The
All Progressives Congress, APC, Senate caucus rose from its meeting
last night with a resolve to back the embattled immediate past governor
of Rivers State, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, when he appears before the Senate
for screening as a minister. They equally vowed to utilize their slim
majority over their Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, counterparts to swing
votes in Amaechi’s favour should there be a division in the Senate over
his confirmation.
The APC lawmakers met at the National Assembly
complex around 7.40 pm on Monday, where it was unanimously agreed that
Amaechi’s ministerial nomination should be supported by the all members
of the majority party in the Upper Chamber.
Speaking on the
outcome of the caucus meeting, an APC senator anonymously told ThisDay
that: “We are determined not to allow the PDP stop the confirmation of
Amaechi. We are determined to ensure that he is confirmed because there
is no reason for him not to be confirmed.
“Amaechi
contributed a lot to the evolution of APC. He suffered a lot in the
hands of former President Goodluck Jonathan. Wike wants to continue and
we will not allow it.
“Given
the way people have been mounting pressure on us, the public is in
support of Amaechi; even outside the country, people are in support of
him.
“We are united on this matter in the APC caucus. We are
members of the same party. When it comes to fighting a common enemy, we
are always united.”
The source continued that the same way the
Senate committee which looked into the petitions against the former
Rivers Governor was forced to hands off the matter because it was before
a law court is also the same way it would have no option than to
recommend to the Senate to steer clear of his screening.
“The
committee will recommend that since the matter is before a court of
law, Amaechi should not be screened. If the Senate wants to, it can go
ahead to screen him but that’s what the committee will recommend,” the
source said.
The lawmaker however explained that the
recommendation of a committee is not necessarily binding as it is
subject to intense debate among members after which the Senate will
arrive at a resolution by a simple majority through a voice vote.
If the recommendation is adopted by a simple majority, it will be binding, but if rejected, it will be thrown out.
It is on this basis that Senate President Bukola Saraki may deem it necessary to defer Amaechi’s screening till Wednesday.
He
said the rational is to ensure that other ministerial nominees who have
no issues are screened without incident before the chamber addresses
Amaechi’s screening the day after, as it is likely to be contentious
given the divisions between senators from the ruling APC and their
colleagues in the PDP regarding his nomination as a minister.
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