From Fred Itua, Abuja
Senate President, Bukola Saraki has said the National Assembly must be respected by every stakeholder, including members of the executive arm of government.
He stated this, yesterday, at a meeting between the National Working Committee (NWC) of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and members elected on the platform of the party, as part of the ongoing consultations geared towards resolving the feud between the legislative and executive arms of government.
The NWC of the party was led by its national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, while Saraki led APC caucus in the Senate to the parley.
At the end of the closed door meeting, which lasted for more than two hours, Saraki and Odigie-Oyegun addressed newsmen, where they agreed that the rivalry between the two arms of government will soon be resolved.
Saraki said the Senate is not about the current crops of lawmakers and urged the NWC to always consult in the interest of the party and the nation.
“First of all, let me thank the chairman and NWC for coming. It is a good development because we are all part of one umbrella as a party. And whether there are issues or not, regular consultations between the legislative arm of government and the party is important,” he said.
“As I said before, I do not believe that some of the issues we have are more important to our people than the issue of budget. Despite all the noise you heard last week, we still passed an amendment to the INEC law that had been there for over six or seven years.
“By this time next week, our Committee on Petroleum will lay the PIB which has never been done. We are focused on the major issues, and we are not going to be distracted,” Saraki added.
The Senate president reiterated the importance of respect for the Senate and other institutions.
“These institutions are there now and will continue to be there; we should not allow our selfish interest to ridicule the institutions. We must ensure that we respect that.
Odigie-Oyegun on his part, said: “I want to pay tribute to the National Assembly for the degree of cooperation they have been extending to the executive in spite of seeming differences under the surface.
“Secondly, I want to say we have now completed our consultations with the National Assembly and we are going to move forward from now.
“It is necessary for all levels of government to maintain some level of respect and civility for one another, and my appeal is, as we start the process of reconstructing relationships and consultations, there should be what I call a ceasefire in terms of the kind of abuse that is used all round on one institution of government or the other, even principal parties of these institutions.”