Senate to Resume Plenary Tuesday

By Deji Elumoye in Abuja

The Senate will on Tuesday resume sitting after a three-week break with the incessant killings across the country especially the recent massacre of over 100 people in Plateau state slated for discussion by Senators.

Reliable sources told THISDAY that the upper chamber of the National Assembly is seriously worried about the inability of the nation’s security agencies to put an end to the spade of killings and cited series of meetings held by Senate with the Chief of Defence Staff, CDS, Defence Minister and Service Chiefs shortly before going on recess in June yet another round of killings was recorded last week in some part of Plateau state.

Tuesday’s plenary , Thisday learnt, will thoroughly review the security situation in the country  after taking a brief from the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki who led a three- man Senate team on condolence visit to Plateau state last week and take a definite decision  on the way forward.

The Senator representing Abia South, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, also at plenary on Tuesday is expected to come under Order 13 of the Senate to intimate his colleagues about his experience in the hands of Department of State Security, DSS, operatives.

Abaribe, was arrested on Thursday, June 21 by security operatives at Nicon Hilton in Abuja and remained incommunicado for six days before he was granted administrative bail on Tuesday, June 26.

Thisday further learnt that Abaribe will use Tuesday’s plenary to lampoon the federal government for clamping down on people with opposing views like him.

Also on Tuesday, another issue that will be before the Senate  is who is the Senator representing  Kogi East in the National Assembly.  

As at Thursday, June 7 when the Senate went on vacation,  Senator Atai Ali of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, was representing Kogi East but barely a week after on Wednesday, June 13, a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja nullified the nomination of Ali as PDP Senatorial candidate for the March, 2015 election.

 Justice Gabriel Kolawole had ruled that Ali was not properly nominated by the PDP to stand for Kogi East Senatorial election in March, 2015 and therefore directed the Clerk of the National Assembly to swear in Ali’s challenger, Air Vice Marshal (AVM), Isaac Alfa, as the authentic Kogi East Senator.

There are, however, strong indications that the Senate may reject the court judgment on the Kogi East senatorial seat presently occupied by Ali.

The likely rejection of the court judgment by the upper chamber stems from an order by the court in its judgement asking the Clerk of Senate, as against the Senate President to swear in Alfa as Senator representing Kogi East. 

According to legal opinion, the order by the court is capable of triggering a constitutional crises in the National Assembly over the engagement and disengagement of lawmakers. 

Commenting on the issue, a legal practitioner, Abdul Sadiq , urged the Senate to reject the judgment of the court, and also cautioned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the consequences of issuing a certificate of return without carefully studying the implication of the judgment. 

According to him, the constitution of Nigeria was unambiguous about the provisions of the law relating to the procedure of engagements and disengagements of members of the National Assembly and lawmakers. 

His words: “The ambiguity occasioned by the judgment of the federal high court by given order of judgment to the Clerk of the Senate, will trigger another lacuna and constitutional crises when carefully studied, and only it’s un-applicability will give a leeway to legal interpretation on the Kogi East Senate judgment properly. 

“According to the provisions, the Clerk of the Senate is the head of management, he or she has nothing to do with administering the oath of office of/on any senator, hence, the order of the federal high court was given to a wrong person.

“Further to these, Chapter 1 Order 7 of the Senate Standing Rules 2015, derived from section 60 of the constitution, obeying such order amounts to violating the constitution as the Clerk of the Senate is not party to the case and such an order of the court cannot be binding on him. 

Sadiq went further “You can’t give an order against someone who is not a party to the suit. The constitutional provision lies with the Senate President and not the Clerk, who without an order of the Senate can’t administer an oath of office on a senator, this has never been done anywhere. 

“However, INEC’s decision on the issuance of certificate of return is a misnomer and the implication of the certificate issued to him was in bad faith. 

“Conversely, this is not new as Senator Albert Bassey, Akwa-Ibom North, is still in the Senate representing his constituency inspite of such certificate issued to Bassey Etim Akpan from the same area.