The Federal Government has stated
that it is not in anyway involved in the call for the resignation or
impeachment of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, because “it is purely party
affair’’.
AlhajI Lai Mohammed, the Minister
of Information and Culture, stated this on Tuesday while addressing reporters
during an advocacy visit to Blueprint newspapers.
He however pointed out that the
demand of the All Progressives Congress, APC, for Saraki’s resignation was
legitimate.
The minister said the Federal
Government was surprised by the failure of the National Assembly to reconvene
on Tuesday for consideration of INEC’s supplementary budget for the 2019
general elections.
He stated that sudden change of
decision by the National Assembly to reconvene came as a surprise, but the
Federal Government was reaching out to resolve the deadlock.
While fielding questions from the
management of the newspaper, Mohammed said, “We were surprised that it is being
postponed, but I want to assure Nigerians that as we speak, the executive is
reaching out to the legislators to resolve this.
“This is not about playing
politics, elections must hold, no alternative to holding the 2019 general
election.
“We appeal to the sense of
patriotism of our National Assembly members to put differences with the
Executive behind them, real or perceived ones.”
Speaking further, he urged
federal lawmakers to put party differences behind them and do their patriotic
duties.
“We believed that the impasse
will be resolved very soon in the interest of the nation.
“The seed of discord we are
witnessing in the National Assembly today was sowed when Sen. Bukola Saraki
installed himself as Senate President against the wish of the party.
“The practice all over the world
is that the party with majority will determine the leadership of the
Assembly,’’ he said.
Mohammed stated that when a
Speaker of the House of Representatives emerged in 1979 was entirely a
different scenario to what happened in 2015.
“The 1979 being used as
justification was not correct because the NPN was unable to have majority in
the House and therefore merged with NPP.
“The NPN and the NPP sat together
and agreed that while NPN takes control of the Senate the NPP will take control
of leadership of the House of Representatives,’’ he said.
The minister said the Saraki made
matters worse when Sen. Ike Ekweremadu of PDP emerged as Deputy Senate
President.
“By making PDP as Deputy Senate
President, the APC is done for. This is a danger and time bomb waiting to
happen.
“It is legitimate for the party
to say, if you leave my party upon which you ride to become Senate President it
is only right for Saraki to leave the party,’’ he said.
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