The Attorney General of the Federation and Chief Justice of
Nigeria, Abubakar Malami, today honored the senate's invitation where he had to
explain why the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu,
were being tried for alleged forgery of senate standing order.
At the hearing, Malami explained to members of the Committee
why he could not honor the last invitation. "My inability to attend was
out of sheer circumstances not out of disgust for Senate.
I am known for a tradition
of honouring invitations"he said
Addressing issues on the alleged forgery of senate standing
order, Malami said the allegation predates him as the police had carried out an
investigation into the matter in July 2015 and had come up with their conclusion.
He said he was appointed a Minister in November same year and acted on the
criminal cases forwarded to him by the police, one of which is the alleged
forgery of senate order.
Malami said that the senate standing order being contested
was never deliberated upon by the house which is against the house rule. He
referred to a scenario when there was a need to amend the Senate Rules on 18th
May, 2011.
According to him, there was a process of deliberation. He
noted that a Standing Rule that has not been deliberated and voted on by the
Senate cannot be the Standing Rule. He stressed that based on the non-adherence
to the Constitution in amending the Standing Rules, his office filed the case,
adding that the criminal case was filed to curb abuse of institutional
governing documents.
Responding, the chairman of the senate committee, Senator
David Umaru, said there was no need to have singled out Saraki and Ekweremadu
for trial since the police investigation report did not mention them as those
behind the alleged forgery.
"Did it make any difference to you that Bukola Saraki
and Ekweremadu were not mentioned in the investigation?" he asked.
Another member of the committee, Senator Utazi cited Section
30 of Legislative Powers Act which states that the Senate President and Speaker
cannot be investigated.
"I wish to refer the AGF to Section 64 (1) which
dissolves the Parliament after 4 years. In 2011, the Parliament exercised its
powers to amend the documents that were handed to them by the bureaucracy. This
Senate has authenticated it's Standing Rules. You can't import what happened in
7th Assembly into 8th Assembly. Rules are dissolved at the end of the
session" he said
Another member of the committee, Senator Lidani, said it
will be a disservice to try Saraki and Ekweremadu since they were not mention
in the proof of evidence filed in the police report
"From the Proof of Evidence filed, where were the
Senate principal officers mentioned in the case? We will be doing ourselves a
great disservice if the 2 principal officers who were not mentioned in the
proof of evidence are brought up on frivolous charges. We should be careful not
to taint the institution"he said
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