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Senate fires back at Ningi over statement on Ninth Assembly

Senator Abdul Ahmed Ningi

The Senate has berated Senator Abdul Ahmed Ningi for lacking understanding in parliamentary procedures in spite of being a ranking Senator who was a one time Deputy Senate Leader of the hallowed Chambers.

The Senate spokesman and Chairman, Committee on Public Affairs, Dr. Ajibola Basiru, made the remarks on Monday.

Basiru spoke in reaction to a statement credited to Senator Ningi that the 9th Assembly has been too soft on both national issues and President Muhammadu Buhari on some alleged “wrongdoings” he said are “detrimental to good governance”.

Rising in defence of the present Senate under Senate President Ahmad Lawan, Basiru said: “It is baffling that Senator Ningi never understood that neither the National Assembly nor the Senate is constituted as an opposition to antagonise other arms of government but as an assemblage of lawmakers elected for good governance and pursuits of national interest.”

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He said the “barometer to gauge a working Legislature is not how many times it initiated a furtile and failed impeachment procedure against a sitting President but the amount of work it could do within the framework of Cooperative bi-partisan legislation”.

Although, Basiru said that the Senate had at many times turned down requests from the President but “they were done with maturity and understanding without generating so much rancour and public uproar”.

The 9th Assembly represents the ever increasing maturity of Nigeria’s democracy, he added.

Basiru recounted that the 9th Assembly has been the most successful since the return to civil rule in 1999 adding: “Uur focus has been on impactful legislations which bother on the economy, security and livelihood of Nigerians.”

It will be remembered that the National Assembly successfully passed the Petroleum Industry Bill, which had suffered several abortive attempts since its introduction before the 6th National Assembly.

Besides, the Finance Act (2020), CAMA Act (2020), Deep Off Shore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contract (Amendment) Act 2019, Public procurement Act, 2020, Electoral Act, Return to January-December budget cycle are few of the many landmark bills passed by the National Assembly, he said, adding: “We worked on legislation that have realistic chance of being assented to and which have potential impact on the lives of Nigerians, informing Senator Ningi and others with the same frame of mind that legislation process and procedures have moved on.”

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