Senate Presidency: Saraki, Lawan Lobby Mark, PDP Senators For Support

The two candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who will contest the Senate President position during the inauguration of the 8th Senate, Senators Bukola Saraki (Kwara Central ) and Ahmad Lawan (Yobe North), have shifted their campaigns to the Peoples Democratic Party's  (PDP) senators-elect.

Saraki and Lawan were initially preparing for the primary election earlier planned for them by the APC leadership at a retreat on Saturday before the arrangement was frustrated following the emergence of two groups which queued behind each of the aspirants.

The other two aspirants, Senators George Akume (Benue North-West) and Ali Ndume (Borno South) have jettisoned their ambitions, thus queuing behind Lawan and Saraki respectively.

Investigations by our correspondent revealed that while a chieftain of the APC and 24 senators-elect mainly from the North-West and the South-West had endorsed Lawan, no fewer than 35 senators-elect had adopted Saraki and communicated their intention to the party's leadership.

It was gathered that the pro-Saraki group, under the aegis of The Like-Minds Senators, apart from reaching out to the PDP senators-elect, had also started canvassing supports from prominent leaders of the APC.

For instance, about 18 members of the group, on Sunday, visited a former Vice-President, Abubakar Atiku, in his Asokoro, Abuja, residence to seek his blessing for their candidate, Saraki.

Atiku, on the occasion, urged the party to respect internal democracy and legislative independence in order to guarantee peace between the executive and the legislature in the in-coming administration.

At the meeting, the former VP said: “I am aware that the APC had zoned the senate presidency to the North-Central but if the position of the party would change, then the National Working Committee of our party would meet to cancel the position.

“I have always been a democrat and I believe in internal democracy. If your group claims that you have 35 APC senators and that nine out of the 12 senators from the North-East are with you, then I think the party needs to respect your agitation.”

Atiku therefore urged members of the pro-Saraki senators to conduct their activities well and do nothing that would jeopardise the collective interest of the party.

It was learnt that the NWC of the APC might likely hold an emergency meeting within the week to take a position on the issue of the National Assembly leadership, since an attempt to produce a consensus candidate for the post of the senate president had failed.

The fear of some leaders of the APC, according to some members of the party, was that the 49 senators-elect on the platform of the PDP might take advantage of their number and the division within the APC to also present a candidate for the post.

But further investigations on Sunday revealed that the two gladiators in the race, Saraki and Lawan, had started serious moves to secure the support of the PDP senators-elect, especially the out-going Senate President, David Mark. They assured them that they would play significant roles in the administration of the red chamber.

It was learnt that members of the pro-Saraki group were assuring their colleagues in the opposition that their candidate would guarantee legislative independence because there would be no godfather in the APC to influence his actions.

The Lawan camp, on the other side, asked the PDP caucus to reject Saraki because he, alongside others, allegedly contributed to the fall of the party by defecting to the APC.

Accordingly, they said they should pay him back by supporting the emergence of Lawan as senate president.

The Punch

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