The Guardian (Nigeria)

Senate Presidency: Protest Vote Rumour Worries Lawan’s Camp

• Opponent’s Spies Reportedly Attend Lawan’s Dinner Meeting • Everyone is Committed— Lawan

- From Azimazi Momoh Jimoh, Abuja

THE All Progressiv­es Congress (APC) caucus in the Senate has continued to witness increased uncertaint­y and discomfort, as news spread that some of its members may jump camp and abandon the party’s decision to elect Senate Majority Leader, Ahmed Lawan as Senate President next month.

Lawan, however, ruled out such fears, declaring, “Everyone is committed to the cause.”

To dismiss the rumour, which gained ground around the National Assem

bly last week, Lawan’s campaign team swiftly organised a dinner meeting towards the weekend, attended by about 30 Senators-elect.

But another worrisome report emanating from the dinner had it that some of the Senators-elect at the dinner were there to spy for Lawan’s opponent.

At the dinner, Lawan said: “Our colleagues here and everybody have shown commitment. We are seeking God’s face, His blessings and mercies in this enterprise once again. As human beings, we can only see the physical. And from the physical, we can see there is a lot of success in what we are doing. The other thing we don’t know is what God has kept to Himself. So, we will continue to pray for God’s interventi­on in this matter.”

However, a very strong Anti-lawan campaigner, currently working for the emergence of someone else as Senate President next month, boasted yesterday that some of the Senators and Senators-elect at that meeting went there to work for the opposition.

“I can confidentl­y say the number of Senators and Senators-elect they think they had at that dinner is fake. We have quite a number of our supporters at that meeting who simply went there to work for us,” he said.

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