FORGERY: Saraki Jittery to reconvene house As Senators Ask him, Ekweremadu To Step Aside 0

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Report according to Punch Newspaper suggests that some anti – Bukola Saraki senators have asked the senate president and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu to step aside since the police investigation had established that the senate rules used for their election had been forged.
Senator Kabir Marafa, spokesperson for the Senate Unity Forum, a group of Senators loyal to Senator Ahmad Lawal, the APC’s choice for the senate presidency outwitted by Saraki, expressed satisfaction at the report.

“I have not seen a copy of the report and I don’t know the details but if a case of forgery has been established as being claimed in the media, I think the ideal thing is for the presiding officers who benefitted from the illegal amendments to resign their positions,” Marafa said.
Marafa, an APC Senator from Zamfara Central, asked both the police and the justice ministry to do the right thing by taking necessary steps to ensure justice.
“On our part, we are resuming on Tuesday and our demand on the floor of the Senate is that the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, must ensure that the chamber is run according to its rules,” he said.
But the Senate President challenged the Senators calling for his resignation to articulate their position on the floor of the Senate instead of resorting to media propaganda.
In a statement by his spokesperson, Yusuph Olaniyonu, Saraki said, “I am not going to respond to speculations based on a report which the police has not confirmed or which no one had seen a copy; so I don’t think it will be proper for me to react to what does not exist.
“As for those calling on the presiding officers to resign, why are they making their call on the pages of newspapers? They should go to the floor of the Senate to articulate their views. There is no point drawing unnecessary public attention to issues that can be treated in-house”
A Peoples Democratic Party senator from Ekiti South, Abiodun Olujimi, said the issue would be discussed on the floor on Tuesday with a view to condemning a situation whereby “some people would be externalising the affairs of the chamber”
“We will definitely study the report and debate it dispassionately to look at the issues involved but we are going to condemn the idea whereby some people, by their action, would be threatening the legislative immunity by involving outsiders in the internal affairs of the chamber, “ she said.
Attempts to speak with the Clerk to the National Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa, over the development were unsuccessful on Sunday as calls to his mobile phone did not connect while text messages also sent did not deliver.
Sources in Abuja on Sunday indicated that Senators were billed for a showdown when they resume on Tuesday (tomorrow)as rival factions were poised to take on each other over the police report alleging forgery in the Senate standing order.
The PUNCH reliably learnt that the pro-Lawan group were considering two options, including a call on Saraki and his deputy, Ekweremadu, to resign.
It was also learnt that the group was planning to obtain the report and submit it to a Federal High Court that is already hearing a suit on the matter in Abuja.
Senators Barnabas Gemade; Abu Ibrahim, Lawan, Geore Akume, Kabir Marafa, Sulaiman Hunkuyi and Gbenga Ashafa had asked the court to declare the inauguration of the 8th Senate as strange and irregular.
They are also asking the court to declare the Senate Standing Orders 2015 used for Saraki and Ekweremadu’s elections as inoperative, null and lack of legislative process.
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