There are fresh moves by the Senate to move against President Muhammadu Buhari over alleged human rights violations and assaults on provisions of the 1999 Constitution.
The move, listed on the order paper of the upper legislative chamber for Tuesday’s plenary , aims at summoning the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice , Abubakar Malami, SAN, to appear before it in plenary for explanations on the allegations.
Arguments canvassed by the Senate in the motion sponsored by Senator David Umoru (APC Niger East) but stepped down due to his absence at yesterday’s plenary, is that the country amongst others, gradually descending into anarchy and despotism as a result of indiscriminate arrests, unconstitutional detention of citizens under questionable circumstances.
The lawmakers cited the fate of the Senator representing Abia South Senatorial District, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, who was whisked away by a detachment of DSS personnel while attending a function at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, and later kept incommunicado at 055 detention facility for 5 days.
Senator Umoru, in the motion titled: “Alarming rise in cases of alleged human rights violations and consistent assault on the provisions of the 1999 Constitution by the Executive” which will be debated on the floor of the Senate today, cited the continuous detentions of former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, the leader of Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), Sheik Ibrahim El-Zakzaki etc, despite bails granted them by the courts as part of the human rights abuse.”
The motion further added that the recent enactment of the controversial Executive Order No. 006 as an Executive legislation which permits security agencies to freeze the assets of persons standing trial without recourse to court order, as parts of assaults to provisions of the 1999 Constitution.
According to him, several other Executive Orders have also effectively usurped legislative and judicial powers of the National Assembly and the judiciary as enshrined respectively under Sections 4 and 6 of the Constitution.
The release of the sum of $496 million United States dollars from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) for the purchase of 12 Super Tucano aircraft from the United States Government without prior approval by the National Assembly, is also included in the motion as direct contravention of section 80 of the 1999 Constitution.
The foregoing according to him, showed that “there is an urgent need for the National Assembly to draw the attention of the Federal Government and its relevant authorities to this unfortunate development with a view to preventing the country’s gradual descent into a chaotic state where violence and might rule, and where fundamental rights are observed more in breach than in compliance.”
