– The PDP Senate caucus holds a peace meeting with Senate president Bukola Saraki to foster the unity in the Senate
– The meeting follows the last stormy session which ensued when Senator Yele Omogunwa, defected from the PDP to the ruling APC
– Saraki pleads with the senators from the PDP to keep the unity of the Senate, irrespective of differences that might have occurred
Saraki has pleaded with PDP senators to keep the unity of the Senate.
Senators of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have laid down conditions Senate president Bukola Saraki should meet for them to further support his leadership.
Vanguard reports that the PDP Senate caucus met with Saraki on Thursday morning, December 1, in Room 301, new Senate building.
The meeting followed the last stormy session which ensued when Senator Yele Omogunwa, Ondo south defected from the PDP to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The sustenance of the defection by Senator Saraki led the PDP senators to stage a walk out.
According to a source, the peace meeting was originally planned for the PDP caucus, but senators were surprised when Senator Saraki, himself, a former PDP senator, attended to resolve the differences in the Senate.
Saraki used the avenue to plead with the senators from the opposition to keep the unity of the Senate, irrespective of differences that might have occurred.
On their part, the senators told Saraki what he must do to sustain that unity in the Senate.
They told him that he should have handled Senator Omogunwa’s defection in a better way than the celebration witnessed on the Senate floor.
The PDP senators recalled that when Saraki as a PDP senator wrote a letter of defection in the 7th Senate, that the then Senate president, Senator David Mark, kept the letter to himself to avoid heating the polity against the backdrop that there was no division in the PDP as at that time.
Saraki was also asked to always recognize the majority leader, minority leader, and other principal officers each time they wanted to speak as a matter of privilege as well as ranking senators because of their reservoir of experience.
The Senators urged Saraki to reduce the frequency with which he recognised Senator Dino Melaye on the Senate floor, especially during deliberations on very sensitive issues.
The source said: “It wasn’t that Saraki came to beg PDP Senators. We met to straighten what you can call the crooked legs of our relationship. We told him it was not necessary to recognize Dino on all issues, especially when contentious issues are involved.
“We also told him that the Constitution is sacrosanct and that there was no need to encourage the type of celebration we saw on Wednesday especially as he was in that shoe before when Senator Mark saved him from losing his seat.”
Meanwhile, to avoid a repeat of the drama that played out in Kogi state last year, the Senate has proffered a solution to the controversy over who succeeds a governorship or presidential candidate who dies after election had begun and before the announcement of the results.
While passing the clauses of a bill seeking to amend the Electoral Act 2010 for the sixth time, the lawmakers, during the plenary on Thursday, December 1, recommended the conduct of a fresh primary should be done within 14 days to choose the new candidate, The Punch reports.
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