Senate President David Mark has resolved to seek legal opinion on how to handle the issue of the 11 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senators that have indicated interest to defect to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).
On January 29, 2014 the senators wrote a letter to the President of the Senate indicating their resolve to defect to the APC.
But Mark, has refused to read the letter at plenary, a situation that is building up tension in the relatively peaceful Upper Chamber of the National Assembly.
On Wednesday, the Senate was locked in closed doors session for over two hours, after which its spokesperson, Enyinnaya Abaribe, briefed newsmen.
According to Abaribe, Senate President Mark has resolved to seek legal advice on the controversial letter.
He spoke further, “In the closed door session, matters affecting the well being of Nigeria were discussed. Also, interest of the country was put first and the meeting was fruitful.
“I can confirm to you that the issue of defection was also discussed during the closed door session and it was resolved that the Senate President in particular would have to seek further legal advice because of serious legal issues thrown up during the discussion based on interpretation of the Constitution and the Senate Standing Rule.
“So, more time was given for consultations. When it resumes on Tuesday, it would continue to look into the issue.
“Under the Senate Standing Rule No. 25, only the Senate President has the power and authority to interpret anything and he has decided to seek further legal advice.
“And I think it is good for the country. We are law makers, not law breakers. It was an attempt to seek political solution to the problem of defection that we had the discussion at the closed door session. When we resume, we are also going to have further discussion.
“Members had gone to court against principal officers over retention of their seats. Based on that, you cannot go to court and would not want to wait for the ruling of that court. Anyway, we can still resolve matters amicably”
On his part, George Akume, Senate Minority Leader, was of the view that what the Senate President require to resolve the issue is political solution and not legal.
According to him, “It is open knowledge that 11 senators from PDP have indicated their interest to defect from PDP to APC.
“They are adequately covered by some provision of constitution and of course the issue of defection is not new it has happened before in the two chambers and when we met today to deliberate on this particular issue we said okay, Senate President should look at political solution nobody talked about legal opinion on this matter.
“We are going to reconvene Tuesday to continue on this issue. We want to believe strongly that by Tuesday this matter will be laid to rest in the interest of the country and for sanctity and integrity of the Senate”.
