SENATORS of the Unity Forum, the group loyal to
Senator Ahmad Lawan and the All Progressives
Congress (APC), are said to have perfected a plot
aimed at eventually ousting the Deputy Senate
President, Ike Ekweremadu.
The APC had been uncomfortable with
Ekweremadu’s emergence on June 9 as Deputy
Senate President and had blamed its members in
the Senate for allegedly selling out to the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP).
President Muhammadu Buhari, at the National
Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of his party
two weeks ago, insisted that he could not work
with “enemies,” apparently referring to
Ekweremadu occupying the Senate number two
seat.
Members of the Unity Forum were said to have
been further empowered after a recent visit to Aso
Rock, where it was gathered that the plot to
eventually oust Ekweremadu was discussed.
Sources close to the APC in Abuja, on Sunday,
said the senators had decided to lie low on their
opposition to the Deputy Senate President and to
the Senate President, Bukola Saraki.
It was gathered that senators of the Unity Forum
believed that the issue of leadership positions was
almost settled in the Senate, with Saraki’s
decision to resort to zonal caucuses rather than
uphold the letter written to him by the APC.
Three of the leadership positions had been filled,
while senators from the South-West zone were
said to have met and agreed to recommend one
of them to Saraki for appointment as majority
chief whip.
With attention shifting to committee positions in
the Senate, it would be seen that loyalists of the
Unity Group might just lose out of the search for
presiding officer positions.
It was, however, gathered that the lawmakers had
decided to choose “an auspicious time” in the life
of the eighth Senate to strike and get
Ekweremadu “below the belt,” thereby securing
the number two slot for one of them.
Sources said though the senators know that it
would be an uphill task to secure the 73 senators
needed to impeach either Ekweremadu or Saraki,
they had decided to strike at a time when APC
lawmakers would be in an overwhelming majority
on the floor, especially when many PDP senators
would have embarked on legislative assignments
outside Abuja.
A source said the senators of Unity Forum would
then rely on two thirds majority of senators on
the floor to get at Ekweremadu.
“The deal is that contending forces should lie low
for now and allow the Senate to commence its
work and for legislative activities to start in
earnest.
“On a day when only a few senators of the PDP
are on the floor, the plot would be hatched in
such a way that two thirds of those present
would be relied upon to impeach the Deputy
Senate President.
“There and then, a replacement from the APC
lawmakers would be elected and that would
condemn Ekweremadu to the courts. The case
may not actually end till the end of the eighth
Assembly,” a source in the know said.
When asked whether Saraki would be in the know
of the plot, the source said the Senate president
would be assured of his position, but firmly told
that the only way to plough his way back to
reckoning in the APC was to support the plot and
sacrifice Ekweremadu.
It was gathered that the group pushing the
agenda was mandated to ensure camaraderie
returns to the Senate immediately, such that no
one would have an inkling of the dangerous plot.
“The constitution actually indicates that the
presiding officers can only be removed by two
third majority of the lawmakers. But the way to
go about it is to secure two thirds of those on the
floor on a particular day and that should be
enough to impeach Ekweremadu,” another source
said.
Other sources, however, indicated that the main
problem of the APC was Saraki and that the plot
against Ekweremadu was a smokescreen.
The source said Saraki would find it difficult to
play along with the plot, in view of the fact that
whatever was applicable to the deputy Senate
president was also applicable to him.
“The two presiding officers can only be removed
by two thirds majority. If Saraki allows his deputy
to go on the pretext of the number present at a
sitting, he would be digging a huge grave for his
office. I am sure he is aware of the danger of
going into a secret plot with the APC,” a source in
the National Assembly said.
Meanwhile, an Igbo socio-cultural organisation,
Izu-Umunna Cultural Association and a think-
tank of Ohanaeze Ndigbo have asked President
Buhari and APC to accept the election of Senator
Ekweremadu as deputy Senate president as the
will of God.
The group, in its resolution at the end of its
emergency meeting in Jos, Plateau State, said it
would hold President Buhari and APC responsible
should anything happen to Ekweremadu.
The group attributed what it described as
distractions in the upper chambers of the National
Assembly as “handiwork of politicians who desire
that things should always go the way they want.”
No comments:
Post a Comment