Primaries: Mark must go, angry PDP senators vow

Mark

After its rancorous primaries,  the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) seems set for another major crisis.

The party’s senators  and some of their All Progressives Congress (APC) counterparts who lost return tickets  have decided to revolt against the Senate leadership.

Many PDP lawmakers are said to be angry with the Senator David Mark-led leadership for not doing enough to protect them against their party’s leadership in the run-up to the December 8 primaries.

Besides, shortly before the Senate adjourned plenary two weeks ago, some lawmakers had started compiling impeachable offences against President Goodluck Jonathan.

The plot then, which was championed mainly by the opposition senators, was to table the president’s alleged impeachable offences as soon as the chamber resumes plenary tomorrow.

In a major shift, it was gathered that the aggrieved senators, with some PDP senators now joining their ranks, have decided to kick-start the removal of the Senate leadership – starting with Mark.

A senator, who is privy to the plot, told our correspondent in Abuja that “the plan has changed.”

He added:  “We never expected the party to treat us this way. We stood by the party when there was turbulence occasioned by the emergence of the New PDP.

“There was a plot then to impeach the same leadership but we stepped in and stopped it with our sheer number. In fact, we used our personal contacts to talk to the organisers and they backed down. We prevailed on them not to rock the boat, moreso as the Seventh Senate had just a few months to go.

“We thought the party would take note of what we did and also note our loyalty and reward us. Rather, we were not even protected in these primaries. Can you imagine the party leaving us at the mercy of governors?”

The senators, it was learnt, are considering either Minority Leader George Akume or Committee on Environment and Ecology Chairman Bukola Saraki as replacements for Mark.

The reason to go for either Akume or Saraki, one of them said, is that “we do not want the Senate Presidency to leave the North Central”.

In a similar development, the lawmakers have vowed to back Speaker Aminu Tambuwal to retain his seat.

“Last week’s court pronouncement that PDP governors don’t have to lose their seats because they moved to a new party will be fully applied here…”, said another source.

Although the Senate resumes plenary tmorrow, the aggrieved lawmakers have not put a timeline to their plan to remove Mark.

Also, the senators did not confirm whether the plot against Jonathan was still on the front burner or whether it would be tabled in the chamber this week. Senator Alkali Jajere told reporters two weeks ago that the Preident’s impeachment plan will be unveiled on return of plenary.

Mark’s Media Adviser, Kola Ologbondiyan, dismissed the alleged plot to remove his boss. “There’s no such plot,” he said.

Almost half of the 73 PDP senators lost their bid to return to the Senate. The majority of the APC Senators picked their tickets to stage a comeback.

Although some of the PDP Senators have gone to court to challenge the conduct of the primary elections in their states, others have vowed to vent their anger on the Senate leadership.

In Akwa Ibom State, for instance, two PDP Senators – Ita Enang and Aloysius Etok lost their bid to return to the Senate. Senator Hellen Esuene lost her attempt to pick the gubernatorial ticket of the PDP in the state.

In Abia State, Senator Uche Chukwumerije lost his bid to stage a comeback, Senator Nkechi Nwaogu’s ambition to govern the state is hanging in the balance after she was reported to have defected to another party.

The only Senator who survived the onslaught of the governor is Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe.

In Cross River State, Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba is contesting the result of the primary election after he was defeated by a member of the House of Representatives, John Enoh.

Another senator from the state, Bassey Otu, lost to Gershom Bassey in the primary.

In Bayelsa State, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri is up in arms against those who conducted the election for declaring that he lost the primary.