Senate President, David Mark, has refused to read the defection letter of the Senators who decamped to the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the Peoples DEmocratic Party (PDP) last week.
The Senators are Bukola Saraki (Kwara South), Shaaba Lafiagi (Kwara North), Mohammed Ndume (Borno South), Danjuma Goje (Gombe Central), Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa West), Magnus Abe (Rivers South East), Wilson Ake (Rivers West), Bindo Jubrilla (Adamawa North), Abdullahi Gobir (Sokoto East) and Alhassan Aisha Jummai (Taraba North).
Mark cited a standing court order which prevents him and Speaker of the House, Aminu Tambuwal from acting on defections.
A Senator from the Northwest region told reporters, “The President of the Senate said as long as he remains in charge, he will abide by the court injunction.
“He told us that the affected Senators went to court seeking an order to restrain him and the Speaker of the House of Representatives from declaring their seats vacant.
“He said since the court gave an injunction to maintain the status quo, the order applies to defection and its aftermath, which borders on the declaration of any Senator’s seat vacant.
“Mark insisted on the larger interpretation of the court injunction instead of an isolated one. He said the day the court rules otherwise, he will allow due process to take its course.”
Another Senator from the South East said, “The Senate President also cited Order 53(5) of the Senate Standing Orders to buttress his argument. He said since there had been precedents in the Senate, he would not make this case an exemption.
“He said once a case is in court, the Senate cannot dabble in the matter. He then rolled out a long list of cases in court on which the Senate had stayed action.”
“The Order 53(5) says: ‘Reference shall not be made to any matter on which a judicial decision is pending in such a way as might in the opinion of the President of the Senate prejudice the interest of parties thereto.’ Most Senators, especially those from the PDP concurred with Mark.”
Another Senator said, “At a point, some of us thought Mark was protecting the 11 Senators who should automatically vacate their seats once they officially pitched tent with the All Progressives Congress (APC). We accused the Senate President of favouring the Senators.
“But Mark told us that no military commander would want to lose any member of his troops until such a person chooses to go astray. He said he owes it a duty to be fair and just to all Senators irrespective of political leanings because they are all members of a family.
“What Mark is trying to do to is to give the 11 Senators a long rope to pull under the ambit of the law before taking any drastic action.”