The Buhari Media Organisation has aligned itself with the position of the national leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Tinubu, that the outgoing leadership of the National Assembly had been a clog in the wheel of progressive governance.
The organisation made its position known in a statement signed by its Chairman, Niyi Akinsiju, and Secretary, Cassidy Madueke and made available to newsmen in Abuja on Thursday.
The organisation claimed that Dr. Bukola Saraki’s losses at the last elections was a just reward for his antagonistic and self-centred leadership of the Senate.
The BMO also criticised Saraki’s response to Tinubu’s comments on his stewardship saying it showed that the Senate under him was bent on imposing a self-interested legislation on the nation.
This, according to the group was evidenced by the fact that the senate passed only two bills out of the sent by the President while over 200 private bills were passed within the same period.
The statement read, “We agree with the APC’s National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, that the outgoing National Assembly’s leadership was antagonistic to President Muhammadu Buhari for the better part of its tenure.
“Saraki’s predecessor, David Mark, was in that office for eight years and hardly was there a time he was openly confrontational against the late President Umaru Yar’Adua or former President Goodluck Jonathan of the same political party, except when he accused the Jonathan administration of shielding the former Pension Reform Task Team leader Abdulrasheed Maina from prosecution.
“He then issued an ultimatum to the then President to break all links with the controversial civil servant.
“Not surprising, Benue State people rewarded Mark with what looked like an indefinite Senate tenure in recognition of his contribution to an excellent Executive-Legislature relations, until he opted against a return to the upper chamber.
“This cannot be compared to the blatant rejection of Saraki and every single one of his minions who stood for different elective positions only a few weeks ago in a state that he had an almost total control of for about 16 years.
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“If this is not a just reward delivered by his immediate constituents for his antagonistic and self-centred leadership of the Senate, we don’t know what it is, especially as even a neophyte knows that all politics is local.”
On Saraki ’s response to Tinubu’s earlier comments, the Pro-Buhari group said: “In an apparent bid to paint the Executive bad, Saraki, through his media aide, had argued that President Buhari sent only 11 bills to the National Assembly in four years.
“But he also shot himself in the foot by admitting that only two of the bills had been passed as of April 22! Two executive bills passed in almost four years while more than 200 private members bills were passed within the same period!
“At least 26 bills passed by the Senate were, of course, rejected by the President for several reasons. These include the Peace Corps Bill which several senators including the leadership were believed to have backed for selfish reasons.
“We also know that the President initially rejected the Electoral Act (amendment bill) because the lawmakers left out the Smart Card Reader, aside from the many errors and the ‘landmines’, including electronic transmission of results so close to election date.”
