Rubber stamp Senate? Lawan says any request from Buhari ‘is good for the nation’

The Senate President, Ahmed Lawan may have inadvertently confirmed the fears of many Nigerians that the 9th Senate may be a rubber stamp one, as he said on Thursday that the Senate would willingly approve whatever came from President Muhammadu Buhari.

Lawan, who stated this when the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Prof. Itse Sagay paid him a visit at the National Assembly in Abuja, said any request that comes from Buhari is “good for the nation” and the Senate will take immediate action on them.

Sagay had appealed to the Senate President to ensure that Ibrahim Magu, acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, is confirmed as the substantive head of the agency.

Lawan however said there was no pending request for Magu’s confirmation, explaining that Magu had been rejected twice by the 8th Senate led by Bukola Saraki.

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“The confirmation of acting chairman of EFCC – there is no request before this Senate for the confirmation of the acting chairman of EFCC.

“This is a new senate and therefore, until there is a request to this senate, there is nothing the senate can do.

“I want to assure you that any request that comes from Mr. President is a request that will make Nigeria a better place in terms of appointments or legislation and the senate will act expeditiously to ensure that we play our part in the confirmation or passing of legislation appropriately.”

The Senate President also informed his visitor that the lawmakers are “in a haste” to pass anti-corruption bills.

“As far as we are concerned, those bills will have to come again and start to go through the process from the very beginning,” he said.

“We are ready; in fact, we are in haste if those bills are ready for us to start working on them.”

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