Shekarau defects, Kano reps distance selves from ex-gov
• Opposition party’s lawmakers insist on blockade of budget bill, others
The alleged list of defectors:
• Bukola Saraki
• Adamu Abdulahi
• Shaba Lafiagi
• A Gobir
• Aisha Al-Hassan
• Magnus Abe
• Wilson Ake
• Jibrilla Mohammed Bindowo
• Danjuma Goje
• Ali Ndume
• Umar Dahiru
A PLANNED defection of some People’s Democratic Party (PDP) senators to the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday was mired in confusion.
No official declaration was made on the floor of the Senate by its President, David Mark, or any other senator as regards the defection.
But it was learnt that some 11 senators sent a joint letter to Mark to inform him of their intention to defect to the APC.
Confusion, however, trailed the move as one of the said 11 lawmakers, Umar Dahiru, allegedly informed Mark that he was no longer defecting. All efforts to get Dahiru to confirm his position proved abortive.
It was believed that his withdrawal was among the issues that created bottlenecks in the reading of the letter on the floor of the Senate.
An APC senator, who would not want his name mentioned read the content of the said letter of defection to The Guardian without releasing it to the reporter.
It read: “We, the undersigned senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, elected on the platform of People’s Democratic Party (PDP), wish to notify you that we have severally and jointly joined the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“This action and decision is as a result of the division and factionalisation in the PDP that sponsored our elections into the Senate.
“In view of the above, we write to inform you that following the division and factionalisation in the PDP, we have formally joined the APC.
“This communication is pursuant to Section 68 (1g) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended.
“For your information, guidance and record purposes.”
The list comprises Bukola Saraki, Adamu Abdulahi, Shaba Lafiagi, Ibrahim Gobir, Aisha Al-Hassan, Magnus Abe, Wilson Ake, Jibrilla Mohammed Bindowo, Danjuma Goje, Ali Ndume as well as Umar Dahiru.
Mark had, during the plenary summoned all PDP senators to a consultative meeting in the evening. As at the time of writing this report, the 11 senators were yet to agree among themselves as to whether or not to attend the meeting.
On the proper procedure for defection, Senate’s spokesperson, Enyinnaya Abaribe, had on Tuesday stated that it could not be done jointly but on individual basis.
Abaribe was reacting to speculations that aggrieved PDP members had jointly written to the Senate, declaring their intention to defect to APC.
He said the purported letter would have been addressed personally to the Senate president and as such the defection would remain a speculation until the right step was taken.
“The Senate, officially, is not aware of any letter about senators defecting because any letter that comes to the Senate would be read on the floor. So if senators write personal letters to the Senate president, that is strictly personal between them and the Senate president.
“They have not written it for reading on the floor of the Senate. So, in the same manner that you have some awareness of what is going on, is the same manner we are aware of it through the pages of newspapers.
“And I have had cause to say this before that the process for anybody to move from one party to another is very well stated in the constitution and the process is open, clear and cannot in a way be misunderstood.
“Don’t forget that every senator did an election on his own. There wasn’t a joint election. So, senators cannot write a joint letter to the Senate president about defection.
“It must be individual and every person who has to leave, for whatever reason, will have to state his reason and also do it personally. And until we see that, we assume that nobody is yet to go anywhere”, he said.
At the Senate’s session yesterday, the debate on 2014 appropriation continued with more senators rejecting some of the provisions. Others, however, believed that it was only a working document, which was subject to alterations in the interest of the masses.
Senator Odion Ugbesia, Edo Central, said: “This budget proposal may not be the best and cannot satisfy everybody but it can be seen as a working paper that will guide towards a budget that will satisfy everybody.
“It could be used to find some solutions to our problems. My worry is the concept of envelop that comes with it annually. To me, it is an impediment. We should use the opportunity of this budget process to redefine the role of executive and legislature as it relates to the design and implementation of budgets.”
Besides, in what appears like the climax of the political rivalry between the Kano State Governor Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso and his predecessor Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, the latter has dumped the APC for the PDP. Shekarau urged his supporters across the state and the country at large to dissociate themselves from the APC.
Shekarau told his loyalists from across all the 44 local councils of the state, who gathered at his Mundubawa Avenue residence: “We hereby denounce our membership of APC. We the members of the defunct All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) are moving en masse into the People’s Democratic Party.”
After telling the crowd how APC was formed, he revealed: “We all agreed that the interim leadership of APC would be there for six months within which the issue of the registration of membership and the election of elected party officials would take effect.”
But to his dismay, Shekarau said “…in the last six months nothing happened as far as the agreed issues are concerned. So we now come to realise that we are dining with the devil. And it is very unfortunate that this is happening after we all left our legitimate parties and formed what we thought was an alternative.”
He further disclosed that they wrote their complaint to the national headquarters of the party in the last six weeks. “To our surprise nothing was done about it. They did not acknowledge the receipt of our letter. And not even a phone call to acknowledge that our letter reached them,” he stated.
“The same complaint was sent to the headquarters of our party from all the states where the sitting governors decamped to the APC. These are Sokoto, Kwara, Adamawa and Sokoto. But nothing was done to look into the case.
“Up to this time you cannot pinpoint a single individual as a card-carrying member of APC in the country as a whole. So what kind of party politics are we playing?” he queried.
Shekarau said that it was not the party’s name that was their concern but who they were working with. “Instead of our party to look into our case and others that came from other states they just went ahead and started forming committees that are not in any way according to the dictate of the party,” he said.
The defection took a dramatic turn before Shekarau announced the final exit to PDP. The former chairman of the defunct ANPP of Doguwa Local Council, Shehu Maigari Doguwa, was called upon to raise the motion for their movement to PDP.
After raising the motion the former secretary of the defunct ANPP, who was also the chairman of the Secretaries’ Forum of all the 44 local councils, Yakubu Musa Hausawa, seconded the motion for the movement. It was after that the former governor announced officially to the loyalists that they had finally decided to decamp.
The former chairman of PDP in Kano, Alhaji Musa Danbirni, commended the coming of the former governor into their fold. He said that he was happy because that showed Shekarau knew what he was doing.
“We are sure that we are going to work harmoniously with Malam Shekarau. And we are assuring people that we are doing a fair play in all our dealings. And President Jonathan is going to get 75 per cent of the electorate in the 2015 general election,” Danbirni said.
However, 10 members of the APC in the House of Representatives from Kano State have distanced themselves from Shekarau.
The members are Suleiman Abdulrraman Kawu, Tijjani Abdulkadir Jobe, Usman Adamu Gaiya, Haruna Musa Fatahi, Mohammed Sani Rano, Lawan Shehu Bichi, Abdulsalam Adamu, Badamasi Danbatta, Nasiru Baballe Ila and Nasiru Ali Ahmed.
The federal lawmakers who were original allies of Shekarau yesterday reaffirmed their loyalty to the APC despite his reported defection.
The lawmakers maintained that the birth of the APC became imperative due to the fact that the PDP-led government had held Nigeria and the people to ransom for almost 16 years without any visible development.
Addressing reporters on behalf of the Kano caucus after yesterday’s parliamentary session, a House Deputy Minority Leader, Abdulrahman Suleiman Kawu, said that the members were determined to forge ahead with the alliance.
“We wish to make it categorically clear today that we are not leaving the APC for any political party. We have sacrificed a lot and have come a long way in the struggle to emancipate our people from the bondage of PDP misrule.
“At this crucial stage of our journey, we will not look back, or backtrack, we will not look sideways, we will not leave our beloved APC for anything else,” he declared.
Kawu who represents Sumaila/ Takai federal constituency of Kano State said the PDP had not offered to Nigerians the needed succour despite many years of its administration since the advent of democracy in the country in 1999.
“Today under PDP, we are witnessing unprecedented level of corruption, insecurity, poverty and political instability in Nigeria more than ever before. We therefore see the coming of APC as an opportunity to right the many wrongs of the PDP and once again put Nigeria back on the pedestal of growth, development, economic prosperity and make it an egalitarian society where rule of law and social justice prevail for the common good,” he added.
While calling on Nigerians to give their support towards providing a strong platform for progressive-minded politicians to come together and give a better choice for alternative leadership, the lawmaker explained that the initial hiccups being experienced by the APC were a normal development.
His words: “Much as we express hope and aspiration for a better Nigeria under the APC, we are not unaware of the daunting challenges confronting our new party since we are all coming from different political parties and background.”
He called on the APC leadership and all party faithful to “ensure transparency, fairness, internal democracy and adherence to rule of law and laid down procedures so as to provide level playing ground for party members to realise their individual ambitions without any hindrance.”
A pro-democracy group, Peoples Mandate Forum, has commended the former governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa, for joining the PDP, stating that “his decision was courageous, patriotic and well-considered, and in the best interest of our growing democracy.”
In a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday by its coordinator, Joel Bankong, the group wondered why a party formed and nurtured by a group of people should be taken away from them in the manner the APC leadership did.
“As someone who helped build and nurture the APC, Bafarawa deserves to be respected and recognised by the leadership of the party. But it is amazing that the party slighted and disrespected him by handing over the leadership of the party in the state to Governor Aliu Wamakko without reference to Bafarawa,” the group said.
“It is even more disturbing that this brazenness and lack of respect for democratic values is coming from a party that prides itself as progressive. We do not see anything progressive in the action of the APC. If anything, it is undemocratic, crude and destructive.
“With the action, the APC has demonstrated that it is peopled by despots who have no sense of accommodation and comradeship. We are delighted that Barafawa has called their bluff. We believe that such a treatment will give the party leadership cause for sober reflection. We therefore see Bafarawa’s action as a wake-up call on the APC to put its house in order,” it added.
Meanwhile, members of the APC caucus in the House of Representatives yesterday restated their resolve to block all legislative proposals from the executive arm of government.
The House Minority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, who addressed reporters at the National Assembly, however, disclosed that his members could reconsider their stance on the issue by approving only the recurrent component of the 2014 Appropriation Act in the interest of Nigerians.
Gbajabiamila claimed that there was nothing new with the APC leadership blockade in view of the fact that the progressives had ensured the non-passage of virtually all bills emanating from the executive arm since the inception of the President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration.
Gbajabiamila remarked that notwithstanding the fact that their opposition to the passage of executive bills was a legitimate step aimed at curbing the spate of lawlessness in the polity, as progressives, there was no way they would have passed the 2014 Appropriation Act that was of little or no benefit to the citizenry.
Justifying the position of the caucus, he noted: “Let us be categorical, we intend to continue to protest against the culture of impunity, immorality, and illegality this government insists on entrenching in our system. We intend to insist on good governance, we intend to stand firm on our oath of office to defend the constitution and discharge our legislative duties in the interest of the people of Nigeria. Good governance is the end goal and filibustering or stalling executive bills is the means and we believe that in this case the end definitely justifies the means.”
The lawmaker who hinted that budgetary allocation meant for the police force would be blocked as part of measure aimed at stopping the PDP-led government from using the police to witch-hunt members of the opposition noted: “On the budget itself, we will not support a budget that does nothing for the people we represent. We will not rubber-stamp a budget that seeks to borrow more money at ridiculous rates and further impoverish the country. Indeed we refuse to support a budget that comes in with a huge deficit. We certainly do not agree with a budget that allocates a pitiable 25 per cent for capital expenditure, which capital component will only be implemented 30 per cent whilst recurrent will be implemented 100 per cent.
“How in the world do you stimulate an economy the size and population of Nigeria with a 25 per cent allocation to capital? We cannot in good conscience support a budget that comes with a benchmark and siphons away 30 per cent of the country’s revenue into an illegal excess crude account in violation of the provisions of section 162 of the constitution we individually swore to defend, with the resultant effect of shortchanging the states we all individually represent. A budget where the economics do not trickle down to the common man. We do not want to be accessories after the fact by passing a budget when the president or minister of finance who has publicly admitted to the disappearance of $10 billion has not given explanations but seeks to borrow more money, and who continues to blame shortfall in revenue on crude theft by some phantom thieves.
“We refuse to participate in what has become an annual ritual and approving a document in the name of passing a budget that tells a lie about the true state of our finances and liquidity and where our revenue is being deflated by about N500 billion annually through the fraudulent and indiscriminate grant of waivers. More importantly we will not be party to the appropriation of funds and taxpayers’ money to a police force that will turn around and use the same to maim and kill the same taxpayers. No, we will not.
“Let us quickly add at this point that the first disdain and contempt for the budgeting process and Nigerians came from the president himself when against all known democratic traditions at least in this country sent his employee to present the budget to the National Assembly and for the first time in our history representatives and indeed Nigerians did not have the opportunity of hearing their president address the country on the state of the nation, the performance of the last budget and the contents and objectives of the new budget.
“A crying shame and another shade of impunity. Whilst the constitution was interpreted by apologists not to require his presence, they failed to address the break in tradition, the spirit behind the provision of the constitution and the implications of the action. Perhaps next time we can expect a special assistant of the president to present the budget or for him to mail it to the National Assembly, as he would then be said to have ‘caused’ it to be laid before both Houses of the National Assembly as provided by the constitution.
“In coming to this decision we note that salaries of many innocent Nigerians are tied to the budget. However, we will do all we can to address this catch-22. We will hope that our progressive colleagues will agree to an ingenious and creative idea like we did through the doctrine of necessity to isolate the recurrent expenditure and perhaps for the first time pass a recurrent-only budget. This is just one idea. We are open to many more from all Nigerians, Nigerians who see the end goal and understand it.”
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