Senate scores Buhari low, asks President to wake up

Sunday Aborisade and Leke Baiyewu
Senators on Tuesday, again, lamented the inability of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) to effectively address insecurity in Nigeria.
They also reminded the President of their powers of impeachment as contained in the nation’s constitution if the situation persists.
The senators also advocated taking serious actions, including putting on hold further actions on the 2021 budget, that could make the President to take resolutions passed by the Senate, seriously.
The lawmakers spoke during a debate on a motion moved by Senator Bello Mandiya from Katsina South Senatorial District on the abduction of about 330 students of a secondary school in the state, which Boko Haram had claimed responsibility for.
The red chamber unanimously resolved not to have anything to do with the nation’s service chiefs any longer; hence they dropped their earlier decision to summon the defence minister, military generals and the heads of the security agencies in the country.
It accordingly resolved to condemn in “very strong terms” the attack on Government Science School, Kankara, in Kastina State which led to the abduction and disappearance of the students.
The Senate also urged the Buhari to consider and implement the recommendations of the Senate ad hoc Committee on Nigeria’s security challenges and the Senate resolutions as a holistic response to the mounting security challenges across the country.

The Chairman of the Senate Public Accounts Committee, Mathew Urhoghide, lamented that National Assembly had exhausted all avenues to make Buhari tackle insecurity.
Urhoghide said, “We stood up here to say that the service chiefs should be changed. The more you say, the more annoying it is the President and he will never change.
“Therefore Mr President please, the President must be compelled to act on Senate resolutions, I am not saying that the President should be impeached; no, it would be premature, but let us compel him to sit up and obey our resolutions.
“The President has no respect for the National Assembly, our resolutions are not being respected.”
A former Senate Minority Leader, Biodun Olujimi, also said it was glaring that the President did not need the legislative arm of government.
He said, “I don’t believe that I am part of the problem. The presidency is not an award; it is a call to duty.
“When you call a man to duty He must be able to know when the bulk stops on his table.
“Right now the bulk stops on the President’s table as far as security in this country is concerned.
“The worst part of the situation is that he is talking to us as if we are talking rubbish.
“We have many resolutions of this Senate , none of them has been implemented, even the resolution on #EndSARS none has been taken.”
Senator Sani Musa said, “There is need to draw the attention of the President that enough is enough; the service chiefs should go.