You amended the Rules Book, not us- NASS Clerk and Deputy counter Senate leadership
Wed Jun 22, 2016 09:58:am Politics
1.6K By Buchi Obichie
The out-going Clerk of the National Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa and his deputy, Ben Efeturi, have made separate statements to the Police, claiming that the Senate Rules Book was only handed over to them after it had been 'amended' by the leadership of the apex legislative chamber.
Both men denied taking part in the alleged forgery.
The statements were pasted by High Court bailiffs on the NASS Notice Board, alongside the court summons inviting them- with Saraki and Ekweremadu- to appear in court on June 27.
In the hand-written statement by Maikasuwa to the police, he said:"The Senate standing orders used in the seventh senate was not known to me. The clerk of the Senate is in position to know.
"I was not aware of the amendment that was made to the standing rules."
In his own statement, Efeturi disclosed that the Senate leadership handed the 2015 standing rules book to him after amending it as it is with their convention and practice.
He said:"The Senate leadership handed the 2015 standing rules as amended by their convention and practice. Standing orders 2003, 2007, and 2011 followed similar practice."
Maikasuwa and Efeturi's statements to the police counter the claim by the Senate through Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi that the rules book was handed over to the legislature by the bureaucracy of the National Assembly.
In that claim, Abdullahi had said: "The rules of a new Senate are provided by the National Assembly bureaucracy.
"It has always been so since 1999. After the inauguration of the Senate, if senators have objections to any part of the rules, they can follow the procedure for changing it."
Both men denied taking part in the alleged forgery.
The statements were pasted by High Court bailiffs on the NASS Notice Board, alongside the court summons inviting them- with Saraki and Ekweremadu- to appear in court on June 27.
In the hand-written statement by Maikasuwa to the police, he said:"The Senate standing orders used in the seventh senate was not known to me. The clerk of the Senate is in position to know.
"I was not aware of the amendment that was made to the standing rules."
In his own statement, Efeturi disclosed that the Senate leadership handed the 2015 standing rules book to him after amending it as it is with their convention and practice.
He said:"The Senate leadership handed the 2015 standing rules as amended by their convention and practice. Standing orders 2003, 2007, and 2011 followed similar practice."
Maikasuwa and Efeturi's statements to the police counter the claim by the Senate through Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi that the rules book was handed over to the legislature by the bureaucracy of the National Assembly.
In that claim, Abdullahi had said: "The rules of a new Senate are provided by the National Assembly bureaucracy.
"It has always been so since 1999. After the inauguration of the Senate, if senators have objections to any part of the rules, they can follow the procedure for changing it."
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