Buhari Clashes With Senate Again

The Punch reports about a new clash between Buhari and the Senate over an alleged attempt by the president to rubbish the senate president, Bukola Saraki. Senators who are loyal to Saraki are accusing the Presidency of instigating Anastacia Nwaobia, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, not to honour an invitation by the upper chamber.The source reports that Nwaobia had communicated to the Senate that she could not honour its invitation without an approval by her supervisors to do so while the Saraki loyalists stated that the Senate had the constitutional power to invite Nwaobia and that her refusal constituted an affront to the legitimacy of the senate president.
On Sunday an anonymous senator said: “It will not augur well for our democracy if the Presidency will not allow civil servants to do their jobs. We should not carry the crisis in the APC to the Senate.”
“Both Saraki and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, had spurned the party’s directive on who to lead the National Assembly and had ridden on the back of an alleged alliance with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party members to clinch the leadership posts in both chambers,” the source explained.
It should be noted that the APC had preferred a Yobe State senator, Ahmad Lawan, as the Senate President. On Sunday a group supporting Ahmad Lawan stated that it supported Nwaobia because Saraki was said to lack both legitimacy and the moral right to invite the permanent secretary to brief the senate on the state of the economy.
In their turn a pro-Saraki group said that the offending permanent secretary failed to honour the Senate’s invitation because she did not get clearance from the Presidency.
According to The Punch, as of Friday the permanent secretary had yet to neither appear before the Senate leadership nor respond to the letters from the National Assembly management.
Saraki’s supporters were angry that the Presidency could encourage the civil servants to disobey the Senate.
Nwaobia was invited to appear before the Senate ad hoc committee on Finance on July 8. However ,the permanent secretary did not honour the invitation.
After that the Clerk to the National Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa, sent another letter to her.
The letter says: “I refer to our letter Ref. No. NASS/S//SP/ COS/CORRP/15/1/06 of June 29, 2015 on the above subject matter and your text message of July 7, 2015 to the Chief of Staff to the Senate President, signifying your inability to honour the invitation. Your action is a deliberate violation of the provisions of Section 67(2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999(as amended). You are, therefore, requested to appear before the Senate leadership as contained in your aforementioned letter on Wednesday July 8, 2015 at 2.00pm prompt.”

The third letter from Issa Galaudu, the Chief of Staff to the Senate President, states: “Please note that your text message of yesterday, Tuesday, July 7, 2015, which I received by hours of 20:02 pm, suggesting that you would not make today’s meeting, is unacceptable.This is an affront to the President of the Senate and its leadership. The provision of Section 67(2) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), is very clear and unambiguous in this regard. Hence, you do not need the permission of any official before you attend or appear before the Senate.Consequently, I have the instructions of the President of the Senate and leadership that you do appear before them on the date and time earlier communicated to you, Wednesday, July 8, 2015 by 11am prompt. It is my belief that you will comply unconditionally.”
However, Nwaobia had not appeared before the Senate.
A source from the ministry confided that based on civil service procedures, it would be wrong for the permanent secretary to honour the invitation without first getting the approval of the Head of Service of the Federation. The source also added that the permanent secretary reports directly to the HoS and not the Senate, it would amount to a breach of protocol for her to appear before the lawmakers without getting the consent of the HoS.
The Lawan’s group supported Nwaobia’s shunning of the Senate invitation.
On Sunday Senator Kabir Marafa who is the group’s spokesman said: “I read with open mouth amazement, the letter written by both the Chief of Staff to the Senate President and that of the Clerk to the National Assembly on the refusal or inability of a government functionary to honour the invitation of the “leadership” of the senate.They were saying the refusal violates section 67(2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Can somebody please tell them that they are guilty of similar, if not higher offence? They, in fact, not only violated the Constitution to ascend to the Senate leadership, they murdered it.”