The Attorney General of the Federation and Chief Justice of
Nigeria, Abubakar Malami, today honored the senate's
invitation where he had to explain why the Senate President,
Bukola Saraki and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, were being
At the hearing, Malami explained to members of the
Committee why he could not honor the last invitation. "My
inability to attend was out of sheer circumstances not out of
disgust for Senate. I am known for a tradition of honouring
invitations"he said
Addressing issues on the alleged forgery of senate standing
order, Malami said the allegation predates him as the police
had carried out an investigation into the matter in July 2015
and had come up with their conclusion. He said he was
appointed a Minister in November same year and acted on
the criminal cases forwarded to him by the police, one of
which is the alleged forgery of senate order.
Malami said that the senate standing order being contested
was never deliberated upon by the house which is against the HF
house rule. He referred to a scenario when there was a need
to amend the Senate Rules on 18th May, 2011.
According to him, there was a process of deliberation. He
noted that a Standing Rule that has not been deliberated and
voted on by the Senate cannot be the Standing Rule. He
stressed that based on the non-adherence to the Constitution
in amending the Standing Rules, his office filed the case,
adding that the criminal case was filed to curb abuse of
institutional governing documents.
Responding, the chairman of the senate committee, Senator
David Umaru, said there was no need to have singled out
Saraki and Ekweremadu for trial since the police investigation
report did not mention them as those behind the alleged
forgery.
"Did it make any difference to you that Bukola Saraki
and Ekweremadu were not mentioned in the
investigation?" he asked.
Another member of the committee, Senator Utazi cited
Section 30 of Legislative Powers Act which states that the
Senate President and Speaker cannot be investigated.
"I wish to refer the AGF to Section 64 (1) which
dissolves the Parliament after 4 years. In 2011, the
Parliament exercised its powers to amend the
documents that were handed to them by the
bureaucracy. This Senate has authenticated it's
Standing Rules. You can't import what happened in
7th Assembly into 8th Assembly. Rules are dissolved
at the end of the session" he said
Another member of the committee, Senator Lidani, said it will
be a disservice to try Saraki and Ekweremadu since they were
not mention in the proof of evidence filed in the police report
"From the Proof of Evidence filed, where were the
Senate principal officers mentioned in the case? We
will be doing ourselves a great disservice if the 2
principal officers who were not mentioned in the
proof of evidence are brought up on frivolous
charges. We should be careful not to taint the
institution"he said
The committee had no further deliberation. They thanks
Malami for honoring their invitation.
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