14/07/2015
Crisis Brews In PDP Over Senate Minority Leadership
MUYIWA OYINLOLA
— Jul 14, 2015 3:55 am | 0 Comments
By the time the Senate reconvenes next Tuesday, one of
the major issues that will come up is that of who will be
the Senate Minority Leader. MUYIWA OYINLOLA in this
report examines the intrigues and scheming for the
position among the gladiators.
Until about two weeks ago when the immediate past
Akwa Ibom State governor, Senator Godswill Akpabio,
indicated interest in the Minority Leadership of the
Senate, political pundits had thought it was the
exclusive right of James Manager.
Reason: Akpabio is a fresher in the Green Chamber,
while Manager has been there since 2003. The rule of
the Senate is however clear on who can become a
principal officer in the chamber, and it is simply that
such a lawmaker must be a ranking senator, that is, he
must not be a newcomer.
Order 2 of the Senate Standing Orders reads: Election of
presiding and other officers states that in determining
ranking, “the following order shall apply: (i) Senators
returning based on number of times re-elected; (II)
Senators who had been members of the House of
Representatives; (iii) Senators elected as Senators for
the first time.”
However, the two things both lawmakers have in
common are that they are both members of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) now in the opposition, and they
both hail from the South South where the position is
zoned to.
Akpabio, as indicated earlier is from Akwa Ibom state,
while Manager is from Delta State.
But Akpabio says he is not bothered with the ranking
rule, stating that all senators are equal.
While speaking with newsmen about his ambition last
week in Abuja, he stated that “It is not a question of
interest, it is a question of capacity. So, if I have the
capacity, my colleagues will decide.
“In the Senate, everybody is equal but some have been
there for a long time like the ranking senators and all
that. So, when you have the opportunity to be in the red
chamber, you have equal rights to aspire to any position
but you first have to be sure that your colleagues will be
interested in you.
“If my name has been mentioned, probably by my
colleagues, and I consult, and at the end of my
consultations with stakeholders of our party across the
nation, I will be able to make appropriate statement”.
But the former governor is not the only one challenging
Manager for the seat, two other lawmakers, both also
freshers in the Senate, have shown interest in the seat.
The only thing is that Akpabio’s interest appears more
pronounced.
The two other senators, John Enoh (Cross Rivers) and
George Sekibo (Rivers), have also commenced
campaigns towards achieving their ambition.
Imminent party crisis
The ambition of the new comers in the chamber which is
clearly against the Senate Rule on ranking is already
causing ripples both within the PDP caucus in the
chamber and within the party as leaders are being
pitched against one another over their preferred
candidates.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife,
Patience, are in support of Sekibo, where as the Deputy
Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu and the Rivers State
governor, Nyesom Wike are against his candidacy.
Speaking on the implication of this development, a PDP
senator said: “We are seeing the APC crisis now, ours is
also in the making because before July 21, if we too
don’t sort ourselves out, we can at best say that what is
capable of weakening the PDP ahead of its role as a
viable opposition party in the years ahead may have
been planted.”
However, Akpabio’s ambition, which is at variance with
the Senate Rules on ranking appears to have received
the support of most senators from South-South which
will produce Senate Minority Leader.
Meanwhile, the chances of Manager, who had hitherto
been touted as the Senate Minority Leader are looking
dim as financial muscle appears to have laid a path
ahead of the final decision that will be announced when
the senate resumes plenary on July 21.
“We all thought the issue of Senate Minority Leader had
been laid to rest until the DSP (Deputy Senate President)
called us for a meeting in his house where he sought
people’s opinion on the propriety or otherwise of
selecting Senator John Enoh for the position.
“I think it was from there the former Akwa-Ibom governor
got the feeling that if the matter has to be revisited, then
he would take a shot at it, but he doesn’t know that his
ambition is against the rules of the senate as regards
the selection of its principal officers.
“Before then, we were all facing the challenge of the
suggestion by the former president and his wife that we
should consider Sekibo from Rivers but the duo of
Ekweremadu and Wike kicked against it.
“From all indications, if we don’t step in on time, our
earlier decision backing James Manager may fail as you
know what money can do in politics; we can’t say
money won’t work in this circumstance”, the lawmaker
stated.
Enoh vs Manager
A source at the meeting called by Ekweremadu to
resolve the lingering crisis over who becomes the
Minority Leader reveals that the leadership of the party
at the meeting gave their blessing for Enoh, a
development which has now pitched the deputy senate
president against other ranking members from the South
South who believe that ranking rule should be followed.
The source disclosed that:”The meeting was held to
choose the minority leader. “As the meeting progressed,
Senator James Manager, who has the same ranking in
the chamber with Ekweremadu, was not invited to the
meeting.
“Immediately Manager got to know of the meeting
holding behind his back, he went straight to the venue
where he met Ekweremadu presiding over the meeting to
choose a minority leader.
“By the time he got there, it was decided that although
the South South would produce the minority leader,
Manager would not occupy the position since he is from
Delta State where the same position had been zoned to
Leo Ogor, his kinsman.”
