Amendment of Electoral Act: Pro-Buhari senators, Saraki’s loyalists in a war of words

At the closed-door session on Thursday, the opposing sides  in the Senate on the amendment to the Electoral Act 2010 engaged themselves in a war of words.

Senators loyal to President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, who are supporting the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, which, among others, seeks to reshuffle the sequence of polls, were said to have accused those opposed to the amendment of posing a security threat to the Senate.

Those against the controversial amendment, who are loyal to President Muhammadu Buhari, had formed the ‘Parliamentary Support Group,’ which the Senate proscribed last week.

The Senate, at the resumption of legislative activities on Thursday, held a closed-door sesion where both sides were said to have engaged in a war of words.

Saraki’s loyalists were said to have blamed Buhari’s supporters for the invasion of the Senate chamber on Wednesday.

According a source, the anti-amendment group held a meeting at the Abuja residence of one of its leaders on Wednesday night.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “The pro-Buhari senators were seriously tackled, especially by Senator Dino Melaye. Melaye told them that they were becoming a security threat to the Senate. He told them that nothing would happen if anyone of them was suspended. He challenged the leader of the group to explain the idea behind the meeting held at his residence on Wednesday night.

“Melaye told him everything they discussed at the said meeting and challenged the leader to refute anything that was untrue, but the leader could not fault the points Melaye raised. He was surprised. Unknown to them, spies were sent to the meetings.”

The lawmakers were said to have demanded the probe of all the security personnel who were on duty on Wednesday, especially policemen and sergeants-at-arm.

The source said, “They (the lawmakers) will invite the DG of DSS and the IG. They will also look at the security architecture internally, including those who played their roles, those who did not, and those who played wrong roles.

“As a matter of fact, we had got knowledge of the planned attack on the Senate since Sunday and it was initially planned to be executed on Tuesday, but it was executed on Wednesday in an added dimension, with the snatching of the mace. The mace theft was the only part we were not aware of, but we were aware of an impending disruption of the chamber.”