The motion that was moved by a Senator seeking to discuss the speech delivered by President Muhammadu Buhari on the Democracy Day was rejected by the Senate on Thursday.
The Peoples Democratic Party and the Campaign for Democracy have faulted the action of the All Progressives Congress-led Senate.
The opposition parties called on Senator to show courage to stand against dictatorship in the Senate.
Majority of Senators voted against the motion when the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, subjected it to voice vote.
The motion was moved by Senator Istifanus Gyang (Plateau-PDP), who came under Order 52 of the Senate standing order.
Gyang had sought the leave of her colleagues to present the motion which he described as a matter of public importance.
“The matter of urgent national importance that I am bringing before this Senate has to do with the Democracy Day speech of President Muhammadu Buhari on the 12th of June, 2019. This speech is already in the public domain. I am asking that in view of the interest it has generated, we should debate it.”
The President of the Senate stopped the speech of the lawmaker when he asked him to seek the consent of other senators to entertain the motion.
The motion was shut down when most members of the APC voted against the motion.
Recall that President Buhari on Wednesday declared the National Stadium, Abuja, to be named after the late MKO Abiola.
The President during his speech also stated that with good governance the Federal Government could take 100 million Nigerians from poverty to prosperity in the next 10 years.
The Social Democratic Party, while reacting to the action of the Senate stated that the action was not a good omen for the nation’s democracy.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Alfa Mohammed, said this in an interview with one of our correspondents.
“I would have said that it is too early to place the direction of the Senate leadership, but considering the fact that the Presidency openly championed their campaign, and as you could see, immediately after they were inaugurated, their first place of call was the Villa for a ‘thank you visit’ to Mr President with the Deputy Senate President going on his knees.”
“That is not a good omen for the flourish of one of the cardinal principles of democracy, the separation of powers. So, at a period as we have now that the executive arm of government needs strict monitoring and check of the legislative arm to keep it on its toes, a rubber stamp legislature will spell doom for the country.”
“…Meanwhile, I am not abreast of the development at the National Assembly and why the debate was turned down, but I can’t fathom any reason why the NASS should turn down a debate on the President’s June 12 speech, especially when the key element of the speech, the renaming of the National Stadium after the late winner of the June 12, 1993 election, Chief MKO Abiola, was widely accepted as a right step.”
The Peoples Democratic Party also called on Lawan to be independent and show courage.
The party stated that it was wrong for Lawan to refuse his colleagues the opportunity of debating Buhari’s speech.
The National Chairman of PDP, Uche Secondus, stated that the Senate should know it was serving Nigerians and not a section of the country or a political party.
He said, “I want to appeal to the President of the Senate, Senator Ahmed Lawan, to be independent and show courage. He should not allow himself to be controlled from outside. He should know that the National Assembly is a different arm of government that should check the excesses of the executive.”
“Without a vibrant and independent National Assembly, our democracy will be a mere figurehead. The legislature is the symbol of democratic rule. I, therefore, plead with him, not to shut out his colleagues from speaking.”
“The speech made by the President yesterday (Wednesday) was meant to be dissected by the lawmakers. We needed to have it debated and see its workability or otherwise.”
The African Democratic Congress, in a statement through its National Publicity Secretary, Yemi Kolapo, stated there was only a thin line between the executive and the legislature under President Buhari.
“It is clear that the 9th Senate will be a very boring one. That it will be a rubber stamp is also given. Would the leaders of the APC have made Saudi Arabia and Dubai a second home, during the chess game that produced Lawan for fun?”
“Would they have spent huge resources and time etc for the beneficiary to start being diplomatic with issues concerning the President?”
“Today, we are in a situation where there is only a very thin line between the Executive, Legislature and perhaps the Judiciary.”
The Campaign for Democracy in its reaction stated that the Senate’s action shows that the upper house of the National Assembly is not in control of itself.
The CD President, Usman Abdul, said, “One of the strong arms that reflect true democracy is the legislature. Therefore, the National Assembly should represent and accommodate divergent interests.
“If the executive is beginning to pocket the legislature, it is like we don’t have a democracy. Look at the emergence of the leaders of the assembly; look at the senator who became the Deputy Senate President, and look at their first motion and what happened to it, and you will see that the legislative arm is not firmly in control.”
The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights said the Senate should be given time to settle down, adding that Nigerians should show understanding with its initial shortcomings.
The CDHR President, Malachy Ugwummadu, said, “It is in our collective interest that the National Assembly should be allowed to settle down. We should have two or three incidents before we can accommodate any anxiety of how things are or should be.
“What Nigerians are desirous to see is complementary legislature and executive. However, the purpose of the legislature in a democracy is to be able to infuse the views of the masses into the programmes of the executive.”
source https://www.naijanews.com/2019/06/14/opposition-reacts-to-senate-action-for-rejecting-motion-to-discuss-buharis-speech/
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