A former member of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Moshood Mustapha, has taken a swipe at Senator Kabiru Marafa for declaring that the present Senate presided over by Senator Bukola Saraki was not legally constituted.

Mustapha said the senator, who is a member of the Senate Unity Forum, a group of senators opposed to the emergence of Saraki, had already recognised Saraki as the Senate president having stood before him to take oath of office.

Mustapha in a chat with newsmen in Ilorin, Kwara State noted that Marafa was a senator-elect until Saraki inaugurated him and signed his election forms as stipulated by the constitution.

He said: "If he (Senator Marafa) has said because the Senate is not properly constituted and so they don't have the power to do anything, that means Senator Kabiru Marafa as it were is not a senator because he is a senator by virtue of recognising the leadership of the Senate as it is.

"You can't be a senator except you stand before the presiding officer who would equally sign your form, the form that you filled that showed you have been elected.

"At that level, you are still a senator-elect until you take oath of office and not just oath of office, a signature must be appended by the presiding officer and that is when you can become a senator. It is very simple. So, he has already recognised the Senate president, let us not belabor ourselves."

He blamed the national leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for dilly-dallying on zoning of leadership positions in the National Assembly until it became a crisis.

He said: "The National Assembly crisis was unexpected. What do I mean by that? The government that was in power for 16 years had a very vibrant opposition which has now taken over the rein of power, reversing the former situation. And in that kind of situation, you expect all sorts of misunderstanding and crisis in the area of interest. When you have that kind of situation, the best thing for the leadership of the party to do was to call the whole house to order.

"But in a situation where the leadership of the party decided to take side with one faction of the groups, definitely, it will not augur well for the House. And by and large, there is no way we will get peace in the National Assembly except we stop external interference.

"The National Assembly is not a political party secretariat. It is an assemblage of people with different political backgrounds who have what we call national assignment to perform for the nation. So, the issue of party platform is secondary when it comes to issues of legislature."

The ex-lawmaker, who expressed hope that with the intervention of Nigerians, the issue would be resolved before the National Assembly reconvenes, called on those aggrieved to sheathe their swords in the interest of Nigerians.

"We promised Nigerians change, they ought to have started feeling that change. If it is not going to come immediately, let them see the sign that this change is on the way," he added.