Drama in Senate over Melaye’s ‘defection’ to PDP

Heated debates ensued on the floor of the Senate yesterday over defection move by Senator Dino Melaye (APC, Kogi West ),purportedly to the opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Melaye resumed plenary in a neck brace after about six weeks of legal tussle with the police.
Rising through a point of order to thank the Senate for its support during his travails, the lawmaker requested the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, to instruct the sergeant- at-arms to provide a comfortable seat for him at the PDP wing, having allegedly found it “uncomfortable to sit at the APC wing.” “I have a special request to you, Mr.
President, that because of the trauma I went through and I am still going through, I want to seek your indulgence that you will call on the sergeant-at-arms to look for a comfortable seat for me on this side (pointing to the PDP row) of the divide because I am no longer comfortable sitting here.
“So, I want to ask Mr. President that you mandate the sergeant-at-arms tomorrow to look for a seat for me on this other divide of the chamber.
And that before you do that today (yesterday) through help of my walking stick, I will take a comfortable seat close to Papa, General Senator David Mark (PDP, Benue South) pending when you get me a comfortable seat on that side of divide.
I want to thank you very much and say no retreat, no surrender!” Elated by the development, about five PDP senators from the side quickly embraced Melaye and took him to the seat beside the one designated for Senator Mark.
However, irked by the development, the Senate Leader, Ahmad Lawan (APC, Yobe North), quickly rose through Order 56(3) of the Senate’s Standing Rules to kick against the action.
According to him, the Senate has since inception from 1999 till date, been guided by the rules which specify “clearly that senators elected on the platform of the party with majority seats in the Senate sit on the right side of the mace, while those elected on the platforms of other parties sit on the left side of the mace.” “Therefore, Mr.
President, the 8th Senate would be setting a bad precedent if Senator Melaye is allowed to remain on the other side that he had gone to, as an APC senator.
Besides, there is nothing making seats at the other end more comfortable than the side we, the APC senators, are sitting because I was there for eight years without experiencing any special comfort there.
“Please, Mr.
President, let the Chief Whip of the Senate, Olusola Adeyeye (APC, Osun Central), go to the other side and bring Dino back,” he said.
But the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu (PDP, Enugu West), countered him and argued that Melaye’s movement to the other side was driven by welfare and security, and not party membership.
He said: “Section 14(2) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, states that the primary purpose of government is all about welfare and security of citizenry, which Senator Melaye said is no longer guaranteed for him from the right side of the Senate.
“Besides, the senator is at liberty to move to whichever sides of the Senate in line with Section 41 of the Constitution which guarantees free movement for all Nigerians.” The Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio (PDP, Akwa Ibom North-west) also rose through Order 43 under personal explanations to argue in favour of Dino’s action.
He said rather than the APC senators complaining, it is the PDP senators who were supposed to complain that “somebody is coming” to their side to occupy seat there.
“Since we are not complaining, there is no reason for our brothers on the other side to complain.
The senator has come to us for comfort and we shall give him and even more are even invited to do same.
Our side is big enough for them,” he said.
Spirited attempts made by Jibrin Barau (APC, Kano North) through constitutional point of order hinged on Section 60 of the 1999 Constitution and another one raised by Olusola Adeyeye to the Senate President to ruled against Dino’s action, proved abortive as Saraki declared that the premise upon which the action was taken was not envisaged by the Senate standing rules.
Consequently, Saraki in his ruling said: “Our rules here regarding the movement of a senator from one side of the Senate divides to the other did not capture the situation on ground as regards Senator Melaye’s request.
Comfort and state of mind of a senator are not in any way envisaged by our rules, meaning that we have to accommodate Dino’s request till the time he gets out of his trauma.” Melaye had earlier before moving to the PDP side, in his submissions, alleged that the police during his six-week ordeal in their hands, attempted to kill him twice, just as he was full of praises to God for the support given him by the Senate President and PDP as a party