The Nigerian Senate on Sunday, July 3, stated that the Red chamber has been vindicated by the ruling of Justice Gabriel Kolawole, which described the Senate Rules forgery suit, as an abuse of court process and a decision taken against public interest.
The spokesperson of the Senate, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, in a statement made available to Post-Nigeria, accused the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Mallami, of acting a partisan script in the suit.
Senate President, Bukola Saraki, his Deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, the outgoing Clerk to the National Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa and Deputy Clerk, Ben Efeturi, are being tried at an Abuja High Court, over forgery allegations.
The Senate in the statement, urged Malami to hid to the advise of former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, and also address the issue of his personal and pecuniary interest in the case, as he was a counsel to the aggrieved Senators, who decided to externalise the issue of election of the leadership of the upper chamber, after they failed in their bid to get their preferred candidate elected.
“It has now become obvious from the ruling of Justice Kolawole, and in the facts of the matter before the Federal High Court, Malami was the one who advised his clients to report the matter to the police, and now that he has become AGF, he decided to use his constitutional powers to pursue private interest by filing a criminal case in the FCT High Court against the subsisting ruling of a court of co-ordinate jurisdiction,” the statement read.
He said the Senate invited the AGF to throw light on the forgery case, and not to challenge his right to file or discontinue any criminal case, but for him to explain the issues of conflict of interest, abuse of office, disrespect of a subsisting order of a court and violation of the principle of Separation of Powers, which are being raised against him.
“In conclusion, the Senate is calling on all parties, Malami, the Attorney General inclusive, to heed the wise, timely and apt advice of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar that, “it is time to move on”.“Truly, Nigeria needs our collective energy to address the various challenges, notably increasing poverty, hunger, youth unemployment, general insecurity and kidnapping, among others – which are time bombs that we can only ignore at our own collective peril”, the statement said.
Atiku, had earlier urged leaders of the All Progressives Congress, APC, to shift from “extreme positions, to a centrist one, for the interest of democracy and the party, the new administration and the country at large”.
He had made the call on Thursday, against the backdrop of the APC NEC meeting in Abuja, on Friday.
A statement released by his media office in Abuja, quoted Atiku as calling for the concentration of positive energies on building unity, cohesion and harmony, among party leaders and other stakeholders
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