The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) has slammed the Senate as
led by Bukola Saraki for refusing to honour a court order over a
senator-elect.
The group, in a statatement signed by Alhaji Yerima
Shettima, National President, subsequently gave the Senate two weeks to
obey the order or face the wrath of Nigerians.
A Federal High
Court had ordered that Bassey Etim be sworn in as the representative of
Akwa Ibom North-East, but many months later, the group said the order is
yet to be obeyed.
“We are appalled by the glaring reluctance of
Senate President Bukola Saraki to respect a Federal High Court order,”
the AYCF said through Yerima Shettima, its national president.
AYCF
said it was unacceptable for the upper chamber of the National Assembly
as an institution of public service and symbol of the rule of law, to
employ delay tactics over the order of a competent court of
jurisdiction.
“We have reason to suspect that by refusing to
swear-in Senator-elect Bassey Etim for an unfathomable number of months
is a ploy to thwart the court order and tamper with the constitution of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria
“We are cautioning the Senate
leadership to avoid playing to the gallery by doing what is legally and
constitutionally appropriate, which is the immediate swearing-in of the
bona-fide owner of the Akwa-Ibom Northeast seat at the Senate.
“The
next appropriate step is to direct Albert Akpan, the man removed by the
competent court, and to ensure he returns all the salaries and
associated benefits he got so far as ruled.
“We
find the prolonged drama created around the swearing-in by the Senate
leadership as a smear on decorum, contemptuous, a breach of the nation’s
constituion and a ridicule of the highest law-making arm of the
Nigerian government,” the group said.
Shettima noted that while
the Senate continues to play hide-and-seek over the issue, the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had since complied with
the court ruling by issuing fresh certificate of return to Mr Etim
Bassey.
“There is no justification whatsoever for Senator Bukola
Saraki to delay action in doing the needful. We therefore task the upper
chamber to be alive to its responsibility by respecting the verdict of a
competent court of jurisdiction. No amount of delay or artificial
tinkering would subvert the course of justice.
“It is our fervent
hope that this would be the last time the Senate will ridicule our
courts of law and our constitution for political convenience. In this
era of change, the Senate and indeed its leadership should set a good
example for a democratic system in which the judicial arm plays pivotal
role in governance.
“Consequently, we are hereby giving the Senate
Two Weeks ultimatum to swear-in Mr. Etim Bassey as Senator representing
Akwa-Ibom Northeast senatorial zone with immediate effect. If the
Senate fails to do the needful, based on our ultimatum, we will not
hesitate to mobilize Nigerians to occupy the National Assembly and
jointly reject this impunity,” the AYCF warned.
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