Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki yesterday said that his relationship with President Muhammadu Buhari remains cordial despite false claims in some social quarters.
He spoke when the National Executive of the Islamic group, Jamaatu Izalatul Bidiah Wa Ikamatus Sunnali (JIBWS) led by its President, Sheikh Mohammed Sani Yahaya Jingiri visited him at the National Assembly.
According to a statement by his Special Assistant on Print Media, Chuks Okocha, the Senate President debunked allegations that he and the Senate are working against President Buhari.
He said: ”I want to assure you of the good cooperation between the legislative arm and executive led by President Muhammudu Buhari.
” Since the commencement of this Senate, I think we had about 196 requests from President Buhari for confirmation of his nominees and we have confirmed 185. I think, we have only rejected 11. By Mathematics, that is over 90 per cent.
‘’I want to appeal to you now that you are here, to convey the same message to your followers, who because of social media and the fake news they hear that some of these fake claims over radio, they get wrong impression that we in the Senate, the Senate President and the Senators, are working against the President. I assured you that we have a very cordial relationship with the Executive””.
Saraki also reaffirmed the commitment of the Senate in ensuring good governance, economic stability and creation of jobs for the teeming unemployed youths and promised to ensure that all bills to be passed by the Senate will ensure that religious sentiments of Nigerians are taken into consideration.
The Senate President told his visitors that the Gender Bill currently before the National Assembly would be fair to all religious groups and sentiments.
According to the Senate President, “the final version of the gender bill will be such that all religious sentiments are taken care of and Nigerians would be proud of”.
“Finally, let me continue to assure you that we will continue to play our roles by bringing political balancing and stability into consideration as we do what we know is best for this country. We will strive to work to keep this country together”, the Senate President said.
Earlier, the leader of the Islamic group, Sheikh Jingirr commended the Senate President on his role in the arrangement that led to the rejection of the Muslim-Muslim Presidential ticket for the All Progressives Congress ( APC) in the 2015 presidential elections.
He added that “religious balancing must at all times be respected in Nigeria as only this will ensure harmony”.
The Islamic cleric also commended the National Assembly for rejecting same sex marriages and capital punishment, describing them as not Islamic. He also urged the Senate President to ensure that the current Gender Bill reflects the tenets of all religions.
