Senate Did Not Bend The Rules, Blame Gov Fubara And Assembly Members For State Of Emergency In Rivers State – Adaramodu

Senate spokesman, Senator Yemi Adaramodu, has maintained that the Nigerian Senate did nothing wrong in the process adopted to approve the state of emergency declared by President Bola Tinubu in Rivers State.

The lawmaker said the controversy over the action is because every Nigerian wants to interpret the constitution to favour them.

While insisting that the lawmakers followed due process in approving the state of emergency, Adaramodu, who spoke to newsmen at his country home in Ekiti South Senatorial District, disclosed that 74 members voted for the emergency rule out of the 106 lawmakers who attended plenary.

He argued that the decision of the Senate leadership to adopt the ‘yes or nay’ method did not go against any constitutional requirement.

In his words, “When the question was put to those in support of the emergency rule in Rivers State, all of them said Yes, and nobody said “ nay” after they had discussed the matter.

“It is very unfortunate that everybody in Nigeria wants to interpret the rules and the constitution of Nigeria the way they like.

“Over 200million Nigerians, and over 200 million Nigerians interprete the constitution of Nigeria, as a lawmaker, a lawyer and a Judge.”

Naija News reports Adaramodu added that there was no personal interpretation of the law or bending of the constitution in approving the state of emergency in Rivers State.

He also denounced the Senate as a rubber-stamp assembly, explaining that some terms of the state of emergency were varied before the lawmakers approved it.

The Senate spokesperson also blamed Governor Siminalayi Fubara and the State Assembly members for the political crisis that enveloped Rivers State and prompted the declaration of a state of emergency.

“The rules say it must be through the closed session when issues of security matters are discussed, that you cannot be debating it in the open globally.” We did not bend the rules; we did what we needed to do!

“Personal feelings are not Law or status. We debated it, and we all agreed at the closed-door session that we were all supporting the emergency rule in River State.

“After the debate, we increased the list of three more clues that are outside what the Presidency brought to the national assembly. It may not last six months if there are feelings that the atmosphere is conducive.

“The administrator will not only be reporting to the Presidency, but the national assembly shall continue to continuously adjudicate and do oversight functions over the administration in River State.

“That eminent Nigerians be set up in the form of a committee to bring all the warring factions together and adjudicate and try to meditate among them and bring peace and make a report to the Presidency and the National Assembly.

“In River State, the problem was caused by the Governor and the House of Assembly members, which means there was no governance in the state, where the majority of the 32 lawmakers could not make laws for the state but only three loyal to the Governor.

“We are not in the Senate with gloves in our hands to go and be knocking and be fighting the executives or other arms of government.

“That is not our calling. Our calling is that we are partners in progress and while we are partners in progress, we make laws, to executes is in the hands of the executives, to interprete is in the hands of the Judiciary. We will not be making laws and at the same time execute it.”

He added that the National Assembly is committed to working with other arms of government in the task of nation-building and is focused on working on some bills before it, including those on the creation of higher institutions in the country and the Joint tax bill, among other things.