Executive-legislature relations healthy —Odigie-Oyegun

The relationship between the three arms of government, particularly the Executive and the Legislature is healthy and strong, the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, has said.

He spoke against the backdrop of a statement credited to a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) suggesting a rift between the executive and legislature following the Senate’s return of the list of non-career ambassadors to the presidency for review.

The Senate had, in the adopted report of its Committee on Foreign Affairs on Tuesday, stated that the decision to return the list followed petitions received on the nominations and went ahead to propose that the presidency review the ambassadorial list.

Oyegun decried the PDP’s attempt to give the Senate action  political colouration and other negative interpretations, saying such action was “unnecessary and misleading.”

He said: “President Muhammadu Buhari is a democrat and does not subscribe to the idea of “controlling” the National Assembly as was the practice with the PDP during its 16-year misrule of the country.

“Respect for the principle of the Rule of Law and the constitutional provisions of Separation of Power between the three arms of government is a best practice and also healthy for our democracy.