Senate begins 2 months questionable vacation
July 10, 2008 by 
Che Oyimnatumba · Leave a Comment
The Nation was jolted yesterday when the Senate after a closed door sitting announced that it shall proceed on two months recess starting from today July 10th 2008. Senate Majority Leader Senator Teslim Folarin briefed newsmen that circumstances made it imperative to amend the seasonal calendar and embark on recess, two weeks earlier.
Nigerians believe that this circumstance is the Tuesday 15th Judgment day in Jos of the cross petition against David Mark’s victory at the polls.
Furthermore, Nigerians are worried that the Senate is amending her rules in a closed door meeting to accommodate the ambition of the President of Senate. For a Senate and government that parrots transparency and rule of law, this Gestapo approach is disturbing and unhealthy for maturity of democracy in Nigeria
Political gurus believe that this questionable two months amended recess, is to preserve the Senate President’s seat for David Mark, should the Court of Appeal sitting in Jos uphold the judgment of the Benue State Election Tribunal. The recess will also allow PDP to fine tune soft landing should the seat be vacant as a result of the judgment, which is believed will not be in favour of the Senate President.
The Election tribunal sitting in Makurdi had earlier nullified the election of Senator Mark, on the strength of a petition filed by Alhaji Usman Dan Abubakar popularly called Young Alhaji. The lower tribunal ordered a fresh election in two Local Government Areas (Opoku and Agatu) and upheld that the valid votes counted put Young Alhaji ahead of David Mark.
Both Mark and Young Alhaji appealed the judgment. Mark’s camp believes that they can rake in enough votes in the two LGAs to cancel out Young Alhaji’s lead, while Young Alhaji’s camp wants the Appeal Court to declare him winner, having secured majority of the votes counted.
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