Showdown imminent as Senate resumes

   

    As the National Assembly resumes tomorrow, indications have emerged of an imminent showdown in the Senate.

 Highly placed sources in the upper chamber told Daily Trust that a number of senators are still unhappy with the Senate President Bukola Saraki over his recent remarks on the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). The senate president, Daily Trust reports, is already making frantic efforts to calm aggrieved lawmakers following the controversy that his comments have generated.

    Senator Bukola Saraki, the sources said, would have to convince his colleagues as to why he “unilaterally” described the proscription of IPOB as illegal.  But some senators close to Saraki said his seat “remained unshaken because he did not go beyond the boundary.” It was gathered that at the height of the debate ahead of the proscription of IPOB, Saraki had serious misunderstanding with the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami. “A lot of issues came to play, Malami felt the Senate president was undermining the executive. It was a serious issue that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo had to intervene,” a source said.

     Saraki had last Monday issued a statement describing as “unconstitutional,” the proscription and declaration of the IPOB as a terrorists group.  Though some sources said the Senate was sharply divided over what to do with Saraki, considering the “weighty nature of the words he used in calling the attention of the executive arm of government,” other sources said Saraki actually fell into a trap. It was gathered that Saraki’s statement had angered many northern senators, who received endless calls from their constituents as to whether he had their mandate to say what he said.

      Many constituents, especially in the North and some places in the South West, have undiluted support for President Muhammadu Buhari. They hardly tolerate attack on Buhari; they therefore viewed what Saraki said as an affront, disrespect or an attempt to ridicule the presidency,” a source said. A senator said: “Actually, it was a section of the presidency that dug the ditch for Saraki. Some people close to the corridors of power approached and asked him to make the statement on IPOB as the chief lawmaker in order to stabilize the polity. “It was based on their prompting that he issued the statement but unknown to him, it was meant to put him in trouble. But after issuing the statement, they are now mobilising senators against Saraki. 

 Dailytrust