25th September, 2012
Labaran Maku, Nigeria’s Minister of Information has eaten the humble pie as he apologised to the Senate over his comments last week that the resolutions of the National Assembly did not have force of law.
He dismissed the assembly while responding to the resolutions of the two chambers of the National Assembly in which they asked the President to stop Central Bank of Nigeria planned introduction of a single N5000 note last week.
The Minister said the resolutions of National Assembly were mere advisory and not binding of the President.
But Maku was reminded by the Senators on Tuesday that the National Assembly resolution on the doctrine of necessity enable the then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to be sworn in as the Acting President, thus facilitating his appointment as a minister.
Maku who appeared before the Senate Committee on Information and Media over the comment on Tuesday said it was not his intention to disparage the National Assembly and therefore apologised to the lawmakers.
Also, the Senate on Tuesday confirmed the appointment of Ekpo Una Owo Nta as chairman of Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC). Nta has been the acting chairman of the Commission since 29th November, 2011.
President Goodluck Jonathan had last year requested the Senate to confirm Nta’s appointment in accordance with section 3(3) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000.