Ex-Senators claim standing order used for Saraki's election is fake

Three prominent Senators who served in the 7th Senate have frowned at the 2015 edition of the Senate Standing Orders as amended saying it was forged.

The senators led by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business in 7th Senate, Senator Ita Enang, Sen Babafemi Ojudu, who represented Ekiti Central and Sen Kabir Marafa, who represented Zamfara Central have denied the claims of any amendment of the rules and electoral process.

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In a report by The Punch, Enang explained that the Standing Orders that should have been used for the inauguration of the 8th Senate is the Standing Orders that was used and closed within the 7th Senate.

In his words, 'I made proposal for amendments between 2011 and 2015, I laid the report on the floor, but we did not consider the report. We did not amend the Standing Orders.

'Before we left, I had approved the reprinting of the Standing Orders and the reprinting did not include inserting anything which was not in the old one. Reprinting is, simply reproduce what we have because there are no more copies,' he added.

On his part, Ojudu expressed shock saying, 'There were no amendments at all. I spoke with Senator Ita Enang, who was the custodian of the rules and he expressed shock. Any amendments done to the Senate Rules which we used in the 7th Senate is criminal and perpetrators should be charged for forgery.'

For Marafa, the Standing Orders were forged and the ex-Senator queried the rationale and personalities behind such act.

In his words, 'The problem is that the senate was inaugurated using a forged document. Who forged that document? We can’t gloss over or sweep that criminality under the carpet, Nigeria is not a Banana Republic!

'The insertion of order 3 (2 iv) & 3 (3e i-iiii) in the 2015 edition is a deliberate act perpetrated by fifth columnists operating within the National Assembly to sabotage the government of President Muhammadu Buhari.

'It was done to cause friction, disaffection and generate bad blood among senators from different zones and provoke confusion in the senate with the sole aim of stagnating government business to give them time to perfect their agenda,' he explained.

Acting on a petition by Sen Sulaiman Hunkuyi representing Kaduna State, the police had on July 6, 2015 quizzed the Deputy Senate President,

The ‘forged’ orders were said to have been used in the election of Ekweremadu and the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki.

The petition alleged that some parts of the 2015 Senate Orders were different from the one ratified by the 6th Senate in 2010, which was used by the 7th Senate as Standing Orders 2011.