The presidency has assured Nigerians that the rift between the executive and Legislative arms of government would be resolved soon.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu gave the assurance in an interview with journalists at the State House, Abuja on Wednesday.
He said the remarks made by Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo some months ago when he was the Vice President, is being misconstrued.
He said: “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
According to him, the government or its cabinet has not taken any decision on such an issue.
“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.
He noted that in compliance with the provisions of the law, the executive arm has been sending the names of its nominees to the National Assembly for screening and it will continue to do so.
All parties involved in the matter, he said, will soon meet to thrash the matter.
“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.
