The Senate on Tuesday suspended the confirmation of resident electoral commissioners in protest against President Muhammadu Buhari’s refusal to replace the acting chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu.
Mr. Magu’s nomination as substantive chairman of the EFCC was twice rejected by the Senate, acting on incriminating security report by the State Security Service, SSS.
The Senators, who also accused some appointees of the president of disrespecting the legislature, therefore resolved to suspend the confirmation of commissioners in protest.
Mr. Buhari had last week nominated 27 persons for appointment as Resident Electoral Commissioners of INEC.
Earlier Tuesday, the senators reportedly held at a closed-door meeting where they resolved to defend the integrity of the Senate by denying some requests from the presidency easy sail.
Reports said after the closed-door session, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi moved a motion that the process be suspended, saying that appointees of the president had shown disregard for the Senate.
The motion was supported by Matthew Urhoghide, who specifically cited Mr. Magu’s continued leadership role at the EFCC despite being rejected twice by the Senate.
Senators, including Samuel Anyanwu, Francis Alimikhena and Ike Ekweremadu took turn to support Mr Mwaoboshi’s motion, with Mr. Alimikhena saying Mr. Magu is “terrorising us, because we disqualified him.”
The Senate therefore resolved to suspend the confirmation process for two weeks.
