• Buhari to meet APC House members today • Gbajabiamila’s supporters allege plan to
bar them from accessing NA tomorrow
The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has said it has not concluded
its investigations into the alleged forgery of the Senate’s Standing Order,
adding that no copy of its report had been handed to President Muhammadu Buhari
as reported in some sections of the media.
Speaking to THISDAY yesterday on the purported report, the
Force Public Relations Officer Emmanuel Ojukwu described as false the news
report that the investigation into the alleged forgery had been concluded and a
report submitted to the president by the police.
A news story at the weekend claimed that the president had
received a copy of the police report last week, confirming that the Standing
Rules used to inaugurate the Eighth Assembly were forged.
In the story, the police were said to have recommended the
prosecution of those found culpable of forging the rules, which were used in
the election of the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, and his deputy,
Senator Ike Ekweremadu on June 9, 2015.
The report was said to have indicted the management of the
National Assembly, especially the clerk, Salisu Maikasuwa, among others, and
recommended the prosecution of the suspects.
However, Ojukwu told THISDAY that the investigation was
still ongoing, adding that no report was submitted to the president.
“I want to state categorically that the investigation into
the allegation of forgery at the Senate is still ongoing. We have not concluded
it yet, so where did the media get the information that not only has it been
concluded but handed over to President Mohammed Buhari.
“The investigation is still ongoing and whenever it is
ready, we will make it available to the public. The media report that we have
concluded the investigation into the case is false and should be disregarded,”
he said.
Also commenting on the story, a Senator said he expected the
police, being part of the executive arm of government, to recognise the
separation of powers, which could invalidate their findings.
He added that if there were any alterations to the Senate
rules, they must have been done by the civil servants in the National Assembly
and not the senators who had not even been sworn-in to review the rules.
Acting on a petition by Senator Sulaiman Hunkuyi of the All
Progressives Congress (APC), the police had on July 6 quizzed Maikasuwa over
the alleged forgery of the standing rules of the upper legislative chamber.
The petition alleged that some parts of the 2015 rules were
different from the one ratified by the Sixth Senate in 2010 and was used by the
Seventh Senate in 2011.
The police, on the strength of the petition, had
subsequently quizzed the leadership of the Seventh Senate, including former
Senate President David Mark; his deputy (now Saraki’s deputy), Ekweremadu; former
Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba; and the former Chairman, Senate Committee on
Rules and Business, Senator Ita Enang.
Maikasuwa, who is the custodian of the standing rules, was
also invited for questioning by the police.
But as the crisis from last month’s leadership election in
the National Assembly festers, Buhari will today meet the APC caucus in the
House of Representatives.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and
Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, confirmed the meeting to State House
correspondents yesterday.
Shehu said the meeting would hold at the new Banquet Hall of
the Presidential Villa, Abuja by 5pm.
“President Muhammadu Buhari will be meeting with the APC
members of the House of Representatives at the new Banquet Hall of the State
House on Monday at 5pm,” he said.
But as a prelude to the meeting, supporters of Hon. Femi
Gbajabimiala’s bid to emerge as the House Leader have remained adamant despite
the fact that some of their key members have jumped ship to align with the
supporters of the Speaker, Hon. Yakubu Dogara.
The Loyalists’ Group, which has remained loyal to
Gbajabiamila and the APC, at a press briefing in Abuja yesterday, alleged that
contrary to media reports, Dogara did not concede any position to them, but
chose to lure individual members with the offers of key principal position in
the House.
Gbajabiamila was absent from the briefing, although there
were indications earlier that he was being expected.
Dogara’s nominees for House Leader and Chief Whip, Hon.
Alhassan Ado Doguwa and Hon. Pally Iriase respectively, who at a briefing on
Saturday reiterated that they were still part of the Loyalists’ Group despite
accepting the nominations, were also absent.
Speaking on behalf of the group, Hon. Nasiru Sani Zangon
Daura insisted that the continued defiance of the APC by the Speaker as
indicated in his July 16 letter to the party’s National Chairman, Chief John
Oyegun, was deplorable.
Daura added that the alliance by the Speaker with the
opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) House members was aimed at truncating
the anti-corruption agenda of the Buhari administration or slow it down through
the National Assembly.
He further alleged that the alliance was meant to enable the
PDP indirectly dictate the pace and activities of the National Assembly to the
detriment of the goals and objectives of the APC.
“We had hoped that with a difference of just 8 votes between
Dogara and Femi (Gbajabiamila), Speaker Dogara would have realised the need to
cultivate a united House.
“To have a genuine agreement that is not tainted by the PDP,
the Dogara group will have to first of all cut off the umbilical cord between
it and the PDP and secondly engage in candid reconciliatory discussions with
our group as a whole through our approved members under the leadership of Hon.
Femi Gbajabiamila,” Daura said.
Daura noted that the insistence by his group was not about
Gbajabiamila and others, but about being loyal and committed to the manifesto
of the APC, and adopting the stance of the president that the party’s decision
was supreme.
On the party’s attempt at mediation, Daura disclosed that a
planned second meeting with Sokoto Governor Aminu Tambuwal was yet to take
place.
“To the Dogara Group and their PDP allies, we are aware of
your attempt to deny entry into the House’s chamber to members of the
Loyalists’ Group especially the likes of Hon. Aliyu Madaki, Hon. Rufai
Chanchangi, Hon. Philip Shaibu, Hon. Mohamed Soba, Hon. Isa Aliyu Zuru, Hon.
Ahmed Babba Kaita, Hon. Ismaila Sulaiman, Hon. James Faleke, Hon. Yusuf Ikara,
Hon. Abdullahi Salame and Hon. Abubakar Chika.
“We strongly warn Speaker Dogara that we will not take any
breach of our members’ privileges lightly and we will hold you, Speaker Dogara,
personally responsible. Honour is earned through honourable actions. A word is
enough for the wise!” Daura warned.
However, the position of Hon. Mohammed Monguno, a member of
the Loyalists’ Group, on whether he was adopting the position of the group or
backing the Dogara proposal became unclear yesterday.
Daura, in his address, said the Loyalists’ Group had
“accepted the apology made by Hon. M.T Monguno for being misled into attending
a press conference organised by Speaker Dogara's group yesterday”.
Monguno, who under the original nomination of the APC was
pencilled down for Deputy Speaker, at the briefing on Saturday by the
spokesperson of the Consolidation Group led by Dogara, Hon. Jibrin Abdulmumim,
had expressed support for the Speaker’s proposal on principal posts in the
interest of peace and stability in the House.
Hon. Asabe Vilita, representing Damboa/Chibok/Gwoza Federal
Constituency in Borno State, however claimed at yesterday’s briefing that she
was standing in for Monguno who had to travel to Maiduguri to attend the
funeral of “a brother”.
“He has sent in his unreserved apology for his inability to
attend this press conference. He is bereaved, he lost a brother yesterday in
Borno and he had to travel to attend the funeral and the idea of this press
conference came up after he already left, so he called the leadership of the
Loyalist’s Group and apologised for his inability to attend this press
conference and to buttress his point, he called me here to represent him,” she
said.
Attempts to reach Monguno were unsuccessful as his mobile
was switched off at press time.
In a related development, the spokesperson of the
Consolidation Group, Hon. Abdulmumim, yesterday blamed the distribution of
committees for the unyielding stance of the group backing Gbajabiamila in the
House.
In a telephone interview with THISDAY, Abdulmumim disclosed
that the Loyalists’ Group was consulted before his group went public with the
nominations of Doguwa and Iriase as Majority Leader and Chief Whip, and also
got Monguno on board.
He however alleged that when it became clear that the
Speaker would accommodate Hon. Femi Gbajabiaila and Monguno with “commensurate
committee appointments”, some few members of the Loyalists’ Group also seized
the opportunity to push for the so-called “juicy committees” in the House.
“But the Speaker told them no member of the House had been
promised anything. He told them to wait until the bridge on principal positions
had been crossed, before looking into the committees. He also gave his word
that he would be fair to everyone.
“But they brought out a list with their names on it and
insisted that he gave his commitment to the committees he would give each of
them. The Speaker declined,” Abdulmumim said.
He said that the overtures were made by members of the
Loyalists’ Group in the last one week, alleging that it was these few members
who want the crises to linger.
He, however, noted that the Consolidation Group was
committed to getting through the crisis and would continue collecting
signatures of House members to back the nominations of Doguwa (North-west),
Iriase, (South-south), Hon. Buba Fibrin (North-central) as Deputy House Leader
and Hon. Chike Okafor (South-east) as Deputy Chief Whip.
Abdulmumim refuted claims by the Loyalists’ Group that
Monguno apologised for being part of the press briefing held by Dogara’s
supporters on Saturday.
He also refuted claims that there was a plan to block some
members of the Loyalists’ Group from gaining access to the National Assembly
tomorrow.
“As far as we are concerned, this crisis is over, we have
made compromises; these compromises have been accepted. Some few selfish people
want to be very unreasonable and we believe there is no individual that must be
placed above the House.
“We must make sure that the national interest supersedes
individual interests at all times. That is our position, our arms are open, we
embrace peace so that we can get down to work for the Nigerian people.
“There is no way Doguwa, Iriase and Monguno would have taken
unilateral decisions. It was a collective decision,” Abdulmumim added.
He expressed confidence that the Speaker had satisfied the
recommendations of the APC, as both the letter by the chairman and his response
had been overtaken by events.
“At the last NEC meeting, the party itself, put aside its
list by asking the committee of governors to go and find a solution that
accommodates both parties.
“By that singular action, even the party itself has set
aside that letter. In any case, the Speaker due to the respect he has for the
national chairman, replied the letter. In the letter, of the four names that
the party suggested should be accommodated as principal officers of the House,
three were part of our press conference.
“And today at the press conference that the so-called
Loyalists’ Group had, none of these three attended,” Abdulmumim said.
Credit: Thisday
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