North West senators threaten to join APC Senators in the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday resolved to continue with partial boycott of legislative functions to press their demand for automatic return tickets for the 2015 elections, Daily Trust learnt. Last week, senators suspended proceedings as a way of registering dissatisfaction with the hijack of party delegates by state governors, who are angling to upstage the senators ahead of nominations scheduled for next month. President Goodluck Jonathan intervened Thursday night by holding a meeting with the angry lawmakers, who are demanding that two senators be given automatic return tickets from each of the 36 states. The president reportedly assured the senators that the party would look into their demands. But the PDP governors met with the President shortly after his re-election declaration on Tuesday, where they rejected the request for automatic tickets. Yesterday, senators held another closed-door meeting shortly after the plenary session to review the situation and decide on the way forward. Senators who briefed Daily Trust on the outcome of the meeting said they resolved renew their battle with the party’s leadership following indications that no steps have been taken over their demand. Sources said the senators resolved to send Senate President David Mark to the President and the party’s leadership to drive home their point. “We were told at the meeting that governors met with the President late on Tuesday and resolved that the party should allow them review the issue of automatic tickets on a state- by-state basis instead of granting automatic tickets to the senators just like that,” a senator told Daily Trust, asking not to be named. “We see this as a ploy to outwit the senators and undermine our agreement with President Jonathan and the party. “We believe that the move by the governors is a fresh bid to shortchange the lawmakers and reverse the conclusion of the meeting we held with the President and the party. Senators are not happy and I can tell you that a number of people are already contemplating ditching the party.” ‘Poisoned chalice’ During yesterday’s meeting, 11 PDP senators from the North West zone threatened to defect to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) if they are not given automatic tickets. A source at the meeting said the affected senators told their colleagues that a PDP ticket was becoming like a “poisoned chalice” in the zone and that the treatment being meted out to them by the governors was further compounding the situation. “If care is not taken, the PDP could become a minority in the Senate before the end of the year,” a senator said. “The danger again is that going back and forth on agreements reached with the highest organs of the PDP is painting a bad picture of the party.” The bone of the contention is that during the PDP ward congresses penultimate weekend, state governors took control of delegates who constitute much of the electoral college for the party’s primaries holding next month. Most of the second-term governors in the party are angling to come to the Senate, which means they are trying to displace the sitting senators from their constituencies. Moreover, in other constituencies the governors prefer candidates other than the serving senators. With the delegates firmly in the governors’ hands, the PDP senators have all but lost their re-election battles even before the primaries. No official agreed to speak on the record to journalists after yesterday’s meeting of PDP senators. But last week, Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba told reporters: “I am aware that the PDP caucus met on Tuesday and Wednesday on fundamental issues affecting democracy in Nigeria arising from ward congress of our party last Saturday. The issue needs to be addressed very urgently by relevant PDP stakeholders for the interest of our democracy.” Daily Trust learnt that the senators’ anger stemmed from breach of assurances they reportedly received that they would get return tickets if they remained in the PDP, in the wake of the gale of defections to APC early in the year. PDP senators were said to have been promised the right of first refusal if they did not jilt the ruling party.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 06:02:27 +0000
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