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Why Senate readmitted Dagash, by Wabara
From Alifa Daniel, Mohammed Abubakar and Azimazi Momoh Jimoh, (Abuja)
FOLLOWING a protest from members of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in his office challenging the continued presence of Senator Sanusi Dagash in the Upper Chambers of the National Assembly, Senate President Adolphus Wabara yesterday justified Dagash's readmission, advising the protesting ANPP group to petition the Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Mohammed Uwais and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The disagreement is coming just as ANPP governors may have asked a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Yusuf Ali, to proceed to court to seek the quashing of the interim order of Justice Binta Murtala Nyako that Dagash should remain in the Senate pending the determination of his suit before her.
Wabara said: "What we did by re-admitting Dagash was in line with the court order we received. If there is any mistake, it is obviously not from the Senate. There was a court order directing me to re-admit Dagash into the Senate pending the time INEC decides to conduct by-election. We consulted with our legal department in the National Assembly and the conclusion was that we should obey the last court order. I think you should direct your petition to the Chief Justice of Nigeria because he has the power to call his judges to order with respect to those court orders and counter court orders. You will also need to go to INEC to quickly decide on when to conduct the by-election.
"For us in the Senate, we have sworn to abide by the rule of law and never to interprete laws, that is exactly what we stick to," Wabara told the visiting Borno ANPP.
Led by the chairman of Borno State chapter of the ANPP, Mallam Awana Ngala, the ANPP had in a petition submitted to Wabara described the re-admittance of Dagash as "undemocratic and unconstitutional."
Ngala stated that the order of the Federal High Court, Abuja which "purports to re-instate Mohammed Sanusi Dagash to the Senate is derogatory and at variance with the constitution of Nigeria."
The Borno ANPP specifically declared:
"In view of the foregoing, we urge the Senate to review the re-admittance of Dagash into the chambers by passing a resolution directing him to leave the Senate immediately and also pass a resolution directing the INEC to without delay conduct the by-election."
Also, the National Democratic Party (NDP) has faulted the readmission of Dagash into the Senate. It called for the immediate reversal of the decision.
In a statement yesterday, the National Secretary of the party, Commodore Idongesit Nkanga (rtd), described the action as an act of double standard on the part of INEC and the Senate.
Reacting to the protest by Borno ANPP members yesterday on phone, Dagash said: "I am standing on the electoral law. If they have any grouse, they should head for the courts. No amount of protests in Borno or Abuja or anywhere can force election to hold.
"I remain the representative until the case in court is concluded. I stand on the law and I believe in due process. They should follow the process. We will get to the elections but for now, I stand by the law," he maintained.
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