Power equation and looming defection in Senate 4 days ago Many Nigerians are concerned about the likely impact of the gale of defection sweeping across the National Assembly. In this piece, SUNDAY ABORISADE examines the scenario in the Senate. The defection of 37 aggrieved members of the House of Representatives from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party to the opposition All Progressives Congress, has without doubt, put some of their colleagues in the Senate, who share similar grievances, under pressure. The defection of the aggrieved PDP House members instantly catapulted the main opposition party from being a minority to become the majority. Many waited in vain before the senators went on recess in December to hear the President of the Senate David Mark, read a letter from some of the aggrieved Senators- signaling their intention to join their colleagues in the House, on the defection train. No such letter was read because none was written. Analysts argue that with the likely complete takeover of the legislative functions of the House by the opposition, an early passage of the 2014 budget will be a Herculean task. A foretaste of what is to come is encapsulated in the threat by members of the House not to consider the budget until the Coordinating Minister of the Economy/Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, provides answers to 50 questions on the state of the nation’s economy. Some have expressed the fears that a similar scenario may be replay in the Senate considering the growing threat that the opposition is beginning to find its voice. At the moment, no fewer than 10 senators have made known their willingness to defect to the APC. Unlike in the House of Representatives, however, PDP’s Senate majority is not under threat because even in an unlikely event that 10 or 20 senators defect, the PDP will retain its position. In the interim, only Senators Bukola Saraki and Shaba Lafiagi from Kwara State as well as Senators Magnus Abe and Wilson Ake from Rivers State have voiced their determination to defect. A former National Chairman of the PDP, Senator Barnabas Gemade (PDP, Benue North-East), has allegedly threatened to leave the party, if his state’s governor, Gabriel Suswam, who hails from the same Senatorial district with him, insists on contesting the 2015 senatorial election. There is no concrete evidence to show that the 22 senators who filed a suit to prevent the National Assembly leadership from declaring their seats vacant, are on their way out of the ruling party. Those who have yet to make noticeable moves to defect include Senators Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa West); Danjuma Goje (Gombe Central); Ali Ndume (Borno South); Ahmed Zannah (Borno Central); and Simeon Ajibola (Kwara South). Others are Bindowo Jubrilla (Adamawa North); Abdulaziz Usman (Jigawa North-East); Hassan Barata (Adamawa South); Umaru Dahiru (Sokoto-South); Ahmad Maccido (Sokoto-North); Ibrahim Gobir (Sokoto East); Isa Galaudu (Kebbi North) and Ahmed Alkali (Gombe North). Speaking on the development through a short message to our correspondent, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Information, Media and Public Affairs, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe, said the defectors could not confer on the APC the status of a majority party, adding that as such, the leadership structure of the Senate will not be altered. In a similar vein, Senator Kabiru Marafa (APC, Zamfara State) said the current number of senators, planning to defect from the PDP to the APC, was not sufficient to dislodge the former from its majority status. Marafa said, “Politics is a game of figures and figures don’t lie. If less than 20 out of 72 PDP senators defect to the APC to join the 33 senators there, the PDP will still maintain the majority. “However, serious politics has started and the APC is committed, more than ever before, to take over not only the leadership of the country in 2015, but also that of the two chambers of the National Assembly In sha Allah.” Those who will defect will have to do so individually in accordance with the rules of the Senate. This is unlike their 37 colleagues in the House of Representatives, who defected as a group last December. Some of the senators, who have made up their minds to ditch the ruling party, confided in our correspondent that they would abide by the rules as spelt out in the Senate Standing Orders. For instance, Saraki, who spoke through his Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Bankole Omisore, said arrangements had been concluded for his principal’s formal defection. He said, “I can tell you that Senator Bukola Saraki is committed to the APC. The people of Kwara, whom we represent, have endorsed the (defection) move and there is no going back.” The Senator said he could not speak for his other colleagues but maintained that it was certain that his own letter of defection would be read on the floor of the Senate “very soon.” He said “The process to officially effect the defection has been perfected and it would be concluded once the Senate resumes in the next few weeks.” On his part, Abe said, “What I have said, which I will still continue to maintain, is that I am moving over to the APC, but how I’m going to do it, and when I am going to do it, is a strategy that I will keep to my chest.” The leadership of the Senate as well as that of the ruling PDP, are however not leaving anything to chance. It was learnt that the President of the Senate had been under considerable pressure from the party and the Presidency to enforce the provisions of the Senate rules by declaring the seats of the affected senators vacant. Section 68 (1) (g) of the rule stipulates the conditions for the seat of a National Assembly member vacant. It states, “A member of the Senate or of the House of Representatives shall vacate his seat in the House of which he is a member if – (g) being a person whose election to the House was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected. “Provided that his membership of the latter political party is not as a result of a division in the political party of which he was previously a member or of a merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored.” The ruling PDP currently maintains a comfortable majority in the Senate with 72 Senators. The APC has 33, Labour Party has three, while the All Progressives Grand Alliance has one. It was gathered that the Presidency had been working in conjunction with the Senate leadership to maintain the current status quo. One of the affected Senators, who confided in our correspondent, said he and his colleagues, who had shown signs of defection, had equally been put under pressure by the leadership of the Senate to jettison their planned action. Part of the action taken by Mark to stop the defection, according to the source, includes his constant daily personal calls to each Senator. He said, “Already some of us have already made up our minds to defect and there is no amount of pressure that can stop that. Those ones, about five, will formally write the Senate President when we resume in January. “However, there are some of us who they believe can still listen to them; we have been discussing. There have been meetings upon meetings, which from all indications are at the instance of the Presidency.” It is worthy of note that the Senate has, over the years, exhibited a rare ability to look beyond party affiliations on a number of issues, especially appropriation. On more than one occasion, Mark enjoined his colleagues to see themselves as representatives of the Nigerian people, and not members of a political party. Echoing a similar sentiment, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Senator Ita Enang, assured Nigerians that the threat of defection by some of his colleagues, would not adversely affect legislative business in the Senate. He described his colleagues as responsible Senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who are always interested in the unity and progress of the country. Enang said, “The Senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria see themselves as one. What is paramount in their minds is how to move the nation forward. We will all work together as a single body to address all issues for consideration, dispassionately. “The issue of defection is a matter that being anticipated and I would not want to make comments on such issues because no single Senator had so far defected or notified the senate about his or her intention to defect.” Nigerians are however anxiously waiting for any dramatic change in the hallowed chamber. They will have to wait untill next week, when members of the Senate will resume normal legislative activities to know whether or not things will remain the same. Copyright PUNCH. All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH. Contact: editor@punchng
Posted on: Sat, 18 Jan 2014 14:28:39 +0000
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