President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, and his loyalists in the chamber are battle ready to keep his presiding status, regardless of which party has the majority of members between the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party in the National Assembly.
Saraki’s loyalists, speaking on Friday, dismissed the call by members of the Parliamentary Support Group that the Senate President should quit as presiding officer once he defects from the ruling party.
The PSG is a group of APC senators supporting President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to the Saraki camp, it only takes a simple majority – regardless of the dominant party at the National Assembly – to elect the presiding officers but it requires two-thirds of members to sack the leadership.
A gale of defections had hit the Senate and the House of Representatives on Tuesday when several APC lawmakers dumped the party for the PDP, African Democratic Congress and the United Peoples Party.
At the Senate, 14 members switched parties. Twelve of them declared their defection from the APC to the PDP, while two lawmakers joined the ADP. One of the defectors, Senator Lanre Tejuoso (Ogun-Central) had however made a U-turn, returning to the ruling party.
Speaking to our correspondent, Saraki’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Yusuph Olaniyonu, noted that two-thirds of senators were needed to remove the Senate President.
He said, “We all know the process of electing and removing the Senate President. It is not that a party must determine who takes charge; every member of the Senate will have a vote in the election or removal of the Senate President. The constitution is clear on how the collection of those votes is done and what number is needed to elect or remove the Senate President.
“So, anybody who says anything outside those provisions is just deceiving themselves. The person is speaking in a vacuum. We are not bothered here. The Senate President is still attending to his official duties from home despite the recess. Everything is normal here. They are the ones who have reasons to be bothered.
“I say this without intending to insult any senator. I try not to respond to any senator but allow the senators to engage themselves.”
Also, Senator Rafiu Ibrahim (Kwara-South), one of those who left the APC for the PDP, said the party with the majority would be established when the lawmakers resume from their current two-month recess.
Ibrahim said, “I am not going to take issues with them on the matter of which party has the majority. When we resume, we will all see. Officially, we will release our list before we resume.”
On the call for Saraki to step aside if he leaves the APC, he said, “How is that possible? He remains the presiding officer. They need two-thirds majority to remove a presiding officer, so they should attempt that (to remove him) and let us see how they are going to do it. And I know that the majority they are claiming is a phony claim. But you will see; the list will come out. Why they are crying out now is because their actual plan failed.”
