Following recent comments credited to Professor Itse Sagay, the chairman of the Presidential Action Committee on Anti-Corruption (PACAC), as regards certain alleged members of the National Assembly, the Senate has called President Muhammadu Buhari to call him to order. The law making body accused Sagay of spreading falsehood and making hate speeches against its members.
In a statement by its spokesman, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, the Senate said that Sagay was in the habit of disparaging the Federal Legislature by using undignifying words to describe the legislators and the institution they represent. As far as the senate is concerned, Sagay’s agenda as a member of Buhari’s administration appears tilted towards creating a rift between the legislature and executive as well as between members of the executive.
The statement pointed out that while the legislators had ignored past statements made by Sagay, his recent speech at a public lecture in Lagos organised by the Society of International Law where he gave details about the remuneration of the legislators and the various bills passed was meant to incite members of the public against the legislators.
“His last speech in Lagos during which he was reeling out false and exaggerated figures about the salaries and allowances of legislators and also lied about the passage of anti-corruption bills showed that he just deliberately set out to undermine the legislative institution and lower its reputation in the estimation of right thinking members of the society and we, therefore, believe we should put him in his rightful place, ” the statement says in part, adding “As an academic whose creed should be to find facts and make comments based on truth, we believe that Sagay should stop spreading beer parlour rumours about the salaries and allowances of legislators when he could simply get the facts from the Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Allocation Commission (RMFAC) which is the body constitutionally charged with the responsibility of fixing salaries and allowances of all public officials.”
The Senate also called to question, the anti corruption credential of the law professor
“This is a man who cannot stand for Councilorship election and win. We challenge him to state what his contributions are in the election of our amiable President, Muhammadu Buhari and what new ideas he has contributed to making the fight against corruption more effective since his appointment. With an easily excited man like him as head of an advisory body, the nation has continued to lose anti-corruption cases in courts due to the failure of his advice. He needs to do more work and talk less because media prosecution cannot win the war on corruption,” Abdullahi stated.
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