A Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, lawmaker in the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Ayo Yusuf, from Kogi State, weekend revealed how his party caucus was able to thwart alleged plan to remove Senate President, Bukola Saraki, from office by senators of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
According to him, the failure of the APC senators to remove Saraki, despite the reported cover provided by security agencies, was aided by information from APC Senators to their PDP colleagues.
The Department of State Services (DSS) had laid siege to the National Assembly on Tuesday on the orders of the hitherto Director-General of DSS, Lawal Musa Daura.
The siege, according to analysts, was at the instance of the APC national leadership who wanted to effect a leadership change at the Senate via the back door.
Speaking to Daily Independent, in an interview, Yusuf said those APC senators who were strongly opposed to the idea of removing the presiding officers of the Senate leaked the plot to their PDP counterparts, asking that they remain resolute in their support for Saraki.
“Let me tell you something: even when they were meeting, some of the senators were calling to tell us what was going on and how some of them opposed it, and were even telling us to be resolute,” he revealed.
He added: “Even on the other side, it’s not everybody who is in support of what they are trying to do. There are APC senators who opposed it at their meetings, who called PDP colleagues to say that we should be resolute.
“So, it’s not everybody that wants to go into such madness, even in the House.
“It’s simply the desperation on the part of the APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, who wants to impress the president that he’s working, and some of the leaders.”
Asked to contextualise a political climate where things are done irrespective of what the law says as far as issues of impeachment were concerned, the economist-turned legislator said: “We are ready for anything that will crop up on that day. But in a legitimate sitting, anything cannot just happen.
“Look! All the shenanigans are just to impress the paymaster, to impress the man there that ‘we are doing something’.
“Democracy is a game of number and you cannot give what you don’t have, so we are not bothered at all.
“And I can assure you that nobody, none of them, will do anything. Because at that time, it’s not about noise making, but about showing what you have, show your number. Do they think that it’s easy to impeach? It’s not a tea party.
“It’s when people use the privilege of others not being available, like they did in Benue where eight members were escorted into the chamber, while others were prevented from going in. So that was exactly what they wanted to do in Abuja.
“The idea was to escort 14 or how many of them into the chamber and stop others from coming in, but unfortunately for them, we got wind of it and came very early to forestall that. So I’m not in any way bothered. We know them, they are our colleagues.”
Asked to gauge the mood of lawmakers, particularly the PDP caucus heading into the session on Tuesday, Yusuf said, “There will be nothing like change of leadership, not in the Senate, not even in the House of Reps.
“You can’t give what you don’t have. They don’t have the numbers to impeach, that was why they wanted to come through the back door.
“If they have the number, they don’t need to make noise; just gather your signatures and walk into the chamber when we resume. But they don’t have the number, which is why they adopted this ‘Jankara approach’.”
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