Eleven senators left the PDP for the APC yesterday, raising the number of APC senators to 43. PDP senators are now 63.
The PDP was said to be mounting pressure on Senate President David Mark to declare the defecting senators’ seats vacant and leave their fate to the court to determine.
The plot, it was learnt, is to declare the senators’ seats vacant after which security agencies will be mandated to prevent the senators from entering the National Assembly, until a court makes a pronouncement on their fate.
But, it was gathered that Mark, who is seen by many as “a defender of democracy” since 2010, declined to join the plot.
The PDP Caucus in the Senate was meeting at Mark’s Abuja residence last night on how to handle what a source described as “the APC menace”.
The PDP wants a similar pattern for defectors in the House of Representatives, but the “uncompromising stance” of Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal has made it difficult.
APC senators vowed last night to resist the plot.
Some PDP leaders and governors, who have been meeting since Monday, a source said, felt the defections must be stopped with a stern measure.
It was learnt that one of the options agreed upon was to declare the seats of defecting senators vacant – in line with Section 68(1) (g) and (h) of the 1999 Constitution.
A source, who spoke in confidence, said: “The PDP believes that the Senate leadership should brave the odds and declare the seats of defecting senators vacant – in line with the spirit and letters of the constitution.
“The party is of the opinion that the court should determine the fate of the defecting senators.
“As part of the plot, once the seats of the affected senators are declared vacant, the police and security agencies will disallow them from entering the hallowed chamber of the Senate, until there is a ruling by any court.
“And since the wheel of justice is very slow, it is technically assumed that the affected senators have completed their tenure.”
Another source said: “The PDP is going for the kill because of the threats which defectors might pose to its majority grip on the Senate.
“The only challenge the party is having is the senate president who, as a democrat, does not believe in recourse to draconian action.”
A former governor, who is one of the defecting senators, said: “We are aware of the plot to declare our seats vacant and bar us from the Senate, but they cannot succeed.
“It is just unfortunate that some people could become desperate. I am quite sure that the leadership will not succumb to moves to create a constitutional crisis.”
A PDP senator, who spoke with our correspondent, simply said: “We are trying to keep our house united and devise means to curtail the affront of APC.
“If a party is threatening to shut down our government, we cannot stand aloof and watch our tenure destroyed.”
The senator said the caucus does not rule out the application of Section 68(1) (g) and (h) of the 1999 Constitution.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Senator Ita Enang, said before the senate resumed from its recess that defecting Senators’ must vacate their seats. But the senate leadership disowned him, saying he was speaking for himself.
He said: “Justice Elvis Chukwu of an Abuja High Court had ruled on October 18, 2013 that there was no division in PDP. If the intending defectors opt to violate the constitution by their proposed move, they should be prepared to face the music.
“The defecting members of the National Assembly elected on the PDP platform have to vacate their seats. Doing so is mandatory, if the relevant sections of the constitution are anything to go by.”
An APC senator said: “Our caucus will do everything to resist plans to subvert the nation’s democratic process. It would amount to lawlessness for PDP to embark on such a wild goose chase.
“Already, there is a subsisting matter in court on defection of some members of the National Assembly. The Senate has a tradition to defer to the court process until the final determination of all issues.”
Section 68(1) (g) and (h) reads in part: “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… “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; or
“The President of the Senate or as the case may be, the Speaker of the House of Representatives receives a certificate under the hand of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission stating that the provisions of Section 69 of this constitution have been complied with in respect of the recall of that member.”
Comments
Post a Comment