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abujagirl
Guest
Ahead of Senate’s resumption of plenary tomorrow, cracks have appeared in the “New Peoples Democratic Party (New PDP)” as about seven out of the 22 senators have withdrawn their membership of the group.
According to Osun Defenders, two weeks ago, 22 Senators reportedly declared for the “New PDP” after seven PDP governors announced its formation.
The names of the Senators as published in national newspapers, were: Senate Chief Whip Bello Hayatu Gwarzo (Kano); Mohammed Ali Ndume (Borno); Ahmad Zannah; Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa); Abdullahi Danladi Sankara; AbdulMumini Mohammed Hassan (Jigawa); Umaru Dahiru (Sokoto); Ahmed Mohammed Maccido; Muhammad Sha’aba Lafiagi (Kwara) Simeon Sule Ajibola (Kwara) and Abubakar Bukola Saraki (Kwara).
Others are Magnus Ngei Abe (Rivers); Wilson Asinobi Ake (Rivers); Danjuma Mohammed Goje (Gombe); Saidu Ahmed Alkali; Ahmed Hassan Barata; Umar Mohammed Jibrilla; Aisha Jummai Alhassan (Taraba); Ibrahim Abdulahi Gobir (Sokoto), Garba Mohammad (Kano); AbdulAziz Usman (Jigawa) and Isa Galaudu (Kebbi).
There, however, appears a break in the ranks as seven (four from the North-West, two from the North-Central and one from the North-East), out of the 22 senators claimed they were not part of the “New PDP” and that their names were surreptitiously sneaked onto the list. But the seven senators did not want their names printed.
Some alleged members even claimed that though they may have sympathy for the “New PDP,” they they were away from the country when the names were compiled. So, they were not consulted before going public with the list.
Some of the aggrieved senators, from the North-West, North-Central and the North-East pointed fingers at a former governor from the North-Central, who is in his first term, as “just railroading our names into a purported list we know nothing of.
“As you were well aware, because the Senate was on recess, some of our members were abroad and when the list was made public, they were embarrassed that their names were included in a list they practically knew nothing about.”
At least, a ranking senator, whose name is on the list, confirmed to Daily Sun that he “was yet to be consulted on the formation of the “New PDP,” not to talk of agreeing to put my name on the list that was made public as a member. I am not a member and I intend to make my grievance known through clear party channels.”
Another senator from the North-West who declined to be named, gave further insight into how some names were published without consultations with the bearers.
“I was abroad (country withheld) when my phone was bombarded with text messages from political associates at home, congratulating me on my membership of the “New PDP.” I made enquiries and discovered that a former governor from my state, together with his friend, who’s also a former governor, just put my name on the list. When I made further enquiries, I discovered that three former governors (names withheld), from 2003-2007 are behind the scenes and largely influenced the names’ compilation.”
Two of the former governors are in the Senate while the third was a senator who left the National Assembly to join the executive in the present dispensation.
“Can you imagine that after publishing the names, nobody has even got in touch with me to tell me what’s going on?…” the lawmaker said last night. Meanwhile, it was gathered that the meeting of the “New PDP” senators was to checkmate any move by the PDP National Chairman, Bamanga Tukur, to declare their seats vacant as the Senate resumes legislative business. Indications also emerged that there is a crack in the relationship between the Presidency and the leadership of the National Assembly.