Saraki ‘Attacks’ El-Rufai On Restructuring: ‘You Are A Pathological Liar

A former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has faulted the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai on his claims that he frustrated the restructuring plan of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

In a recent interview with the BBC Hausa, El-Rufai claimed that he and his party prepared a report on restructuring and engaged with the National Assembly leadership to amend the Constitution in 2018.

He had further claimed that Saraki, as the President of the Senate between 2015 and 2019, frustrated the restructuring plan.

But reacting to the allegation in a statement issued  Saturday in Abuja by his media aide, Yusuph Olaniyonu, Saraki described the Kaduna governor as a pathological liar.

Saraki alleged that the APC, El-Rufai, and other state governors frustrated the effort of the eighth National Assembly to restructure Nigeria.

The former Senate President stated that under his leadership, the National Assembly commenced the constitution amendment process in February 2016 by setting up committees in both chambers.

He, therefore, noted that El-Rufai’s statement is not only false but shows how the governor of Kaduna is fond of making excuses and trading blames to explain his failure and that of his party.

The statement reads in part: “El-Rufai claimed he and his party prepared a report on restructuring and engaged with the National Assembly leadership to amend the Constitution in 2018 when as of February 2016, more than two years earlier, the eighth National Assembly had commenced the constitution amendment process by setting up committees in both chambers

“Members of the committees traversed the entire country and came up with reports and draft bills. By 2018, as El Rufai mentioned, Buhari had commenced assent to constitutional amendment bills.“Out of the 32 Constitution Bills considered by the National Assembly, 24 secured the required number of votes on the floors of both chambers. Also, when the 24 were sent to the state Houses of Assembly, only 12 bills got the required votes.”

The former governor of Kwara state asserted that El-Rufai was one of the governors that frustrated the passage of most of the bills by the State Houses of Assembly.

Saraki said even after the state Houses of Assembly concluded their proceedings, the President only assented to five of the 12 bills submitted to him in 2018 and refused to sign seven others.

He asked the governor of Kaduna State to explain how his state has implemented important restructuring bills passed by the eighth National Assembly headed by Saraki that had been signed into law, like the Financial Autonomy for State Legislature and Judiciary Act.

He observed: “If the APC was elected into power in 2015 and El-Rufai and his cohorts were talking about amending the Constitution to implement restructuring three years later when the government had less than a year to the end of its tenure, the restructuring agenda must be an after-thought or a less important one on the hierarchy of issues on the APC’s plate.

“It should also be noted that it has been a clear 44 months since Saraki left office as Senate President. Within that period, El- Rufai and his party have the Senate President they want and the type of Senate they want, yet they have not done anything to restructure Nigeria.

“We have not seen the so-called ‘excellent’ report of his committee being translated into bills and assented to by the President. He even claimed his committee drafted restructuring bills.

“El-Rufai should tell Nigerians if Saraki is also the one that is responsible for the high level of insecurity, which has escalated from just the North-east to a menace that has now engulfed the whole of Nigeria under the APC administration.”