Nigerian Senate Faces Crisis Over Defection of House Speaker
Written by Azimazi Momoh Jimoh, Abuja
Nigerian Guardian
• PDP senators sustain faceoff with presidency, party leadership
• Sitting truncated, APC lawmakers reject adjournment
SENATE President David Mark yesterday declared his intention to intervene in the crisis in the House of Representatives over the defection of Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal.
Reading a short prepared speech to senators at the commencement of the brief sitting yesterday, Mark said that although what was happening was entirely an issue for members of the House, he would not just watch matters deteriorate without taking steps to reverse the trend.
Mark said: “We are not to interfere in the internal affairs of each house. However, as chairman of the National Assembly Joint Session, I cannot fold my arms or pretend that all is well in the current crisis. The Senate President is the chairman of the Joint Session of the National Assembly. The Speaker is the Vice Chairman.
“Furthermore, the matter is already in a court of law, we cannot therefore discuss the issue in this chamber. I am therefore going to do all I can to resolve the current impasse.
I want to assure all of you that I will do the needful to protect and defend the legislature at all costs.”
And the faceoff between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senators and President Goodluck Jonathan over last Saturday’s ward congresses of the party produced more damaging effects on the functions of the Senate yesterday.
In their continued protest against the ward congresses, the PDP senators used their numerical strength in the upper chamber to force it to adjourn plenary till Tuesday November 11.
However, the senators of the All Progressives Congress (APC) opposed the adjournment, describing it as selfish and uncalled for.
After the short address, Mark informed the senators that a crucial meeting of the PDP caucus in the Senate would hold immediately after the day’s plenary.
Thereafter, he called on the Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, to move for an adjournment.
The Senate leader promptly complied and moved that the 12 items on the Order Paper be stood down till another legislative day.
The PDP senators quickly moved to Room 1 venue of the closed door meeting.
As the meeting was going on, there was the information that not much might be achieved by the lawmakers.
After the over one hour meeting, the senators kept sealed lips and Ndoma-Egba merely told reporters that the parley was a continuation of the one they held on Tuesday over the party’s ward congresses.
He said: “I am sure that you are aware that the PDP caucus met yesterday (Tuesday) and today (Wednesday) on fundamental issues affecting democracy in Nigeria arising from the ward congresses of our party last Saturday.
“The issue needed to be addressed very urgently by relevant PDP stakeholders in the interest of our democracy.”
A senator, who attended the meeting, told one of our reporters that part of their resolution was to meet President Jonathan, PDP Chairman, Adamu Mu’azu and members of the National Working Committee of the party today.
He said that the parley was tentatively scheduled for Presidential Villa by 10:00 p.m. later yesterday on the assumption that the president would return from his trip outside the country. The President was on a diplomatic mission to Burkina Faso.
He said that the senators were insisting on the cancellation of congresses where they were allegedly schemed out.
Another senator who also attended the meeting said: “It is not a hidden fact, the meeting is in furtherance of the protest of senators against the violation of the processes of the ward congresses. Senators are endangered, we are trying to see how to save the day. How far we can go I can’t tell.”
According to him, “it is obvious that the governors control the party structures at the state levels.
“It is also not in doubt that President Jonathan needs the governors more than the senators to win the 2015 election.
“So no man can give what he does not have. Every politics is local, the governors have the state party structure, they call the shot at the state level.”
The spokesperson of APC senators, Babafemi Ojudu, decried what he called the self- centeredness of PDP senators.
Ojudu, who represents Ekiti Central Senatorial District, said that PDP senators should not prevent them from performing their constitutional duty.
Ojudu noted that if opposition senators had their way, they would continue to sit.
He said: “The Peoples Democratic Party senators are now victims of their party’s impunity in a democracy, now they are complaining. We have suffered PDP impunity for three years.
“If we have our way, we will come here tomorrow and sit. It is not about personal interest, it should be about our people.
“Now they have seen injustice, they are fighting. We have seen injustice for more than two and half years.
“We wanted to fight, our colleagues did not allow us to fight. Why must it be that it is when it affects us that we act? People should have standards. Now that they have seen that a lot of them are no longer welcome back in their homes, now that they have realised that they have made themselves slaves to the executive, they are shouting.
“When you present yourself as a slave, definitely, you will be treated as a slave. That is the consequences of their actions over the years. But Nigerians voted for them to come here and work. We must work.
“Unfortunately, under the rules, we cannot work. That is why the opposition senators were busy shouting, ‘nay, nay, nay,’ when the motion for adjournment was moved by the Senate leader.
“If we are working for Nigeria, we should be seen to be doing so. Now that the PDP senators have problems with their party, the president and governors, they are not allowing us to work.
“We really want to work but the system does not allow us.
“It is unfortunate that the 2015 budget will be affected but we are in the minority, we will have our say but they will have their way.
“We are going to call a meeting of our party caucus and we are going to discuss this. We even expected that they will call us to an executive meeting and then we discuss this matter.
“They don’t have to come in and adjourn like that. Some of us came from our constituencies in far away places so that we could sit for this week. But here we are, we are not allowed to sit.
“Suddenly, conservatives of yesterdays have now turned to today’s radicals. The effects of all these would be felt in the long run by the masses.
“At the moment, Mubi has been taken over by insurgents. This is the time when all of us should guard our loins and fight on behalf of our compatriots who are being displaced.
“Go and look at the photographs of people who are running away from their homes. If you had lived in a place for about 20 to 30 years and you have to carry a small bag and run away from there, do you know how traumatic that can be? Instead of thinking of ourselves alone, we should be thinking of those people.”
 |
| House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal has defected from the ruling PDP to the opposition APC. |
Nigerian Guardian
• PDP senators sustain faceoff with presidency, party leadership
• Sitting truncated, APC lawmakers reject adjournment
SENATE President David Mark yesterday declared his intention to intervene in the crisis in the House of Representatives over the defection of Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal.
Reading a short prepared speech to senators at the commencement of the brief sitting yesterday, Mark said that although what was happening was entirely an issue for members of the House, he would not just watch matters deteriorate without taking steps to reverse the trend.
Mark said: “We are not to interfere in the internal affairs of each house. However, as chairman of the National Assembly Joint Session, I cannot fold my arms or pretend that all is well in the current crisis. The Senate President is the chairman of the Joint Session of the National Assembly. The Speaker is the Vice Chairman.
“Furthermore, the matter is already in a court of law, we cannot therefore discuss the issue in this chamber. I am therefore going to do all I can to resolve the current impasse.
I want to assure all of you that I will do the needful to protect and defend the legislature at all costs.”
And the faceoff between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senators and President Goodluck Jonathan over last Saturday’s ward congresses of the party produced more damaging effects on the functions of the Senate yesterday.
In their continued protest against the ward congresses, the PDP senators used their numerical strength in the upper chamber to force it to adjourn plenary till Tuesday November 11.
However, the senators of the All Progressives Congress (APC) opposed the adjournment, describing it as selfish and uncalled for.
After the short address, Mark informed the senators that a crucial meeting of the PDP caucus in the Senate would hold immediately after the day’s plenary.
Thereafter, he called on the Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, to move for an adjournment.
The Senate leader promptly complied and moved that the 12 items on the Order Paper be stood down till another legislative day.
The PDP senators quickly moved to Room 1 venue of the closed door meeting.
As the meeting was going on, there was the information that not much might be achieved by the lawmakers.
After the over one hour meeting, the senators kept sealed lips and Ndoma-Egba merely told reporters that the parley was a continuation of the one they held on Tuesday over the party’s ward congresses.
He said: “I am sure that you are aware that the PDP caucus met yesterday (Tuesday) and today (Wednesday) on fundamental issues affecting democracy in Nigeria arising from the ward congresses of our party last Saturday.
“The issue needed to be addressed very urgently by relevant PDP stakeholders in the interest of our democracy.”
A senator, who attended the meeting, told one of our reporters that part of their resolution was to meet President Jonathan, PDP Chairman, Adamu Mu’azu and members of the National Working Committee of the party today.
He said that the parley was tentatively scheduled for Presidential Villa by 10:00 p.m. later yesterday on the assumption that the president would return from his trip outside the country. The President was on a diplomatic mission to Burkina Faso.
He said that the senators were insisting on the cancellation of congresses where they were allegedly schemed out.
Another senator who also attended the meeting said: “It is not a hidden fact, the meeting is in furtherance of the protest of senators against the violation of the processes of the ward congresses. Senators are endangered, we are trying to see how to save the day. How far we can go I can’t tell.”
According to him, “it is obvious that the governors control the party structures at the state levels.
“It is also not in doubt that President Jonathan needs the governors more than the senators to win the 2015 election.
“So no man can give what he does not have. Every politics is local, the governors have the state party structure, they call the shot at the state level.”
The spokesperson of APC senators, Babafemi Ojudu, decried what he called the self- centeredness of PDP senators.
Ojudu, who represents Ekiti Central Senatorial District, said that PDP senators should not prevent them from performing their constitutional duty.
Ojudu noted that if opposition senators had their way, they would continue to sit.
He said: “The Peoples Democratic Party senators are now victims of their party’s impunity in a democracy, now they are complaining. We have suffered PDP impunity for three years.
“If we have our way, we will come here tomorrow and sit. It is not about personal interest, it should be about our people.
“Now they have seen injustice, they are fighting. We have seen injustice for more than two and half years.
“We wanted to fight, our colleagues did not allow us to fight. Why must it be that it is when it affects us that we act? People should have standards. Now that they have seen that a lot of them are no longer welcome back in their homes, now that they have realised that they have made themselves slaves to the executive, they are shouting.
“When you present yourself as a slave, definitely, you will be treated as a slave. That is the consequences of their actions over the years. But Nigerians voted for them to come here and work. We must work.
“Unfortunately, under the rules, we cannot work. That is why the opposition senators were busy shouting, ‘nay, nay, nay,’ when the motion for adjournment was moved by the Senate leader.
“If we are working for Nigeria, we should be seen to be doing so. Now that the PDP senators have problems with their party, the president and governors, they are not allowing us to work.
“We really want to work but the system does not allow us.
“It is unfortunate that the 2015 budget will be affected but we are in the minority, we will have our say but they will have their way.
“We are going to call a meeting of our party caucus and we are going to discuss this. We even expected that they will call us to an executive meeting and then we discuss this matter.
“They don’t have to come in and adjourn like that. Some of us came from our constituencies in far away places so that we could sit for this week. But here we are, we are not allowed to sit.
“Suddenly, conservatives of yesterdays have now turned to today’s radicals. The effects of all these would be felt in the long run by the masses.
“At the moment, Mubi has been taken over by insurgents. This is the time when all of us should guard our loins and fight on behalf of our compatriots who are being displaced.
“Go and look at the photographs of people who are running away from their homes. If you had lived in a place for about 20 to 30 years and you have to carry a small bag and run away from there, do you know how traumatic that can be? Instead of thinking of ourselves alone, we should be thinking of those people.”
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