Presidency Defends Osinbajo on Rift With Senate, Says he has right to Personal Opinion

 The presidency has expressed readiness to resolve the current issues it has with the Nigerian senate.

President Muhammadu Buhari's spokesman, Garba Shehu, made the announcement on Wednesday in Abuja. Here are his words:

“Our understanding is that some remarks made by the Acting President some months ago when he was the Vice President, because the President was around at that time, an opinion he gave is being misconstrued.

“A senior Lawyer in the country offered an opinion, in which he said some categories of public officers traditionally cleared by the National Assembly need not to go through that process, that those ones can be appointed by the Presidential fiat; they don’t have to go through screening. But several months ago, in his position as Vice President, Professor Osinbajo gave a personal opinion saying what this Lawyer said makes sense,” he said.

“There is no official position by the government of Nigeria and the Federal Executive Council never sat down to take a decision to say that some categories of officials will not be sent to the National Assembly any longer or that the authority of the Senate under the constitution to screen and pass nominees has never been questioned by the government or the Federal Executive Council,” he said.

“From the time the Vice President gave that opinion to now, more than twenty nominations have been forwarded to the Senate and quite a number of them have been screened, sworn-in and are now occupying positions so therefore, this is not a big issue as some people want to make it.

“The party, government and the National Assembly will sit on a round table and this matter will be discussed and resolved. I assure you,” he stated.