Abuja, Nigeria, June 27- Today we the leaders of the Nigerian
Senate reiterate our innocence against the charges filed by the Attorney
General of the Federal Government of Nigeria at the Federal Capital
Territory (FCT) High Court on the allegations of forgery of the Senate
Standing Rules document.
In our view, the charges filed by the
Attorney General represent a violation of the principle of the
Separation of Powers between the Executive Branch and the Legislative
Branch as enshrined in our Constitution. Furthermore, it is farcical to
allege that a criminal act occurred during Senate procedural actions
and the mere suggestion demonstrates a desperate overreach by the office
of the Attorney General. These trumped up charges is only another phase
in the relentless persecution of the leadership of the Senate
This
misguided action by the Attorney General begs the question, how does
this promote the public interest and benefit the nation? At a time when
the whole of government should be working together to meet Nigeria’s
many challenges, we are once again distracted by the Executive Branch’s
inability to move beyond a leadership election among Senate peers. It
was not an election of Senate peers and Executive Branch participants.
Over
the past year the Senate has worked to foster good relations with the
Executive Branch. It is in all of our collective interests to put aside
divisions and get on with the nation’s business. We risk alienating
and losing the support of the very people who have entrusted their
national leaders to seek new and creative ways to promote a secure and
prosperous Nigeria. As leaders and patriots, it is time to rise above
partisanship and to move forward together.
However, what has
become clear is that there is now a government within the government of
President Buhari who have seized the apparatus of Executive powers to
pursue their nefarious agenda.
This latest
onslaught on the Legislature represents a clear and present danger to
the democracy Nigerians fought hard to win and preserve. The suit filed
on behalf of the Federal government suggests that perhaps some forces
in the Federal Republic have not fully embraced the fact that the
Senate’s rules and procedures govern how the legislative body
adjudicates and resolves its own disputes.
Let it be
abundantly clear, both as a citizen and as a foremost Legislator, I will
continue to rise above all the persecution and distraction that have
been visited on me. In the words of Martin Luther King Junior, “the
ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort
and convenience, but where he stands at a time of challenge and
controversy”.
I will remain true and committed
to the responsibilities that my citizenship and my office impose on me.
Without doubt, the highest of those responsibilities is the steadfast
refusal to surrender to the subversion of our democracy and the
desecration of the Senate. This is a cross I am prepared to carry. If
yielding to the nefarious agenda of a few individuals who are bent in
undermining our democracy and destabilizing the Federal government to
satisfy their selfish interests is the alternative to losing my personal
freedom, let the doors of jails be thrown open and I shall be a happy
guest.
Signed
Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, CON
President, Senate of the Federal Republic
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