The Nigerian Senate is an arm of government
that must be respected in any decision it
takes in the course of exercising its powers
as an independent institution, the presidency
said on Tuesday.
The comment came in reaction to the
decision of the upper legislative chamber to
suspend consideration of his nominees for
Resident Electoral Commissioners in protest
against Ibrahim Magu ’s continued stay in
office as the acting chairman of the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The senators had declined to confirm Mr.
Magu as substantive chairman of the anti-
graft office after two requests by President
Muhammadu Buhari.
The president sent a list of 27 nominees to
the Senate last week. The senators also
protested alleged disrespect of the National
Assembly by appointees of the president.
The Senate has been locked in prolonged
supremacy battle with the Secretary to the
Government of the Federation , Babachir
Lawal , and Comproller-General of Customs ,
Hameed Ali.
Mr. Lawal and Mr. Ali declined separate
summons of the Senate last week, over
issues bordering on alleged corruption and
non-compliance official dress code,
respectively. But speaking in response to the
lawmakers, President Buhari’s Senate liaison
officer, Ita Enang , said the administration will
respect the decision of the lawmakers and
pursue dialogue with them.
“We will not question the power of the senators
to take decision on how they want to conduct
nomination hearings,” Mr. Enang told said on
telephone today . “We will not go fighting with
them”.
Instead, “we will listen to their grievances and
reason along with them,” Mr. Enang said
shortly after the Senate took the decision to
protest Mr. Magu’s continued stay in office.
He declined to say if the president will now
ask Mr. Magu to step aside, saying he will
“not go into specifics.”
Shortly after rejecting Mr. Magu penultimate,
the senators urged the president to relieve
the EFCC chief of his job and name a
temporary replacement pending fresh
nomination of a substantive chairman.
Today’s development marked the second time
in recent months that the Senate would move
to force the hands of the executive on
national issues.
In November 2016, the senators threatened to
boycott plenary to protest a prolonged delay in
conducting re-run elections in Rivers State.
The Independent National Electoral
Commission swiftly announced dates for the
elections, which was held the following
month.
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