PDP Senators May Determine Senate Presidency, APC Still Divided

Gbajabiamila, Dogara move to work together

There was no sign of a let-up in the divisions within the All Progressives Congress over the choice of senate president for the 8th National Assembly at the weekend, as plans for a consensus candidate fell through and a new twist emerged in the tussle with the coming together of two key contenders, Senator Ahmed Lawan and Senator George Akume.

This was as Senator Bukola Saraki was said to have secured the endorsement of 35 APC senators for his bid to become the next senate president.

But in the House of Representatives, the two leading contenders for the post of Speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila and Hon. Yakubu Dogara, have resolved to work together with a view to presenting a common front in order to boost their chances.

THISDAY gathered that a meeting was held between Speaker Aminu Tambuwal and APC National Leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, where it was resolved that Gbajabiamila and Dogara should work together such as whereever the speakership is zoned to, the other contender from the other zone will emerge as deputy speaker.

With the serious divisions within APC’s own ranks, senators from the incoming minor-

ity party, Peoples Democratic Party, may probably hold the key to determining who the new president of the senate would be.

In the most obvious manifestation of the split in APC over the senate presidency so far, a two-day retreat organised by the party for its senators-elect yesterday ended up polarising the incoming lawmakers into two different camps. While a group of senators, under the aegis of Senate Unity Forum, convened by Gemade (Benue North-east), threw its weight behind Lawan (Yobe North), another group, named Senators of Like Mind, went with Saraki (North-central).

The division ruined the plan of the APC leadership to produce a candidate for the office of senate president at the retreat. The party had planned to conduct a primary election among the three senators vying for the office so that whoever won the election would be the party’s sole candidate for the office when the 8th Senate would be inaugurated.

However, THISDAY was reliably told by sources at the retreat on Friday night that the party’s leadership was forced to cancel the planned primary after discovering that most of the senators were in support of Saraki, as against Lawan, who the party preferred for the office.

The senator-elect for Ogun Central, Dr. Lanre Tejuosho, was said to have confronted the APC national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, with the position that if the South-west failed to back the aspiration of Saraki, the zone would end up as the loser. According to the source, the comment infuriated Tinubu, who shouted Tejuosho down.

“Dr. Tejuosho told Tinubu, ‘we will lose out if we don't support Saraki.’ Tinubu shouted him down, saying, ‘shut up, shut up. What do you know?’ Tinubu thought they would have the upper hand when they called for the primary. But now that they had seen that they could not win, they wanted to cancel it. To be honest, Tinubu is very powerful but we want the primary to hold,” the source said.

Following the inability of the party to hold the primary, the Senate Unity Forum called a press briefing where its spokesman, Gemade, announced that the group, which said it had members from the different geo-political zones, had resolved to back Lawan for the senate presidency and the outgoing senate minority leader, George Akume, for deputy senate president.

The text of the address presented by Gemade on behalf of the group was signed by Lawan, Akume and Gemade.

It read, “We, the Senate Unity Forum, comprising senators-elect from various states and various zones of Nigeria, have met, held extensive discussions and resolved to support Senator Ahmed Lawan as senate president and Senator George Akume as the deputy senate president. Kindly take this to be our collective decision in the best interest of our party, APC, and our dear nation.”

Only seven senators were present at the meeting where Lawan and Akume were presented.

However, shortly after the presentation of Lawan and Akume, the other group of APC senators, Senators of Like Mind, led by Hon. Dino Melaiye, also addressed a press conference. The group comprised Lawan's kinsmen from the North-east such as Danjuma Goje, Ali Ndume, Binta Garba, among others. It claimed to consist of 35 of the 59 APC senators who attended the retreat.

The group said it had resolved to back Saraki as the next senate president because of their belief in his ability to stabilise the National Assembly and ensure a cordial relationship between the legislature and the other arms of government. Although members of the group said they were 35, only 24, including Saraki, were present at the briefing.

Melaiye, who read address of the group, said, “Senators of Like Mind are here today at the retreat organised by our dear party, All Progressives Congress, which is meant to equip and empower senatorselect of the 8th Assembly to prepare them towards the challenges ahead. We commend the leadership of our party for this timely and well-focused exercise.

“The issue of National Assembly leadership is about integrity, competence, discipline and leadership skills and not about fixing of candidates just for mere horse-trading. Our stand is about electing a senator who eventually becomes the chairman of National Assembly and relates with the executive on behalf of Nigerians, fellow senators and the National Assembly as an institution.

“Furthermore, leadership of National Assembly is about the senator that has the wherewithal to stabilise the legislative institution, working with the executive and judicial arm of government to be effective and perform to their optimal capacity.

“In addition, we are aware of the fact that all senators from the North-central zone have taken a firm position that they are only interested in the office of the senate president which has been earlier zoned by the National Working Committee of our party and we are also aware that North-central senators have resolved to abide by the resolution of the zone on a single candidate and anything short of this is an attempt to jeopardise the collective interest of the zone.

“Of the 59 senators of the APC, 35 of us present here today hereby reaffirm our collective commitment and resolution to ensure the candidature of Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki as the senate president of 8th Assembly. We have also resolved that the office of the deputy senate president be zoned to the North-east.”

Given the inability of APC senators to speak with one voice, the party's votes may, ultimately, be divided between its two main candidates, leaving PDP with the leverage to determine the winner of the senate presidency contest by deciding to give their block vote to any of the candidates.

THISDAY gathered that the leadership of APC under its national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, and the deputy national chairman, Senator Lawan Shuaib, had tried to use the retreat to reach a negotiated agreement among the senators. But when it proved difficult, the leaders were said to have advised the three main contenders, Saraki, Akume and Lawan to go and sort the issues out among themselves.