What appears like a face-off between the Presidency and the National Assembly has started playing out with the upper chambers of the Assembly asking the nominees into the headship of three Federal Government institutions whose names were recently announced by the Presidency not to resume work until their nominations were confirmed in accordance with the provision of the constitution and the establishment laws of the affected institutions. This directive came less than 24 hours after the then Acting President, Prof. Yemi osinbajo asked the new appointees to resume work immediately.
The nominees affected by the Senate directive are Alhaji Ali Usman who has been nominated to become the Director General of the Pension Commission (PenCom), Dr. Mohammed Isah nominated as chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CBB) and Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, the chairman nominee of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC).
The Senate spokesperson, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, noted that: “The leadership of the Senate has been inundated by enquiries from individuals from across the country who want to know whether the statement from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to the effect that the nominees into the headship of PenCom, Code of Conduct Bureau and ICPC should resume work immediately pending their confirmation by the Senate was as a result of an understanding between the executive and the legislature.
“We will like to advise the Acting President who was quoted to have given the directive for the resumption of the nominees that the directive was illegal and not right. The Senate will not support any action that is not in line with the law.
“We advise the nominees to hold on until they are cleared by the Senate as required by the law before resuming in their respective offices. We do not want anything that will cause any problem between the executive and the legislature”, Abdullahi stated.
This statement from the Senate signals the beginning of another round of frosty relationship between the Executive and the Legislature. The leadership of the ruling party, All progressive Congress, led by its National Chairman, Chief Odigie-Oyegun, tried to broker peace between the two parties. This development may have thrown the spanner into the works of the leaders of the party.
