Recall that in my column that same day, I made references to the abrupt adjournment of the House of Representatives to December 3, which, to all intents and purposes, could jeopardise presentation of the 2015 Appropriation Bill. The adjournment came after Speaker Aminu Tambuwal officially notified his chamber of his movement to the All Progressives Congress, APC. Across the lobby, newsmen waited with bated breath to see whether Senate would adjourn similarly; this was after unconfirmed reports that both chambers were on the same adjournment page. Senate only adjourned plenary for a week.
Last Tuesday, however, Senate, renowned for its soft stance towards the ruling PDP and also, having garnered the reputation of being the voice of reason and wisdom in any face-off with the Presidency, went in a completely opposite direction.
There were indications that there was something unusual in the offing, as Senators, known for keeping to time in convening plenary, delayed doing so for over 30 minutes. Most of the principal officers were already gathered in the Senate President’s office for the usual procession into the chamber but minutes passed and nobody moved. It was gathered that the principal officers later went into a short meeting before filing into the chamber for business of the day.
As usual, the Order Paper, which outlines the legislative business of the day, had been distributed to members and the gallery filled with eager newsmen. With the absence of Senate President, David Mark, his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, led other principal officers into the chamber, including Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, Senate Whip, Bello Hayatou Gwarzo, and Minority Whip, Ganiyu Solomon.
Shortly after the opening prayer and some announcements, the Senate Leader got up and simply moved a motion that “all items on the Order Paper for the day be stood down till another legislative day.” On the side of the chamber, Senator Solomon, who observed that though no reason was given for the adjournment, seconded the motion.
That done, Ekweremadu announced that the PDP caucus would meet in the Senate President’s conference room for a brief meeting. Banging hard on the gavel, he adjourned plenary till the following day. The plan went smoothly and Senators filed out of the chamber. Everybody in the gallery and the lobby were stunned at the turn of events. It was learnt that the PDP caucus meeting lasted less than 10 minutes.
A ranking Senator, who asked not be named but who was authorised by the caucus to speak with newsmen explained the backdrop to the drama, which played out earlier in the chamber.
“First and foremost, the party did not protect us during the last PDP ward congresses; that was why we decided that there would be no sitting, there will be no legislative business until the party resolves the matter with the governors. The president left us at the mercy of governors to treat us anyhow, that was why they moved against us at the ward congress primaries and removed everybody from the Congress…”
The disturbing part of the narrative was when he disclosed that if the issues were left unresolved, Senators might be forced to show solidarity with Speaker Aminu Tambuwal and that they would simply come into the chamber and adjourn plenary until PDP does the needful.
Hear him: “We decided to shut down government…there’s nothing else to lose. Every morning, we will show up and adjourn. The PDP Senators are dissatisfied about what is happening in our party. Once we get into plenary, we will adjourn and as we do that, we will do solidarity with Tambuwal…We may even commence his (President Jonathan) impeachment. Since we are going down, we are going to go down with him…”
After a flurry of meetings, with the last one held last Friday at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, reports indicated that a truce of sorts was arrived at; two Senators would be allowed to return in 2015. This was done, perhaps, to ensure that there’s retention of institutional memory, something that has been canvassed at several fora by the Senate Leader.
This is a season of barters wherein you give me what I want and you don’t get impeached, sort of. The coming months would show whether our almighty state governors would respect that agreement anyway.
The National Assembly primaries would be held next weekend. It remains to be seen whether the agreement hatched in Aso Rock was cast in stone or whether Senators would return to the battlefront when they reconvene in December. As usual, Senators are expected to commence work today but we are already braced for another round of adjournments, this time around, to allow them prepare for their upcoming primaries.
Besides, with the House of Representatives on legislative leave till December 3, what happens to the presentation of the N4.7 trillion is yet unknown.
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