The controversy over the screening of Rotimi Amaechi deepened yesterday, October 22, as the exercise left senators belonging to the Peoples Democratic Party alleging betrayal.
The Punch reports that the PDP senators alleged that senators belonging to the All Progressives Congress (APC) betrayed the agreement they had not to screen the former governor of Rivers state given the report of the panel that investigated the petitions against him.
Before the plenary began, the Senate had met in closed-door session when Sam Anyanwu, chairman of the ethics, privileges and public petitions committee, laid the report of his committee regarding the nomination of Amaechi on the mace table.
A PDP senator who spoke on condition of anonymity said: “During the closed session, chairman of the ethics committee, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, briefed us on the report and indicated that the committee reported that the issue regarding Amaechi’s petition was in court and that the Senate should suspend action on his screening, pending the resolution of the court issues.”
It was gathered that the APC senators had pleaded with their colleagues in the PDP during the closed session to allow Amaechi to be screened while the debate of the report of the ethics committee continued.
The PDP senators were also said to have agreed to the suspension of the debate on the report of the ethics committee only if their APC colleagues would also ask the Rivers nominee to take a bow and go so as not to “cause controversy.”
Another senator alleged that all the senators at the closed session reached an agreement that those belonging to the PDP would insist on not having anything to do with Amaechi, while their APC colleagues also agreed that they would only ask the nominee to only “take a bow and go.”
The senator said they were surprised when the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and the other APC senators did not keep to the agreement and started asking Amaechi questions.
At the screening, the opposition senators refused to partake in the quizzing of Amaechi, as they felt betrayed.
Godswill Akpabio, the minority leader explained that his members would not participate in the screening of Amaechi until the outcome of his court case. Naijnews.
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