APC wants David Mark jailed

The All Progressives Congress, Ondo State chapter has called for the prosecution of former Senate president, David Mark and the Clerk of the National Assembly, Salisu Maikasuwa, over the alleged ‘forgery’ of the ‘Senate Standing Order’.
The party in a statement through its Publicity Secretary, Omo’ba Abayomi Adesanya, said those who were involved in the scandal should be prosecuted and jailed.

Omo’ba Adesanya, through an email to journalists said, “David Mark and Ike Ekweremadu were the two principal officers of the 7th Senate, who were also ranking Senators in the 8th Senate and custodians of the ‘Senate Standing Order’ and other documents of the 7th Senate”.

Rules 3(e) (i) and (ii) have been included in the 2015 document to accommodate electronic voting and secret ballot, whereas secret ballot and ballot papers were not specifically mentioned in the 2011 Standing Orders.

The Senate Order 3 (e) (ii) of 2011 states, “Voting shall be conducted by the Clerks-at-the Table, using the Division List of the Senate with the Tellers in attendance. The Clerk of the Senate shall submit the result of the division to the Clerk of the National Assembly.
“(iii) The Clerk shall then declare the Senator-elect who has received the greater number of votes, elected as President of the Senate.”

The same section in the 2015 Senate Order, however, reads, “Voting by secret ballot which shall be conducted by the Clerk-at-Table using the list of the Senators-elect of the Senate, who shall each be given a ballot paper to cast his vote with the proposers and seconder as Teller. The Clerk of the Senate shall submit the result of the voting to the Clerk of the National Assembly who shall then declare Senator-elect who has received the highest number of votes as Senate President-elect.”

Adesanya opined, “Bukola Saraki, being the first beneficiary of this ‘forgered. Standing Order’ and other ranking Senators, who were of the know of this riminal act, who ought to have the full knowledge of the contents of the text of the ‘Senate Order’ and other relevant documents in the Senate, must also face prosecution and the full wrath of the law for complicity.

“It is not possible that the Clerk and other National Assembly staff, would perpetrate this criminality without been approached by the beneficiaries of this forged document, the leadership of the 7th Senate with the support of some ranking Senators loyal to Saraki and Ekweremadu’s emergence as President and deputy of the 8th Senate”, the statement read.