By Sadiq Umar – The Presidency has dismissed the rift between the Executive and Legislature as insignificant, saying the issue is not as serious as being portrayed, even as it stressed that the differences between the two arms would soon be resolved.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu made the remark on Wednesday in an interview with journalists at the State House, Abuja.
The senate had threatened to suspend screening of nominees from the executive in response to a statement by Acting President Yemi osinbajo which was interpreted to mean that the senate lacks the power to screen nominees from the executive.
However, Mallam Garba Shehu stated that all parties involved in the matter would soon meet to thrash the matter noting that in compliance with the provisions of the law, the executive arm has been sending the names of its nominees to the National Assembly for screening and it will continue to do so.
“Our understanding is that some remarks made by the Acting President some months ago when he was the Vice President, because the President was around at that time, an opinion he gave is being misconstrued,” he said.
“A senior Lawyer in the country offered an opinion, in which he said some categories of public officers traditionally cleared by the National Assembly need not to go through that process, that those ones can be appointed by the Presidential fiat; they don’t have to go through screening.
“But several months ago, in his position as Vice President, Professor Osinbajo gave a personal opinion saying what this Lawyer said makes sense.
“There is no official position by the government of Nigeria and the Federal Executive Council never sat down to take a decision to say that some categories of officials will not be sent to the National Assembly any longer or that the authority of the Senate under the constitution to screen and pass nominees has never been questioned by the government or the Federal Executive Council.
“From the time the Vice President gave that opinion to now, more than twenty nominations have been forwarded to the Senate and quite a number of them have been screened, sworn-in and are now occupying positions so therefore, this is not a big issue as some people want to make it.
“The party, government and the National Assembly will sit on a round table and this matter will be discussed and resolved. I assure you.”
