Ousted
Senate Leader Mohammed Ali Ndume yesterday warned that the Deputy Senate
President Ike Ekweremadu might likely be the next target to be removed
from his seat. Ndume, who faulted the process of his removal, spoke under the cover of
“personal explanation”.
Although the Borno South Senator seemed
to have accepted the fate that befell him in good faith, he warned that
Ekweremadu might be the next principal officer to be axed.
Senate President Bukola Saraki announced
the removal of Ndume on Tuesday as recommended by All Progressives
Congress (APC) Senate caucus.
He warned Ekweremadu, who presided over yesterday’s plenary, to watch his back
Ndume, who insisted that he did not do
anything to warrant his removal, said he offered three times to resign
if that would bring peace in the chamber.
He said Ekweremadu was one of those who prevailed on him not to resign.
Ndume said: “I thank God for the way and
the courage God gave me to carry on with my responsibility for the time
of one and half years that God said was my time as the Senate Leader.
“So, I want to thank, especially my
colleagues, for the confidence you had in me. I thank God that
throughout my service as the Senate Leader, most of the times my
colleagues casually will say leader we are proud of you.
“I was not found wanting for anything
that I know and because of the unity of this Senate that is more
important than myself, three times I offered to resign, if that will
bring peace. But I believe that God’s time is the best.
“You are one of those that even warned
me to stop saying that I will resign. But yesterday, I was not around,
change of leadership was announced.
“In fact, if the number of those that
lost confidence in me is not up to this number (38) and I am made to
know I will resign because I did not become a Senate leader in order to
lose confidence of any of you and that is why I am concerned about the
loss of confidence because as far as I know, I have not done anything.
“But then just like the Senate caucus has the right to say we have lost confidence in you and I think that should be.
“I have said it I think it’s on record
that I did not do anything; to the best of my knowledge I did not do
anything. But as I said, since my colleagues, consciously 38 of them
signed it.
“So, if they signed that they have lost
confidence, what Dino Melaye is trying to bring up now, I am not going
there at all because by the time you are to be removed, at least, you
will be confronted with allegations on what you have done and given
chance to defend yourselves.
“As I said since you have lost
confidence, even if it is 10 of you members, then I have no moral ground
to continue to lead this Senate because that means there are some
people that are not with me.
“Having said that, I want to say that this Senate is an institution that we must protect.
“How do you protect the institution is
to obey the rules and the tradition. If today, just like that without
telling somebody and he goes out; if it is Ndume today and it’s okay, it
may be – God forbid – Ekweremadu tomorrow.
“So, what I am saying is that anytime
our colleagues erred in one way or the other, we should be given the
chance to say: ‘look, this is what we did and therefore we have lost
confidence in you’.
“I thank God since there is nothing and I
am grateful for that. So, I want to once again say thank you very much
for the opportunity given me to serve as the Senate Leader and I wish my
brother, the new Senate leader – we have been struggling for this for a
long time – the best of service to this important institution.”
Ekweremadu thanked Ndume for accepting his removal and asked him to continue to serve his constituents and the Senate.
He said: “This is coming on under order
43 and it is not open to debate. But let me on behalf of the rest of our
colleagues thank you for your service to the Senate and indeed to the
National Assembly because you were a member of the House of
Representatives leadership at some point, you came to the Senate and
also held very important committee assignments and then rose to become
the Senate leader.
“Those are services we cannot wish away.
So, we would like to congratulate you for the manner you have accepted
the position of things and I will like to assure you that we would all
continue to work harmoniously in the best interest of our country.
Some APC senators yesterday made overtures to Ekweremadu to defect to the ruling party.
Senator Kabiru Marafa was the arrowhead of the lobby group that wanted Ekweremadu to join the APC.
While moving the motion to adopt the
Votes and Proceedings of Tuesday, Marafa (APC Zamfara Central) noted
that it was high time Ekweremadu joined the ruling party.
He told reporters on Tuesday that Ekweremadu should defect to APC to save his seat.
He insisted the seat of the deputy Senate president belonged to the APC.
Senator Abdullahi Adamu (APC, Nasarawa
West), who seconded Marafa’s motion for the adoption of Votes and
Proceedings of Tuesday, also echoed the need for Ekweremadu to defect to
the APC.
Senator Sonni Ogbuoji (PDP, Ebonyi South), in his reaction, said the “joke” urging Ekweremadu to defect to APC was uncalled for.
Ogbuoji said it was obvious Ekweremadu was not done with the PDP yet.
Ekweremadu ruled that the Votes and
Proceedings of Tuesday be adopted while the second clause, which was
related to the overture for him to join the APC, “be duly removed.”
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