 |
Lawmakers angry as governors hijack congresses
From the wards and party offices, the crises sparked by last Saturday’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ward congresses have spread to the Senate.
Scores of PDP senators revolted yesterday against President Goodluck Jonathan and the party’s leadership , alleging that they were being schemed out of the 2015 elections.
The senators took exception to what they described as a deliberate plan by the Presidency and the party to leave their fate in the hands of governors.
The lawmakers particularly kicked against their inability to secure delegates that would guarantee their re-election tickets.
Senate plenary was abruptly adjourned. The aggrieved senators converged at the office of the Senate President, David Mark, for what one of them described as a “last ditch meeting to take our destiny in our hands”.
The closed door meeting did not last long when it was learnt that the lawmakers had decided to frustrate all legislative businesses as to express their anger over the outcome of the congresses.
The senators were angry that the congresses were allegedly skewed in favour of governors.
The governors were, however, said to be adamant in their resolve to “deal with the senators for alleged non performance”.
The governors are said to have lined up their loyalists to take over the seats of the incumbent legislators.
At the Senate yesterday, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, who presided , had hardly announced that the PDP Senate Caucus would meet after the sitting, when a motion for adjournment was raised and unanimously adopted.
Most of the PDP senators believed to have lost out during the ward congresses were visibly angry.
A senator, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity because he was not officially authorised to speak to the media on the “vexatious” issue, claimed that “we have been used by the PDP and dumped.”
It was also learnt that most of the PDP senators whose fate has been sealed are already knocking at the doors of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), asking to be allowed to fly the party’s flag in the next election.
The Senate resolved to shut down legislative business because governors have been empowered by the PDP headquarters to deny them re-election tickets, the source said.
It was also leant that the Senate would in the next few days show openly its solidarity with House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, whose defection from PDP to the APC has caused a huge row.
The source insisted that they are prepared to fight their battle with any weapon open to them, including shutting legislative business , especially the consideration of the 2015 Appropriation Bill and other pending bills.
He wondered why the President and first-time PDP governors are given automatic tickets and legislators are not.
The source, who was visibly angry, said: “We have shut down all legislative business. We are already down, so we can as well be out. It is either they give us automatic tickets or nothing.
“They deliberately starved us of funds to render us powerless. We have not received allowances for the past three months. After all we have done to protect Mr. President in the Senate, he decided to leave us in the hands of rapacious governors.
“The PDP is already gone. We are not doing the job of governors but the governors want to do our job. So we have decided to shut down the government. We are not going to approve the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF. We are not going to consider the budget. Beginning from today, we will come like this and adjourn.
“We have decided to adjourn and do no business and the APC senators are in solidarity with us. As it is, Jonathan has lost the Senate. By denying us tickets the PDP has deliberately played into the hands of the APC because the reality is that most us will seek their party’s tickets to return to the Senate.”
In most states especially in the South South and the Southeast, senators and governors are at daggers drawn.
Governors are scheming to move to the senate while trying to also install their successors.
They are blocking sitting senators from returning.
Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu is battling with Enugu State Governor Sullivan Chime.
Senate leader Victor Ndoma-Egba and Cross River State Governor Liyel Imoke do not see eye to eye.
Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswil Akpabio has schemed out Senator Aloysius Etok in Akwa Ibom. Senators Enyinaya Abaribe and Chris Anyanwu, who are bidding to be governor are not having things rosy due to the excessive influence of the governors.
In Bayelsa, Governor Seriake Dickson has edged out all the three senators.
No comments:
Post a Comment