Nigeria News Forum

The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, on Thursday, changed the leaderships of some Senate committees, offering top positions to his staunchest opponents. Mr. Saraki will also host the All Progressives Congress Senate caucus at his Lake Chad, Maitama residence Thursday night, PREMIUM TIMES understands. It is the first time Mr. Saraki will be hosting his APC colleagues. The moves, apparently part of efforts to heal a senate polarized by Mr. Saraki’s election, came hours after he denied he was returning to the Peoples Democratic Party. Under the new plan, Kabiru Marafa, the Senate leadership’s most outspoken and harshest critic, will head the committee on petroleum downstream. He will be assisted by Phillip Aduda, who is the deputy minority leader. Mr. Marafa is the former chairman of the committee on national population, who refused to convene the committee’s 2016 budget defence session on the claim that committees were illegally composed. Suleiman Hukunyi, the secretary o...

Some members of the Senate’s self-styled Unity Forum who have expressed intention to testify in court against the senate president, Bukola Saraki, and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, in the ongoing forgery case, face suspension, PREMIUM TIMES learnt on Wednesday. Dino Melaye, the senator representing Kogi west, suggested the punishment during an executive session on Tuesday, and the leadership of the house appeared to be in favour of the proposal, our sources said. Mr. Melaye said the action of senators was capable of inflicting irreparable damage to the sanctity and integrity of the National Assembly, sources present at the closed-door session told PREMIUM TIMES. Senators Kabiru Marafa, Suleiman Hunkuyi, Ahmed Lawan, Ajayi Borofice, Gbenga Ashafa and Abdullahi Gumel are joining other witnesses to testify against Messrs Saraki and Ekweremadu. They all opposed the emergence of Mr. Saraki as president. Mr. Melaye said the only way to instill discipline amongst senators was to p...

The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has reshuffled the leaderships of the Senate’s committees. Mr. Saraki’s most outspoken critic, Kabiru Marafa, was appointed chairman of the Petroleum (downstream) Committee. He was chairman of the Committee on National Population. Also, Oluremi Tinubu, a key member of the anti-Saraki Unity Forum, was named chairperson of the Committee on Environment. Previously, she headed the Committtee on Women Affairs. Mr. Saraki made the announcement shortly before the senate adjourned on Thursday. Suleiman Hukunyi, another critic of the senate president, is now in charge of the Committee on National Identity. The re-composition of the Senate committees was one of the conditions put forward by Unity Forum Senators for peace to return to the troubled assembly. More details later.