…Says My Relationship With Buhari Cordial
BY AMOS DUNIA, ABUJA – President of the Senate, Abubakar Bukola Saraki has said that the 8th Senate has met more than 90 per cent of confirmation requests presented to it by President Muhammadu Buhari.
This is just as he declared that his relationship with President Buhari remains cordial despite false claims in some quarters.
Saraki, who stated these when he received at the National Assembly, the National Executive of an Islamic group, Jamaatu Izalatul Bidiah Wa Ikamatus Sunnali (JIBWS) led by its President, Sheikh Mohammed Sani Yahaya Jingiri, said that contrary to insinuations, the Senate is not working against President Buhari.
A statement by his Special Assistant on Print Media, Chuks Okocha quoted Saraki as saying; ”I want to assure you of the good cooperation between the legislative arm and executive led by President Muhammudu Buhari.
”Since the commencement of this Senate, I think we had about 196 requests from President Buhari for confirmation of his nominees and we have confirmed 185. I think we only rejected 11. By Mathematics, that is over 90 per cent.
“There is a lot of noise, you will see on the newspaper, radio and social media. Please, be assured that the two arms of government are working closely together, more than in past sessions of the Senate.
“In January, I went to see him and assured him of our cooperation and we’ve continued to work closely. I want to assure you as we always say, let us be judged by our actions and not by talk. A lot of people talk, but do something else when you are not around and loyalty can be best measured by what people do when you are not around,” the Senate President enthused.
He reaffirmed the commitment of the Senate in ensuring good governance, economic stability and creation of jobs for the teeming unemployed youths and promised to ensure that all bills to be passed by the Senate will ensure that religious sentiments of Nigerians are taken into consideration.
Earlier, the leader of the group, Sheikh Jingirr commended Senator Saraki on his role in the arrangement that led to the rejection of a Muslim-Muslim Presidential ticket for the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the 2015 presidential elections.
Jingirr noted that Nigeria is not ripe for such an arrangement, which did not take into consideration the need for religious balance in the country as all religious interest must be represented at all times, including elections.
According to him; “Religious balancing must at all times be respected in Nigeria as only this will ensure harmony”.
He also called on the Senate President to ensure equality of representations in political appointments in line with the population of states, while at the same time ensuring that a cordial relationship exist between all arms of government for the benefit of the people.
