With the ongoing crisis in the Senate, with lawmakers dragging themselves to court, there are strong indications that governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC), under the aegis of the Progressive Governors’ Forum, intend to settle the crisis out of court and will seek for the withdrawal of ongoing litigation against the senate leadership.
It was learnt in Abuja on Saturday, August 1, that the Adams Oshiomhole-led committee set up by the PGF to intervene in the senate crisis is likely to push for an out-of-court settlement.
Senators opposed to the process leading to the election of Saraki had on July 27 filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja, asking the court to nullify the inauguration of the 8th Senate carried out by the management of the National Assembly, on June 9.
A source in the PGF, explained that with the way all is going, nothing was ‘off the table.’
“The governors as well as the party are favourably disposed to putting this ugly situation behind them. There is a very high probability that the (Oshiomhole-led) committee will seek the discontinuance of court cases relating to the events of June 9 in order to get the two sides to sit on a round table.
“Besides, the party’s constitution, specifically Article 21 (x) encourages party members to exhaust all avenues for redress provided for by the party before going to court,” he said.
On their part, senators under the aegis of Like Minds Senators, who spearheaded the emergence of Bukola Saraki as Senate President, said taking the matter to court was antithetical to the peace process.
The spokesperson for the senate, who is also a member of the LMS, Dino Melaye, argued that the decision of some members of the Senate Unity Forum to embark on litigation amounted to lack of respect for party elders and President Muhammadu Buhari.
“We are already telling our colleagues who had gone to court that it will be difficult to achieve true reconciliation when they still have cases in the court. It is better to sit down on the table and engage in a dialogue.
“A situation whereby there is still a case pending in court and petitions not yet withdrawn from the police would not allow for smooth reconciliation in the true sense of it,” Melaye said.
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