An elder
statesman, Joseph Kennedy Waku has chided the Chairman, Presidential Advisory
Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), for condemning the
eighth
Senate, saying his comments showed that he (Sagay) was selfish and ignorant of
the legislature.
Waku told
journalists in Makurdi yesterday that Prof. Shagay’s over exaggerated opinion
of the Senate meant that even as a professor of law, he lacked competence when
it comes to legislative matters.
He said
Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara became the leaders of the Senate and House of
Representatives in the most democratic manner of non-partisan participation for
the first time without party or executive influence.
His words:
“I feel prof. Sagay, as a renowned professor of law, does not have monopoly of
knowledge and should not condemn the Senate in its entirety.
“He should
be teaching the younger ones what they need to know rather than display bias,
which can make him lose credibility among well meaning Nigerians.
“There are
certain things in law he knows and am not challenging him on the basis of law,
but to speak for the executive as if he has become the spokesman of the federal
executive, in my view, is not right”.
“He should
know that once you become a senator, you divorce yourself from partisanship and
become a Nigerian lawmaker for which I believe the senate has been doing it
best.”
Waku, who is
also the pro- chancellor and chairman governing board, Federal University of
Technology Akure (FUTA), Ondo State, insisted that since the fourth republic up
to the eight assembly, there has not been a genuine democratically elected
leadership of the national assembly like the current one that came into
existence in June 2015 "Guardian reported".
He
challenged Sagay to go back to his law books to be abreast of the workings of
the legislature and marry his knowledge with the current situation in the
country before passing ill-advised comments against the senate.
“As a
constitutional lawyer that he is, I would expect him to challenge the issues
that he has raised in court so as to get the national assembly on its fit
rather than cry wolf where there is none,” he added.
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