APC, PDP Senators Set to Clash Over Saraki’s Seat
Category: Nigerian National News
There are fresh indications that the Peoples Democratic Party members in
the upper chamber have perfected strategies to produce a successor to
Senator Bukola Saraki as Senate President if he is removed as a result
of his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
Also See: How Saraki's Men Mobilize $2M to Bribe CCT Chairman
Also See: How Saraki's Men Mobilize $2M to Bribe CCT Chairman
But the All Progressives Congress senators have vowed to resist any
attempt by their PDP colleagues to take over the red chamber from them.
Our correspondent learnt that the PDP senators met for several hours on Monday night to take a final decision on the issue.
It was not clear whether the current Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, would be allowed to take over the top Senate seat.
A source at the meeting claimed that some people were of the opinion
that Ekweremadu should resign alongside Saraki as a sacrifice while an
APC senator from the North-Central would emerge as the deputy.
Confirming the development to journalists on Wednesday, the Chairman,
Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Peter Nwaboshi, said
the PDP would produce the next Senate President.
He said, “Should the incumbent, Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki, is
forced to vacate the office, we have perfected necessary arrangements to
take over the upper chamber.”
He said the PDP was ready to replicate the current system in the
United States of America, where the Republicans are in charge of the
parliament, while the Democrats are in control of the executive.
He said, “Well, I wish the APC the best of luck if they are on a wild
goose chase. But I want you to mark what I am saying. I was the first
to address the press in Port Harcourt and I told them that Saraki was
going to win the Senate Presidency and I gave them my reasons.
“Then, nobody ever thought that Saraki was going to win. People were
saying that APC had decided. But it was clear to me that he was going to
win and I had to address the press. Eventually, we went there, he won.
If, but God forbids, because we don’t see it coming, by chance, Saraki
is removed, I can tell you that the PDP will produce the next Senate
President.”
Speaking on how the PDP intends to get the support of other lawmakers
to produce the next Senate President, Nwaoboshi said, “We only need
three and we have them.”
He added, “The calculation is very clear to me; the calculation is
very clear to the PDP. When I told them that Saraki was going to win, I
did a lot of mathematical calculations based on the facts on the ground
and it is even clearer to me now that the PDP will win it.
“If anybody is thinking that a PDP man is going to vote against a PDP
candidate, he is telling you a lie. We have people and we know how to
get the people from the APC. We will win and that will be very
interesting. What is happening in America is going to happen in Nigeria.
America has a Republican Senate but the executive is led by Democrats.
“In any case, my party, the PDP, we have resolved in our meeting to
support him (Saraki). So, there is no basis for him to resign.”
However, senators, elected on the platform of the APC, are not taking
the plot of their PDP colleagues lightly as they held a meeting last
week in the house of a former Sokoto State Governor, Senator Aliyu
Wammako, in Abuja.
Although the meeting was initially said to have been called with a
motive to get all Senators of the APC to unite behind Saraki, it was
later learnt that senators at the meeting were more concerned about the
embarrassment disunity was causing the ruling party in the Senate.
According to sources close to the meeting, the lawmakers wanted a
situation in which the interests of government would be promoted at all
times in the Senate.
The meeting was said to have resolved to work in the interest of the
party to ensure that the opposition party never had its way on any
matter.
But the APC was sharply divided in the Senate along the lines of those supporting the Senate President and those against him.
The unity forum senators had worked against Saraki after he emerged
the Senate President in a controversial election but the like-minded
senators were on his side.
Spokesperson for the SUF, Senator Kabir Marafa, confirmed that the
two factions of the APC in the Senate met last week to close ranks and
resist any attempt by the PDP to call the shots in the red chamber.
He said, “We sat for four days last week, brainstormed, agreed and at
the end of the day, we came out with a three-point agenda. We felt if
they are agreed upon, the APC caucus in the National Assembly can become
one.
“Number one issue is the illegality of our committees. We said we
must constitute the committees in tune with the Standing Orders of the
Senate. Number two is that the APC members, especially the Unity Forum
elements, who are marginalised in the formation of the committees,
should be accommodated.
“Number three is the issue of leadership and how it affects our party.
“President Muhammadu Buhari talked about party supremacy and how we
must obey. These are the three issues that were deliberated upon.
“Number one item in the list was agreed upon. We agreed that we will
amend the rules to accommodate all committees of the Senate. Number two
on the agenda was also agreed upon; that is the issue of committees,
with a view to giving our party members what they deserve.
“We have a government in place and we are senators elected with that
government. We are under the same canopy. We have a moral duty to
support our government, President and our party.”
PUNCH
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