The House of Representatives may summon the Interim National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Mr. Lai Mohammed, over allegation that some of its members in the House were induced with money to defect to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
The opposition party had in a statement issued by Mohammed on Tuesday decried the monetary inducement as ‘political horse trading’ carried too far in order to gain more members.
Mohammed alleged that $2m was offered to each senator who returned to the PDP, $1m to each member of the House of Representatives and $10m to each ‘leader’ who abandoned the APC for PDP.
He also said that the price tag for the federal legislators from Rivers State was even higher at $5m each. Mohammed may appear before its Ethics and Privileges Committee.
Raising a point of order on the breach of his privilege yesterday, Hon. Kingsley Chinda (Rivers, PDP) said the allegation by Mohammed was an infringement on his integrity.
He urged the House not to dismiss the allegation adding that there was need to get to the root of the matter. Chinda noted that it was the interim publicity secretary of APC that made the allegation citing a national newspaper which carried the news on its front page to buttress his claim.
“I implore the House to direct the Committee on Ethics and Privilege to investigate the matter and bring the culprit to book,” he said. He noted that there was a similar allegation by the Governor of Nasarawa State, Tanko Al-Makura last week. Mohammed said that Al- Makura had alleged that N5m were offered as bribe to lawmakers in his state to defect to PDP.
He warned that House integrity was being called to question and it could not afford to keep quiet on the issue. Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, therefore, directed the ethics committee to investigate the matter and report back to the House in two weeks. Reacting to the issue of allegation of bribery, the House Deputy Leader, Hon. Leo Ogor, stated that nobody accuse anybody of bribing 37 PDP members to defect.
“Today APC is crying wolf. When 37 PDP defected to APC were they saying that they were bribed? It is very unfortunate that APC is singing in different tune because they now find themselves where they actually belong.
Secondly I think it is important they stop this political rascality,” he said Also yesterday, the PDP replied APC over the bribery allegation. The party nonetheless stated that they are expecting more defections to its fold from the opposition.
PDP which said the APC has reached its peak and is experiencing diminishing returns, urged the National Assembly to insist that the APC withdraws the allegation and apologise to the legislature and the entire nation.
The statement signed by spokesman of the party Chief Oliseh Metuh, said “whilst we ordinarily should not dignify this sinking party, notorious for lies, deceit and propaganda with a reply, we are compelled to do so because their action is a direct attack on the basic fabric of our democracy”.
PDP said that all “well meaning Nigerians are indeed worried by the statements and actions of the APC which are clearly aimed at destroying our democracy and plunging the nation into chaos.
“In alleging that lawmakers were being financially induced, the APC seeks to cast doubt in the minds of Nigerians regarding the integrity of duly elected persons, politicians and the entire democratic institution.” The statement noted that while at a point, in the mind of some sections of the public, the PDP got to its lowest level, because of defections of lawmakers from their fold, the PDP never assaulted their integrity.
The ruling party maintained that there is no doubting the fact that the PDP under its new National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Muazu is reaching out to all its members including those that defected in a reconciliation drive that is already yielding dividends.
Meanwhile, some PDP senators yesterday asked the Senate President, David Mark to invoke the powers conferred on him by the 1999 constitution and the rules of the senate to declare the seats of the five senators who announced their defection to the APC on Tuesday vacant and order their immediate expulsion from the senate.
The senators in question are Senators Bukola Saraki (Kwara Central), Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa West), Magnus Abe (Rivers South east), Wilson Ake (Rivers East) and Aisha Jummai Alhassan (Taraba North).
According to the PDP senators, the combined effects of orders 14(1) of the senate standing order, sections 68(1)(g) and 1& 2 of the 1999 constitution, as well as section 18 of the Legislative Houses, Powers and Privileges Act, together with some well established judgments of the Supreme Court make it imperative for Mark to act decisively by declaring the seats of the defected senators vacant and order their expulsion from the senate.
The demand of the PDP senators, which was separately articulated by Senators Eta Inang and George Thompson Sekibo was thunderously applauded by all the PDP senators, leading to some momentary uproar in the senate.
The Senate President while acknowledging the propriety of the arguments of the PDP senators however said he would refrain from acting on their request because as he told the defecting senators, the previous day, he was bound by the rules of the senate not to make any pronouncements on the matter. It was Inang who first raised the issue by way of point of order.
Citing order 14 of the senate standing order on privileges, the lawmaker stated that the continued stay in the senate by the five senators who had announced their defection from the PDP to APC amounted to the deprivation of his privileges as senators.
The lawmaker cited three different Supreme Court judgments to the effect that by their actions, the five defecting senators had become strangers on the floor of the senate since there was no division in PDP to necessitate their defection as required by the law.
In calling on Mark to declare the seats of the defecting senators vacant and directing their immediate expulsion from the senate, Inang referred to section 68(1)(g) of the 1999 constitution, which empowers the Senate President to take such actions. He also exhibited a certified true copy of the judgement of an Abuja Federal High Court, to the effect that there is no division in the PDP to justify the said defection.
“I therefore call upon you, the Senate President to declare the seats of the defecting senators vacant and order their immediate expulsion in accordance with the constitution and the judgement of the Supreme Court in the Attorney General of the Federation and the Inspector General of Police Vs. Atiku Abubakar, dated April 24, 2007,” Inang said.
The submissions of Inang attracted wide jubilation from his colleague senators from PDP who urged him on chanting “go! go! go ahead!” leading to an uproar. Spurred by the requests of his colleagues, Inang was determined to cite further cases, but was stopped by Mark who noted that, “Whatever you have cited is enough.”
After he successfully battled to restore some sanity in the senate, Mark said, “I believe you were in this chamber here yesterday when I explained that this matter is before a court of competent jurisdiction and I refused to rule on the matter. My ruling on this won’t be different because it is the same subject matter.
This matter is before a competent court, I shall not make any pronouncements on it.” Not deterred by the ruling of Mark on the matter, Senator Sekibo also rose on a point of order to press on the Senate President not to abdicate his duties conferred on him via sections one and two of the constitution as well as order 53(5), stressing that, “The constitution requires you to declare the seats of these senators vacant now.”
Sekibo’s submissions elicited even more applause from the PDP senators, who cheered and chanted, even as it failed to persuade Mark to change his opinion on the matter.
