Ayodele Afolabi, Abuja – After misleading the
general public that President Mohammadu
Buhari could appoint substantive Service
Chiefs without confirmation of Senate, the
Senate President, Bukola Saraki said their
appointment will still be confirmed by the
senate on resumption next week.
Saraki had on Monday evening few hours
after the appointment of the service chiefs,
responded to a tweet sent to him by one
Chinedu Peters that when would the senate
reconvene to confirm their appointments,
tweeted back by saying ”
Appointment of service chiefs is an exclusive
function of Mr President. Senate can only
approve Ministerial, parastatals etc”.
A response that instantly put him in the eye
of the storm with attendant barrage of
attacks by social media users, condemning
his ignorance of constitutional responsibility
of the senate in that respect.
Many of the online commentators who
attacked him, wondered why as a Senator in
the 7th Senate, he could still make such a
blunder
Whereas, such confirmation was first done in
January 2014 when former President
Goodluck Jonathan forwarded the nominees
of Service Chiefs to the Senate for approval.
.
The intensity of the attacks, made the media
office of the Senate President to issue
separate statement to remedied the blunder.
While the first statement issued by Bamikole
Omishore, the Special Assistant to the Senate
President on Social Media, alleged that
Saraki’s tweet on the subject matter was not
up to date, another one issued by the Chief
Press Secretary, Sanni Onogu said his tweet
was completely misinterpreted.
Omishore’s statement reads:
This is to clarify the earlier position which
was not up to date and does not represent
the position of the Senate President on the
issue of screening of the newly appointed
service chiefs .
The Senate will perform its constitutional
duty when it receives communication from the
President on the appointments”
But the second statement signed by the Chief
Press Secretary went further to widen the
scope of the controversy by stating that
Saraki!’s response was based on two fold of
enquiries tweeted to him.
The statement reads: “The attention of the
Media Office of the Senate President has been
drawn to a story making the rounds to the
effect that the Senate does not need to
screen or confirm the new Service Chiefs
appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari.
“However, we want to make it abundantly
clear that based on inquiries made to the
Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki
on whether the Senate was consulted before
the appointment of new Service Chiefs was
announced, he had in response tweeted that
the appointment of Service Chiefs is the
exclusive function of the President as
stipulated by the Constitution.
“Let it be known that his comment is now
being misinterpreted to say the Senate will
neither screen nor confirm the new Service
Chiefs. This is far from the truth.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Saraki has said
his comment is without prejudice to extant
laws and court pronouncements on the issue
and therefore that the Senate will do the
needful when the list of the new Service
Chiefs is sent to it by Mr. President.
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