2023 presidency: Lawan woos Ekweremadu to APC

Senate Leader Ahmad Lawan (APC, Yobe), yesterday, jokingly lured the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, to the All Progressives Congress (APC) with the presidency come 2023.

Lawan, while congratulating Ekweremadu on his 56th birthday during yesterday’s plenary session, told the Enugu lawmaker not to waste and rot away in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Ekweremadu who is the longest serving presiding officer in the country marked his 56 birthday at the weekend. He was first elected deputy Senate president in 2007 and served till 2015.

In June 2015 when the Senate was inaugurated, he retained his seat despite the fact that his party had lost the majority at the Upper chamber.

Lawan said: “On behalf of myself, even though without consulting our colleagues here, I am sure all the senators here are with me on this that we pray for many more terms and returns of this day and, of course…I will use this opportunity to urge Senator Ike Ekweremadu to see through the mist and take the right decision. You are an asset; don’t stay and rust away or waste away.

“I am inviting you to consider joining the numerous leaders and elders of the South East who have understood that Nigeria needs the commitment of people like you; Nigeria needs the unity of everybody to make it better for the masses of this country and needs stability. I want to say clearly that you are going to fit in perfectly well; 2023 is here for the taking,” he said.

Our correspondent reports that Ekweremadu who was seen sitting close to Lawan smiled but did not utter a word.