No fewer than 50 senators yesterday met in Abuja concerning the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT’s) invitation to Senate President Bukola Saraki for trial over alleged improper declaration of assets between 2003 and 2011.
Daily Trust on Sunday gathered that the senators who attended the emergency meeting held in a private office near the popular Next Supermarket, cut across party lines – the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other parties represented in the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly. The meeting, which started at 11.00am ended at 3.00pm with some senators who were not in the country participating through telephone.
The meeting, which was chaired by the Deputy Senate Leader, Bala Ibn Na’Allah, pledged to support the anti-graft war of President Buhari, but accused ‘a cabal’ in The Presidency of instigating the government institutions against Senate President Saraki.
Daily Trust on Sunday learnt that Senator Saraki was not part of the meeting, but participants resolved to use all necessary channels to correct the anomaly.
Speaking on the development, one of the senators who attended the meeting said they initially suspected President Buhari to be the brain behind the trials, but after exhaustive deliberations they had a second thought on the issue.
“Our colleagues were angry at the beginning of the meeting because they were initially suspecting that the President has hand in the trial of Saraki. But after heated debate, they understood that Buhari was not responsible for it.
“One of our colleagues present at the meeting suggested that the Senate should reconvene on Monday [tomorrow] in order to address the challenge. His suggestion, however, did not see the light of day as we resolved to use other channels to address the challenge.”
In a telephone interview, Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah said they had unanimously resolved to work with Buhari to achieve his programmes and policies.
“We have resolved to use all available powers under the constitution to ensure that no cabal exists and run the government on behalf of Buhari and we have also resolved to deal decisively with the cabal,” he said.
Some of the senators who attended the meeting included Senator Samuel Anyanwu (PDP, Imo East), Senator Dino Melaye (APC, Kogi West), Senator Binta Garba Masi (APC, Adamawa North), and Senator Kabiru Gaya (APC, Kano South).
Others were Senator Rafiu Ibrahim (APC, Kwara South), Senator Hamma Misau (APC, Bauchi Central), and Senator Hope Uzodinma (PDP, Imo-West).
