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PDP Senators’ Walkout Does Not Affect Legality Of Ministerial Confirmation – Ndume

Senate Leader, Senator Ali Ndume, has said that the decision of PDP senator to stage a walkout to protest the confirmation of former Rivers State … Continue reading PDP Senators’ Walkout Does Not Affect Legality Of Ministerial Confirmation – Ndume


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WalkoutSenate Leader, Senator Ali Ndume, has said that the decision of PDP senator to stage a walkout to protest the confirmation of former Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi does not render the confirmation illegal.

He explained that the Senate session had a full attendance in the morning and formed a quorum when the meeting started, adding that the PDP senators decision was voluntary and would not affect the attendance on record.

He also added that the number of senators required to form a quorum was 33 while the APC senators had 48 members in the Senate. Therefore, despite the walk-out the Senate maintained a quorum.

He described the walk-out as an expression of feelings democratically, “I have the experience, I was one time the Minority Leader and I did that too. This happens in some democracy,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, described the confirmation as a deliberate effort by the APC senators not to follow laid down rules.

“It was agreed in previous sittings that when a petition is made against any nominee and he is at the point of confirmation, we shall discuss the outcome of the petition.

“Majority of those who signed said that this particular case that concerns our brother is in the court and in normal circumstance it becomes sub judice; it is even in the Court of Appeal and we have to give an opportunity to the court to make a determination.

“We are not against the clearance of any nominee or Mr President because as senators we want the President to succeed but we also have to follow the rules, we have to make sure that Nigeria is a country of laws and not a country of impunity.

“That was the reason why we staged a little bit of walkout to protest the fact that we were going against our rules and we were more or less breaching a major aspect of legality,” Akpabio said.