There is no plan to declare the
seat of a senator, Godswill Akpabio, or that of any other defecting lawmaker
vacant, Senate President Bukola Saraki has said.
Mr Saraki was reacting to reports
there were such plans and a reaction to it by Mr Akpabio who recently joined
Nigeria’s ruling APC, from the main opposition PDP.
At least 15 senators have changed
parties in the past month, including Mr Saraki who moved from the APC to the
PDP.
Mr Saraki’s media aide, Yusuph
Olaniyonu, declared on Tuesday that the rumour to declare any seat
vacant was false.
“All that is mere talk,” he said.
“People are making claims when we don’t even know when they’ll reconvene.”
The spokesperson was making
reference to the current recess of the National Assembly which was expected to
be suspended this week. However, Mr Saraki and Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, released a joint statement on Tuesday saying
there was no date yet for the resumption.
Speaking further on the reports
of plans to declare Mr Akpabio’s seat vacant, Mr Olaniyonu said, “There’s a lot
to be done and we don’t even have time for all that one.”
He linked the reports to the
travails of Mr Saraki who risks losing his seat after the APC asked him to
resign or be removed.
“These people should focus on
other things and leave Saraki alone. They have turned the man into a superstar
overnight,” Mr Olaniyonu said.
He called on the public to ignore
such reports saying the leadership of the National Assembly is focused on
making the country better.
Earlier the Punch Newspaper
quoted an unnamed source as saying arrangements were being made to ensure that
Mr Akpabio, and others who defected recently from the PDP to the APC are
removed or face a recall process.
According to the Punch, the
source hinted that the move against the defectors started just before the
Senate went on recess, with the alleged refusal of Mr Saraki to read the letter
of defection submitted to him by Mr Akpabio.
In his reaction, Mr Akpabio said
he is not perturbed over alleged plot to declare his seat vacant, the Vanguard
Newspaper reports.
Mr Akpabio who spoke to select
journalists in Abuja, described the insinuations as mere rumour. He also said
there is no division in his new party, APC, at the moment; and so seats of
those like Mr Saraki who left the party should rather be declared vacant.
“Even as you are looking at me,
do I look perturbed? I have not heard the report. Because the reason why I
think that is a rumour is that there is, at the moment, no division in the APC.
The APC is one family.
“If you hear about R-APC that was
not really a political party. That was not a division, it has since been
consumed in what they call Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP). So,
there is no division. And so, any defection from APC to PDP, we will like to
declare those seats vacant,” Vanguard quoted him as saying.
He also denied having knowledge
of the APC Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole’s call for Mr Saraki to resign or be
removed.
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