Anti-Saraki senators demand cancellation of new senate committees

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Two principal members of the Senate Unity Forum, Senators Suleiman Hunkunyi and Kabiru Marafa, on Tuesday demanded the immediate cancellation of the additional eight committees created last week by Senate President, Bukola Saraki, on the grounds of illegality.

They also sought the review of the entire process which led to the appointment of chairmen and vice chairmen of the committees, claiming that the selection committee, headed by Saraki, was not properly constituted.

The SUF is made up of All Progressives Congress senators who worked against the emergence of Senator Bukola Saraki as president of the upper chamber.

Hunkunyi, the Secretary of the group and Marafa, the spokesperson, made the demand while raising different points of order on the floor of the Senate, to protest the announcement of the committees by Saraki last week Wednesday.

They argued that the senate leadership erred by not seeking the approval of the entire senators before making public the new committees despite the fact that necessary sections of the nation’s constitution and the senate rules made adequate provisions for that.

Marafa, who was appointed chairman of the newly created National Identity & National Population, and Hunkunyi, the Vice-Chairman of the committee on Federal Character & Inter Governmental Affairs, expressed their determination to relinquish their appointments with immediate effect.

While Saraki ruled that the observations of Marafa would be noted by the selection committee, he ruled Hunkunyi out of order since he had already addressed the issues as raised by the spokesperson of the SUF.

Not satisfied with the ruling of the senate president, both senators addressed journalists after plenary.

Marafa (APC-Zamfara Central) said the committees were not subjected to the approval of all senators in plenary, explaining that Section 62 (4) of the constitution stated that all committees must be approved by all senators.

He explained that another development, which made the committees null and void, was the increment of committees from 57 to 65.

According to him, some sections of Order 97 of the Senate Standing Rule specify that only 57 committees shall be constituted.

The lawmaker also noted that the leadership of the committees was lopsided as it did not reflect even representation of the six geopolitical zones.

He further pointed out that the Selection Committee, the committee saddled with the responsibility of constituting the standing committees, was itself not properly constituted.

He said the selection committee was made up mainly of new senators, flouting the standing order which specified that it should be constituted based on ranking.

He said, “What we are witnessing today in the National Assembly and the Senate in particular is legislative tyranny, where impunity wants to be the order of the day. Laws are meant to be respected and if we can treat our Order with impunity then we have no business being here.

“There is no committee. They are not legally constituted and they cannot function. Any further action is unacceptable to Nigerians and I have discharged that responsibility.”

Similarly, Hunkuyi (Kaduna North) said there were procedures for constituting standing committees, insisting that there was no resolution on the committees at plenary.

He said, “This is one of the three issues that we are contending. We are blowing the whistle, educating those that do not know and then throwing light on those areas that we feel require Nigerians to know.”

However, in a reaction, the Spokesperson for the Senate, Senator Abdullahi Sabi, said the committees were approved during the adoption of votes and proceedings.

Sabi said no lawmaker had the power to declare any proceeding in the House null and void because they were not judges.

Source: Punch