Senate reconvenes today, decides on
El-Rufai
• Senators may throw out Labour
Bill
• Reps warn minister over
utterances
By Chesa Chesa and
Uchenna Awom
National
Assembly Correspondents,
Abuja
Senators
determined to see that Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nasir El-Rufai
is kicked out of office reconvene today to start impeachment process against
him if the President fails to abide by their 48-hour altimatum given on
Tuesday.
Senator
Idris Kuta disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja. He said should President
Olusegun Obasanjo refuse to drop the minister, the Senate, being the legislature
for the FCT, would sack him besides amending the FCT Act.
El-Rufai
“has met his waterloo” for insulting the Upper House, Kuta
insisted, stressing that all the Senate needs is a two-thirds majority to see
the back of their unrelenting adversary.
Obasanjo’s perceived backing for his minister may
as well affect the passage of the Labour bill by the Senate.
Making
a veil connection to it, Kuta said the Upper House would not hesitate to throw
the bill out during the clause by clause consideration if it is found not to be
in “the wholesome interest of Nigerians”.
He
declared that the Senate is not ready to dance to the tune of the executive if
the intention is to use the legislature to fight the Nigeria Labour Congress
(NLC).
Kuta
disclosed that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caucus in the National
Assembly had met with party Chairman Audu Ogbeh, advising that the President
should not send the bill to the legislature.
He
regretted, however, that Ogbeh could not convince Obasanjo to do so, and
“now that it has been brought to the Senate, we will treat it with utmost
caution”.
The
Senate wondered why Obasanjo had to apologise for el-Rufai instead of directing
him to tender the apology. Besides, the lawmakers want to see a copy of the
query the President issued to el-Rufai and if possible his reply which
necessitated Obasanjo’s response, Kuta stated.
He
cautioned that the existing cordial relationship between the executive and the
legislature should not be destroyed by el-Rufai as political realignments take
place ahead of 2007 general elections.
El-Rufai’s
unguarded comments have also upset members of the lower House. He escaped their
call for his sack, but only just.
Barely
24 hours after the Senate asked Obasanjo to fire him, the House of
Representative on Wednesday again put the man on the spot, asking him to learn
how to bridle his tongue.
El-Rufai
incurred the wrath of the lawmakers when he described members of the Upper
Chamber as fools.
In
a motion moved by Femi Gbajabiamila, the House, presided over by Deputy Speaker Austin Opara, resolved
to formally condemn him for using such foul language, unbecoming of a cabinet
minister, to qualify senators.
The
House fell short of calling for his dismissal, but members who spoke
passionately demanded for it, and even suggested suspending consideration of
executive bills until el-Rufai is shown the way out.
However,
apparently carried away by emotion, they “forgot” to either include
the call in the prayers or move for amendment.
At
the end, the House passed the resolution, strictly on the only prayer sought by
Gbajabiamila, which is that the plenary “condemns (el-Rufai’s)
attitude and utterances against the senators”.
Venting
his anger in the Senate, Kuta said
the National Assembly has the
constitutional power to impeach him with a majority of two-thirds and predicted that if the President does not drop el-Rufai from his cabinet, ``we
will mobilise two-thirds majority
and remove him”.
But
el-Rufai was said to have told the President that he was no longer interested
in the job following persistent attacks from the National Assembly. He is said
to have insisted that the job was not worth all the trouble he has been
subjected to.
The
President would however not want him to leave. He reportedly sent emissaries to him to tarry a while as the
matter was being sorted out.
Florence
Ita-Giwa, the Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly matters
is already handling the matter between the two warring parties and the result
of the intervention is likely going to manifest today.
According
to Kuta, the National Assembly is like a state Assembly for Abuja while the
minister is similar to a governor.
He
said every budget of the FCT must be approved by the National Assembly and expressed regret that the legislature
had relegated some of its powers
and shirked some of its
responsibilities.
In
his view, the President may regard the
Senate's move on El-Rufai as a challenge to his authority since he has the right to hire and fire, but stressed that the
minister should have been directed
to apologise directly to the legislators rather than do it through the
President.
