Senator Aliyu Wammako, former Governor of Sokoto State, has replaced Senator Abdullahi Adamu, former Govenror of Nasarawa State as Chairman of Northern Senators caucus in the National Assembly. The decision was made by the Northern Senators Forum which was communicated to the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided the Senate session in the absence of the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki.
The Northern Senators Forum in a letter to the Senate had declared:
“This is to inform the Senate that the majority signatories of members of the Northern Senators Forum have removed Sen. Abdullahi Adamu as chairman of the Northern Senators Forum for financial mismanagement and misadministration.” The letter from the Forum which read at plenary on Wednesday by Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu.
The letter further declared: “We announce his replacement with Senator Aliyu Wamakko immediately. Find the attached names and signatories of members.”
The action of the Northern Senators Forum was not unconnected with the lingering discord between the legislature and the executive in which Adamu has dumped the Senate to take side with President Muhammadu Buhari.
Adamu was among the Senators who attempted to blackmail the Senate that the amendment of the Electoral Act which re-ordered the timetable of the 2019 general elections was targeted at the president, a statement that the Senate has ordered investigation.
Adamu led nine senators to stage a walk from the senate session after the amendment had been made by the senate, protesting the passage of the bill.
Adamu had protested at a press briefing after the walkout “We are part of the whole body of senators who oppose the process by which the so-called conference report was laid and considered as rushed. I had the opportunity (to speak), I was heard but the Senate President said my observation was being noted.”
The expectation is that President Buhari will not assent to the bill. But the Senate may also invoke the constitutional instrument to veto the president’s rejection of the Act, go through the processes and make it law without the president’s assent.