The Senate Minority Leader, Abba Moro on Tuesday expressed dissatisfaction with the allegation by the senator representing Bauchi Central Senatorial District and Chairman, Norther Senators Forum, Abdul Ningi that the leadership of the Senate Minority Caucus of the 10th Senate was imposed on the caucus and that the leadership is not doing its job of opposition.
Senator Moro, while making his contribution on the floor of the Senate to a Motion moved by Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Solomon Adeola over Senator Ningi’s allegation of budget padding levelled against the leadership of the Senate, said he was disappointed that Senator Ningi could make spurious and unsubstantiated allegations against the senate. He said the budget was a product of painstaking efforts of the Executive and the National Assembly, adding that every lawmaker made a contribution to it at one level or the other.
The Senate Minority Leader said the senate was made up of mature minds, stating that members are expected to surrender their personal interests to the interest of the Senate and the institution called Nigeria. He averred that to do otherwise was certainly irresponsible. He said as a member of the Northern Senators Forum, he felt offended that Senator Ningi used the platform to lay an allegation that was false and misleading.
On the claim that the leadership of the Minority Caucus was imposed on the caucus and not doing its work well, Senator Moro said he was duly nominated and elected by all the 41 members of the Minority Caucus. He advised that people should not pull down the roof because they fail to get what they want at a time.
His words, “While we aspire to get certain things at certain points, if we don’t get it let not heaven fall. I was duly nominated and duly elected and I have been doing my work here. The allegation of me or the leadership of the minority caucus not doing its work of opposition is incorrect.”
Reading the relevant sections of the Senate Rules, the Minority Leader said he had been doing his work and had not failed in any way. He said as a Minority Leader, he would not just stand and criticize policies of the government for the sake of it.
“I will not just stand and criticize the policies of the government for the sake of it just because I’m the Minority Leader. All we want for this country is stability, growth, progress and creating the highest happiness for the highest number of Nigerian people. That, to my mind, is not necessarily achieved through confrontation and unnecessary criticism.
“I want all of us to know that the federal government of Nigeria is the federal government of Nigeria, and not the APC Federal Government or PDP Federal Government.
“In the spirit of the founding fathers of federalism, we must all work together for the benefit of everybody, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do and exactly what the minority leadership of the 10th Senate is going to do,” he stated.
