Why Saraki May Rule Senator Akpabio, Other PDP Defections Illegal, Plots To Declare Their Seats Vacant

August 12, 2018

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Why Saraki May Declare Senator Akpabio, Other PDP Defections Illegal, Plot To Declare Their Seats Vacant

The nation may witness yet another showdown in the Senate as the senators cut short their vacation to discuss President Muhammadu Buhari’s 2019 polls budget request.

Apart from the fact that constant fierce arguments between members of the All Progressives Congress and the opposition Peoples Democratic Congress will be a regular occurrence, SUNDAY PUNCH investigations have revealed that a major step to send some senators back home would cause a major uproar in the red chamber.

A source, who is very close to the leadership of the Senate, confided in one of our correspondents on Friday that arrangements were being perfected to ensure that the former senate minority leader, Godswill Akpabio, and others who defected recently from the PDP to the APC and other parties recently face a recall process.

The source hinted that the move against the defectors started just before the Senate went on recess, with the refusal of the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, to read the letter of defection submitted to him by Akpabio.

No fewer than four senators have dumped the PDP but their defections have not been declared on the floor of the Senate. While three of them left the PDP for the APC, one of them left for the All Progressives Grand Alliance.

For instance, senators Hope Uzodinma (Imo State) and Fatimah Raji-Rasaki (Ekiti State), formerly of the PDP, have been attending APC meetings and events within and outside the Senate.

Also, Senator Sonny Ogbuoji (Ebonyi State) recently introduced himself as the “the newest catch” of the APC when the National Working Committee of the party met with the Senate caucus.

Similarly, Stella Oduah (Anambra State) had joined APGA in Anambra State.

Shortly after the defections of 14 senators to the PDP were announced, the APC Caucus had addressed journalists where the Majority Leader, Senator Ahmad Lawan, while responding to a question on why the party listed those who had yet to formalise their defections at the Senate, said they only needed to register with the ruling party.

Lawan had said the public appearance of Uzodinma and Raji-Rasaki with the APC caucus members had answered the question.

There, Uzodinma alleged that he had written to the Senate President to declare his defection on the floor but his letter was not read.

“I am a bona fide, registered, financial card-carrying member of the APC. As you are aware, two months ago, I wrote to the leadership of the Senate. The duty to read it is not mine. But I am now a member of the APC,” he said.

Raji-Rasaki also said, “Recently, I have made it open and public to all Nigerians that I’ve moved from the PDP to the APC. I have done it in my ward and I have done it here.”

However, a senator from the North-Central geopolitical zone and an ally of Saraki said trouble could start on resumption when the APC caucus would definitely demand a roll call so that senators who defected to its fold could sit with their party members for easy identification.

He said, “On resumption any moment from now, the APC senators would call for realignment so that those who defected would move to the seats reserved for members of their political party.

“It is in the course of doing so that the Senate President will wield the big stick against Akpabio and others by asking them to justify their reasons for defection.

“The activities of the Senate as an institution are guided by rules and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The only constitutional window for defection from one political party to another is if there is a faction or division in the party on whose platform a senator is elected.

“For now, I am not aware of any division or faction in the PDP at the moment that could warrant the action of Akpabio and others.

“The Senate President is expected to exercise his constitutional powers now to declare the seats of Akpabio and others’ vacant until they are able to justify the reasons for their defection.

“We know that the development would provoke an uproar, but the Senate President would remain resolute. So, the only option that would be left for Akpabio and his co-travellers would be to approach the court to determine whether there is actually a division in the PDP or not.

“Until the procurement of the legal interpretation of their status, those who defected from the PDP would be barred from entering the premises of the National Assembly.

“They will probably remain in court till the end of the current 8th Assembly.”

Saraki withholding PDP defectors’ letters, APC caucus alleges

However, members of the APC caucus at the Senate alleged that Saraki withheld their defection letters from the PDP sent to the upper chamber.

The APC senators further alleged that Saraki, who read out the letter in which 13 lawmakers defected from the APC to the PDP and another one to the African Democratic Congress on July 24, refused to read the letters from those who dumped the opposition party for the ruling party.

The Senate President has however denied the allegation, challenging those who claimed to have written to him to declare their defections to publish their letters.

Punch Newspaper

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