The Senate on Thursday vowed that it would not concede its powers to the Executive.
This followed a Point-of-Order raised by the Deputy Leader of the Senate, Sen. Bala Na’Allah at plenary.
Quoting
Order 43 of Senate Standing Rule, Na’Allah said that there were media
reports credited to Acting President Yemi Osinbajo to the effect that
the National Assembly did not possess any power to alter the budget.
He expressed concern that such statement was attributed to the acting president, saying that he was knowledge enough in law.
”We
have operated the Constitution from 1999 to date and I have had the
privilege to work with the Acting President while I was practicing in
Lagos as a lawyer.
”We did a lot of things together. So, he is somebody that I know so much.
“I
will rather believe that what was alleged to have been said could not
have been said by him and even if he spoke on the matter, he was
misquoted.
”For the avoidance of
doubt, this same Constitution we operated from 1999 to date has section
80, and the title of section 80 is `Power and Control over Public
Funds’,’’ he said.
He read out the
provisions of sections 2, 3 and 4 of the Constitution to support the
argument, adding the Constitution recognised that Nigeria operated a
federal structure.
Na’Allah said that the
Constitution also recognised that Nigeria was multi-lingual,
multi-ethnic and multi-religious and that that was the reason issues of
domination were raised in the constitution-making process.
He
explained that it was the fear of domination that made framers of the
Constitution to provide for representation on the basis of population
and land mass and on the basis of equality of states.
”This
is what gave birth to a bi-cameral legislature – the Senate and the
House of Representatives. The House provides representation based on
population and land mass while the Senate is based on equality of
states.
”So, I know that the
Acting President who is a Professor of law is sufficiently trained in
law to know that the National Assembly has powers to tinker with the
budget.
”I am not making a case for him and I do not want to believe that he said what has been alleged that he said.
”I
also want to assuage the fears of my colleagues that what was alleged
to have been said does not represent the spirit of the framers of our
Constitution,” Na’Allah said.
He said that the explanation was necessary to allay the fears of the lawmakers.
In
his remarks, President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, said that there
was no ambiguity in the Constitution on the responsibility of the
National Assembly.
He commended the
deputy leader of the senate for raising the point, and said that he also
sure that the acting president must have been misquoted on the issue.
“This matter has been cleared and settled by the Constitution. So, I don’t think there are any issues here that are vague.
”I will like to believe too that the Acting President must have been wrongly quoted,” he said.
Saraki said that the leadership of the national assembly has had consultations with the Executive.
According
to him, those consultations did not in any way suggest that we will
give up legislative powers as contained in the Constitution.
”I
want to reassure our members on this because it is very important.
Based on what we have heard, you may be concerned that one way or
another, the leadership has given up some of these powers.
”That
is not the case. I believe that as responsible statesmen, there are
times we consult and do our best to work with the Executive and assist
them.
”But, as we bend
backwards, I don’t think that it should be misrepresented that powers
given to us in the Constitution do not exist.
”That
is not the case, and this Senate will continue to defend the
Constitution and ensure that anything we do is in line with the laws of
the land,” Saraki said.
He announced the adjournment of plenary until July 4.
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