Saraki Opposes Buhari Over Chiefs Says Chiefs Can Be Appointed Without Senate Approval

It was provided July 13 by the presidency that the appointment of the new service chiefs would become effective as soon as the National Assembly approved their candidacies.
President Muhammadu Buhari said:

“Legally, you are in acting capacity until the National Assembly accepts you. It is only then that you

will take the oath of office. Thereafter, we will sit down and talk in more detail.”

Responding to one of the public messages in his Twitter account, the Senate head pointed out that the upper chamber of the Assembly had no legal role in the process.

PT analyzed the legislative grounds and concluded, based on the court ruling dating back to July 1, 2013, that without the NASS approval the appointment of service chiefs was unconstitutional. Justice Adamu Bello explained that such a move contradicted Section 18 (1) and (2) of the Armed Forces Act, Cap. A20, Laws of the Federation.
Goodluck Jonathan, the immediate past president on Nigeria, sought and got the approval of the National Assembly in January 2014 when he appointed Alex Badeh, Kenneth Minimah, Usman Jibrin and Adesola Nunayon Amosu as military seniors. While more comments are yet expected from Saraki on the issue, it should be noted that numerous sources have been reporting about problems in the relationships between Buhari and Saraki. The crisis is believed to have been caused by the controversial emergence of Saraki as the Senate president.
However, Bauchi senator Ali Wakili yesterday dismissed the insinuations saying that the two politicians were not at war. He expressed confidence that the circulating information was merely propaganda aimed at “creating bad blood between the National Assembly and the president”