Senate Chief Whip, Orji Uzor Kalu, yesterday, clarified on how the Upper Chamber would fill the vacant Majority and Minority Leaders’ posts, which became vacant following the defection of Senator Yahaya Abdullahi as the Majority Leader and Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe as Minority Leader from the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) respectively.
Abdullahi (Kebbi North) had formally joined the PDP while Abaribe (Abia South) defected to the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). Abdullahi and Abaribe dumped their respective political parties following their failure to secure governorship tickets during the just concluded primaries. While Abdullahi will return to the Senate as a bonafide PDP member, Abaribe will return on the garb of APGA.
However, Kalu, in a statement issued in Abuja, said the posts would be filled soonest, adding that the respective party caucuses were expected to nominate replacements and convey their choice to the Senate President who would then announce the appointments. The statement reads: “During the primary elections of all political parties and for senate re-elections in particular, some senators including Principal officers of the Senate fell out with their political parties and switched to other political parties.
“This switch automatically overturned the principal office position earlier held by the distinguished Senators. “This vacancy created is expected to be replaced in earnest. The vacant positions do not call for election on the floor of the senate .
“It therefore falls on the Senate caucus of the zone that produced the principal officer to select a replacement from their zone. “The caucus is expected to write their party about the nomination for onward transmission to the Senate President.”
