L
LequteMan
Guest
The APC leadership on Tuesday met with its caucus at the Nigerian senate in a way to bridge the gap between the senate and the presidency.
The meeting started around 2:30 pm and went on for about 3 hours.
During the meeting, APC Chairman John Odigie Oyegun implored the senators to shield their swords. He called for a ceasefire since moves have been implemented to bring about peace between both parties.
Senate President Bukola Saraki answered, saying whether there were issues or not, regular consultations between the caucus and the party were important.
“It’s unfortunate but the most important thing is that a lot of stakeholders must respect these institutions. These institutions are there now and they are going to be there after, and we should not allow our selfish interests to enable us to try and ridicule the institutions.”
Newsmen were shown the door 15 minutes into the meeting.
Speaking after the end of the meeting, a senator, who spoke anonymously, said:
“We told the leadership of our party that political appointees of President Muhammadu Buhari were using the media against us, especially Magu. We stated to them that Magu (case) was brought in dead; that what we did was to only conduct his funeral.
“We called the attention of the party leaders to the fact that an agency under the executive issues a damning report twice against the nominee under the same executive. We told them we were not to be blamed for what happened to Magu.
“Many reiterated the fact that Magu’s case was dead on arrival at the Senate and there was no way we could have ignored the report and clear him.”
“We also called for more respect for the institution of the Senate, especially by those under the executive. That was where the cases of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (Mr. Babachir Lawal) and the Director General of the Nigeria Customs Service (Col. Hameed Ali) were cited.”
“We told the party that we have been considerate enough. In fact, we would have rejected about four ministerial nominees but we felt we should not embarrass the President Buhari-led administration.”
He added that the APC leadership realized that they were lacking in some respect.
“They also realised that they had not been playing their role. We even asked Odigie-Oyegun if he usually takes directives from President Buhari before taking actions regarding the party. We told him that he did not need to consult with the President before playing his role as the leader of the party. We also warned the leaders that our party might find it difficult to win elections the way things are going.”
Apart from this, Senator loyal to saraki called for the striking out of the fraud case against him at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
The APC leadership promised to convey their message to President Muhammadu Buhari and the senators hinted that they may confirm the INEC RECs the presidency nominated earlier.
The meeting started around 2:30 pm and went on for about 3 hours.
During the meeting, APC Chairman John Odigie Oyegun implored the senators to shield their swords. He called for a ceasefire since moves have been implemented to bring about peace between both parties.
Senate President Bukola Saraki answered, saying whether there were issues or not, regular consultations between the caucus and the party were important.
“It’s unfortunate but the most important thing is that a lot of stakeholders must respect these institutions. These institutions are there now and they are going to be there after, and we should not allow our selfish interests to enable us to try and ridicule the institutions.”
Newsmen were shown the door 15 minutes into the meeting.
Speaking after the end of the meeting, a senator, who spoke anonymously, said:
“We told the leadership of our party that political appointees of President Muhammadu Buhari were using the media against us, especially Magu. We stated to them that Magu (case) was brought in dead; that what we did was to only conduct his funeral.
“We called the attention of the party leaders to the fact that an agency under the executive issues a damning report twice against the nominee under the same executive. We told them we were not to be blamed for what happened to Magu.
“Many reiterated the fact that Magu’s case was dead on arrival at the Senate and there was no way we could have ignored the report and clear him.”
“We also called for more respect for the institution of the Senate, especially by those under the executive. That was where the cases of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (Mr. Babachir Lawal) and the Director General of the Nigeria Customs Service (Col. Hameed Ali) were cited.”
“We told the party that we have been considerate enough. In fact, we would have rejected about four ministerial nominees but we felt we should not embarrass the President Buhari-led administration.”
He added that the APC leadership realized that they were lacking in some respect.
“They also realised that they had not been playing their role. We even asked Odigie-Oyegun if he usually takes directives from President Buhari before taking actions regarding the party. We told him that he did not need to consult with the President before playing his role as the leader of the party. We also warned the leaders that our party might find it difficult to win elections the way things are going.”
Apart from this, Senator loyal to saraki called for the striking out of the fraud case against him at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
The APC leadership promised to convey their message to President Muhammadu Buhari and the senators hinted that they may confirm the INEC RECs the presidency nominated earlier.
