The new Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), Kabiru Marafa (Zamfara) on Friday ruled out any possibility of the Senate impeaching President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to him, no serving senator is contemplating such impeachment.
Media reports had last week claimed that there were moves to impeach the President.
Marafa, who is the spokesman of the Senate Unity Forum Senators, said the report must be a heavy joke.
He spoke with State House correspondents after meeting with President Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said: “In legislature, we crack a lot of joke. I will only describe that as heavy joke. Nobody is contemplating that. It is not a possibility and God’s willing it will not happen in this assembly.
While noting that the reshufling of the Senate committees on Thursday was normal in parliamentary, he said that it was part of reconciliation between the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the Senate.
He said: “I think reschuffling of committees is not new in any parliament. What made that of yesterday a little new is the circumstances of the emergence of this leadership and what followed.
“What happened yesterday is a result of the efforts the party has been putting in for reconciliation in the last few days,” he said.
He also admitted that peace has returned to the Senate.
“Yes, as long as the party comes in and the will of the party is respected. We are not at loggerhead with anybody. It is not like we hate somebody. The current Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has been one of my very close friend and senior in the 7th assembly. What you saw happened is what I will describe as loyalty to the party. The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria recognizes only the party, it doesn’t recognize any individual.
But he disclosed that it is the party that has the final say on whether to withdraw the cases in court.
“But now, we are in power it is our own time and we should be accorded all the necessary cooperation. We should be seen to respect the party. If the party says withdraw the case, we will on to withdraw the case,” he said.
Stressing that the relationship between executive and legislature at any level is like relationship of husband and wife, he was optimistic that the crisis between his state governor, Abdulaziz Yari and the State House of Assembly will soon be resolved.
“So there is nothing knew as far as I’m concerned. We belong to the same political party and we are one. We are on top of the situation and we are trying to calm the nerves and look at the problem from its root. We will resolve the issues amicably. By our tradition and culture, Zamfara has never had that kind of problem.” He said
According to him, the ongoing bombing of oil pipelines in the Niger Delta is more injurious to the region.
He called on them to come to the table to resolve whatever grievances they have.
On his visit to President Buhari, he said: “The President is the Minister of Petroleum Resources and the committee I was given yesterday relates to the Ministry. As my father and leader, I will not start anything without seeking for his blessings. He has prayed for me and I can face the assignment headon.”
”For the umpteenth time, the IYC call on the Aides and Advisers to President Buhari to properly advise him on how to solve the current hostilities in the Niger Delta region and equally display a determination to resolve the problem as his predecessors did.
“Only a sincere and holistic dialogue with the people of the Niger Delta region which is aimed at addressing the remote causes of recurrent militancy can bring permanent peace to the Niger Delta region. This can only happen when President Buhari as the political leader of Nigeria come down to the negotiation table,” the statement said.
