The Senate on Thursday, July 14, expressed surprise that the All Progressives Congress (APC) leadership made comments on mere speculation and fabrication by an online publication on a purported plan to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari. In a statement by its spokesperson, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, the Senate said the comments credited to the National Secretary of the party, Mai Bala Buni, on the falsehood being spread by SaharaReporters will merely give credibility to a news item which members of the public had disregarded, knowing the reputation of the source.
The Senate said the party should have cross-checked what actually happened at the executive session which held on Tuesday, July 12, from its members in attendance. The statement read:
“We expected the party to at least explore all the options open to it to verify that piece of fabrication which is only the figment of the imagination of the writers and their sponsors. It should be clear to the APC leadership that if there is any truth to that story, it should have been credited to a particular Senator who was at the executive session.”
“It is evident from our proceedings of Wednesday, July 13, that the Senate itself was shocked that such a fabrication which constitute a breach of the privileges of the senators was published and that was why we mandated our committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions to investigate the source and circumstances leading to the emergence of such a fabrication.”
He further urged the party to always kindly seek to find out the truth about any statement, issue or development in the National Assembly before taking a public position as the comment by the party can further create tension and give a wrong impression, particularly when it is not founded on genuine or factual ground.
“We will like to assure the party that the Senate as an institution values the present democracy in our country and will not do anything that will undermine or weaken the system”, Abdullahi added.