Saraki disbands pro-Buhari support group in senate

Senate President Bukola Saraki has disbanded a parliamentary support group loyal to President Muhammadu Buhari.

The group was disbanded after the senate suspended Ovie Omo-Agege, a Delta senator, for 90 legislative days.

The Buhari support group, which was chaired by Abdullahi Adamu, senator representing Nasarawa west, had Omo-Agege as member.

The late Ali Wakili, senator representing Bauchi south; Binta Garba, senator representing Adamawa north; and Umaru Kurfi, senator representing, Katsina central; amongst other were part of the group.

Speaking during Thursday’s plenary, Saraki said he ought to be the leader of such group in the upper legislative chamber.

He expressed his displeasure that some people “act like they are holier than thou” at the expense of others.

“Distinguished colleagues, a number of points have been raised. One borders on the issue of preserving the integrity of this institution. To me, that is what I think is the most important thing for us,” Saraki said.

“Second, is where we take actions that are not sincere. I think in this chamber, if we want to talk about who has the right to say he is chairman of a Parliamentary Support Group for Mr President both by action and by what we have done, I think that I have the right to lead that more than anyone else here.

“Those of us that understand politics, understand that because of our own peculiar interest, sometimes some people decide to act like they are holier than thou or more committed — at the expense of others. This is not something that we should tolerate, and I believe that in an institution like this we must show discipline, but at the same time we must also show compassion.

“Distinguished colleagues, there must be discipline. We must show that such groups must be suspended and the case in court must be withdrawn. I think by that we would have captured, no more of this kind of groups in the senate.”

During the consideration of the amendment to the electoral act, Omo-Agege kicked against reordering the 2019 election, saying Buhari might be the target of adjusting the electoral sequence.