Senate refuse to hear notice of defection by 11 senators

The Senate on Thursday deferred the request by Sen. Bukola Saraki that the notice of defection of 11 PDP senators to the APC be read on the floor of the Senate.

Saraki raised a Point of Order under the Senate Standing Order 15, which stipulates that a matter of privilege shall be given urgent attention by the senate.

Saraki said in Abuja that it was important for the letter to be read on the floor to formally inform the Senate of their defection to the opposition.

“A notice by a letter was communicated yesterday (Wednesday) to your Chair on notification of the change of political party by myself and 10 other senators from the platform of the PDP to the APC.

“So, I felt that it was necessary for me to bring to your attention that the letter has not yet been read,” Saraki said.

The Deputy Senate President, Sen. Ike Ekeremadu, who presided over the Thursday’s plenary, said the matter could not be discussed because the Senate President, Sen. David Mark was not in town.

Ekweremadu said that Mark told him that a meeting had been scheduled with the defecting senators for next Monday to discuss the matter.

He said that the matter should be left until the Senate president returned from his trip outside Abuja but this explanation did not go down well with Saraki.

Ekweremadu3 said, “the Senate president had travelled and before he travelled he told me you had a discussion with him and agreed to have a meeting on Monday.

“Unfortunately this is my own understanding of your dialogue with him and he is not here.

“So I believe that we would stand down any issue relating to that until he comes back,” Ekweremadu ruled.

The explanation led to an exchange of words as Saraki was insisting that the issue of the letter had nothing to do with Mark’s intention to meet with the senators.

Sen. Danjuma Goje also rose up to insist that the notification letter should be read because he and 10 other senators had defected from the PDP to APC.

This threw the chamber into confusion with PDP and APC senators engaging each other in a shouting match.



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