House apart: APC Senators produce 2 separate candidates for Senate President

by Kolapo Olapoju

In its bid to elect a consensus candidate for the post of Senate President at a retreat in Abuja, two factions of the All Progressives Congress endorsed two separate candidates.

The party leadership is believed to have intended to conduct a primary election for the 59 senators elected on the ticket of the party.

The aim was to produce a consensus candidate that would emerge as the next Senate President during the inauguration of the 8th National Assembly in June.

Hours into the retreat, a group, Senate Unity Forum, walked out of the event and addressed a news conference.

They declared that they had resolved to support the joint ticket of Senators Ahmad Lawan and George Akume for the senate top posts.

They distributed a resolution signed by Lawan, Akume and the group’s spokesperson, Senator Barnabas Gemade.

The group said: “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 Ahmad Lawan as Senate President and Senator George Akume, as the Deputy Senate President of the 8th Senate.”

A few hours later, not less than 24 senators-elect, known as “The like minds”, also exited the retreat and announced that 35 members of the group had adopted Bukola Saraki as the next senate president.

In their resolution which was read by Dino Melaye (Kogi West), they said: “Senators of the like minds are here today at the retreat organised by our dear Party All Progressive Congress, which is meant to equip and empower Senators-elect of the 8th Assembly to prepare them toward 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 to the zone.

“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.

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