BY Fredrick Nwabufo
Eighty-three of the 109 members of the senate have passed a vote of confidence on the leadership of Senate President Bukola Saraki.
In a motion moved by David Umaru (Niger), the senators pledged their loyalty to Saraki in the face of his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) for “false assets declaration”.
According to Umaru, “the senate remains solidly behind Saraki and other principal officers of the upper chamber”.
The Niger senator said the senate will not kowtow to forces outside the senate who were trying to use propaganda to rubbish the leadership.
Seconding the motion, Ahmed Sani Yerima (Zamfara) said: “If anybody thinks that he can influence the senate from the outside, he should go and sleep.”
Saraki put the motion to a voice vote to which the “ayes” carried the day.
Kabiru Marafa (Zamfara) was the lone voice shouting a loud “nay”.
Jide Omoworare, a senator from Osun state who was Number 11 on the list, asked for his name to be removed.
Marafa, an ally of Ahmed Lawan, thereafter raised a point of order to quash the vote of the senate on the leadership, but he was ruled out of order.
He went into a rage, shouting and disrupting the sitting. The senate was held in a noisy hostage by Marafa for at least 30 minutes.
Intermittently, he would rise in anger throwing tantrums.
The action by the 83 senators means only a minority of 26 senators have publicly expressed their opposition or indifference to the senate president’s plight.
His trial at the CCT continues on October 21.
Some of the senators who endorsed the leadership of Saraki are Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Ali Ndume (Borno), David Mark (Benue), Shehu sani (Kaduna), Buruji Kashamu (Ogun), and Stella Oduah (Anambra).
According to the list seen by TheCable, a majority of the senators are members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
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