» Saraki Shuts Mouths Of Disagreeable Senators «

During the first plenary session of the
eighth Senate Bukola Saraki ruled out of
order those senators who dared to
question the points of order in the Senate
presidency election process.
Saraki rules out of order Marafa and Gemade
during the very first plenary session of 8th NASS.
Senator Kabir Marafa, representing Zamfara state,
and Senator Barnabas Gemade, representing
Benue North-East, were both ruled out of order
by Bukola Saraki during the first plenary session
in the Senate.
Addressing the Senate, Senator Marafa told:
“while I was away and a lot of other
members of this Senate, especially of APC
extraction attending a meeting with
President Muhammadu Buhari, this Senate
went ahead to commence the process of
inauguration, thereby infringing on my
rights and privileges as enshrined in the
Constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria by disenfranchising me and my
colleagues from participating in the
election of the Presiding Officers of this
Senate.”
He added that “more strange is the news
item that the Senate was inaugurated with
57 members and the 51 Senators-elect
absent.”
However, he was abruptly interrupted by Saraki,
who accused Marafa of being out of order, stating
that “you must have previous discussion
with the President of the Senate and … this
did not happen. Based on that, I think I have
to rule you out of order.”
Senator Barnabas Gemade of Benue North-East,
who objected to the manner in which the Senate
president had ruled Marafa out of order,
describing it as as “abrupt and too casual“, was
also ruled out of order by Bukola Saraki.
At the same time, Senator Mohammed Danjuma
Goje, representing Gombe Central and known to
be one of Saraki’s supporters, commented on
Marafa’s claims as follows: “what happened at
the Senate during Saraki’s election was in
compliance with the Constitution, …
therefore, let it be on record that whoever
decided to go for another meeting is on his
own.”
Senator Bukola Saraki, the ex-governor of Kwara
state and the senator representing Kwara Central,
was elected as the new president of the Senate of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria two days ago.
Senator Saraki saluted President Buhari for
remaining ‘steadfast’ in his defence of the right of
the National Assembly to choose its own leaders.
Reacting to Saraki’s election, Muhammadu Buhari
simply said he “noted the outcome of the
just-concluded election of leaders of the
National Assembly."