Presidency put measures to stop PDP senators from defecting

President of the Senate, David Mark
The  Presidency has mounted pressure on the leadership of the Senate to persuade aggrieved Peoples Democratic Party senators not to carry out their plan to dump the ruling party for the All Progressives Congress, investigation by The PUNCH has revealed.

A  source close to the Senate leadership said that the Senate President, David Mark, had personally held a series of meetings with  some of the aggrieved senators with a view to making them have a rethink.

“Meetings are being held to prevent the PDP senators from going ahead with their planned action. I am sure the peace moves are yielding fruitful results, “ he told one of our correspondents on condition of anonymity on Sunday night.

He however did not say when and where the meetings were held and the number of aggrieved lawmakers in attendance.

 One of the  senators, who  also confirmed that the meetings were at the instance of the Presidency, however said most of them had made up their minds to defect to the APC.

The lawmakers, who also did not want his name in print,  added that apart from the meetings, Mark had made it a point to contact each of them daily  on the telephone,  advising them to remain in the PDP.

The senator said, “Already some of us have  made up  our  minds to defect and there is no amount of pressure that would stop us. We  will formally write the Senate president when we resume in January.

“However,  there are some of us who   believe  we could still listen to them. They have been discussing.  There  have  been meetings upon meetings which, from all clear indications, are at the instance of the Presidency.”

At  the moment, the PDP  has  73 senators   as against the APC’s 33, Labour Party’s three and one for the All Progressives Grand Alliance.

-punch