Senate to Ali: You’re unfit for public office
The Senate on Wednesday in its resolutions declared the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Custom Service
(NCS), Hameed Ali, unfit to hold any public office in the country.
This resolution followed the failure of the CG to appear before the Senate on Wednesday as expected, after he was walked out of the Senate chambers for not conforming to its directive to appear in uniform.
The Senate which also called the Attorney General of the Federation Abubakar Malami to order, resolved to write to President Muhammadu Buhari urging him to restrain the AGF from unconstitutional interference in the work of the National Assembly.
The Senate which condemned the AGF for attempting to derail it from carrying out its functions, described his letter advising the Senate to desist further attempt to summon the Comptroller General of Customs and also urging him to wear uniform as an insult on the National Assembly.
Malami had written the clerk of the Senate on Tuesday, demanding that the Senate put on hold further actions against the CG of Customs as the matter is now before a court and would amount to breaching court process.
Reacting to the contents of the AGF’s letter, the Senate went into an executive session that lasted
two hours on Wednesday after which it opened up the matter for debate.
Senator Benjamin Uwajumogu, who was the first to speak on the issue, reminded the Senate that Nigeria is operating a democracy where every arm of government is independent of the other. He stressed that no arm of government
therefore can stop the other from carrying out its constitutional function.
Uwajumogu cited “Jude Agbaso versus the Imo State Government” where a court ruled that no arm of government can disrupt the processes of another arm of government from performing its responsibilities. He therefore suggested
that the Senate should ignore the AGF and as well declare Hameed Ali totally unfit for the office to teach him a lesson.
Senator Dino Melaye (Kogi West) wondered where the Attorney General derives his power from to suggest to the Senate or direct it on how it should carry out its function.
“This is the first time that any AG will have the temerity to do so…and by the way, what we have is not a court order or injunction, it is a mere process. The integrity and the independence of the legislator is on the line, we have a rule which says that a matter already in court cannot be treated here, but not a matter that we are already treating and somebody went to court and you are asking us to stop,” Melaye pointed out.
Citing Section 8 of the Pension Reform Act of 2004, Melaye urged Senate to declare Ali unfit to be the CG of the Nigeria Custom Service.
”Going by the Pension Reform Act 2004, section 8, “the position of the CG is a rank and anybody holding that office is a public servant.
The compulsory retirement age for the service is 60 years and Hameed Ali is far above 60 years old, he is therefore not qualified to hold that office. The president has always preached the rule of law, he has a choice now to choose between the rule of law and the CG.
“If we begin to have interference with our rules, it will not work and therefore no amount of blackmail will deter us from carrying out our duty,”Melaye added.
