Senate: Service chiefs for screening tomorrow
- Abdulrasheed Akogun
- Aug 3, 2015
- 2 min read
*Court summons IGP over alleged forgery
The newly appointed service chiefs whose senate screening intially slated for Thursday 30th July but was later postponed due to the pulling out parade of ex- Chief of Defence Staff, Air vice Marshal Alex Badeh last Thursday, are due to appear before the senate for screening and confirmation tomorrow.
It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had on July 13, 2015 announced the appointment of new service chiefs with Major- General Abayomi Gabriel Olonishakin as the new Chief of Defence Staff (CDS).
Others are: Major-General T.Y. Buratai as the Chief of Army Staff; Rear Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas and Air Vice Marshal Sadique Abubakar Chief of Naval Staff and Chief of Air Staff, respectively.
While the newly appointed CDS Major General Olonishakin hails from Ekiti State, Major General Buratai and AVM Abubakar both hail from Borno State with Rear Admiral Ekwe Ibas is an indigene of Cross River State.
All the service chiefs are, however, in acting capacity until they are screened and confirmed by the Senate.
Meanwhile, the investigation into the alleged forgery of Senate Rules took a new dimension last week as a Federal High Court in Abuja, summoned the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, to appear before it on Tuesday to answer questions related to the ongoing investigation into the allegation.
The Judge, Gabriel Kolawole, ruled that Arase should appear in court on August 4 to explain why the prayers sought by the plaintiff should not be granted.
The plaintiff, Gilbert Nnaji, the senator representing Enugu-East Senatorial District, is seeking to restrain the IGP and the Attorney-General of the Federation from taking further steps on the investigation of alleged forgery in the Senate’s rules.
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/646/15, was filed before the release and sending of the Police Report to the AGF’s office for further action, the IGP and the AGF are the two respondents to the suit.
The judge held that he needed to afford both the IGP and the AGF to be heard before taking a decision on the ex parte prayers.
He said, “The court is a bit wary on an ex parte proceeding to allow the plaintiff (Nnaji) to have his day in court because the courts are not created or established to supervise the National Assembly in the way and manner it will run its own constitutional duties, except where its acts border on a substantial infraction of the constitution, which goes beyond its own internal rules or procedure, or the application of its standing order.
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