‘Senate President’s victory not illegal,’ NBA President says

monjola sotubo

June 12, 2015 2:43 PM

Saraki was elected on Tuesday, June 9, 2015, by 57 out of 108 Senators while the remaining 51 were absent from the chamber.

Senate President, Bukola Saraki presides over first plenary session

The President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Augustine Alegeh (SAN), has said that Senator Bukola Saraki’s emergence as Nigeria’s Senate President is not illegal.

Alegeh said further that the issue of Saraki’s victory was a moral issue but not a legal one.

The NBA President made the comments during an interview with Punch.

He said:

“Inaugurating the National Assembly is considered as an ordinary business and for an ordinary business, the requirement of a quorum is one-third. So, legally, there was a quorum. You can argue from a moral perspective but legally, it is in order.”

“We must understand that if a time had been fixed for the inauguration, one would expect that all those who want to be inaugurated, given the importance of that event, should have arrived on time. The Clerk of the National Assembly, who is in charge of determining such, said there was a quorum. It will be difficult for me to fault that.”

“We must understand that the National Assembly belongs to the entire country and parties from both sides are members of the Assembly. So, for a meeting of one of the parties to lead to the closure of the Assembly would be unfair.”

Saraki’s victory stirred up controversy because he had been expressly excluded from contesting by his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Meanwhile, the party's chosen candidate, Senator Ahmed Lawan and other legislators loyal to him have expressed their intention to seek legal redress.

monjola sotubo