Senate To Persuade Buhari On Sack Of Service Chiefs

The Senate has said it will persuade President Muhammadu Buhari on its resolve to sack the service chiefs in the country.

This was made known by Senator Ajibola Basiru, Senate spokesperson, in a recent interview.

Recall the Senate weeks ago called for the sack of the service chiefs due to the multi-pronged security challenges in the country but the Presidency responded that their appointment or sack was a presidential prerogative.

While admitting that the resolution on the removal of the service chiefs was purely advisory, Basiru maintained that it represented the position of Nigerians who elected them into the Senate.

“We, however, still want to persuade the President to consider our resolution. The Presidency has said it is aware of our decision and has pledged to look into it,” he said.

“The Presidency said it is not legally bound to carry out (our) resolution because it is the prerogative of the President to remove service chiefs.”

Although the Senate spokesperson did not categorically confirm if the resolution by the Red Chamber was appropriately passed to the Presidency, but said, “Our resolutions are just persuasive authority coming from elective representatives of Nigerians in the National Assembly”.

“It (resolution) is not a law. It is advisory and persuasive. The response of the Presidency is the correct position of law, and I agree,” he added.

“Due to the principle of separation of power, we cannot compel the President to sack the service chiefs. We only responded to the feelings of Nigerians by asking the President to reorganize them (service chiefs), but he is not legally bound to do so.”

Basiru further noted that the Senate was deliberating with the executive on the decentralization of the police and additional recruitment into the Force, adding that the decentralization was already being worked on.