Excerpts:
Dino: I have read it in a national daily that 12 APC senators joined the Peoples Democratic Party to elect the Senate President. That is totally baseless and not true. To start with, not all the 49 senators of the PDP were present when the election of the Senate President took place. And the reporter must have celestial powers to read people’s mind for him to know the number of PDP senators and APC senators who voted. This is malicious, capricious and there was no voting in the case of Senate President. So, how do you identify that 12 senators joined the PDP? This is another unholy presentation. It was also reported in the media that 54 senators were present for the inauguration, this is also, incorrect. I refer you to the Votes and Proceedings of the Senate of Tuesday 9 June, the senators present, their names are clearly stipulated there and we had 76 senators in attendance.
Question: Why did you ignore the directive of the President and leader of your party to attend a meeting with him?
Dino: The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, is a responsible and transparently honest Nigerian. The President in his constitutional duty sent a proclamation letter to the National Assembly. And in that proclamation letter, he stated categorically that the proclamation of the Eighth Senate would be done at 10am on June 9, 2015. How can Mr. President that we know in one hand send a letter of proclamation to the National Assembly call for a meeting at the International Conference Centre? And if Mr. President wants to meet legislators, the Defence House is there, the Villa is there, the banquet hall is there, why International Conference Centre? Mr. President eventually attend to anybody at the International Conference Centre? Capital no! So, that information is a Made In Taiwan information in continuation of the name dropping of Mr. President. Mr. President has consistently said he has no preferred candidate; that whoever emerges as the Senate President, he is ready to work with that person. But some people have decided to drop the name of Mr. President. These same people on June 8 sent a text message that the Vice President, (Prof. Yemi Osinbajo), was waiting to receive us in a meeting in the same venue. We went to that venue, we waited for the VP for hours; there was no VP. And the VP was not even available.
Question: But why did you not go first, to the ICC, since all of you were invited?
Dino: Having seen what happened on the 8th, the same people, around 7am to 8am (9th June),sent another text and said we should report to the venue of the previous day. It is no longer the Vice President now, it is now the President. Having been deceived the previous day (Monday), do you think anybody who is rational will now also go for another meeting? After all, the President did not appear at the ICC. I want to believe that it was a calculated attempt for some other things to happen. The General Buhari that we know, a very straightforward Nigerian, cannot and will not give two contrary opinions, especially one that is against the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The letter of Proclamation was written, duly signed, time stated, date stated, he will not do otherwise. It is not true that we disrespected the President and if the President wanted to do that, he would have called. He had the powers to call the Clerk of the National Assembly to say ‘please postpone to 12pm. I want to meet senators at 9am.’ But that did not happen. There was no official communication between the president and the National Assembly bureaucracy. That was just the imagination of somebody somewhere. What happened is democracy in action and I think that at the end of the day, what happened yesterday was actually good for democracy. You know, once you enter the chambers, a lot of these party considerations are secondary to the interest of the nation and so what we did yesterday was to look at the interest of the nation. Some people may be upset, some people may not be happy about it but that also is democracy. Mr. President signed the proclamation, in that proclamation which was read to us, it was actually the president that convened the senate by signing a proclamation. Everybody knows that it was going to start at 10 am and the President himself had asked us to start at that time so I think that a proclamation was superior to any other thing like text messages. I think a proclamation that was signed by our president is superior to any text message.
Question: There are fears that your group and the PDP caucus will sideline the pro-Senator Ahmad Lawan senators. If this happens, won’t it affect the unity of the Red Chamber?
Dino: We in the Like Mind Group are ready to have one, united senate. We would work towards one united senate. You cannot beat a child and ask him not to cry. They, (Senate Unity Forum members), are our brothers and sisters. We would embrace them. But why did you not form quorum before the election of the senate president took place? Order 10 (1) is clear; the quorum of the Senate shall be one-third of the members of the Senate. One-third of 109 is 38. We had 76 Senators in attendance. The APC is not polarised, the party is not divided, what happened is that many people expressed their interests in the leadership of the National Assembly. Once there is a position, even in the family, different persons will express their interest. Interests was expressed, one person must win. We cannot have two senate presidents. Bukola Saraki, a distinguished senator, has emerged. All we are going to do as a party is to embrace him, and we would support him, there is no division in the APC. The wording of the constitution on the issue of quorum is clear, the quorum is one-third. There is no mischief anywhere. The law and the rules are very clear on that.
Question: How comfortable are you that the senate president is from the APC while the opposition produced the deputy?
Dino: Those who made the APC to lose the deputy senate president position were those who abstained from the chamber and they deserve necessary sanctions from the party. If they had come, we would have won. We, members of the APC in attendance, supported our party, and we stood by our party by nominating Senator Ali Ndume for the position of the deputy senate president. As of the time of election, APC senators in the chamber were just 20, and all of us voted for Ndume. This is a non issue. During the Second Republic, we had the Speaker of the House of Representatives from the minority party, who was Ume Ezeoke. In the House then, there were lawmakers from the National Party of Nigeria, Unity Party of Nigeria and the Nigerian Peoples Party. They went into election and Ume Ezeoke emerged as speaker. Voting is usually done on the floor of the senate or House of Representatives. If you abstain from voting, that is your business.
Question: The SUF members have threatened to challenge the legality of the process that produced Saraki as president of the senate, what is your reaction to this?
Dino: The National Assembly is an arm of the Federal Government and each arm, the executive, the judiciary and the legislature is independent of one another. The Clerk of the National Assembly had done the proper thing according to the law and his action is not only legal, it is constitutional. Those who are threatening to challenge the action have also accepted its legality by accepting to take the oath before the senate president, and bowed before him. They have even addressed him as Mr. President. Why are they talking about the court after giving him such recognition? In any case, they also voted in support of the votes and proceedings of Tuesday, June 9. But are you not worried that there are plans by the party to sanction the Like Minds Senators? Well, we are in the senate, the APC has produced the Senate President and he has been congratulated by the President. We have not received contrary communication. If it comes, we shall know how to cross the bridge when we get there.
Question: Some people including APC members have accused you and the rest of the ‘Like-Minds Senators’ of betraying the party and selling out to the PDP. Doesn’t the tag ‘Judas’ which some people now call you bother you?
Dino: There is no case of betrayal here. We are bonafide members of the APC and we indicated our interest in contesting election in the senate where our party enjoys the majority status. We nominated Senator Bukola Saraki as President of the Senate and no other person was nominated even by members of the opposition. That is how he was returned unopposed. We also went ahead to nominate Senator Ali Ndume as Deputy Senate President and there was an election between him and Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who was nominated by the opposition. The PDP members were more in number because our own APC senators stayed away, hence our candidate was defeated. So, there is no case of Judas anywhere.
Question: The APC has threatened sanctions against all of you, are you going to accept the sanctions?
Dino: There is no need calling for sanctions but when we get to the bridge, we will cross it.
Question: Some people have described your actions as groundwork for your plan to defect to the PDP. Is that what all this is about?
Dino: There is no iota of truth in it. The senate president has also, through a press statement, denied any plan by him to defect to the PDP.
Question: Some people say you should no longer call yourselves democrats after shunning a democratic process (mock election) through which Lawan and Akume emerged. What do you say to that?
Dino: There was no proper communication between us and those who called the meeting. We could not have asked the Clerk of the National Assembly to delay the process of inauguration because he had the mandate of Mr. President to perform the ceremony, and besides, as senators – elect, we cannot raise any observation at the chamber before being sworn in.
Source — Punch
Dino: I have read it in a national daily that 12 APC senators joined the Peoples Democratic Party to elect the Senate President. That is totally baseless and not true. To start with, not all the 49 senators of the PDP were present when the election of the Senate President took place. And the reporter must have celestial powers to read people’s mind for him to know the number of PDP senators and APC senators who voted. This is malicious, capricious and there was no voting in the case of Senate President. So, how do you identify that 12 senators joined the PDP? This is another unholy presentation. It was also reported in the media that 54 senators were present for the inauguration, this is also, incorrect. I refer you to the Votes and Proceedings of the Senate of Tuesday 9 June, the senators present, their names are clearly stipulated there and we had 76 senators in attendance.
Question: Why did you ignore the directive of the President and leader of your party to attend a meeting with him?
Dino: The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, is a responsible and transparently honest Nigerian. The President in his constitutional duty sent a proclamation letter to the National Assembly. And in that proclamation letter, he stated categorically that the proclamation of the Eighth Senate would be done at 10am on June 9, 2015. How can Mr. President that we know in one hand send a letter of proclamation to the National Assembly call for a meeting at the International Conference Centre? And if Mr. President wants to meet legislators, the Defence House is there, the Villa is there, the banquet hall is there, why International Conference Centre? Mr. President eventually attend to anybody at the International Conference Centre? Capital no! So, that information is a Made In Taiwan information in continuation of the name dropping of Mr. President. Mr. President has consistently said he has no preferred candidate; that whoever emerges as the Senate President, he is ready to work with that person. But some people have decided to drop the name of Mr. President. These same people on June 8 sent a text message that the Vice President, (Prof. Yemi Osinbajo), was waiting to receive us in a meeting in the same venue. We went to that venue, we waited for the VP for hours; there was no VP. And the VP was not even available.
Question: But why did you not go first, to the ICC, since all of you were invited?
Dino: Having seen what happened on the 8th, the same people, around 7am to 8am (9th June),sent another text and said we should report to the venue of the previous day. It is no longer the Vice President now, it is now the President. Having been deceived the previous day (Monday), do you think anybody who is rational will now also go for another meeting? After all, the President did not appear at the ICC. I want to believe that it was a calculated attempt for some other things to happen. The General Buhari that we know, a very straightforward Nigerian, cannot and will not give two contrary opinions, especially one that is against the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The letter of Proclamation was written, duly signed, time stated, date stated, he will not do otherwise. It is not true that we disrespected the President and if the President wanted to do that, he would have called. He had the powers to call the Clerk of the National Assembly to say ‘please postpone to 12pm. I want to meet senators at 9am.’ But that did not happen. There was no official communication between the president and the National Assembly bureaucracy. That was just the imagination of somebody somewhere. What happened is democracy in action and I think that at the end of the day, what happened yesterday was actually good for democracy. You know, once you enter the chambers, a lot of these party considerations are secondary to the interest of the nation and so what we did yesterday was to look at the interest of the nation. Some people may be upset, some people may not be happy about it but that also is democracy. Mr. President signed the proclamation, in that proclamation which was read to us, it was actually the president that convened the senate by signing a proclamation. Everybody knows that it was going to start at 10 am and the President himself had asked us to start at that time so I think that a proclamation was superior to any other thing like text messages. I think a proclamation that was signed by our president is superior to any text message.
Question: There are fears that your group and the PDP caucus will sideline the pro-Senator Ahmad Lawan senators. If this happens, won’t it affect the unity of the Red Chamber?
Dino: We in the Like Mind Group are ready to have one, united senate. We would work towards one united senate. You cannot beat a child and ask him not to cry. They, (Senate Unity Forum members), are our brothers and sisters. We would embrace them. But why did you not form quorum before the election of the senate president took place? Order 10 (1) is clear; the quorum of the Senate shall be one-third of the members of the Senate. One-third of 109 is 38. We had 76 Senators in attendance. The APC is not polarised, the party is not divided, what happened is that many people expressed their interests in the leadership of the National Assembly. Once there is a position, even in the family, different persons will express their interest. Interests was expressed, one person must win. We cannot have two senate presidents. Bukola Saraki, a distinguished senator, has emerged. All we are going to do as a party is to embrace him, and we would support him, there is no division in the APC. The wording of the constitution on the issue of quorum is clear, the quorum is one-third. There is no mischief anywhere. The law and the rules are very clear on that.
Question: How comfortable are you that the senate president is from the APC while the opposition produced the deputy?
Dino: Those who made the APC to lose the deputy senate president position were those who abstained from the chamber and they deserve necessary sanctions from the party. If they had come, we would have won. We, members of the APC in attendance, supported our party, and we stood by our party by nominating Senator Ali Ndume for the position of the deputy senate president. As of the time of election, APC senators in the chamber were just 20, and all of us voted for Ndume. This is a non issue. During the Second Republic, we had the Speaker of the House of Representatives from the minority party, who was Ume Ezeoke. In the House then, there were lawmakers from the National Party of Nigeria, Unity Party of Nigeria and the Nigerian Peoples Party. They went into election and Ume Ezeoke emerged as speaker. Voting is usually done on the floor of the senate or House of Representatives. If you abstain from voting, that is your business.
Question: The SUF members have threatened to challenge the legality of the process that produced Saraki as president of the senate, what is your reaction to this?
Dino: The National Assembly is an arm of the Federal Government and each arm, the executive, the judiciary and the legislature is independent of one another. The Clerk of the National Assembly had done the proper thing according to the law and his action is not only legal, it is constitutional. Those who are threatening to challenge the action have also accepted its legality by accepting to take the oath before the senate president, and bowed before him. They have even addressed him as Mr. President. Why are they talking about the court after giving him such recognition? In any case, they also voted in support of the votes and proceedings of Tuesday, June 9. But are you not worried that there are plans by the party to sanction the Like Minds Senators? Well, we are in the senate, the APC has produced the Senate President and he has been congratulated by the President. We have not received contrary communication. If it comes, we shall know how to cross the bridge when we get there.
Question: Some people including APC members have accused you and the rest of the ‘Like-Minds Senators’ of betraying the party and selling out to the PDP. Doesn’t the tag ‘Judas’ which some people now call you bother you?
Dino: There is no case of betrayal here. We are bonafide members of the APC and we indicated our interest in contesting election in the senate where our party enjoys the majority status. We nominated Senator Bukola Saraki as President of the Senate and no other person was nominated even by members of the opposition. That is how he was returned unopposed. We also went ahead to nominate Senator Ali Ndume as Deputy Senate President and there was an election between him and Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who was nominated by the opposition. The PDP members were more in number because our own APC senators stayed away, hence our candidate was defeated. So, there is no case of Judas anywhere.
Question: The APC has threatened sanctions against all of you, are you going to accept the sanctions?
Dino: There is no need calling for sanctions but when we get to the bridge, we will cross it.
Question: Some people have described your actions as groundwork for your plan to defect to the PDP. Is that what all this is about?
Dino: There is no iota of truth in it. The senate president has also, through a press statement, denied any plan by him to defect to the PDP.
Question: Some people say you should no longer call yourselves democrats after shunning a democratic process (mock election) through which Lawan and Akume emerged. What do you say to that?
Dino: There was no proper communication between us and those who called the meeting. We could not have asked the Clerk of the National Assembly to delay the process of inauguration because he had the mandate of Mr. President to perform the ceremony, and besides, as senators – elect, we cannot raise any observation at the chamber before being sworn in.
Source — Punch
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