Divided house! Cracks as new N’Assembly group asks Saraki to bear his cross alone

Following what appeared a great show of unity by members of the National Assembly on Tuesday as they took a unified position in a joint session against what they determined was executive abuse of power, a major crack has appeared as a new group of lawmakers, the Parliamentary Support Group of the Senate and House of Representatives, has come out against the decision.

In a statement signed by formerly suspended member of the House of Representatives, Hon Abdulmumin Jibrin, the group faulted the process that led to the resolution.

The group also advised lawmakers facing prosecution to respond to their cases individually as law abiding citizens without dragging the institution of the National Assembly down with them, while also expressing support for President Muhammadu Buhari.

Read also: There’ll be ‘war’ if any attempt is made to impeach Buhari — Hon Kazaure

Full statement below:

The Parliamentary Support Group of the Senate and House of Representatives is aware of the joint Executive session of the National Assembly held today and wish to state as follows:

That almost all the members and senators that spoke at the Executive session are of the PDP while members of the APC declined joining the discussion to avoid a rowdy confrontation as the entire session could easily pass for a PDP Executive session

That it is commendable that the Speaker tactically refused to make any comment at the session even after the Senate President took time to explain the issues which are mostly personal

That it is disturbing and raised many questions of pre determined intentions that a known ally of the Senate President from Kwara State Hon Rasak Atunwa drafted what was adopted as the resolution and without voting against standard parliamentary practice

That most of the issues raised concerning the fight against corruption, insecurity and the rule of law has been severally discussed in the Senate and the House and various resolutions passed

That we commend the efforts of Mr President in the fight against corruption, tackling of the insecurity challenges and respect for rule of law and democratic institutions. Mr President is known for his non interference policy.

That every Senator or Member of House who has corruption or criminal allegation against him or her should clear his or her name without dragging the entire institution of the National Assembly into the matter

That the National Assembly should as well look inward and address the issue of suffocating Senators and members with dissenting or contrary opinion through coercion or extra legal means

That the PDP should recall how it members in the 7th Assembly sat comfortably in the chamber and watched a sitting Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal locked out of the National Assembly and all his security personnels withdrawn while APC members had to scale the fence to gain entrance into the National Assembly

That we must exercise caution at this delicate period not to over heat the polity with statements that are capable of dividing the country, embarrassing us before the watching world and creating friction between the legislature, Executive and specifically Mr President.

We wish to reaffirm our support to Mr President as he works assiduously towards dealing with the challenges of our country.
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