Ali cannot appear before you today- SAN

Abubakar Malami (SAN)

STRONG indications emerged yesterday that the face-off between the Senate and the Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali, (retd), is getting messier everyday, as the Federal Government has vowed that the Customs boss will not wear complete uniforms as directed by the senators who asked him come back next week Wednesday in complete Customs uniform.

The Customs boss, who is billed to appear before the Senate today in uniform will not do so, just as he had cited the constitution and also for the fact that the case on whether he should war uniform or not, was already in court. Abubakar Malami (SAN) . Photo by Gbemiga Olamikan Vanguard gathered yesterday that in a letter to the Clerk of the Senate, Nelson Ayewoh, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, had written that Hameed Ali will not come in complete uniform because someone has gone to court to challenge the process.

 According to the letter, Malami has asked the Senate to hands off the matter against the backdrop that they were already in court to challenge it whether the Senate has the powers to oversight the Customs Comptroller General as well as have the right to compel him to wear uniforms. In the letter, the Attorney- General was said to have said that there was no way the Senate could force Ali to wear uniforms when President Muhammadu Buhari does not wear military uniform as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces.

He was said to have accused Senate President Bukola Saraki of not wearing his complete legislative regalia in line with legislative conventions. But reacting to the development, the Senate said that no court of law çan stop it from carrying out its responsibilities in line with the constitution and the Senate Standing Orders 2015, as amended.

 Speaking with Vanguard yesterday, Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Sabi Aliyu Abdullahi, who admitted that the Senate had received the letter from the Presidency written by the Attorney- General through the Clerk of the Senate, said that there was no cause for alarm. According to him, the leadership of the Senate was yet to discuss the letter, as there will be no direct response to it, adding that the borne of contention now had to do with the issue of wearing uniform and not appearing to tell the the Senate the proposed policies of Customs.

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