Former Leader of the Senate, Sen. Ali Ndume has said that the President of the Senate Dr Bukola Saraki was using the National Assembly to sabotage the efforts of President Muhammadu Buhari.
This is even as he alleged that the Senate had performed abysmally poor under Saraki, as they used most of the time to be antagonistic to the executive.
Ndume who represents Borno South, disclosed this after he and the governorship candidate of Taraba State, Sani Danladi, met with President Buhari at the Aso Rock Villa.
Briefing state house correspondents, Ndume said that Nigerians had been supportive of the National Assembly and expected so much from it but regretted that leadership crisis made the 8th Senate to perform below the expectations.
“The legislative arm which is supposed to be interdependent was more or less independent and extensively antagonistic; and to some extent, you can say the leadership has been sabotaging the activities of the executive.
“I am accusing specifically, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, not the leadership so to say; as I have said several times, we elected the Senate leader who turned out to be Senators’ President,” he said.
The former leader however said that members of the legislative arm have all agreed to bury their hatched and work together for the remaining six months.
“We have a leftover time of six months and we have agreed on ceasefire including the Senate President himself; that we put the interest of Nigerians first.
“That was why when we resumed, we have been able to pass certain outstanding bills and we have agreed to work together; the interest of the nation first before party’s interest or any other individual’s interest.
“Any breach in that agreement that we have, will also send us back to our trenches,” he said.
On the 2019 budget proposal, Ndume said that timely passage of the budget was important as it was one of the agreements the senators had.
According to him, the budget belonged to Nigerians and Nigerians are expecting that the budget be passed as quickly as possible so that the content of the budget will be delivered.
He said that anybody that tried to stand on the way of the budget would be seen as a saboteur to Nigerians.
Ndume said that APC senators were fully in support of the budget because they had input in it.
“It is a budget of continuity; it is a realistic budget. “So we are not expecting any hiccup but as usual, the normal dragging will continue but we will resist it,” he said.
On the appointment of Amina Zakari as head of INEC collation centre for the forthcoming presidential election, Ndume, said that her relationship with Buhari had nothing to do with her assigned role.
He chided the opposition, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) saying the party had resorted to what he described as CCC.
“PDP is now is concentrating on what I call the CCC instead of doing what is the right thing they are concentrating on complaining, criticising and contradicting themselves instead of campaigning.
“We in the APC; we said it initially and we even have a manual of campaign and that is to discuss issues, ideals, integrity and things that will move this country forward,” he said.
