The Senate has been thrown into confusion as 15 members dumped the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and moved to the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) even as the APC Senators are set to impeach the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki.
This is just as the Senate abruptly adjourned plenary shortly after the defection drama, which did not include Senator Saraki.
Saraki is rumoured to have concluded his defection plans from the APC sometime this week, a move that would leave the leadership of the Senate in the hands of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party.
Sources close to the Senate hinted: “there is plan for rival Senate group to sit and elect new principal officers today,” a source told The Guardian.
Saraki’s nPDP caucus of the APC last month accused the APC of failing to honour its campaign promises, tagging the party as deceitful. The group has since cut ties with the APC.
Saraki on his part has been having a running battle with a power bloc in the party. This culminated in him being invited by the Nigerian police in June after it claimed that members of a robbery gang that attacked six banks and killed 33 persons in Offa, Kwara, confessed to have a “direct link” to the senate president.
Saraki denied any wrongdoing.
He was again invited late Monday night to appear at Guzape Police Station on Tuesday morning.
His residence, as well as that of his deputy, PDP’s Ike Ekweremadu, was initially besieged by police officers who thought he was going to abscond. He was, however, allowed to leave his home to honour the police invitation.
In his absence, The Guardian, a group of senators, plan to install a new Senate President.
