Senate To Hold Emergency Session To Approve Votes, Prevent Court Action On RECs
The Senate will convene an emergency session today primarily to approve the votes and proceedings from last Thursday’s sitting.
However, sources reveal that the urgent sitting is also aimed at quickly sending the list of confirmed Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) to the president to prevent any court injunctions against their inauguration.
Last week, the Senate confirmed 7 REC nominees on Wednesday and 3 more on Thursday despite petitions against 2 of them. Sources say some aggrieved individuals may approach the court to stop the inauguration of the RECs they petitioned against.
To forestall this, the emergency session will approve Thursday’s votes and proceedings and immediately transmit the list of confirmed RECs to President Tinubu for swearing-in. This would make any legal action against their oath of office difficult.
The Senate also passed the supplementary budget of N2.17 trillion for 2023 last Thursday. Sources add that approving the votes and proceedings today will allow the Clerk to swiftly send the budget to the president for assent.
The emergency session is primarily to formally approve last Thursday’s records, according to the Senate spokesperson. But sources privy to the developments say it is a strategic move to urgently forward the list of cleared RECs and the supplementary budget to the presidency before any court processes are initiated.
