National Assembly won’t tolerate disrespect anymore, Lawan warns Buhari’s appointees

The President of the Senate, Dr Ahmed Lawan, has warned appointees of President Muhammadu Buhari against disrespecting the National Assembly.

He gave the warning on Monday while reacting to the series of disagreements between some lawmakers and presidential appointees, including some ministers and heads of Federal Government agencies.

Senator Lawan was responding to questions from State House correspondents in Abuja shortly after President Buhari inaugurated the Executive, Legislative Party Consultative Council at the Presidential Villa.

“Coming to your second-leg of the question that recently we had some appointees on the executive side walking out or maybe saying things, I believe that that should be the end of it; we believe that we should work together,” the lawmaker stated.

He added, “For us in the National Assembly, I think what has happened has happened and I pray that nobody goes to the National Assembly to do the kind of things that some people did before because that will be disrespecting the President and, of course, abuse of the National Assembly and we are not going to tolerate that.”

According to Lawan, even the President made it very clear that he will not accept or tolerate any of his appointees doing things that are not respectable and have no dignity to the National Assembly.

He stressed the need for political officers to ensure the Council produces the desired results and outcomes, that would make Nigeria better in terms of governance.

In his remarks at the inauguration which held earlier as the Council Chamber of the Villa, the Senate President described the event as historic for the APC administration.

He noted that the legislature, executive, and the ruling party have seen the need to bring everybody on board for thorough consultations before major issues were tabled before the citizens of the country.

Senator Lawan explained that the purpose of the inauguration of the Council was to improve the quality of governance and service delivery to Nigerians.

“We have promised Nigerians and Nigerians voted for the All Progressives Congress at all the levels, so it is incumbent upon us at all levels and as a party to ensure we meet the expectations and aspirations of Nigerians.

“Just like Mr President expressed, we believe that the constitution rightly provides for the separation of powers and we believe in that,” he said.

The lawmaker added, “The legislature will always on its own ensure we oversight and we check possible excesses of the executive arm of government.” (Channels TV)