Alleged Forgery of Senate Rules: Questions for Abubakar Malami
The Governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola has to take proactive steps to end the Hijab crisis in his state instead of making inflammatory statements. Few days ago, I heard him accusing the media of celebrating idiocy “by focusing on the decision of some misguided students of Baptist High School to wear church garments to school.” He also said it was wrong for any religious body to claim the ownership of any public school in the state as “government took over the schools about 41 years ago.” I don’t think he should be making statements like this amidst high tension in the state. This has been fueling insinuations that he is behind the hijab crisis rocking the education sector in this prostrate state. A state that is experiencing calamitous economic crisis can’t afford to add a religious crisis. Christians and Muslims have been living in peace in this state for years before Aregbesola’s birth. I am not sorry to say that the Hijab crisis is another diversionary tactic by the governor to shift attention away from his gross ineptitude. His tenure has brought unprecedented pain to the people of Osun State. Civil servants are permanently on strike. Here, people struggle to get a meal in a day because of the abject poverty in Osun. Workers have not been paid for months, while infrastructure in critical sectors like health, education and road are in an abysmal state.
Moving forward, the status quo should be maintained while the governor should take swift political steps to end this Hijab logjam. For the clerics that went to St. Charles’ High School and Ife Oluwa Middle School, both in Osogbo to enforce the use of Hijab, they should note that Islam is a religion of peace. And for those clerics who encouraged our kids to forcefully enter schools wearing Christian garments, they should note that Jesus Christ is the prince of peace and love. Our children must be encouraged to study and live together in peace, whether Christians or Muslims. We must all work against misled folks and terrorists who in the name of religion cause mayhem and disturb the peaceful co-existence of societies.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami needs to respond to the legion of questions about his role in the case of alleged forgery of Senate rules preferred against the leadership of the Nigerian Senate and the National Assembly bureaucracy by the federal government. For example, did you in 2015 act as one of the lawyers to the key actors in the suit against the leadership of the Senate as revealed by some court papers in circulation? Is it true that you Abubakar Malami lost this same matter in court in 2015 while in private legal practice and acting for some of the complainants? If so, why did you not indicate your interest in this present case, to avoid a case of conflict of interest? My dear Abubakar, you need to respond to these questions to douse the tension about your complicity in this case.
For me, this resurrected case of forgery of Senate rules is an unnecessary digression. In that similar case in August last year, the presiding judge, Justice Ademola Adeniyi struck out the case, ruling that the judiciary could not interfere in what took place at the hallowed chambers of the Senate. He re- ferred to the case of Senator Abraham Adesanya vs the Federal Government of Nigeria at the Supreme Court, where the apex court upheld the concept of separation of powers.