N/Assembly clerk: Buhari, Lawan, others urged to wade into crisis

President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President Ahmad Lawan and the Speaker of House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, have been urged to intervene in the appointment crisis rocking the National Assembly Service Commission.

A pro-democracy group, the National Coalition Against Injustice, made the appeal yesterday at a press conference in Abuja. 

The group also gave the management of the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC) a seven-day ultimatum to reverse the appointment of the acting clerk to the National Assembly, Sani Magaji Tambuwal, or risk legal action.

The president of the group, Abdulmojeed Adepoju, told newsmen that Nigeria’s constitution and the NASC Act do not make provisions for the appointment of an acting clerk when the substantive CNA is not on leave.

He said, “It is absurd to have a substantive clerk to the National Assembly and an acting clerk to the National Assembly at the same time to understudy the other, as it is not in conformity with the laws of the federation and not the intendment of the National Assembly Service Commission Act, 2014, as amended.

“Since the appointments were made illegally, we urge President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osibanjo, Senate President Dr Ahmad Lawan and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, to wade in urgently and save the legislature and its bureaucracy.”