Barring last minute change of plans, the APC majority in the Senate may suffer a reversal as a Senator from the NorthWest said to a loyalist of Abubakar Yari revealed to Sunday Sun that 22 APC senators have perfected plans to defect to the PDP
This move will see the PDP become the majority in the Senate
According to the source, these APC senators have decided to join force with their PDP colleagues who are loyal to Senator Abdul’aziz Abubakar Yari who contested the Senate President position, but lost to Senator Akpabio by 63 to 46 votes
The source added that the 22 senators have held series of meetings in Abuja and London, where they affirmed their resolve to decamp to the PDP.
Composition of the 109 legislators in the upper legislative chamber comprises:
If the 22 APC senators make good their threat, they will swell the number of the PDP to 58, reducing that of APC to 37.
To actualize their plan, Sunday Sun gathered that the PDP senators have agreed to cede the Senate President position currently held by Senator Akpabio to one of the 22 senators and Yari’s allies decamping to the party, as well as the Deputy Senate President post.
On the part of the PDP senators, the party would take the Majority Leader, Chief Whip, and Deputy Chief Whip, adding that the Yari group has pledged to work harmoniously with them because Akpabio have allegedly left out senators in Yari’s camp in the ongoing committee selections
In a related development, eight opposition senators have warned against an alleged plot to foist principal officers on the Minority caucus of the red chamber.
In a statement, the eight senators said they were aware of the plot to foist a “pliant and compromised leadership” on the minority caucus.
The statement was signed by Mohammed Aliero, Seriake Dickson, Aminu Tambuwal, Abdul Ningi, Patrick Abba Moro, Onyebuchi Ezenwa, Sumaila Kawu, and Ifeanyi Ubah.
The eight senators said nobody has been selected or endorsed for the minority leadership in the red chamber.
“We have pledged to work constructively with the new senate leadership and the executive branch to deliver good governance to the Nigerian people,” the statement reads.
“Senators of the minority parties would meet when the senate reconvenes and in consultation with our respective political parties, would select its leaders without undue interference from anti-democratic forces within or outside the senate.
“For the avoidance of doubt, no senator has yet been endorsed or selected for any minority position as this would await due process as agreed by all minority parties in their last meeting.
“Attempts to foist a one-party dictatorship would be resisted and would fail. We call on all members of the minority political parties to work together in unity to defend the democratic institution of the senate and Nigeria”
The Senate is currently on break and proceedings will resume on July 4.
credit: Sunday SUN
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