- Senate president, Senator Bukola Saraki, says the confirmation of REC at the plenary does not imply that the lawmakers have uplifted the embargo placed on appointments by the presidency
- Saraki assures Senators that the upper chamber never goes against its resolutions
- The Senate president notes that the Senate’s embargo on confirmation of appointments does not extend to appointments explicitly stated in the constitution
Senate president, Senator Bukola Saraki, has maintained that the Senate's embargo on the confirmation of appointments made by the presidency remains in place.
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Searaki made the statement on Thursday, July 20, when clarifying that the confirmation of Resident Electoral Commissioners (REC) at the plenary did not imply that the lawmakers had changed their position regarding their embargo on appointment by the presidency, The Punch reports.
The Senate president made the clarification after the senator representing Abia south senatorial district, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, raised a point of order shortly before the Senate confirmed the REC appointments to ask if the senators had rescinded their decision over the issue as reported in the media.
Abaribe said: “This morning, because of the reports in the newspapers that the Senate has soft-pedaled on the resolution by the Senate with regard to confirmation (of appointments) coming from the Executive, I got a lot of phone calls from my constituency.”
“As you know, my constituency – Abia-South – is represented in the Niger Delta Development Commission. When they saw the newspapers today, they called to find out whether this Senate has changed its stand on the confirmation of the NDDC representatives.”
“Mr. President, I do not know and I want an explanation, if it is true."
In response, Saraki said the Senate’s resolution not to confirm presidential appointment stands, adding that the upper chamber never goes against its resolutions.
He however stated that the embargo does not extend to appointments explicitly stated in the constitution.
He said: “If you can recollect, what we said was that anybody (appointment) that is explicitly stated in the Constitution – if you go to Section 153 or 171 – referenced to ministerial and ambassadorial appointments are the only ones that we would continue to consider.
“These are ambassadors, ministers or bodies explicitly stated in the Constitution.
“All bodies that are by the law of the National Assembly (Acts of Parliament) are still affected by the resolution. The Independent National Electoral Commission is under Section 153(f).
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“I want to reassure you that we have not moved away from this resolution. We don’t have the powers – just as presiding officers – to move away from it; we must come back to you (legislators)."
The Senate president asked the lawmakers to disregard what they have read in the newspapers and be guided that by the fact that presiding officers of the chamber respect the law and their colleagues.
NAIJ.com recalls that members of the Senate called for the suspension of consideration and confirmation of appointments by President Muhammadu Buhari over a comment credited to Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo that executive appointments did not require legislative approval based on Section 171 of the Constitution.
The Punch reported that call came from the lawmakers when a letter from Osinbajo asked the Senate to confirm the nomination of Mr. Lanre Gbajabiamila as Chairman of the National Lottery Commission, which was read by President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, at the plenary.
NAIJ.com gathered that while strongly condemning Osinbajo for the comment, the lawmakers successively asked that an embargo should be placed on confirmation of executive appointments pending the time the powers of the legislature had been recognised.
While threatening that legislators might move against the leadership of the Senate if it failed to take a drastic action against the executive in 48 hours, the lawmakers asked that invitation from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to any member be ignored.
In the video below, NAIJ.com TV asked some Nigerians if they support calls for the Senate to be scrapped.