Barely
a week after a similar clash at the House of Representatives,
supporters of the main Peoples Democratic Party and those of the Kawu
Baraje-led faction of the party clashed again at the Senate on
Wednesday.
A timely intervention by Senate
President, David Mark however saved a crisis situation on the floor of
the senate when members were making their contributions on a motion on
the demise of late former Ondo State governor, Dr. Olusegun Agagu.
Trouble started when a former governor
of Gombe State, Danjuma Goje, representing Gombe Central Senatorial
district, while extolling Agagu’s virtues, described himself as a member
of the New PDP with Alhaji Kawu Baraje as the National Chairman.
The Senator representing Kogi West,
Smart Adeyemi, immediately raised a point of order which was granted by
the Senate President.
Adeyemi argued that Goje had ran foul of
the order 53 of the Senate Standing Rule, by “using offensive language
against the party on whose platform he was elected as a senator” and
asked Mark to caution him.
The debate was nearly hijacked by
members of the main opposition party in the senate, the All Progressive
Party, who shouted at Adeyemi while he was making his submissions.
Goje insisted that he was a founding member of the party while Smart joined some years after.
Supporters of the New PDP and some APC members in the Senate shouted at Adeyemi.
However, Adeyemi said, “Anyone who is not happy with his or her membership of the PDP should better defect to another party.
“They cannot remain in the PDP and be creating crisis”
Mark immediately intervened and remarked
that the PDP remained a strong, united party, to which Goje belonged
even if he claimed that he had a different chairman.
He said, “The PDP remained a strong
united party and Goje has not said he is not a member. He only said
someone else is the chairman of the party which he recognises. We are
distinguished senators, do not let us turn our chamber into a market
place over a small issue.”
Meanwhile, senators paid glowing
tributes to Agagu on the floor of the hallowed chamber on Wednesday
following a motion by the senator representing Ondo South Senatorial
District, Boluwaji Kunlere.
Kunlere, who contested the senatorial
seat with Agagu in 2011, drew his colleagues’ attention to the sudden
death of the former governor last week after he returned from a vacation
abroad.
He noted that the late Agagu who had
served his state and the nation as a deputy governor, governor and
minister at various periods, deserved a special honour by the senate.
He, therefore, moved that the Senate
should observe a minute silence for him and also, send a delegation to
commiserate with his family and the people of Ondo State.
Senators Hosea Agboola, Danjuma Goje,
Ajayi Boroffice, and Adegbenga Kaka, who made contributions on the
issue, commended the virtues of the late Agagu and described him as “a
simple, very accommodating, and highly articulate politician.”
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