Senate president David Mark blocks 11 PDP senators’ defection bid

There was a drama in  the Senate on Tuesday when five senators announced their defection from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress. But they  were immediately  ruled out of order by the  Senate President,  David Mark, who cited a case they instituted against him.

The senators, who announced their  defection during  plenary in Abuja,  are   Bukola Saraki (Kwara Central);  Aisha Al – Hassan, (Taraba North);  Magnus Abe (Rivers South-East); Wilson Ake (Rivers West) and Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa West).

They are also  among the 11 members of the upper arm of the National Assembly, who forwarded  a letter to Mark informing him of their defection to the opposition APC.

Several  efforts  by the senators to make the Senate leadership read the letter had failed.

Saraki started the process  of formally announcing their defection on the floor of the Senate  when   he raised a point of order, and cited Section 15 of the Senate Standing Orders 2011 as amended. The orders have  to do with privileges of senators.

He reminded  the Senate president  of the letter by  the  aggrieved senators, including himself, which had not been read on the floor.

He  mentioned  Senators   Abdulahi, Abe, Ake,  Al-Hassan, Shaba Lafiagi, Ibrahim Gobir, Jibrilla   Bindowo, Danjuma Goje,  Ali Ndume, Umar Dahiru and himself as the lawmakers listed in the letter.

Saraki, a former Kwara State governor,  explained that all the affected senators  and their supporters  had already obtained the APC membership cards.

He expressed concern over Mark’s failure to read  the letter, saying his action  was preventing their formal  movement to a  party of their choice.

  The Senate President,  however,  ruled him out of order by drawing his attention to the fact that the matter was pending in court.

But Saraki disagreed with  him, pointing out that the issue before the court had to do with their  prayers    that the Senate leadership  should be stopped from declaring their seats vacant and not  their  defection.

Mark  again maintained that,  “Since the matter is in court, I cannot act on it, therefore, I rule you out of order.”

At this point, the Senate Minority Leader, George Akume,    raised a point of order under section 14 of the Senate Standing Orders. He  argued that the affected senators should be allowed to exercise their right to join the party of their choice.

He said, “This is a legislative house and our privileges are guaranteed. This Senate should not rule the issue raised by Saraki out of order. This matter has dragged on for a very long time and we cannot stop people from associating with whoever they like.”

The Senate president  also ruled Akume out of order because his line of argument was on the  same issue raised by Saraki.

Mark’s position did not go down well with Akume, who  accused  him  of  infringing on the right  of the senators to freely associate with any group of their choice.

He said, “As the Minority Leader,  our rights are being breached because the affected senators are moving over to our party. They have the right  to move. You are the presiding officer, we have raised a fundamental issue.

“The court order is not being properly interpreted. We have discussed this issue in closed session. Saraki has said the matter pending in court has nothing to do with the issue of defection, so why are they being prevented from moving?”

Mark disagreed with the submissions of Akume and insisted that  since  the matter in contention was in court, he would not  act on it.

He said, “Senator Akume, this matter is in court and I shall make no further comments on it because I would not want to go contrary to  our standing orders. On the same issue,  the affected senators took me to court and you are pleading privilege,  asking me to rule on it.”

Senator Anthony Adeniyi intervened in by pleading with  Mark  to read the   letter and lay the matter to rest once and for all. But he was also overruled by Mark.

Immediately,   Senators Adamu, Al-Hassan, Abe, and Ake  took  turns to announce their formal defection to the APC.

Mark would also not let that stand as he ruled them  out of order by   citing some legal implications.

The drama continued when  attempts by Senator  Ehigie Uzamere (APC, Edo Central) to  announce his defection to the PDP  was frustrated by Mark, who failed to recognise him when he persistently raised  his hand.

Attempts by Senator Olufemi Lanlehin, to draw the attention of Mark to the frustration of Uzamere,   under order 25 (f) , was  also ruled out of order by Mark.

The  Chairman, Senate Committee on Information, Media and Public Affairs, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe, told journalists after the session,  that  none of the 11  senators had defected as far as the Senate was concerned .

He said, “We resolved within the Senate to maintain the dignity of the upper chamber. In that wise, everything was done today openly and without rancour.

“We have to give kudos to the Senate and its  president for handling the matter in a manner that Nigerians are very proud of.”

Abaribe, who admitted that   senators had the right to express  themselves, stressed that   procedures must be followed  in doing so.

 He said, “Our rules are very clear,  when a matter is in court, we cannot discuss it. The hands of the Senate President are tied,  he cannot do otherwise and if he does otherwise, it  would  be contemptuous  of court.

“Therefore, while not saying that the matter has been laid to rest, we can say sufficiently that the matter has now been handled in  such a way that all sides are aware of their rights and things are going on smoothly in the Senate.

“As far as the Senate is concerned,  there has been no movement yet. It is the legal opinion sought by the Senate leadership that played itself out on the floor of the Senate today (Tuesday).”

Abe said, “There is a problem in the Senate and we believe that Senator   Mark has  over the years, proved himself as an astute statesman, democrat and politician. We still believe that our defection  is a problem that has a political solution.

“What we need to do as senators under our leadership is to look for a solution that will satisfy the desires of individual and the citizens of this great country.”

Al–Hassan  said she  left the  PDP   because justice was not done to her.

She said, “I had cried too many times that I am suffering injustice, persecution, and intimidation in my state. I had written the national leadership and the national secretariat of the PDP so many times and nothing happened.

“Therefore, I decided to move to the APC where I can get justice. We submitted a letter which the Senate president said he was not going to read because there is a pending court injunction.”

PUNCH