The Attorney General of the Federation and Chief Justice
of Nigeria, Abubakar Malami, today honored the senate's
invitation where he had to explain why the Senate President,
Bukola Saraki and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, were being
tried for alleged forgery of senate standing order.
At the hearing, Malami explained to members of the
Committee why he could not honor the last invitation. "My
inability to attend was out of sheer circumstances not out
of disgust for Senate. I am known for a tradition of
honouring invitations"he said
Addressing issues on the alleged forgery of senate
standing order, Malami said the allegation predates him as
the police had carried out an investigation into the matter in
July 2015 and had come up with their conclusion. He said he
was appointed a Minister in November same year and acted
on the criminal cases forwarded to him by the police, one
of which is the alleged forgery of senate order.
Malami said that the senate standing order being contested
was never deliberated upon by the house which is against
the house rule. He referred to a scenario when there was a
need to amend the Senate Rules on 18th May, 2011.
According to him, there was a process of deliberation. He
noted that a Standing Rule that has not been deliberated
and voted on by the Senate cannot be the Standing Rule. He
stressed that based on the non-adherence to the
Constitution in amending the Standing Rules, his office
filed the case, adding that the criminal case was filed to
curb abuse of institutional governing documents.
Responding, the chairman of the senate committee, Senator
David Umaru, said there was no need to have singled out
Saraki and Ekweremadu for trial since the police
investigation report did not mention them as those behind
the alleged forgery.
"Did it make any difference to you that Bukola
Saraki and Ekweremadu were not mentioned in the
investigation?" he asked.
Another member of the committee, Senator Utazi cited
Section 30 of Legislative Powers Act which states that the
Senate President and Speaker cannot be investigated.
"I wish to refer the AGF to Section 64 (1) which
dissolves the Parliament after 4 years. In 2011, the
Parliament exercised its powers to amend the
documents that were handed to them by the
bureaucracy. This Senate has authenticated it's
Standing Rules. You can't import what happened in
7th Assembly into 8th Assembly. Rules are
dissolved at the end of the session" he said
Another member of the committee, Senator Lidani, said it
will be a disservice to try Saraki and Ekweremadu since
they were not mention in the proof of evidence filed in the
police report
"From the Proof of Evidence filed, where were the
Senate principal officers mentioned in the case? We
will be doing ourselves a great disservice if the 2
principal officers who were not mentioned in the
proof of evidence are brought up on frivolous
charges. We should be careful not to taint the
institution"he said
The committee had no further deliberation. They thanks
Malami for honoring their invitation.
