Amaechi's Confirmation: Saraki Begs PDP Senators

Senate president Bukola Saraki is trying to broker a truce with senators of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) following the acrimonious confirmation of former Rivers state governor, Rotimi Amaechi, as a minister.

The Tribune reports that sources from both sides confirmed that reconciliation was ongoing and that the Senate president had reached out to the PDP legislators to sustain their friendship.

One of the sources said: “The Senate president is unmindful of the friendship between him and the PDP senators and he is not taking that for granted. He has immediately reached out to the senators and assured them that party loyalty was responsible for his actions. I think they are resolving the grievances.”

He added that the lawmakers expected that Saraki would “make up for the lapses” in the distribution of the chairmanship of senate standing committees which he is set to announce next week.

According to some other sources Saraki had made spirited attempts ahead of the Thursday plenary to get the Senate minority leader, Godswill Akpabio and other PDP senators to his side on the Amaechi issues, but the opposition senators refused ti give in ahead of that day’s sitting.

Senators of the PDP were said to have held two closed door meetings in the Senate on Wednesday night and early on Thursday to perfect their strategy to stop the confirmation of the ex-governor.

The legislators were said to be sure that Saraki would sustain the provisions of Senate Standing orders 41(7) as well as Order 53(5) which prohibit the Senate from debating on issues on which are in court.

But the Senate leader sided with the ruling party when the chips were down, thus making the PDP senators to express their disappointment.

The arguments and counter-arguments on the floor of the upper legislative chamber resulted in the senators from the opposition party staging a walkout from the Senate chamber and, at a press conference after the walkout, the senators sounded as if their friendship with Saraki was over.