Senate berates ex-Deputy leader, Ningi over “wrongdoing” comment

  Senate berates ex-Deputy leader, Ningi over “wrongdoing” comment

Nigerian Senate on Monday berated a former Deputy Senate leader, Abdul Ahmed Ningi for alleging that the National Assembly was too soft on national issues, a development that makes President Muhammadu Buhari get involved in wrongdoings.

The Senate expressed surprise that such a comment could come from a ranking Senator and former principal officer in the upper legislative Chamber.

A statement by the Senate spokesperson, Ajibola Basiru which was made available to journalists, condemned the remarks by Senator Ningi, saying, “The 9th Assembly has been too soft on both National Issues and President Muhammadu Buhari on some alleged “wrongdoings” that he said are “detrimental to good governance”.

The statement reminded the former lawmaker that the Senate was not an opposition constituted to antagonise other arms of government.

Ajibola said, the 9th National Assembly headed by Dr Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan has been committed and has pursued good governance more than in the previous sessions.

His statement said, “The barometer to gauge a working Legislature is not how many times it initiated a futile and failed impeachment procedure against a sitting President but the amount of work it could do within the framework of Cooperative bi-partisan legislation”.

He said the 9th Senate had reasons to turn down some executive communications and requests which were done with maturity without acrimony.

“The 9th Assembly represents the ever-increasing maturity of Nigeria’s democracy, he added.

Senator Basiru recounted that the 9th Assembly has been the most successful since the return to civil rule in 1999 adding that “our focus has been on impactful legislations which bother on the economy, security and livelihood of Nigerians.”