I Had No Hand In The Alteration of Senate Rules - Ekweremadu Insists

Posted by Lolade on Thu 09th Jul, 2015 - tori.ng

Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, has washed his hands off allegations of amending the 8th Senate Standing Rules.

Embattled Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, on wednseady, July 8, dissociated himself from the amendment of the 8th Senate Standing Rules.

Senator Ekweremadu spoke through his Special Adviser on Media, Uche Anichukwu, on a Ray Power Radio morning programme, tagged: 'Political Platform', where he responded to questions on the alleged forgery/amendment of the Senate Standing Rule, 2011.

He removed himself from the situationn, saying at the time the said Senate Standing Rule/Order 2015 was made, he had ceased being the Deputy Senate President and so was no longer a principal officer to have contributed to the making of the document in question.

He said the making of a new Rule/Order for a new Senate or House was entirely the business of the National Assembly bureaucracy and asked those striving to frame him up to look elsewhere.

Deputy Senate Presdent, Ike Ekweremadu

“Let me just explain here that every National Assembly, that is every Senate or House has its Standing Rule/Order as every Standing Rule/Order normally has a life span of four years. So, if you go to the Office of the Clerk to the National Assembly now, you are likely to find Standing Rules/Orders of 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011 and the current 2015.

“From the point of the valedictory session of the 7th Senate on 4th June, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, Distinguished Senator David Mark and the rest of other members of the 7th Senate ceased to be senators until the 9th of June, when the 8th Senate was inaugurated; and as usually done, the new senators received new Standing Rule/Order 2015.

“The making of that 2015 edition of the Senate Rule/Order is the business of the bureaucracy of the National Assembly. What the 8th Senate can do, which its predecessors have sometimes done is to amend as suitable. And the process of the amendment is spelt out in the that document," he said.