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Senate calls for Ali’s resignation after his refusal to appear before the house

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The Senate has called for the resignation of the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Hameed Ali.

The lawmakers said on Wednesday that Mr. Ali was not fit to hold public office.

The call follows Mr. Ali’s decision not to appear before the lawmakers in uniform on Wednesday as directed by the Senate.

The Customs boss told reporters on Tuesday that his decision not to appear was based on legal advice after a Nigerian filed a case in court seeking the interpretation of a Customs law on uniform for the Comptroller-General.

The Senate on Wednesday rejected the letter by the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, asking the lawmakers to suspend discussion on Mr. Ali.

Mr. Malami’s letter was read by the Clerk to the Senate at the plenary on Wednesday, just as the lawmakers dissolved into committee of the whole to receive briefing from Mr. Ali.

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Prompted by his seeming disrespect, senators went into a closed-door session at exactly 10:32am.

At the end of the session, the lawmakers subjected the issue to a debate.

Dino Melaye, senator representing, Kogi west, said Malami’s letter was an insult to the national assembly.

While wondering where Malami got his power to direct the senate, Melaye said the AGF could not stop the upper legislative chamber from carrying out its mandate.

“What we heard from the attorney-general is an insult on the institution of the national assembly and precisely the senate, I ask again, where did the attorney-general whom we screened on this floor derive his powers from to authorise, direct the senate or suggest to the senate how to carry out our constitutional mandate given to us by the constitution?” he asked.

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“The position of comptroller-general is a rank and anyone occupying that office is at public servant and this is pension rules and that one says the compulsory requirement age for all grades in service including the customs service, it says ‘the compulsory retirement age of service shall be 60 years’.

“Hameed Ali is above 60, far above 60. So he is not qualified to hold the position of the comptroller-general of customs.”

On his part, Abaribe said Malami’s letter to the senate showed that he did not have an understanding of the laws.

“Our rules say in section 53 (5): ‘reference shall not be made in any matter in which a judicial decision is pending in such a way as might in such a way as in the opinion of the senate prejudice the interest of parties’, so no other person outside is important in this matter except the president of the senate,” the legislator told his colleagues.

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“In the light I want to question the understanding of the attorney-general of the federation on the laws of Nigeria because by the AGF going ahead to write the clerk of the senate saying there is a judicial matter pending and therefore it is subjudice, it shows an abysmal lack of understanding of what our democracy is all about”

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