Efforts
by Senate President David Mark to pacify 11 senators of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP), who last week wrote to inform him of their defection to the All
Progressives Congress (APC), fell through yesterday as they shunned a meeting
with the Senate leadership.
The
defecting senators, including Bukola Saraki, Danjuma Goje, Shaba Lafiagi and
Magnus Abe did not turn up for the meeting slated for Mark's office.
Besides
Saraki, Goje, Lafiagi and Abe, other defecting senators are Abdullahi Adamu
(Nasarawa West), Umaru Dahiru (Sokoto South), Aisha Alhassan (Taraba North),
Ali Ndume (Borno South), Bindowo Jubrilla (Adamawa North), Wilson Ake (Rivers
West) and Ibrahim Gobir (Sokoto East).
Mark,
who had arrived in his office at 10 am in preparation for the meeting, left at
2 pm when he did not see any of the senators who are aggrieved over the refusal
of the Senate leadership to read their defection letter, as they had expected,
during last Wednesday's plenary.
Notwithstanding the attempts by the Senate leadership to discourage their defection to APC, the party’s membership increased yesterday as 26 lawmakers in Kano State House of Assembly announced that they had left PDP for the opposition party.
Notwithstanding the attempts by the Senate leadership to discourage their defection to APC, the party’s membership increased yesterday as 26 lawmakers in Kano State House of Assembly announced that they had left PDP for the opposition party.
Their
defection came two days before the official launch of the party's membership
drive in which it hopes to recruit 15 million Nigerians nationwide into its
fold.
The aggrieved senators during last Wednesday's plenary had submitted their defection letter to Mark to inform him of their preparedness to join APC.
The aggrieved senators during last Wednesday's plenary had submitted their defection letter to Mark to inform him of their preparedness to join APC.
The
letter, which was signed by the 11 senators, was submitted by Saraki.
When the letter was not read last Wednesday as expected by the defecting senators, they assumed it was due to its late submission since it was submitted after the time that the Senate president usually reads correspondence.
When the letter was not read last Wednesday as expected by the defecting senators, they assumed it was due to its late submission since it was submitted after the time that the Senate president usually reads correspondence.
Although
the defection letter contained 16 names, only 11 of them signed, as the
remaining five backed out and decided to remain in PDP.
Following
the submission of the letter, Mark had a discussion with Saraki where he
disclosed his intention to meet with them. Consequently, they agreed to
schedule the meeting for Monday.
But
Mark, after a four-hour fruitless wait for the defecting senators to keep the
appointment, left at 2 pm and returned home.
It
was learnt that the meeting, which was initially rescheduled for yesterday
night at the Apo official quarters of Mark, was again postponed to take place
today.
It
was gathered that the senate president had called the meeting to explain to the
aggrieved senators why he would be unable to read the defection letter for now.
According
to a source, Mark is conscious that once the letter is read, it will
immediately be documented since it will enter the Senate's Hansard.
The
source added that the senate president knows that once the defection letter is
recorded as part of the day's proceedings, it would endanger the seats of the
defectors anytime the court rules on a suit challenging the legality of the
defected lawmakers retaining their seats.
The
source explained that the senate president believes that the court ruling would
not be in the defectors’ interest because of an earlier judgment that there was
no division in PDP, which was the main reason cited by the 11 senators’ for
their defection.
He
added further that the senate president also felt that it would be disastrous
for any senator to have his/her seat declared vacant when they have less than
one-and-a-half years to the end of their tenure.
The
source said another reason Mark called the meeting was to explain to the 11
senators that their letter cannot stand the test of time in view of Order 53 in
the Senate Standing Rules, which states that “if in the opinion of the senate
president any matter is already in court, it will be considered sub judice and
shall not be mentioned on the floor”.
He
added that the case of the defecting senators was worsened by their reference
to the matter in court in paragraph five of the first letter they wrote to Mark
on January 20, where among others, they asked him not to declare their seats
vacant because of the court order asking the parties concerned to maintain the
status quo.
“The
meeting is actually in their own interest because the senate president is
saying once the letter is read, it will enter into the Hansard and once the
court’s ruling is not in their favour, the only option left will be to declare
their seats vacant.
“So
the senate president is laying emphasis on the number of days left and
informing them that it won't be worth it to declare anybody's seat vacant. Even
their letter cannot stand up to the Senate Standing Rules.
“And
it is in the Senate Standing Rules that any matter in court cannot be
discussed. Yet they were the ones that even made reference to the matter in
court in their letter to him; except they are saying that the rules don't
matter any more and asking that the rule be changed,” the source said.
Last
Thursday, there was tension in the upper legislative chamber when the defecting
senators in collaboration with their APC counterparts protested the
perceived deliberate decision of the Senate leadership not to read the letter.
They
had demanded that the letter be read by Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu
who presided over the plenary on that day. But Ekweremadu insisted that Mark
did not give him any letter to read, adding that the senate president had also
told him that he had scheduled a meeting with the senators on the matter for
yesterday.
This
did not go down well with the senators who were dissatisfied with Ekweremadu's
explanation. The situation eventually degenerated into a rowdy session before
the matter was brought under control.
Who is d kind of Judge or justice,that gave d verdict that there is no division in pdp when some governors nd ex vice president walked out of their convention to announce a paralle body nd afterward they started to have more members nd at d end decamped to another party even after d main party chairman was forced to resign so what else does that judge need to know that there was a division except if money has been used to buy his sight nd sense of reasoning nd conscience as well or does d judge has another meaning to division,d judiciary body should tell us,when other parties were decamping to pdp was there a clear division in those parties or a division at all in those parties then that warrant that divisions nd yet nobody complained or challenge it in court,we should learn to be honest straightward in dis country
ReplyDeletea whole senate president is afraid to read a simple letter of defection of some of d senators to another party, what a shame, may be he is taking directive from a confused president.
ReplyDelete