Senators Loyal To Saraki Demands Withdrawal Of CCT Case

Senators loyal to Senate President Bukola Saraki, has demanded the withdrawal of the suit against him at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, describing the trial as political.

The senators stated this at a meeting of the All Progressives Congress National Working Committee with members of the party’s senate caucus in the National Asembly Tuesday.

The meeting, which was held in Room 022 in the New Building section of the National Assembly Complex, Abuja, began shortly after Saraki and the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, led others to the venue at 2.30pm before journalists were sent out at 2.45pm.

The senators according to a source admitted that they were too confrontational against the President.

“They said the Presidency was not supposed to be finding things difficult with us since we belonged to the same party.

“However, several senators explained that they were not happy with the President’s style. They complained that the President was not giving them due consideration especially. They said most of the people the President was appointing were unknown to them.

“Some of the senators also asked the party leadership to ensure that Saraki’s trial at the CCT was stopped as this would be the perfect way to reconcile the two arms of government.”

It was learnt that the party leaders promised to convey the issues to Buhari while the senators said they would ensure that the 2017 budget was swiftly looked into as well as the screening of the Resident Electoral Commissioners and ministers.

Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Odigie-Oyegun called on party stakeholders to “cease fire.”

He said, “My appeal is that as we start now the process of reconstructing relationships and consultations, there should be what I will call a ceasefire in terms of the kind of abuse that is used all round on one institution of government or the other, even principal parties of these institutions.”

Saraki, on his part pointed out that whether there were issues or not, regular consultations between the caucus and the party were important.

He stated, “Despite all the noise you heard last week, we still passed an amendment to the INEC law that had been there for over six or seven years.

“By this time next week, our Committee on Petroleum will lay the PIB, which has never been done.”

“It’s unfortunate but the most important thing is that a lot of stakeholders must respect these institutions. These institutions are there now and they are going to be there after, and we should not allow our selfish interests to enable us to try and ridicule the institutions.”

When asked if the suspension of the former Majority Leader of the Senate, Senator Ali Ndume, was raised at the meeting, Saraki replied, “Your question again is distracting from the issues. You have 108 senators here and you have the National Chairman. Let us focus on national issues.”