Senators of Nigeria’s 8th National Assembly have vowed to stand by the embattled President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, until he is convicted by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).
Saraki is currently standing trial at the CCT for alleged false declaration of assets; an offence he allegedly committed between 2003 and 2011 when he was Governor of Kwara State.
“We agreed that this Senate should stand by the Senate President in his trial until proven guilty by the court, in accordance with our Constitution and democratic practices all over the world, including South Africa, Brazil and Russia,” Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu said.
Also, the Senate Wednesday made a reconciliatory move by resolving to suspend further considerations on the contentious Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) Amendment Bill, 2016, which is currently before it.
The Upper Chamber also resolved to suspend consideration on the report of its Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions on Senator Kabir Marafa (APC, Zamfara Central). It further agreed that all pending court cases from aggrieved members should be withdrawn in the current effort to reunite the rancorous Eighth Senate in the best interest of Nigeria.
The apex legislative chamber also set up a 12-member reconciliation committee to tackle all pending issues that have been causing division amongst the lawmakers, to ensure a stable and productive Senate. The committee is made up of two senators from each of the six geopolitical zones of the country.
From the South-South, Senators Godswill Akpabio and James Manager are the representatives while North-West is represented by Sani Yerima and Suleiman Hunkunyi. North-East has Buka Abba and Joshua Lidani, and South-East has former Governor of Ebonyi State, Sam Egwu, and Hope Uzodinma as representatives. In the North-Central, Barnabas Gemade and Abdullahi Adamu were chosen to represent the zone while Monsurat Sumonu and Gbenga Ashafa represent the North-West.
These resolutions were the outcome of a two and half hours closed-door session held by the Senate and presided over by Ekweremadu. The Senate, which commenced plenary at 10:57a.m., had quickly passed the votes and proceedings of the previous legislative day before going into the executive session.
Ekweremadu had called on Senator Sonni Ogbuoji, representing Ebonyi South Senatorial District, to move a motion for the adoption of the last votes and proceedings. Curiously, the presiding officer also nominated Marafa, who has been prime antagonist of the leadership of the Eighth Senate, to second the motion.
There was however, some level of apprehension because it was not certain whether Marafa would accept to carry out that parliamentary function since he was known in previous times, to have left the Chamber whenever Ekweremadu presided over plenary. When he stood to second the motion, Marafa comically asked:
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