The crisis in the Senate over the emergence
of Senator Bukola Saraki and Senator Ike
Ekweremadu as Senate president and deputy
president respectively worsened yesterday as
some All Progressives Congress (APC)
lawmakers boycotted plenary to protest the
presiding of the session by Ekweremadu.
Ekweremadu, a Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) senator, was elected deputy Senate
president during the inaugural sitting of the
Senate in June to the chagrin of APC and
President Muhammadu Buhari.
Yesterday was the first time Ekweremadu
would preside over plenary since his election
as Senate deputy president on June 9, 2015,
as Saraki was at the State House to witness
the inauguration of ministers.
The APC senators, who are members of the
Senate Unity Forum (SUF) that opposed the
Saraki presidency and supported his rival,
Senator Ahmad Lawan, said they would not
subject themselves to the leadership of
Ekweremadu whenever Saraki was not
around.
On sighting that Ekweremadu was the
presiding officer yesterday, the SUF senators
walked out of the chambers while others who
were about to enter turned back. Some of the
senators who walked out on sighting that it
was Ekweremadu that was presiding included
Lawan, Oluremi Tinubu, Kabir Marafa and
George Akume.
Saraki took over from Ekweremadu midway
into plenary. The Secretary to the SUF,
Senator Sulaiman Hunkuyi (APC, Kaduna
North), in a statement, decried Ekweremadu’s
presiding over plenary in a legislature
dominated by the APC. It said the conspiracy
against the ruling party in the Senate had
been executed.
Describing the situation as a sad
development, the APC senators called on
party members and leaders to denounce the
act. In the hand-written statement circulated
to reporters and entitled, “The conspiracy
against the APC finally consummated,”
Hunkuyi said they would, henceforth, cease
from attending any sitting presided over by
the PDP.
The statement read: “We notice with joy, the
inauguration of the Federal Executive Council
(FEC) by Mr. President and Commander- in-
Chief, Muhammadu Buhari, today, the 11th of
November, 2015.
“In equal stance, we notice with grave
sadness, the handover of the hallowed
chamber of the Senate today to the
opposition party, the PDP, by the Senate
President to Ike Ekweremadu as PDP
helmsman to preside over the majority
membership of the APC-led chamber.
“It is a very sad development that must be
denounced by all wellmeaning APC members
and leaders alike. “With this, to show our
protest as APC senators of the 8th Senate,
we wish to announce that we shall cease to
attend any sitting presided over by the PDP
in an APC majority chamber of the 8th
Senate.”
But in a swift reaction to Hunkuyi’s
statement, Senate spokesman, Senator Sabi
Abdullahi, said there was no division in the
Senate. He stressed that the nation had
many challenging problems, which senators
should help to tackle rather than engaging in
egoistic political imbroglio. Abdullahi urged
Nigerians to disregard any purported
conspiracy in the Senate and support it in its
agenda to actualise the change agenda of the
APC.
He said: “The Senate wishes to state
categorically that there is no conspiracy of
any nature among distinguished senators of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The
consummation of a conspiracy is in the
figment of the imagination of those behind
the news release and should be disregarded
by Nigerians.
“The Senate wishes to reiterate its total
commitment to providing robust legislative
actions to support the change agenda of Mr.
President as he strives to move Nigeria to
new heights.
The bi-partisan stance of the Senate has not
and will not be an impediment. “The
distinguished senators are happy with the
inauguration of the Federal Executive Council
and look forward to having harmonious,
rancour-free, but inclusive and participatory
relationship that has at its heart the welfare
of Nigerians.
“Finally, as we await the unveiling of the
policy directions of Mr. President through the
members of his executive council, the Senate
is, indeed, poised to work harder and better
to support the emergence of a changed
Nigeria of our collective dream.”

http://newtelegraphonline.com/as-ekweremadu-presides-lawan-supporters-shun-senate-plenary/

K

That is very serious. You see the wahala this saraki guy don cause. Anyway if the APC guys don't sit, and saraki isn't around, the pdp guys might just do something "silly", just like they did during the senate leadership election.

This people are there for themselves. Stupid Oluremi