Members of the 8th Senate have agreed to put aside their differences and work in harmony for the progress of Nigeria, former Majority Leader, Senator Ali Ndume, (APC-Borno South), has said.
Ndume spoke with State House correspondents after leading the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate for Taraba State, Sani Danladi, to a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, at the Villa.
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He said Nigerians have been supportive of the National Assembly and expected so much from it but regretted that leadership crisis made the 8th Senate to perform below the expectations of Nigerians.
“The legislative arm, which is supposed to be interdependent, was more or less independent and extensively antagonistic and to some extent, you can say the leadership has been sabotaging the activities of the executive instead of cooperating with the executive to deliver the services Nigerians are expecting from us.
“I am accusing specifically, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, not the leadership so to say; as I have said several times, we elected the Senate Leader who turned out to be Senators’ President.
“We have a leftover time of six months and we have agreed on cease fire, including the Senate President himself, that we put the interest of Nigerians first.
“That was why when we resumed, we have been able to pass certain outstanding bills and we have agreed to work together; the interest of the nation first before party’s interest or any other individual’s interest. “Any breach in that agreement that we have, will also send us back to our trenches.”
On the 2019 budget proposal, Ndume said timely passage of the budget was important as it was one of the agreements the senators had, adding the budget belongs to Nigerians and they were expecting that the budget be passed as quickly as possible so that the content of the budget would be delivered to Nigerians.
He said anybody that tried to stand on the way of the budget would be seen as a saboteur noting that APC senators were fully in support of the budget because they had input in it.
“It is a budget of continuity; it is a realistic budget. So we are not expecting any hiccup but as usual, the normal dragging will continue but we will resist it and make sure that we are sent to the National Assembly, that is to work for Nigerians comes first before any other interest.”
On the hue and cry over the appointment of Amina Zakari as head of its collation centre for the forthcoming presidential election, Ndume, said that her relationship with Buhari had nothing to do with her assigned role.
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