Senate Presidency: “Senators Who Missed Voting On Inauguration Day Should Blame Themselves For Self Negligence” - Group

The Youth Say Yes Initiative For Change (YSYIC) has said that Senators who missed voting their choice for the position of Senate President on the day of the inauguration of the 8^th National Assembly should blame themselves instead of passing the blame to others. The group in an interaction with Parliamentary Info said the senators neglected their duty in favour of party politics and should not blame others.

Barr. Kingsley Frank who is the legal officer of the group said there was no legal or moral issue regarding the emergence of Saraki as Senate President. He said instead of using morality as a basis in  defending their absence at the chambers, the Senators should rather apologise to their constituents for not taking part in an activity as important as electing their leaders especially considering the fact that the politics that played out before the inauguration had been very tense and challenging. He stressed that there was no moral or legal justification for them to abdicate from their primary assignment.

The group hailed the emergence of Sen. Bukola Saraki as the president of the Nigerian Senate and Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara as Speaker of the House. It said it is a positive  development in our democracy. Barr. Kingsley Frank said the two men will bring harmony to the National Assembly thereby bringing stability to the government.

The group hailed President Muhammadu Buhari for the pragmatic way he handled the whole issue as against the hawkish stance of the party spare headed by its National Leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. According to Barrister Kingsley Frank, “what the party needs to do is to tow the line of President Muhmmadu Buhari who is the dejure leader of the party by congratulating the Senate President and the Speaker on their emergence rather than looking for ways to drag them down”

He stressed that Nigerian youths will not hesitate to protest on the streets of Nigeria if the party or anybody attempts to disrupt the leadership of the National Assembly in any guise or tamper the independence of the legislature as symbolized by the process that led to the emergence of the leadership of the two chambers.