A statement signed by Dino Melaye and Ahmed Rufai Sani said the choice of open ballot system for APC senators contrary to what house of reps members used was unacceptable.
Their statement:”We the senators Elect of like minds today 6th of June 2015, on the invitation of our party, attended an interactive meeting with selected 5 members from each group, the Unity Forum and the Like Minds Group.
Regrettably, the Unity Forum insisted on an open ballot voting which we discovered is different from electoral process used to conduct the earlier election with the House of Representatives members elect. To us, this open ballot voting is primitive;undemocratic and against universal electoral norms and practice.
In the light of the above, we senators elect of Like Minds hereby insist in our position of open Secret voting process which we believe is in consonance with the provisions of the electoral act, the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and the universal electoral values.
As responsible citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and leaders in our right, we have resolved and hereby state that we shall not be part of the process that promotes undemocratic electoral process that may result to rancorous and uncivil situations which inhabits the rights of individuals to vote for the candidate of their choice, as this process will further divide us than unite members of our party.
In conclusion we Senators Elect of Like Minds wish to state categorically that we will participate only in the constitutional election scheduled for Tuesday, the 9th of June 2015 in line with the rules of the senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“We by this pres release invite the media to a joint press conference by the 65 Senators Elect of Like Minds drawn from across party lines on Monday morning, the 8th of June 2015.
