Former Kwara State Governor Bukola
Saraki and 10 other Peoples Democratic Party senators, who defected
to the All Progressives Congress, twice shunned their scheduled
meeting with Senate President David Mark on Monday. The other senators are Adamu
Abdulahi, Shaba Lafiagi, Ibrahim Gobir, Aisha Al-Hassan, Magnus Abe,
Wilson Ake, Jibrilla Bindowo, Danjuma Goje, Ali Ndume and Umar
Dahiru. The Senate President had arrived in
his office at about 10am, which was the initial time for the meeting
and waited till 2.05pm before he left for his residence when it was
obvious that the aggrieved senators would not turn up.
Although some of the senators
attributed their absence to communication gap, The PUNCH gathered
that they deliberately stayed away.
When contacted later in the evening,
Saraki and Abe’s aides told one of our correspondents that their
bosses were not available in Abuja as of 4pm.
They initially feigned ignorance of the time and venue of the meeting, but later confirmed that it was scheduled for 10am.
One of Mark’s aides, who craved
anonymity, also confirmed the 10am meeting, but said it was
rescheduled for the residence of his boss on Monday evening. However ,one of the aggrieved
senators, who pleaded anonymity, said they did not deliberately shun
the morning meeting with the Senate President.
He said they were not properly briefed about the time and venue of the meeting.
“There is no problem anyway because as politicians , we can meet anytime, even in the dead of the night,” he said.
The senate president and few principal
officers, who had gathered at his official residence in the Apo
Legislative Quarters, were disappointed again when none of the
aggrieved senators came for the evening meeting.
But one of the principal officers said
the meeting was called off based on an understanding between Mark and
the aggrieved senators to meet on Tuesday.
He said, “You cannot say they shunned
the meeting because both parties agreed to study the atmosphere at
tomorrow’s (Tuesday) plenary before holding this type of meeting. These
are politicians who had made up their minds that they would defect.
“What if they agree to halt their
defection here and stand up at tomorrow’s plenary and say another
thing. The meeting was shifted till tomorrow (Tuesday) based on mutual
understanding between the two parties.”
The principal officer however did not say when and how the understanding was reached.
A senior aide of the senate president,
who also did not want his name in print, confirmed that the meeting had
been rescheduled for Tuesday evening.
When contacted, one of the aggrieved
senators said, “ There is no big deal about reading our letter on the
floor (of the Senate) because it is a known fact that we have defected
and the decision is irreversible.”
The APC Interim National Publicity
Secretary, Lai Mohammed, had on Tuesday, last week, said the 11
senators had defected to the party from the PDP.
The senators had collectively written a letter to Mark to notify him of their defection.
But Mark did not read the letter on
Wednesday. His deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, who stood in for him on
Thursday, also failed to do so despite the insistence of some of the
aggrieved senators.
It was gathered on Monday that the
defecting senators were insisting that their letter of defection
must be read during plenary on Monday(yesterday).
Some of them claimed that the delay
tactics being employed by the leadership of the Senate would have no
effect on their decision.
According to one of the Senators, what is at stake is a test case for justice and fairness.
He said, “We will insist that our letter
be read. This is not the first time people are defecting in the Senate.
You will recall that it was on the floor of the Senate that Senator
Patrick Osakwe defected from Accord Party to the PDP, nobody raised
the issue of faction in the AP.
“The PDP welcomed him with open arms. I wonder why people are making a mountain out of a molehill now.
“Just wait and see what will happen on
the floor tomorrow(Tuesday). The Senate has rules and these rules are
not superior to the constitution of Nigeria which is the supreme
document.”
In Kwara State, Saraki and Govenror Abdulfatah Ahmed on Monday publicly formalised their defection to the APC.
Saraki urged other members of the party in the state to work for the interest of the masses.
He said, “Today(Monday), we have
formally become APC members and we are putting PDP to where it belongs.
I therefore urge all of you, the members of the interim executive, to
carry all along.
“Today(Monday), we cease to be PDP,
former Congress for Progressive Change; former Action Congress of
Nigeria; former All Nigerian Peoples Party.
“Today(Tuesday), we are in the APC
and if you are in the APC, you must be like APC. If you are chairman,
you are chairman for everybody. If you are secretary you are for all.
If you say you are my followers, you must behave like me.
“There is the need for everybody in his ward to get registered in the exercise which commences tomorrow (today).”
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