The Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki has said that the National Assembly is committed to a peaceful, free and fair election in 2019, saying the delay in the passage of the INEC 2019 general elections’ budget is caused by the executive and not the legislature.
Addressing a World Press Conference at the National Assembly, Abuja, Saraki said the leadership of the National Assembly will meet with INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu today and that after the meeting, if there is need to reconvene the National Assembly, it will be done without delay.
Saraki said the National Assembly will do whatever is within its power to ensure a successful elections in 2019.
“What was the executive doing up till July before sending the supplementary budget. They waited from September till few weeks from our recess before sending to us an important budget that have to do with general elections. People should not blame us, they should blame the executive”, he said.
On the siege by the men of Directorate of State Services, DSS, Saraki said the action is condemnable saying assault on legislators is an assault on Nigerians. He praised the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) for his prompt action.
“The Acting President did the right thing. The decisive action go a long way to douse the tension. But the damage control has not been addressed. How did it happened?
He called for full investigation into the incident, just as he praised the international communities, civil society organisations, the media and his colleagues for the way they resisted the DSS impunity.
Saraki said the lesson that can be drawn from the incident is that the executive must ensure that the security agencies are neutral.
