Tolerate national assembly members as your children, senator tells Buhari

Bala Na’Allah, deputy senate leader, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to tolerate senators and members of the house of representatives as as his children.

He said this on Friday when he led a delegation to pay Buhari sallah homage at Aso Rock.

The lawmaker said he stood in for Senate President Bukola Saraki during the visit.

Na’Allah said since the return of democracy in 1999, no president has received support from the national assembly like Buhari.

He said the national assembly would continue to support the president.

“Mr President, I have the authority of each and every member of the senate and the house of representatives to wish you a blessed Eid-el-Fitr,” he said.

“And I have the authority of each and every one of us to equally pledge our loyalty and commitment to work with you for the betterment of this country and to wish you more strength; to wish you more health and most importantly Mr President to add additional degree of tolerance for you so that you tolerate us as your children.

“Mr President, let me seize this opportunity to say, for the record, that from 1999, when we started our democratic experience till date, no president and I repeat, `no president and I say for the third time, no president has received this amount of cooperation from the national assembly like you contrary to what is outside there.”

He also commended Buhari for the declaration of June 12 declaration as Democracy Day.

“May I on behalf of the senate and the house of representatives again thank you for that bold steps you have taken in addressing the unresolved issue of the June 12. You might have underestimated the effects of that singular act,” he said.

“But I will tell you sir, you have achieved more than 75 percent of what South Africa did with the truth and reconciliation committee with this singular act. You may not understand sir, but I’m sure in near future you will understand the value of that singular act.

“Along that line, may I on behalf of the national assembly implore our religious leaders to begin to think along the line of uniting this country. God has brought together, we do not have any alternative, as far as we are concern we should continue to live as brothers and sisters.”

The relationship between the executive and the legislature is not as smooth as it used to be.

Last month, Buhari dared the national assembly to confront him on capital projects. He also wondered what some of them had achieved in their years at the parliament.

Shortly after the police said Saraki had a case to answer on the robbery in Offa, Kwara state, the national assembly held an emergency session to discuss the frosty relationship with the executive.

Dino Melaye, senator representing Kogi west; Shehu Sani, senator representing Kaduna central, Ike Ekweremadu, deputy senate president, are currently under investigation.

The national assembly had threatened to invoke their powers on Buhari if issues were not addressed in the right way.