President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki on Thursday saved President Muhammadu Buhari from being dragged into constitutional breach by some senators who argued that the President was in error by sending troops to The Gambia without recourse to the Senate.
A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senator from Enugu state, Chukwuka Utazi, had raised a constitutional order which was rejected by Saraki who presided over plenary.
Standing on order 43 of the Senate Standing Rules, Senator Utazi quoted section 5 (4) of the 1999 constitution which required the consent of both Houses of the National Assembly before the President commits the armed forces to any operation outside the shores of the country. He argued that what Buhari did was a clear affront on the National Assembly and a breach of the constitution.
In a response, Saraki insisted that Senator Utazi did not read through the details of the said section of the constitution and dismissed the order. According to Saraki, the law permits the President to inform the Senate within seven days, insisting that Buhari still has a window of seven days.
Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, had however insisted that the law is clear on the issue.
According to him, aside the declaration of war which was explained in section 5 of the constitution, the President must seek the consent of the National Assembly before deploying the Nigerian armed forces to another country.
But Saraki ruled them out of order.
