PDP tells Ekweremadu to ignore APC’s call for him to decamp

The Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led PDP has frowned at the statement by APC senators that Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu should defect to the ruling party to retain his position at the Senate.

In a statement by its spokesperson, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, the Makarfi-led National Working Committee of the party described the call as “unconstitutional, undemocratic and unbecoming” of the APC senators, adding that the party was not in crisis to warrant such call.

Adeyeye called on Ekweremadu to rebuff the demand by the APC senators, describing the calls as mere threats.

Adeyeye argued that a party is only factionalised when its organs are in disarray and that for APC senators to brand PDP a party in crisis was wrong. According to him, the problem in PDP is a mere rebellion by a small interest group within the party which cannot be referred to as division of the party.

Senator Kabir Marafa an APC Senator from Zamfara Central, had on Wednesday during Senate plenary presided over by Ekweremadu said, “I am using this medium to call on Ekweremadu to simply defect. Section 68(G) of the 1999 Constitution captures this.”

Read also: APC pushes Ekweremadu into tight corner over Senate position

Another APC senator, Abdullahi Adamu from Nasarawa West, also made the same demand that Ekweremadu either join APC or lose his position as deputy president of the Senate.

Adeyeye said “it is very distasteful and uncharitable for any senator to stand on the floor of the hallowed chamber and ask his colleague to violate the constitution by cross-carpeting from his own party to join the ruling party.

“It is indeed laughable for Senator Marafa to cite the internal issues in the PDP as a reason for Senator Ekweremadu to defect. For the umpteenth time, let us reiterate that there is no faction in the PDP”, he declared.

The power equation in Nigeria’s Senate posed a challenge right from inauguration of the 8th Assembly. The ruling party remains uncomfortable with the emergence of an opposition candidate as Deputy Senate President, blaming the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, for selling out.

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