The Senate abruptly adjourned sitting on Tuesday, barely 25 minutes
after resuming plenary with indications that the senators had adjourned in
protest.
Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, who moved the motion for the
adjournment, had shortly before then announced that all the PDP members in the
senate would hold an emergency meeting immediately after plenary.
Ndoma-Egba pleaded with all members of the caucus to attend the meeting
as crucial decisions would be taken.
The caucus meeting was still being held as of the time of this report
but feelers from the meeting indicated that the senators had mandated their
leadership to meet with President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Chairman
of the PDP, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, on their grievance.
There were indications that the sudden adjournment was due to threats by
some senators of the Peoples Democratic Party to commence impeachment
proceeding against Jonathan over the President’s alleged unfair treatment.
Jonathan was said to have angered the senators by the presidential
permission allegedly granted PDP governors to choose their preferred candidates
for elections into the legislature, both at the federal and state levels.
The PDP senators were said to be angry that Jonathan had mortgaged their
political future to the governors and the lawmakers had vowed to show the
President their relevance and strength.
Some senators who spoke on Tuesday said no activity would take place in
the upper chamber again until Jonathan accorded them their due recognition.
They also accused the Federal government of withholding its allowances
since July 2014.
The senators spoke on the condition of anonymity.
“We have made up our minds to paralyse activities at the senate for now.
Our strategy is that we will resume and adjourn everyday without treating any
serious issue,” a senator from the South-East geo-political zone, said.
Another senator from the South-South vowed that the only legislative
business that would attract their participation for now would be strictly on
issues against President Jonathan’s interest.
The senator said, “Every PDP senator is dissatisfied with the attitude
of Mr. President who now believes that the state governors are more superior to
the senators. We will continue to shun plenary until he (Jonathan) do the right
thing.
“We will be in sympathy with the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, and if the special grace which the president extended to the
governors to choose their successors was not extended to the senators, we will
commence an impeachment proceedings against him.
“I can assure you that we will not sit in the chamber again. We won’t
touch the 2015 budget whenever it is sent. We will, however, be willing to
participate in reviving anything that we had already suppressed in the past to
favour Jonathan.
“As I am talking to you all the PDP senators are on their own. None of
us is sure of returning to the senate because the President has given the
governors the go-ahead to anoint those who would get the tickets for the
National and states Houses of Assembly seats.
“We are down already and we won’t mind to go down together with the
President. By the time we start impeachment proceedings against him, he will
sit up and do the right thing.”
A female senator gave reasons why some governors allegedly wanted to
stop senators from their states from returning to the senate.
She said, “There are a couple of governors who want to come to the
senate. They don’t want to come here and discover that the current senators
from their states are their bosses.
“In senate, ranking senators (those who have been returned twice or more
times), are usually considered in the allocation of juicy committee and foreign
trips. The governors don’t want to come and queue, that is why they want to
frustrate the chances of the current senators”
When contacted, the senate spokesperson, Eyinnaya Abaribe, said, “We
merely adjourned to allow our members participate in some of their party
activities but we would reconvene tomorrow (today).”