Executive, legislature face-off: Buhari meets Saraki, Dogara (Updated)

President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday met with the Speaker of the House of Representatives and Senate President Bukola Saraki at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The president first met with Dogara before meeting with Saraki, each in less than an hour.

Sources say the meeting may not be unconnected with the ongoing row between the two arms of government.

Saraki and Dogara both spoke to newsmen after meeting with the President.

Dogara, while speaking with state house reporters, refuted assumptions that his coming to meet with the President was to discuss the crisis between the executive and the legislature.

He said, “It baffles me when people see you visit Mr President, the assumption out there is that something is going wrong. Nothing is wrong it is just a routine consultation.

“You might look at it as crisis but I don’t look at it as crisis. You know I have always said this that as a government our value will be the problems we have solved.

According to Dogara, the government will never be remembered if it avoids or run away from problems.

“It is only when‎ we provide solution to some of the things you refer to as crises and we look at them as opportunities to begin anew that people will now remember us for putting down enduring legacies,” Dogara said.

Also commenting on the proposed protest against the recent activities at the National Assembly, the Speaker said, “This is a democracy we are running and we have to open the space to civil society, to everyone who feels aggrieved to be able to air his grievances. So, if they have grievances against the institution of the legislature we will take it.’’

Read also: Buhari won’t change position on Magu – Presidency source

Saraki, who spoke later, like Dogara, said there was no crisis between the legislature and the executive.

He said, “The relationship is very cordial, you cannot examine (the National Assembly) by one or two issues. That is the point I’m making. You cannot examine (the relationship) based on NDDC or examine it based on EFCC.

“We have other issues like the ministerial (names) we are going to work on and the amnesty we will soon work on. We have the budget that is more important, we have INEC, we have PIB, we have so many things and I think it is a mixture of all that that should guide us. So, don’t let us overheat the polity.’’

Commenting on the six months suspension of Senator Ali Ndume by the Senate, Saraki said contrary to demands by individuals and groups concerning Ndume, he has no power to recall him.

Recent events like the summoning of the Comptroller-General of Customs, Colonel Hameed Ali, (RTD); the rejection of Mr Ibrahim Magu as the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Senate refusal to sanction the list of 27 Resident Electoral Commissioners sent by the President, appear to have set the two arms of government at loggerhead.

 

 

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