ABUJA, Federal Republic of Nigeria. Senators loyal to Senate President Bukola Saraki, under the aegis of Like Minds Senators, have rejected what they believed was a ploy by senators loyal to Senator Ahmad Lawan to take over the four remaining leadership positions in the Senate.
Two of the Like Minds Senators, Danjuma Goje and Ahmed Sani, who spoke in Abuja on Saturday, said the party, acting on behalf of the Unity Forum Senators, could not impose leadership positions on the Senate.
They insisted that the senators on the floor were competent enough to pick their leaders and maintain the required balance.
Their position was based on a letter said to have originated from senators of the Unity Forum, which was signed by Senator Banabas Gemade, seeking to claim the four remaining leadership positions: Senate leader, his deputy, Senate whip and his deputy.
The letter, written to the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, is seeking to zone the four remaining leadership positions to the Unity Forum and named Lawan as Senate leader; Senator George Akume as his deputy; Senator Olusola Adeyeye as chief whip and Senator Abu Ibrahim as deputy whip.
It was learnt that the Like Minds senators believed that the APC was set to adopt the position of the Unity Forum as part of the peace deal.
A source said that the Like Minds senators believed that allotting all the remaining leadership posts to the Unity Forum would skew leadership posts in the Senate.
A source in the party, however, said that since Senate President Saraki and his group had allowed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to snatch the post of deputy Senate president, Lawan’s group should now take over the four remaining slots.
Senators vow to resist imposition
But Senator Goje fumed at that likelihood, when he said on Saturday that any planned imposition could further polarise the party in the Senate.
He said: “Trying to impose another set of leadership on the National Assembly is to cause further crisis in the party. It will complicate matters and generate further crisis in the National Assembly.
“It’s not the tradition. The tradition is to try to reach consensus by making the zonal caucuses decide for themselves.
“This is another dictation by the national leader of the party, Senator Bola Tinubu. Leaders must be supported by the led. We in the APC are craving for change and this change must be seen in the way the affairs of the party are run.
“Imposition is against the spirit of ‘first among equals.’ You can impose and we can reject. I want to strongly advise the national chairman to go about it very softly. I’m aware that majority of the members of the National Working Committee (NWC) are not in support of this decision.
“The president of the country, who was elected on the ticket of the APC, believes that leaders must emerge through a constitutional process and the rule of law. Imposition and impunity were what drove us away from the PDP.”
Former Governor of Zamfara State, Senator Sani Yerima, also, on Saturday, dismissed attempts by the leadership of the APC to fill the remaining four principal officers’ positions with ranking members of the Senate Unity Forum.
The senator said that the election of the four principal officers should be left as an exclusive preserve of the senators and the zonal caucuses in the Senate.
He said: “There cannot be imposition. As far as I’m concerned, the party cannot impose leadership on us. It’s unconstitutional and against the rules of the Senate.
“The Senate majority leader, deputy majority leader, Senate chief whip, deputy chief whip are elected by their caucuses and the 8th Assembly cannot be different.
“The best thing the party can do, given the circumstances, is to give us directives. Any attempt to impose will be resisted and this will further divide the party.
“We should follow due process. To allow the party to impose leadership on the Senate president is to make him to fail because you cannot force him to work with his rivals.
“We are committed to giving President Buhari protection in the Senate. What we’re doing is definitely not against the president.”
It also emerged on Saturday that with the Senate membership of the Like Minds Senators, the support base of Senate President Saraki increased to 34 senators by the weekend.
It was learnt that some senators who were pulled over to Lawan’s side ahead of the Senate election had since returned to Saraki
APC retreats tactically
Meanwhile, the leadership of the APC appears set to make a tactical retreat and ensure stability in the Senate, following the decision to write the leadership of National Assembly to intimate them of the procedure for picking the Senate leader, his deputy, Senate whip and deputy, the four remaining leadership posts open to the party.
It was learnt in Abuja on Saturday that the party was set to release a letter to Senate President Saraki which will intimate him of the need to maintain balance in the determination of the remaining leadership posts.
Sources in the party told Sunday Tribune that the party wanted to ensure all rancour in the National Assembly is put behind the legislature from this week.
It was gathered that though the letter has been written, it was yet to be dispatched at the weekend.
A source said: “We are going to maintain neutrality in arriving at the leadership posts. We will only advise the senators on the need to maintain spread. We will not give them names. The senators are competent to arrive at candidates acceptable to them.”
Credit: Tribune (Nigeria)
