ABUJA—The Abuja Division of the
Federal High Court will, today, determine whether or not the former Governor of
Akwa Ibom State, Senator Godswill Akpabio is qualified to be appointed as the
Minority Leader of the 8th Senate.
The suit, which was lodged before
the court by two members of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, from Rivers and Imo
states, Alaye Pedro and Dr. Okechukwu Ibeh, respectively, has 18 Senators from
the South-South geo-political zone as defendants.
The plaintiffs are praying the
court to restrain the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and members of PDP
caucus from the South-South in the Senate from appointing the Senate Minority
Leader outside the provision of Order 3(2) of Senate Standing Orders 2015 (as
amended).
The aforementioned rule of the
Senate prohibits the appointment of a first time Senator as a principal
officer.
The plaintiffs maintained that
whereas PDP is the leading minority party in the Senate and is entitled to
produce the Minority Leader, they contended that in line with Order 3(2) of
Senate Standing Orders 2015, ranking must be the basis for appointment of such
principal officer.
They averred before the court
that “ranking ensures that principal officers possess adequate experience and
avoids promoting junior over senior,” adding that in zoning the position of the
Minority Leader to South-South, PDP take into consideration the ranking of PDP
senators from the zone.
The plaintiffs, however, decried
that “a clique within the larger PDP caucus in the 8th National Assembly has
concluded plans to subvert the mandatory provision of Order 3(20) of the Senate
Standing Orders by selecting or appointing the Minority Leader by a procedure
in breach of Order 3(2) of the Senate Standing Orders 2015.”
Consequently, they urged the
court to intervene by ensuring that the proper procedure was adhered to by the
leadership of the Senate with regards to the appointment of Minority Leader.
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