BY Henry Umoru

…They’re on their own, says Joy Emodi
ABUJA—Senate has urged President Goodluck Jonathan to, as a matter of urgency, call his aides, who make inflammatory statements against the National Assembly, to order.

Describing the aides as fifth columnists, the Senate, yesterday, noted that the warning has become imperative to avoid straining the cordial relationship between the legislature and executive.

The lawmakers were angered by what they termed unguarded utterances by the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak, and Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe.

They said if such acts continued, they would be left with the option of vetoing the President on some pending bills and resolutions that have been passed by the National Assembly, as soon as they resumed sitting after the Sallah break.

The resolutions of the Senate were sequel to a motion by Deputy Senate Leader, Senator Abdul Ningi, PDP, Bauchi Central, who drew the attention of the Senate to inflammatory statements against the National Assembly by ministers and aides of President Goodluck Jonathan.

His motion was entitled Inflammatory Statements Against the National Assembly by the Ministers and Aides of the Presidents.

Ningi, who expressed dismay over the regular attacks on the legislature by ministers and aides of the President, stressed that he was scandalised by the most recent instance in which the adviser to the President on Political matters, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak, remarked that members of the National Assembly were “talking like illiterates.”

Emodi reacts
Meanwhile, the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Joy Emodi, has disowned the aides, stressing that they were on their own. She said the President had very high regards for the lawmakers.

Emodi said: “I have found it imperative to put some matters straight in view of the recent developments that tend to portray any crises of confidence between the Executive and the Legislature, especially as it relates to some statements accredited to some ministers and Presidential aides.

“Let me state categorically that the alleged statements neither reflect the views of President Goodluck Jonathan on the National Assembly, nor the enormous respect he has for the institution and the cordial relationship he has encouraged between the Executive and the Legislature.”