Despite defection, PDP still in majority

By RAZAQ BAMIDELE

Finally, after months of feverish speculation, 11, out of 22 Peoples Democratic Party Senators, formally notified the Senate of plans to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

A copy of the letter obtained by Daily Sun showed that the list had15 senators but only 11 senators signed the defection notice.

The Senators that defected to the APC are: Umaru Dahiru from Sokoto South, Magnus Ngei Abe from Rivers South-East, Wilson Asinobi Ake from Rivers  West, Bindawa Muhammed Jibrilla from Adamawa North and Mohammed Danjuma Goje from Gombe Central.

Others are Aisha Jummai Alhassan from Taraba North, Mohammed Ali Ndume from Borno South, Mohammed Shaba Lafiaji from Kwara North, Abdulahi Adamu from Nasarawa West and Ibrahim Abdullahi Gobir from Sokoto East.

As at Wednesday evening, senators Saidu Ahmed Alkali, Basheer Garba, Ahmed Zanna and Ahmed Hassan Barata did not sign the notice.

Former Governor of Kwara State and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology, Senator Abubakar Olusola Saraki, delivered the letter to Senate President, David Mark, at Wednesday’s plenary.

The three-paragraph letter, dated January 20, titled: Notification of change of political party and addressed to Senator David Mark reads:  “We, the undersigned senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria elected under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) wish to notify you that we have severally and jointly joined the APC.

“This action and decision is as a result of the division and factionalisation in the PDP that sponsored our elections into the Senate. In view of the above, we write to inform you that following the division and factionalisation in the PDP, we have formally joined the All Progressives Congress, APC.

“This communication is made pursuant to section 68 (1) (g) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) for your information, guidance and record purposes…”

However, despite the defection of eleven Senators elected on the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to the opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), the former is still in the majority against the latter. As it stands now in the Senate, none of them however can boast of having the required two third majority to get Bills passed with ease in the upper legislative chamber. A formal letter of defection has been delivered to the Senate President, David Mark, on yesterday by Senator Bukola Saraki (Kwara Central), on behalf of the other ten PDP Senators.

Before the defection, the number of PDP Senators in the Senate was 74 while the APC had 33. The Labour Party had three while the All Progressives Grand Alliance had one to bring the total number to 109. But with yesterdays defection of eleven PDP Senators to the APC, the PDP now has 61 members, APC has 44, Labour has three while APGA has one.

With the situation now, where 72 is the two-third majority, even if the Labour and APGA work with the PDP, the number could only rise to 65, which is short by seven. And with the directives from the leadership of the APC to its Senators to block Executive Bills, Nigeria is in for rancorous legislative activities in the National Assembly.

And the effect of the directive is already being felt during the debate on the 2014 budget, which split the Senators, as they expressed divergent views based on their political parties’ affiliations.

While, expectedly the PDP senators commended the budget and urged the upper chamber to consider its immediate approval, members of the opposition, APC in the Senate condemned the document and called for its rejection.

Senators maintained their different positions, even when Senate President, David Mark, appealed to them to “see the budget from a nationalistic periscope, using national magnifying glasses to view it instead of reducing it to partisan politics.”

The PDP problem started when the G-7 governors and certain chieftains of the party expressed disaffection against the Tukur leadership. It reached a crescendo as they stormed out of Eagles Square, Abuja, venue of the party’s special national convention in protests against the alleged imposition of candidates.

The “Unity List,” allegedly prepared on the eve of the convention had been announced to delegates, as the authentic list of candidates. Former vice-president, Atiku Abubakar, and Governors Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Aliyu (Niger), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Wammako (Sokoto), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara) and Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), later assembled at the Yar’Adua International Conference Centre, also in Abuja. They were later joined by Governor Chibuike Amaechi (Rivers) for the proclamation of Alhaji Kawu Baraje and Oyinlola as factional chairman and secretary.

Before their proclamation of a parallel National Working Committee of the party, five of the governors from the north-west states, tagged the G-5, had met with party elders and statesmen across the country and expressed their disaffection with what they claimed to be the politics of exclusiveness in the administration of the party by Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.

The disaffection led to a gail of defection of the memers of the PDP in both Lower and Upper Chambers of the National Assembly to the APC. For instance, on December 17, last year, 37 lawmakers formally  joined APC. The members of the House of Representatives in their letter to the Speaker,  Honourable Aminu Tambuwal, cited “division and factions” in the PDP as their reasons for moving  to the APC.

The post Despite defection, PDP still in majority appeared first on The Sun News.

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