He added that it was later
that both of them and several others “defected” from the LMS to
SUF.
“If they are truly lovers of Mr. President, why did they queue
behind the Senate President that time? Where was Ali Ndume? He was
part of the Like Minds. They rebelled against the party and against
the President. Why are they now creating another body to say that
they are supporting the President? When the President asked them to
do something, they refused to do it.”
The lawmaker added, “If Bukola Saraki is a devil today, who
installed the devil in the chamber? Are they not the people? Are
they not hypocrites? They are. If Bukola Saraki is a devil, who
crowned the devil as the Senate President? And from the time Bukola
Saraki ascended the presidency of the Senate to this time, what has
changed?”
Responding, Ndume said Buhari would now know who was more loyal
to him (President) between him and Marafa.
He said, “I don’t want to take issues with Marafa. He is a
senator and I am a senator but that is not to say that we are all
the same.ý All animals are equal but some are more equal than the
others. The good thing about this is that Buhari himself knows me,
knows Marafa; and he knows who is Marafa and who is Ndume.
“If at the beginning I was not with Buhari and now I am with
him, and then he was with Buhari and now he is with Saraki, which
one is better? ýLet us agree with what he said: at the beginning I
was not with Buhari and I have now realised that Buhari is good and
decided to be with him. But he was with Buhari and now, because he
was given Petroleum Downstream (committee to head), he is now a
defender of Saraki.
“The good thing is that Buhari knows me more than Marafa because
I only met Marafa in the 7th Senate but I have been with Buhari
since 2002. I only knew Marafa in 2011.”
Another senator, who spoke on the condition of anonymity,
recalled that he had initially signed on with the PSG but was
forced to back out of the group when he realised that it was
“self-serving.”
While dismissing the claim by the group that they had “over 50”
signatures to their credit, Marafa challenged them to publish the
identities.
Meanwhile, President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, on Sunday
visited a female sergeant-at-Arms, Mrs. Sandra Davou, who was
injured on Wednesday by the suspected thugs who invaded the Senate
chamber and snatched the mace.
Saraki described it as a “sad day” and “a disgrace” to Nigeria’s
democracy, while calling for unity and firmness in eliminating “all
such undemocratic tendencies.”
Davou and her colleagues had struggled to stop the thugs but she
fell in the process.
Saraki, who was accompanied by the Deputy Senate President, Ike
Ekweremadu; Senator Isa Misau and Senator Baba Kaka Garbai, was at
Davou’s home in Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital
Territory.
In a related development, Omo-Agege has denied signing the
report by the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public
Petitions, which recommended the suspension of Ndume in March
2017.
Culled from Punch
Read more https://nairalaw.com/omo-agege-senate-panel-chair-marafa-ndume-trade-words/