The Nigerian Senate on Tuesday averted a situation in which they would have summon the President Muhammadu Buhari in his capacity as the petroleum minister to face questions in the national assembly.
Calls to invite president Buhari over the lingering problem of petroleum scarcity were rejected by majority of the members.
The National assembly, however, decried the persistent untold hardship inflicted on Nigerians by the scarcity of petrol and directed it’s committee on Petroleum to examine issues militarily against efforts put in place to resolve the problems associated with the scarcity of fuel.
Some Opposition PDP Senators had argued that the Senate should summon the substantive petroleum minister to explain the steps being taken to address the key issues in the petroleum sector but the effort was overruled by the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, who cautioned Senators against introducing partisan politics into national development issues.
Senate spokesman, Saabi Abdullahi, declared at a press conference shortly after the Senate session provides explanation on why the President could not be invited:
“That Mr President chose to oversee the Petroleum Ministry does not make him cede his authority of being the Commander-in-Chief. If we have explanation to be made by a minister and in this case petroleum, the Minister of State (Petroleum), is the person that will definitely come forward to make this explanation”.
