Former majority leader of the senate, Ali Ndume. Facebook
Senator Ali Ndume (APC-Borno South) has called on Senate President Bukola Saraki to reconvene the upper legislative chambers.
The lawmaker told Channels TV that he was shocked at the manner in which Saraki acted and therefore, wants the Senate to reconvene in order for it to resolve some critical national matters.
Ndume said: “What I want to do personally is to call on the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, to reconvene the Senate because we have critical matters of urgent national importance before the National Assembly.
“His closure of the National Assembly that day was unbelievable. I was shocked by the way he acted.
“The Senate is not Saraki, he is just a member of the Senate. Saraki is just a presiding officer that anybody can be, so for him to have just shut down the National Assembly because of personal issues, is very unfortunate and uncalled for especially when you have very important matters before the Senate.”
The senator outlines pending matters before the red chambers that needs urgent attention by lawmakers.
He said: “We have five different critical items. We have the budget of the FCT before the Senate which has not been approved.
“We have the virement and supplementary budget for INEC which is necessary in order to conduct the 2019 elections and then we have the appointment and the confirmation of ICPC members, that of FERMA is lying there, that of judicial commission is there and in fact, the budget of 64 government agencies is before the Senate. Approval for the funding, external borrowing to fund the 2018 budget which has already been approved is before the Senate.”