Crisis Looms As Buhari, Saraki Loyalists Threaten Showdown
Amajor crisis is looming in the Senate between loyalists of President Muhammadu Buhari and Senate President Bukola Saraki as the legislators get set to reconvene temporarily this week, Daily Trust on Sunday can report. Barring any change of decision, senators from the two camps are set to clash over the leadership of the Senate, following Saraki’s defection from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) about a fortnight ago.
While lawmakers loyal to Buhari under the Parliamentary Support Group (PSG) insist that Saraki must vacate his seat else they remove him, the Senate President’s loyalists say he is going nowhere.
The two chambers are expected to reconvene on Tuesday from annual recess, to consider and approve budget for the 2018 general elections.
There are indications that APC lawmakers would use the opportunity to oust Saraki, a move that the Senate President’s loyalists are battle-ready to resist.
A former governor of Nasarawa State, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, has said that Saraki should be held responsible if crisis erupts when the Senate reconvenes on Tuesday.
Adamu, who chairs the Senate committee on Agriculture, insisted that Saraki can no longer preside over the Senate following his defection to PDP.
“Well, I believe if he is a man of honour, he should go. On the other hand, if he is hell-bent on creating a crisis, he should be held responsible for whatever his action precipitates,” he said.
Asked what will the APC do should Saraki presides over on Tuesday, Adamu said: “You people want ABCD for everything. What I’m saying is, if he is a man of honour, he should go. Our party’s position is clear on this and I stand by it. If he has honour at all, he should go.
“He is in the Senate because he was elected by Nigerians like all of us, but he cannot leave the party and still hold onto the position he got while he was a member of our party. Remember, he got the position in a very dishonorable way and he cannot continue to hold onto it while he is no more in the party.”
You cannot remove Saraki by force Misau
But the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Navy, Senator Isah Hamma Misau (PDP, Bauchi), said Saraki cannot be removed by force.
Reacting to the position of the APC senators, he said, “If the constitution says this is the procedure of removing a Senate President and some people are saying they don’t care about the provision, that is the problem between them and the law, it is not for me to interpret.
“What we are saying is that, the constitution is clear and the seat is not for anybody. Today, if we decide that a Senator from APGA would be able to lead us very well, we can decide to give him, it is not for any party.
“We cannot do anything illegal, we have to follow the law. Even Saraki has said it that if the Senate resumes and the 2/3 of the Senate say they don’t want him, he will go. They are ready to go. Are we going to fight somebody because he says they are going to do something illegal? Whatever they do against the law, we have court of law. They are wasting their time.”
How Saraki can be impeached according to constitution
According to the 1999 Constitution, Saraki can only be impeached by two-third of the senators.
There have been claims and counterclaims as to whether Saraki could be impeached or removed.
A senator who belongs to the PSG) told Daily Trust on Sunday at the weekend that they could remove Saraki without going through an impeachment process.
The senator, who did not want his name mentioned, said whether Saraki likes it or not, he would be removed by the APC lawmakers when they properly reconvene.
The constitution provides two other reasons why a Senate President or a Speaker of House of Representatives could vacate his seat.
The constitution in Section 50 (2), provides that “The President or Deputy President of the Senate or the Speaker or Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives shall vacate his office:
“(a) if he ceases to be a member of the Senate or of the House of Representatives, as the case may be, otherwise than by reason of a dissolution of the Senate or the House of Representatives; or
“(b) when the House of which he was a member first sits after any dissolution of that House; or
“(c) if he is removed from office by a resolution of the Senate or of the House of Representatives, as the case may be, by the votes of not less than two-thirds majority of the members of that House.”
The constitution, it was observed, does not use however either impeachment or removal but the word “vacate.”