Why Senator Remi Tinubu’s trial is delayed – ABUJA — THE Senate Committee on Ethics is yet to commence the trial of Senator Remi Tinubu more than two weeks after the committee was supposed to have submitted its report on the investigations on the alleged wrongful utterance of the wife of the national leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Sources in the Senate disclosed that partisan bickering and seeming sloppiness may have combined to derail or delay the trial which, it was learnt, may not commence until September when the Senate is expected to resume from its seasonal holiday. Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, senators in the committee are, however, undeterred and are pushing for the trial not to be overtaken by events. The agitation of the PDP senators is, however, countered by the seeming reluctance of APC senators in the committee to partake in the trial of the wife of the leader of their party. Mrs. Tinubu became the first woman in Nigeria to follow her husband into the Senate in 2011 after her husband’s stint in the Third Republic Senate. Senator Tinubu was referred to the Senate Committee on Ethics following the adoption of a motion brought by the Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN), last June, alleging her contemptuous utterance on the Senate and its leadership during an event in Lagos. Senator Tinubu, representing Lagos Central Senatorial District on the APC, was asked by the Senate leadership to appear before the committee after being accused of gross misconduct and breach of privileges, following reports credited to her in some national dailies where she allegedly lashed at the Senate leadership for providing uninspiring leadership besides being a lackey of the Federal Government-led Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. The committee was given two weeks to try Mrs. Tinubu and make appropriate recommendations to the Senate. But almost three weeks before the upper legislative chamber proceeded on its two-month annual recess, precisely on July 17, members of the committee were yet to formally meet, in what a source attributed to inability of members to form a quorum in two previous meetings convened by its chairman. The chairman of the committee, Senator Akinyelure, who represents Ondo Central Senatorial District on the platform of Labour Party, LP, confirmed in a telephone interview with Vanguard, yesterday, that the committee could not beat the deadline because its members could not form a quorum in its previous meetings. Akinyelure debunked claim that serious disagreements among members of the committee was responsible for the delayed take-off of the committee’s work, saying, as soon as the Senate resumed from recess on September 16, the committee would swing into action. He disclosed that so far, not even an invitation had been sent to Mrs. Tinubu to appear before the committee, because according to him, the committee members were yet to formally meet to write the invitation letter.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 11:57:39 +0000
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