Yet Another Twist

Ayorinde Oluokun/Abuja

Allegations of forgery of the Senate Standing Orders worsen the crisis threatening to tear the Nigerian Senate apart

Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa, the Clerk to the National Assembly and other top members of his bureaucracy were guests of Dr. Bukola Saraki, the President of the Senate last week Tuesday. In normal times such visits by the Head of the National Assembly bureaucracy to the Chairman of the National Assembly would have been considered a normal routine affair. However, the visit, could not, but raise eyebrows, coming against the increasingly messy and bitter struggle for positions of principal leaders of the two factions of the majority All Progressives Congress, APC, and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in which the National Assembly bureaucracy, especially, Maikasuwa himself, has been sucked in. Just a day before the visit, a team of policemen had met with and interrogated the Clerk over allegations of alterations to the Senate Standing Rules 2015 (as amended) used as guide for elections of the Senate President and Ike Ekweremadu, the Deputy Senate President on 9 June when the 8th session of the National Assembly was proclaimed.

Journalists were interested in what the Clerk told the law enforcement agency about the allegations of forgery case that is now threatening to drag the National Assembly Bureaucracy into the realm of politics it has been shielded from since Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999.

But Maikasuwa had used two fingers of his right hand to hold his lower and upper lips together, a dramatic response to the battery of questions from the tape recorder-wielding news men, indicating he was not ready to utter a word over his meeting with the police officers. However, as this magazine gathered, while the Clerk decided to ignore questions from journalists, he may have to be dragged before a law court very soon to tell the public all he knows about the forgery allegations. It was gathered last week that the Unity Forum, the group of APC Senators whose petition formed the basis of the Clerk’s interrogation by the Police are assembling a team of senior lawyers to especially challenge the election of the Deputy Senate President conducted by Maikasuwa using the allegedly forged Senate Standing Rules. Before now, there had been calls for investigation of Maikasuwa over the roles he played in the election of Senator Bukola Saraki as Senate President even when he knew that most members of the Senate were not present at the chambers of the Senate on 9 June, 2015.

Police involvement in the investigation of the forgery which members of the Unity Forum had successfully tried to raise without success during the plenary of the Senate became public on Sunday, 5 July when PDP raised the alarm over the invitation of Ekweremadu by the law enforcement agency regarding the issue. Olisa Metuh, PDP National Publicity Secretary, told journalists in Abuja that Solomon Arase, the Inspector General of Police, had summoned the Deputy Senate President over alleged forgery of the Senate Rules on election of its principal officers. According to him, the letter inviting the Deputy Senate President was dated 1 July, 2015 and was signed by the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of Criminal Investigation at the Force Headquarters in Abuja. But the police promptly denied that Ekweremadu is the main focus of the investigations.

Abayomi Shogunle, Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, however, confirmed that a petition by a senator alleging a forgery of the Senate rules and standing orders was being investigated by the Force Criminal Investigation Department. As part of the process of gathering evidence for the investigations, Shogunle said the FCID had sent a letter to the Senate Clerk requesting a meeting with principal officers. “What we did was to write to the clerk to facilitate a meeting with some of the senators to verify the allegations that were made. The police have respect for democratic values; but the clerk is yet to respond to the letter,” said the Force Public Relations Officer. “No invitation was sent to the Deputy Senate President. It’s not about an individual, but about those that should be in the know of the senate rules and standing orders. The investigation is being led by the DIG, FCID,” he added.

Members of the Unity Forum had tried without success to raise the issue of the forgery of the Standing Orders on the Senate Floor before the recent petition to the Police. For example, Senator Kabir Marafa had opposed the emergence of Saraki and Ekweremadu as President and Deputy President of the Senate respectively during the plenary of 24 June, as he argued that the 2015 Senate Standing Order (as amended) used to conduct the process that led to their emergence was not authentic. Marafa, relying on Order 110 and 3 (e) (i), of the Senate Standing Order, sought to know which of the Order Books (2011 or 2015) that was used to coordinate the election.

Marafa noted that the 2011 Senate Standing Order as “genuine and authentic” thereby countering the authenticity of the Senate Standing Order 2015. He added that as a returning Senator, he was unaware of when the 2011 edition of the rules was amended. But Ekweremadu who had served as deputy Senate president to former Senate President David Mark for eight years, from 2007 to 2015 rose up swiftly to defend himself and the Senate President against the allegations.

The Deputy Senate President argued that the Senate had always come up with rules to guide its affairs from 1999 to date.

“There was Senate Rule of 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011 and now 2015,” he said.

“The reason is quite simple. If you look at Section 64 of the 1999 Constitution it says that the Senate and House of Representatives shall each stand dissolved at the expiration of a period of four years commencing from the date of the first sitting of the house. So, the implication is that the rule he was referring to ended with the Senate on the 6th of June, 2015,” argued Ekweremadu.

Saraki promptly ruled Marafa out of order, thereby putting an end to arguments over the issue.

“The appearance of the Senate Standing Orders book, which guides all aspects and procedures of the Senate, including the promulgation of the Senate and the election of the presiding officers, and the emergence of another order book, left so many perplexed and shocked and more members confused because the rules book was dubbed 2015 as amended. What that meant was that the Standing Orders book of 2011, which the 7th Senate used until its last day of sitting in the chamber, was reviewed and amended…” Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi told journalists at the end of the plenary.

Hunkuyi who was the Unity Forum Secretary also signed the petition that has led to the ongoing probe of allegation of forgery by the Police. In the petition, the Forum alleged that some principal officers in the seventh Senate changed the Senate Standing Orders 2011 As Amended without the inputs and contributions of other senators.

In the petition, the Forum alleged that the 2015 Senate Standing Rules, as amended used to conduct proceedings during the proclamation of the 8th Senate by the Clerk to the National Assembly on 9 June, 2015 was fraudulent. “The so-called new Standing Orders purports to allow for secret instead of the open ballot system that has been prevalent in all Senate elections as permitted by the extant rules.

“This infraction, among others arises from the fraudulent production of the Rules without an approved consideration by the 7th Senate. At no time was the Standing Orders of the Senate amended during the entire life of the 7th Senate neither has the 8th Senate sat for long enough to produce the rules now being circulated and in use,” the Forum said while asking the Inspector General of Police to investigate and bring to justice all persons who may have been responsible for the alleged fraud which it claimed “has led to the undue political crises and abnormalities in the polity.”

The Forum identified five legal infractions in the 2015 Standing Order as amended which it said was not in the 2011 Standing Order.

But of significance was the provision on the election of the presiding officers. The 2011 version of the Standing Rules as amended states in Order 3 (e) that “when only two senators-elect are nominated and seconded as President of the Senate, the election shall be conducted as follows: (i) the Senate shall divide with the proposers and seconders as Tellers (ii) voting shall be conducted by the Clerks-at-the-Table using the Division List of the Senate with the Tellers in attendance. The Clerk of the Senate shall submit the result of the division to the Clerk of the National Assembly; (iii) the Clerk shall then declare the Senator-elect who has received the greater number of votes elected as President of the Senate.”

However, the Standing Order used on 9, June allowed for secret ballot and electronic voting.

Specifically, in Order 3 (e) of the 2015 Standing Orders as amended provides that “when two or more senators-elect are nominated and seconded as Senate President, the election shall be conducted as follows: (i) by electronic voting; or (ii) voting by secret ballot which shall be conducted by the Clerks-at-Table using the list of senators-elect of the Senate, who shall each be given a ballot paper to cast his vote, with the proposers and seconders as Teller; (iii) the Clerk of the Senate shall submit the result of the voting to the Clerk of the National Assembly who shall then declare the Senator-elect who has received the highest number of votes as Senate President-elect.”

The two versions of the Standing Orders provide in Order 4, which is on the election of the Deputy Senate President provided that “The procedure for the election of the Deputy Senate President shall be the same as that of the Senate President.”

Members of the Unity Forum said there was no amendment of the 2011 Standing Order by the 7th Senate to secret ballot and the 2011 version of the Standing Order provides for an open ballot, while Ekweremadu was elected through secret ballot.

The Forum also pointed out that the procedure for amendment of the Senate Standing Orders was not observed in the so-called amendment of the 2011 Standing Order.

The 2011 and the 2015 versions provide in Order 110 that “(1) Any Senator desiring to amend any part of the Rules or adding any new clause shall give notice of such amendments in writing to the President of the Senate giving details of the proposed amendments. (2) The President of the Senate shall within seven working days of the receipt of the notice cause the amendments to be printed and circulated to members. Thereafter, it shall be printed in the Order Paper of the Senate. (3) The Mover or Movers of the amendments shall be allowed to explain in detail the proposed amendments; thereafter the Senate shall decide by simple majority votes whether the amendments should be considered or rejected. (4) If the decision is to consider the amendments, then another date shall be set aside by the Rules and Business Committee whereby opportunity would be given to senators to further propose amendments but must strictly be confined to the original amendments. (5) Two-thirds majority shall decide the amendments and such amendments shall form part of the Rule of the Senate.”

Also, while the 2011 version of the Senate Standing Order was marked ‘Published by the Authority of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,’ it was noted that there is no such thing on the 2015 version.

“Section 110 of the Senate Standing Orders/ Rules provides how amendments can be carried out. It can either be done by the outgoing 7th Senate or the incoming 8th Senate. The 7th Senate did not amend the rules, but the 8th Senate without sitting produced and distributed the copies of the rules at inauguration,” said the Forum.

This magazine learnt as part of the police investigations, Senators who served in the 7th as well as those in the previous and the 8 Senate have been making statements to the police.

In the extracts of the statements seen by this magazine, the Senators affirmed that there was no time the issue of the amendment of the 2011 Senate Standing Orders came up during the session of the 7th Senate. In his statement to the Police, Senator Babafemi Ojudu who served in the 7th Senate noted that the 2011 Standing Order was not amended while the session lasted from 2011 to 2015. “I was therefore surprised and outraged to learn that the 8th Senate was inaugurated with a purported Senate Standing Order 2015 As Amended,” Ojudu said in his statement to the Police.

Also, Senator Marafa who was a member of the 7th Senate as well as the 8th Senate told the police that there was never an amendment to the Senate Standing Orders 2011 throughout the 7th Senate. Senator Lawan also stated that while the election procedure for the two presiding officers of the National Assembly are clearly stipulated in order 2(3)(i) of the Senate Standing Order 2011 As Amended, the Clerk of the National Assembly introduced and used Order 3(3)(e)(ii) of Senate Standing Order 2015 As Amended to conduct the elections of the Senate President and the Deputy Senate President on 9 June. “This new Senate Standing Orders 2015 is fraudulently introduced. I was re-elected into the Senate in 2011. Throughout my tenure in the 7th Assembly, there was no amendment to the Standing Orders 2011 as Amended,” said Lawan who added that the procedure for amendment of the Standing Order as stipulated in Order 110 was never followed in the introduction of the 2015 Standing Orders as Amended.

“I therefore submit that the introduction of the Senate Standing Orders 2015 As Amended was fraudulent and should be treated as such,” said Lawan in the statement to the police.

Other Senators that have made statements to the Police to confirm that there was no amendment to the 2011 Standing Orders in the last Senate include Senator Ita Enang who was the Chairman Senate Committee on Rules and Business in the 7th Senate. Senators Solomon Ewuga, Abdullahi Gumel, Ajayi Borofice, Gbenga Ashafa, Abu Ibrahim among others.

While also alleging fraud in the introduction of the 2015 Standing Rules, Senator Barau Jubrin noted that the management of the National Assembly had included a copy of the 2011 Standing Orders As Amended in the big suitcase distributed to lawmakers at an induction/training held for them just before they were sworn in. He noted that the lawmakers were told that the Standing Order was the extant Senate standing Orders during the training. “But to my surprise and astonishment, I was handed a brand new standing order on the day of my inauguration and swearing in as a Senator on the 10 June, 2015 with the inscription Senate Standing Orders 2015 As Amended,” said Barau.

Some members of the Unity Forum had also said the use of the forged Standing Orders has vitiated all the actions that had been taken by the 8th Senate since its inauguration.

Indeed, this magazine learnt that the issue of method of election of the two presiding officers of the National Assembly came up for discussion during the induction.

Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, a former leader of the Senate, it was gathered had expressly told the lawmakers that voting for the Senate President is usually by open ballot while it is only the House that has the provision for secret ballot.

Ndoma-Egba was said to have emphasized to the lawmakers that even the election of the Speaker of the House and the Deputy is not fully by secret ballot as members are compelled to write their names and sign the ballot papers.

Ndoma-Egba was said to have, therefore, noted that there is really no secret voting in any Parliament in the world as members of the constituencies of the lawmakers must know where they stand on issues that come up for discussion at any point in time.

This magazine gathered that some APC Senators believed that the change in the voting procedure was done by the National Assembly bureaucracy led by Maikasuwa in conjunction with some PDP members of former principal officers of the Senate and elements loyal to the Senate President in the heat of battle for the Senate Presidency.

A source said the secret ballot alteration was made to the Standing Order to help some Senators who had been promising to obey the directive of APC in the choice of the presiding officers of the Senate avoid detection if they chose to vote to the contrary on the election day. But voting for the Senate President became unnecessary as Lawan, Saraki’s main challenger and choice of APC for the Senate President, was far away from the premises of the National Assembly when the election took place.

The former Kwara State Governor was thus unanimously elected as the Senate President. But Ekweremadu was elected in the contest against Ndume and this made him the focus of the ongoing investigations. While exonerating himself from the 9 June events, Saraki told journalists in the interview he granted after he was sworn in that he also saw the 2015 version of the Senate Standing Order on that day just like every other senator.

Olisa Metuh had in his 5 July press conference also tried to exonerate Ekweremadu from the forgery allegations by affirming that Ekweremadu or any other senator-elect prior to the inauguration of the Senate and the election of presiding officers, could not have been involved in the process of producing the 2015 Standing Rules of the Senate. He affirmed that the amendment was strictly done by the bureaucracy under the Clerk to the National Assembly.

“Furthermore, Senator Ekweremadu was not in any way involved in the process other than being nominated for the position of the Deputy Senate President and could not have been privy to the secret ballot procedure adopted by the National Assembly bureaucracy, which has been widely adjudged as transparent and credible,” Metuh added while throwing the ball back to the court of Maikasuwa.

Ekweremadu himself had argued that the amendment to the Standing Orders was carried out “administratively,” when the issue was discussed during the plenary of the Senate.

But analysts and members of the National Assembly argued that the process of amending the Senate Standing Orders as contained in Order 110 does not include management staff or bureaucracy of the National Assembly. Thus, Maikasuwa, as the Clerk of the National Assembly, has the responsibility of helping the police to beam searchlight on the question of who carried out the amendment of the 2011 version of the Senate Standing Orders that gave birth to the 2015 version.

The forgery allegation is the latest twist in the now seemingly intractable battle between senators loyal to Senator Ahmed Lawan, APC’s original choice for the position of Senate President and Saraki, who defied his party, and with full backing of PDP Senators was able to clinch the position. Just like Saraki, Ekweremadu had taken advantage of absence of most APC Senators who were at the International Conference Centre to attend a meeting summoned by the President, to emerge the Deputy Senate President, even though he was elected on the platform of PDP.

Ekweremadu was sworn in as Deputy President of the Senate, after he polled 49 votes to defeat Senator Ali Ndume of APC who polled 20 votes. But the belief among key APC members, especially those not favourably disposed to Saraki was that the former Kwara State Governor had pawned the position of Deputy Senate President to get the support of the opposition Senators out of the desperation to realize his ambition.

President Buhari had during his trip to South Africa last month expressed the minds of members of APC when he noted that Saraki, in his desperation to become the Senate President divided the APC and ceded the position of the deputy Senate President to the PDP. “One of the candidates went and got the support of the former ruling party, and he divided our party. That was why the party was not pleased about it. The party ran a primary and the one (Senator Ahmad Lawan) who was competing with Saraki won to become APC’s candidate in the Senate. But then Saraki did not agree with that; he virtually divided the party and he got the support of the PDP and he allowed a PDP senator to become his deputy,” said the President who also recently reiterated that the election of the PDP member as the Deputy Senate President was unacceptable.

On the contrary, supporters of Saraki had insisted that the blame for the loss of the position of Deputy Senate President should be laid at the doorsteps of Senators who went to the International Conference Centre instead of the chambers of the National Assembly on 9 June. “For you to know that we stood by our party, we nominated Ali Ndume. We, who were in the chambers as at the time of the election, were 20 APC members and we voted for Ndume as at that time,” Senator Dino Melaye, the spokesperson of Like Minded Senators who anchored the campaign of the former Kwara State Governor, said. Saraki had also denied entering into any deal with PDP on the position of Deputy Senate President in a recent interview. He said he was pained by the emergence of a PDP member as a Deputy Senate President like other APC members.

According to Saraki, “for any APC member, it is unfortunate that we have a PDP man as a Deputy Senate President. It is painful for any APC member. When we went through all the struggles that was not what we signed for.”

But for the Unity Forum, the move against Ekweremadu is part of the overall battle the group has continued to wage against the Saraki group which it believed stabbed it in the back to get the leadership of the Senate. Just like it did with Lawan, the APC had also preferred Senator George Akume who is also a member of Unity Forum for the position of the Deputy Senate President. Indeed, both men had emerged the preferred candidates for the two positions by most APC members going by result of a straw poll conducted by the party some days before the proclamation of the Senate. Just like Lawan, Akume also lost the position to the rebellion against the APC caucus led by Saraki.

As part of the solutions to the crisis and division in APC generated by the defiance of APC leadership, the Unity Forum had insisted that the party’s position must prevail in the appointment of officers of the remaining four principal officers of the National Assembly. Specifically, the Forum had demanded that the party leadership should instil discipline and intervene in the choice of some principal officers in the Senate while it should also decide the choice of the four principal officers, rather than the APC National Assembly zonal caucuses.

While arguing that ranking must be considered in the choice of principal officers, the Forum asked for the concession of some principal offices to the Unity Forum including Ahmed Lawan (Majority Leader); George Akume (Deputy Majority Leader); Prof. Sola Adeyeye (Senate Whip); and Abu Ibrahim (Deputy Whip). The Forum members also argued that PDP should not be allowed to produce any principal officer except those due to it as the minority party in the Senate. The Forum’s position which was in sync with the initial desires of the party on the allocation of offices of the principal officers of the National Assembly, it was gathered, was canvassed by members during meetings called by the leadership of APC as well as President Buhari to find a solution to the crisis thrown up by Saraki’s rebellion.

In a letter to the Senate President on 22 June, John Odigie Oyegun, the Chairman of APC had listed the name of members of the Unity Forum for appointment for the position of principal officers. But Saraki and his group had started the process that will lead to another defiance of the party even before they got the letter as members of the Like Minded Senators argued that it is the zonal Caucuses of APC in the Senate rather than the party that should determine those to occupy the offices of the principal officers. Members of the group especially felt that it will be throwing away the opportunity that should come their way for helping to install Saraki if they obey the wishes of the party.

Thus, the APC chairman’s letter remained with Saraki unread for two days and when during plenary on 24 June, when Senator Gbenga Ashafa, a member of the Unity Forum challenged the Senate President to read it. While rising under a point of order and citing order 15 of the Senate Standing Rule that deals with matters of breach of personal privileges, Ashafa had argued that the refusal of the Senate President to read the letter or give it consideration in anyway within 48 hours in the face of the Senate not having the needed principal officers in place yet, indicated that a breach of his privilege had been committed. He also cited order 28(1), 29(1), 30(1) and 31(1), which states that Senate principal officers from the Leader, down to the Deputy Chief Whip shall be nominated from the party with majority seats in the senate. His position was, however, swiftly countered by another APC Senator, Bala Ibn Na’Allah, who through a counter point of order, asked the Senate to ignore Ashafa’s request on the ground that “the Majority Leader shall be a senator nominated from and not by the party,” as implied by Ashafa. Saraki promptly overruled Ashafa.

Also, a meeting called by the Senate President to resolve the issue ended abruptly after sharp disagreements between the two contending parties nearly led to exchange of fisticuffs. Senators opposed to the party’s position from the various geo-political zones met separately and conducted elections to determine who would take up the various slots of the principal officers zoned to the region later that day.

Thus, on 25 June, the Senate President read three different letters from the North-East, North-West and South-South caucuses of APC, which contained the outcomes of the various caucus elections on the floor of the Senate. A letter from the North-East geo-political zone showed that Senator Ali Ndume, Borno-South, emerged winner of the zone’s polls, polling 11 votes to defeat Lawan who polled only two votes. Thus, Ndume was declared the Senate Majority Leader. In the North-West, Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah emerged as the new Deputy Leader while in the South- South Senator Alimikhena was returned unopposed as the new Deputy Chief Whip.

In a letter to the APC National Chairman later, Saraki told Oyegun that his letter on the position of the party with regard to the election of Principal officers of the Senate was belated. According to him, the the party’s letter came after the APC Zonal Caucuses had taken their decision to nominate candidates as Principal Officers in the Senate. The Senate President who claimed he remained a loyal party member also noted that his hands were tied over the issue as there was no way he would have gone contrary to the Senate rules and guidelines. “The said letter was received after the various APC Zonal Caucuses had taken their decision to nominate candidates as Principal Officers of the Senate in line with parliamentary convention and the extant provision of the Senate Standing Order 2015 as amended (Chapter VI; Rules 28, 29 & 31 refer). This was a follow up to the prior APC Senate caucus meeting held on 23rd June, 2015,” Saraki said in the letter.

“Accordingly, the letters transmitting the decision of the APC Senate Caucuses do not conform to the recommendation as contained in your letter under reference,” he added.

But the Senate President’s excuses for defying the party were instantly faulted by members of the Unity Forum in another letter to Oyegun. For one, the Forum said Saraki was incorrect in claiming that Zonal Caucuses had taken decisions on the choice of principal officers before he received the list of candidates favoured by APC as the letter got to the Office of the Senate President a day before the zonal meeting was said to have been arranged.

To back up its claims, the group noted that Senator Suleiman Nazi had announced during a meeting of all APC senators on Tuesday, 23 June, 2015 that the party had already forwarded the names of those who are to lead the APC caucus to the Office of the Senate President. It also stated that the Zonal Caucuses do not exist in the Standing Orders of the Senate in the letter dated 29 June, while noting that Senator Gbenga Ashafa’s attempt to draw the attention of the President of the Senate to the procedural error on 24 June was overruled.

While alleging abuse and misinterpretation of the Standing Orders of the Senate by the President of the Senate, the Forum insisted that it was the prerogative of the APC, not zonal caucuses, to nominate the principal officers in line with Rules 28, 29 and 31 of the Senate. The Forum also said the nomination of Senator Ali Ndume and others as principal officers contravened Order 3, Rule 2 of the Senate because ranking was not followed while the nominees of the party were arrived at in accordance with the provisions of the Senate standing orders.

Analysts said Saraki had with the caucuses’ ‘sleight of hand’, again ensured that the principal officers were his loyalists to the discomfiture of the Unity Forum group. Despite recent interventions of the party, it was gathered that none of the principal officers is ready to step down for another Senator to take up their positions.

This magazine gathered last week that the action of the Senate President may have precluded all efforts to end the crisis thrown up by his own emergence.

For one, members of the Unity Forum, as this magazine gathered last week, may have foreclosed the possibility of amicable settlement of the crises as they have insisted that nothing less than the Senate President obeying the directive of the party will be acceptable. Members of the Forum confirmed to this magazine last week that the flurry of recent activities by the party and President Buhari to unite the APC Senators have irretrievably failed at least for now as there is no prospect of a settlement acceptable to both parties on the horizon.

Sources told this magazine that the allegation of forgery of the Senate Standing Order and the resort to the court to get Ekweremadu out is part of the process to reolve the impasse. In justifying its stand against the Deputy Senate President, the Unity Forum had in an earlier letter to the leadership of APC on 21 June listed six reasons why the election of a PDP member as the number two man in the Senate is dangerous for the APC-led Federal Government.

The Forum noted in the letter that though by tradition, the Nigerian Senate President is powerful, it is the Deputy Senate President that directly interacts and controls the day to day activities of the Senate. Thus, the Forum said the Deputy Senate President may utilize the regular opportunity he gets to preside over the plenary session of Senate when the Senate President may be away attending to other functions to “frustrate the good intentions of APC” government. The Forum also said the Deputy Senate President could use his position as the chairman of Constitution Review Committee to frustrate necessary and vital constitutional amendments in the course of Buhari’s administration. In the same vein, the Unity group also said in the letter that APC could not afford to leave the task of collecting and supervising the final budget documents in the preparation of the Appropriation Bill, which by convention is delegated to the Deputy Senate President, to an opposition member, given its importance in the realization of APC manifesto.

According to the Forum, the Deputy Senate President is statutorily the chairman of the Governing Council of the National Institute of Legislative Studies, NILS, an institution charged with the responsibility of building capacity for legislators and their supporting staff while he also represents the Nigerian Legislature at the ECOWAS Parliament as Speaker. It added that it will be a misnomer for a PDP member to be representing an APC government at the international level. “With the foregoing functions of the Deputy Senate President, we feel extremely concerned about implications of a PDP Senator occupying this exalted position at this time when Nigerians have voted for change,” the group said in the letter.