Fireworks at Senate over leadership postions

There were fireworks on the floor of the Senate yesterday.

Motions and counter motions became the order of the day as Senators attempted to win over their colleagues to their sides.

Alleged smuggling into the Senate chamber of an unauthorised Senate Standing Order 2015 also came up for discussion.

Odigie-Oyegun’s letter was also brought to the Senate chamber by Senator Gbenga Ashafa (Lagos East.)

Ashafa specifically requested Saraki to read the letter to guide the upper chamber on how to go about selecting its principal officers.

Ashafa, who came under Senate Standing Orders 15, 28(1), 29(1), 30, 31(1) said he felt that his privilege as a senator had been breached by the refusal of the Senate President to read the letter.

Ashafa said: “A letter written by the Chairman of our great party, the largest party in Africa, the APC, was sent here and by the special grace of God, we expected that that letter which has been received in your office, with due respect, would have been read in order for us to see the resolution of the party’s Senate leadership tussle.

“Let me go to Order 28 (1), Majority Leader of the Senate: There shall be Majority Leader of the Senate nominated by the party with the highest number of seats in the Senate.

“Deputy Majority Leader of the Senate: There shall be a Deputy Majority Leader of the Senate. A Deputy Majority Leader shall be a Senator nominated from the party with the highest number of seats in the Senate.

“There shall be a Chief Whip in Senate. The Chief Whip shall be a Senator nominated from the party with the highest number of seats in the Senate.

“Again, 31(4): There shall be a Deputy Majority Whip of the Senate. He shall be a Senator nominated from the party with the highest number of seats in the Senate.

“Mr. President, by virtue of the privilege of being one of the Senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and coming from our party, I believe that that letter should have been read to the hearing of all Senators here present. Perhaps that will be the solution to the leadership tussle in the Senate.”

Hardly had Ashafa sat down when Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah (Kebbi South) offered an “explanation”.

He noted that the Point of Order raised by Ashafa cannot stand.

 Na’Allah said, “I am proceeding on the same order 28 just to offer explanation. By the popular rules of interpretation of documents that has been agreed by parties, the ordinary letters and words used must be given their effective meaning.

“With your permission, I am going to read sir: ‘There shall be a majority leader of the Senate.

“The Majority Leader shall be a senator nominated from not by.’ What this seems to do is to debar the internally displaced (Peoples Democratic Party) side from nominating the majority leader and to confer it on the APC, which incidentally happens to have the highest number in the 8th Senate.

“So with due respect, the point of order raised by my bosom friend and brother, Ashafa, even goes further to explain the raison d’être, as to why the President shall not proceed to read that letter allegedly sent to this chamber by the APC.

“Therefore, we should go ahead with the functions and exercise of this Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria based on what we have accepted as majority party, that change is the platform that we will ride to move this country forward. So, I urge that this matter cannot stand.”

Relying on what Na’Allah said, Saraki ruled Ashafa out of order.

Saraki said: “ I have listened to Senator Gbenga Ashafa and Senator Na’Alla and going by our rules I would just note what Senator Ashafa has said. I think we will leave the matter. In that case, I will rule that point out of order.”

He did not read the letter from his party.

Senator Kabiru Marafa (Zamfara Central), who raised the issue of two conflicting Senate Standing Rules, 2011 and 2015, called for explanation.

After receiving the particular standing rules, he said:

“Mr. President, there is a conflict in these two votes. Which one are we going to use? I think it is time to rule which of the books we are going to use to regulate the 8th Senate.”

There was uproar from other senators on the floor, with Senator Marafa calling for protection from the Senate President.

Marafa said: “I am raising these points of Order to address two or three things. Number one, we need to know which of these books is going to guide our proceedings. If we are going by the Senate Standing orders of 2011 (As amended), which is the genuine book.”

There was disorderliness in the chamber, with Senator Marafa jokingly shouting, “would you shut up! Mr President, I need your protection.”

The Zamfara State born lawmaker was undeterred.

He went on: “Like I said, the events as we witnessed on the 9th of June, 2011, especially as regards the election of the Deputy Senate President were null and void, because they were not in consonance with the provisions of the Standing Orders of this Senate.

“And if you say we are going to use the Senate Standing Orders of 2015, then we need explanation as to who and why we chose our Senate rules without recourse to Order 11 (2).”

Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu took the floor.

He said: “I want to probably offer explanation to my friend Marafa.

“He is just four years old in this Senate and some of us have been here for 12 years.

“From 1999 to today, each Senate has come with its own rules.

“There were Senate rules of 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011 and now 2015.

“The reason is quite simple; if you go to Section 64 of the Constitution, it says the Senate and the House of Representatives shall each time dissolve at the expiration of the period of four years, commencing from the day of the first sitting of the House.

“So the rule he (Marafa) was referring to, ended with the Senate on the 6th day, of June.

“If he is seeking to amend the new Senate Rule, he can only amend the existing one, which is the one for 2015.

“So, between now and 2015, this particular Senate Rule 2015 covers us and can only be amended in the manner he had suggested after 2019.That has been the process and procedures since 1999.”

Saraki ruled that “Mafara raised a point of Order and I think there are two issues here in his point.

“One, he asked which of the rules do we use but there is only one rule before us-that is Senate Standing Order 2015 (As amended).

“The second issue you raised, which I think even in your own address, you mentioned 9th of June, where by virtue of our actions, I will refer you again to Section 53, sub-section 6, which says that it shall be out of order to attempt to reconsider any specific question of which the Senate has come to a conclusion during the current session and bringing that matter again, goes contrary to our rules 53 (6).

“So, I think on this note observed, I rule you out of order in that matter.”