Senate vs Hameed Ali: APC seeks to broker Peace

Following the imbroglio between the upper chamber and the Customs bboss, the National Work­ing Committee (NWC) of the rul­ing All Progressives Con­gress (APC) has disclosed its decision to wade in.The Senate and Ali have been engulfed in serious dis­agreement over the agency’s decision to impose an inspection order on used Nigerian cars, lead­ing to the Senates deci­sion to invite the Customs boss to appear before it wearing Customs uni­form, an attire Col Ali I yet to wear since he was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari.This got ugly sometime last week when the Senate walked the Custom’s chief out of its presence upon the latter’s failure to appear without the much talked about uniform. The house insisted he appears before it to­day on uniform while Col Ali insisted there was no law binding him to do so.But in a move to recon­cile the factions, the APC in a statement issued yesterday by its national Publicity Secretary, Mal­lam Bolaji Abdulahi stat­ed that it will intervene and settle the contro­versy amicably, stressing that the APC National Chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun will lead a dele­gation of the NWC peace mission to visit the lead­ership of the Senate and leading stakeholders of the APC to settle the rift.“The All Progressives Congress (APC) has keenly observed the con­troversy that has trailed the invitation extend­ed to the Comptroller General of the Nigerian Customs Service, Col Hameed Ali (rtd) by the Senate.“We have watched the issues with growing con­cern and the expecta­tions that they would be resolved in a manner that would be agreeable to all the parties involved.“However, we wish to state that at this point, we have found it neces­sary to intervene. Ac­cordingly, the National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun will lead the party’s peace mis­sion to the Leadership of the National Assem­bly and the concerned party member. We are confident that the party’s effort to broker peace would resolve the mat­ter amicably,” the party stated.