Pro-Saraki senators reject Lawan, Akume as Senate leaders

The current crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress, worsened on Saturday when senators loyal to Senate President, Bukola Saraki, vowed to resist alleged moves by the APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and other party chieftains to impose Senators Ahmad Lawan and George Akume as the Senate leader and deputy, respectively.

Senator Ahmad Lawan

Senators Ahmed Sani-Yerima and Danjuma Goje, who spoke with journalists in Abuja, specifically declared that the plans by the leadership of the APC to fill the remaining four principal-officer positions with ranking members of the Senate Unity Forum was totally unacceptable.

The Senators Unity Forum consists of loyalists of Lawan, who lost the Senate Presidency bid to Saraki.

The remaining leadership positions yet to be filled in the senate include, Senate Leader; Deputy Senate Leader; Senate Chief Whip; and Deputy Chief Whip.

Our correspondent learnt that the APC leadership had allegedly been perfecting an arrangement which would see Lawan emerging as the Senate leader and Senator George Akume as his deputy.

The pro-Lawan group, which has the backing of Tinubu, was also said to have picked Professor Olusola Adeyeye (Osun) as the Senate Chief Whip, while Senator Abu Ibrahim from Katsina State would be his deputy.

But Senator Sani-Yerima, a former Senate Deputy Minority Leader, and Goje, a former governor of Gombe State, insisted that the pro-Saraki Like Minds senators would resist imposition of principal officers on the chamber.

Sani-Yerima maintained that the election of the four principal officers was the exclusive right of the zonal caucuses in the Senate.

He said the move by the APC leadership was illegal, adding that “there can never be imposition of candidates on the chamber by the party leadership”

He said, “As far as I’m concerned, the party cannot impose leadership on us. It is unconstitutional and against the rules of the Senate.

“The Senate Majority Leader; Deputy Majority Leader; Senate Chief Whip; Deputy Chief Whip were elected by their zonal caucuses in the Seventh Senate and the case of the Eighth Senate 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.”

He also, insisted that the party must follow due process, stressing that the Senate Presidency of Senator Bukola Saraki was committed to protecting the interests of President Muhammadu Buhari.

He said, “We should follow due process. Allowing the party to impose a leadership on the Senate President is to make him to fail because he cannot be forced to work with his rivals.

“We are committed to giving President Buhari protection in the Senate. What we are doing is definitely not against the President.”

On his part, Goje warned the party against imposition of candidates, adding that such a move would likely further polarise the party.

He said, “By trying to impose another set of leaders on the National Assembly is to cause further crisis in the party. It will complicate matters and generate further crisis in the National Assembly.”

Spokesperson for the pro-Lawan senators, Kabir Marafa, described the argument of the pro-Saraki senators as incorrect and argued that the choice of other principal officers who are not elected on the floor of the Senate remained the sole business of the party leadership.

He said, “It is not possible for the executive of the party at the zonal levels to determine who will be made the Senate Leader, the Deputy Senate Leader, Chief Whip, and the Deputy Chief Whip. It has never happened and it won’t happen this time around.

“The party executive must determine all the occupants of the four principal offices. The party will write the Senate President. That is the tradition. It cannot be done at the zonal level. We must follow due process.”

Pro-Saraki senators reject Lawan, Akume as Senate leaders

Amendment of 1999 Constitution dead with Jonathan’s exit, says Akume

ABUJA—SENATE Minority Leader, George Akume, yesterday, foreclosed the possibility of the National Assembly overriding former President Goodluck Jonathan’s veto on the 1999 Constitution Amendment Bill, passed by the National Assembly.

Akume said the inability of Jonathan to assent to the bill before the end of his tenure has rendered the bill dead, saying there was nothing the legislature can do to get the amendment becomes law.

Speaking with newsmen in Abuja, Akume, who represents Benue North West in the Senate under the All Progressives Congress, APC, said even as the Supreme Court asked both the Federal Government and the National Assembly to settle the issue out of court, the court did not ask that the government made concession nor ask the legislature to override the president’s veto

“The issue here is very clear, if it was not assented to, I do not know what you want us to do. It is very clear that this particular bill will now struggle to find a place in the new Senate, which is the 8th Senate.

“Jonathan has left and the bill is still a bill until it is assented to. The Supreme Court has made its own pronouncement, the Supreme Court didn’t say go and override or the president should go and make concession. One way or the other, this issue has not been resolved, so that is the responsibility of the 8th Senate if they feel it is a major priority for the Senate, “he said.

Responding to question on why he jettisoned his ambition to become the Senate President in the 8th Senate and instead, seeking to become deputy, Senator Akume said the decision was informed by what he called the “dynamism of politics” in the race.

He said: “That is the dynamism of politics, politics is like that and what we have sought to do and we have been trying to do is to as much as possible, have an internal realignment, consolidate and move forward. Basically, that is what has been done.

He defended the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to move the military command headquarters to Maiduguri, saying it was the only way out if the nation was prepared to win the war against insurgency in the North East.

“The movement of the military command headquarters to the epicenter of the insurgency is a step in the right direction.

There is no way you will be fighting terror in, for instance, Makurdi and then your headquarters is in Abuja or it’s in Jos. It is always good to be there to make direct assessment and to confront the challenges headlong. I think apart from saying he was moving it, he was also dedicated to the training of the Armed Forces. I think these are very important, “he insisted.

Akume said the APC- led government was aware of the expectations of Nigerians from it, saying the party, through its leader and president, Muhammadu Buhari, was up to the task.

“First of all, we have never doubted the difficulties and challenges that lie ahead, yet we are deciding to throw the hat into the ring. If you look at the caliber of personalities in the APC, you are left in no doubt that we have the personnel, we have the commitment, and the patriotism to fight and these are confrontations that we have to start from the top.

“The president himself is a tested person as I had said and he is going to live by example. And so, we have no doubt that these problems are going to be tackled but he himself said these problems can never be over within a fortnight.

“He had said it before, that solutions to complex problems cannot be as instant as coffee and I employ Nigerians not to look back, we are very determined and by the grace of God, we are going to meet the expectations of the people, “he added.

The senator, who refused to assess the 7th Senate, saying it would be inappropriate for him as one of the key actors to do so, however, said the outgoing Senate did not fail the people of Nigeria.

“Well, it may be inappropriate for me as one of the key actors of the National Assembly to evaluate our performance, I believe Nigerians will do so. But let me reinstate with all equivocation that in spite of the difficulties, the 7th Senate was able to do well.

“Through oversight functions, we have been able to harness some of the untoward and unhealthy practices in the executive. These are there clear for everybody to take note of.

“ We have come but many of my colleagues may not be coming but a few are returning to the Red Chamber and together, we will continue from where we stopped and I believe that with more dedication, we will do our best, “he added.

 

Amendment of 1999 Constitution dead with Jonathan’s exit, says Akume

Senate Presidency: Saraki, Lawan’s ambition divides APC

The politics of who emerges the next Senate president among leading All Progressives Congress, APC, lawmakers, is tearing the party’s caucus apart, with some members boycotting a retreat organized by the party for its senators-elect.

Senators-elect loyal to a former Lagos State governor, and a leader of the party, Ahmed Tinubu, stayed away from the retreat at Ibeto hotel, Abuja on Saturday. They group later joined the retreat after holding separate meeting at a different location.

The retreat began Friday evening with a cocktail party for the lawmakers.

The APC, Nigeria’s ruling party-in-waiting, has been enmeshed in high-wire politicking as the party struggles to agree on a formula for the election of new National Assembly leaders.

Leaders of the party have met severally to discuss and come up with a zoning arrangement for national assembly principal officers without success.

Among the major contenders for the senate presidency are former governors, Bukola Saraki, from Kwara State, George Akume, from Benue State, and Ahmed Lawan, from Yobe state.

Mr. Tinubu, an influential party leader, is said to be in support of the ambition of Mr. Lawan, the current chairman of the Senate Public Accounts committee.

Senators loyal to Mr. Tinubu were led to the retreat by Abu Ibrahim from Katsina state.

In a short remark during the cocktail on Friday, the national chairman of the APC, John Oyegun, urged the Senators to remain united and not allow the election of Principal Officers to divide them.

But one lawmaker said as a result of what seemed to be Mr. Saraki’s advantage, the Tinubu group decided to stay away from the retreat.

“Only three of them from the South West are presently attending the retreat,” he said.

Another source at Ibeto Hotel also said that Senators “have drawn a battle line with Tinubu”.

He said the Senators are determined to ensure that Mr. Tinubu does not have control of the Senate.

The lawmaker told PREMIUM TIMES that Mr. Saraki appeared to have the support of about 34 Senators during the cocktail event.

“Saraki also has the backing of majority PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) Senators and is therefore in a strong position to emerge as the next president,” the lawmaker claimed.

The PDP Senators who are in support of Mr. Saraki, we gathered, are led by Senators Andy Uba and Godswill Akpabio.

Buhari travelled to avoid retreat

Meanwhile, one of the leaders of the APC has told PREMIUM TIMES that the president-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, left the country for the United Kingdom Friday, without the knowledge of most party leaders, because he was under tremendous pressure to adopt a candidate for the Senate Presidency.

“That is why he travelled with a commercial flight despite having a private jet at his disposal,” our source said.

Mr. Buhari’s spokesperson, Garba Shehu Friday issued a statement saying the president-elect went to the U.K. on a private visit.

Asked why Mr. Tinubu appears determined to have Mr. Lawan emerge as Senate President, the APC leader said “it is all tied to the politics of 2019″.

He said Mr. Tinubu believes that Mr. Saraki is ambitious while Lawan is not.

Senate Presidency: Saraki, Lawan’s ambition divides APC

Senate Presidency: Akume disagrees with Tinubu, Akande on zoning

The Senate Minority Leader and front-line contender in the race for the Senate Presidency, Senator George Akume,  on Friday disagreed with the Pioneer National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress,  Chief Bisi Akande and a leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, over their declaration that zoning arrangement won’t be used to determine the next Senate President.

Akume, who spoke with journalists in his Abuja residence on Friday evening, maintained that the party,  before now, had adopted a zoning arrangement which favoured the emergence of the president of the 8th senate, from the North Central,  being his geopolitical zone.

Akande had, in an interview with The Punch earlier this week,  said the party would not employ the use of zoning to determine the next senate president and that  anybody was free to fight for the position.

He had said, “We want the best man to occupy the position. But the trouble is that some people have been talking about zoning and we are asking questions. Is it zoning according to nationality?

“Within the North-Central alone, there are so many nationalities. Is it zoning according to religion? So, we want to be very careful so that we don’t introduce into our system what had not been there before.”

“We want to be careful, otherwise, we won’t be able to produce the best. We are trying to select the best man. We don’t want to entertain what brought the PDP down.”

Also,  Tinubu, in an interview with journalists in Abuja on Thursday, said zoning will not be used to compromise the quality of leadership for the National Assembly adding that the party had decided to allow all those interested in the leadership of the federal parliament, to contest.

He had said,  “Merit will not be compromised. You have to be competent, you have to possess the kind of character, attributes of the leader. You have to be pan-Nigerian and be a very solid character to lead the National Assembly and that is what we are talking about.

“We would not use zoning to determine and compromise the credibility, the qualification of an individual. If you take zoning as discriminatory in some instances, you might compromise the quality of an individual. Let everybody aspire.”

But Akume insisted that zoning was part and parcel of the politics of Nigeria, arguing that Dr.Goodluck Jonathan became the  President of Nigeria as a result of zoning.

He said, “Even if zoning is not explicitly stated in the Constitution, there is always this letting to understanding that there must be fairness and balance in the occupation of strategic positions. We should not throw away zoning.

“In every zone, there are capable Nigerians that will hold their own in every endeavour. So, basically zoning is acceptable to me because it ensures stability. I have not heard from the party that they have jettisoned zoning.

“I remember, the last meeting we had, there was this issue that it has been zoned to North Central. I do not know it has been taken away because the party has not said they are taking it away but all I want to say is that the party made a comment on it.

“I am a faithful party man. I was part of the team that negotiated the merger of this party and I am also in the privilege position to talk about the dynamism of APC.”

Akume said there was nothing wrong with the North Central, and in particular, Benue State,   producing the Senate President all the time even as he argued that the North-West, has also, always produced the president of the country.

Senate Presidency: Akume disagrees with Tinubu, Akande on zoning

Akume, Tinubu meet in Lagos over Senate presidency

One of the top contenders for the Senate presidency, Senator George Akume, and the national leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday met at the Lagos home of Tinubu.

Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Senator George Akume

Our correspondent learnt that at the meeting which took place around 3pm, Tinubu told Akume to shelve his ambition and support Senator Ahmed Lawan, who represents Yobe-North senatorial district in the 8th Senate.

The battle for the Senate presidency was between the North-East and the North-Central. Akume, who is currently the Senate Minority Leader, represents Benue-North senatorial district in the Senate.

Senator Bukola Saraki, who represents Kwara-Central senatorial district in the North-Central geopolitical zone, had also openly expressed his intention to contest the number three seat in the country.

However, it was learnt that the leadership of the APC finally decided to zone the Senate presidency to the North-East following ‘fresh developments’.

A reliable source in the APC told our correspondent that Lawan had already been backed by the current Senate President, David Mark, and other members of the Peoples Democratic Party.

He said, “Tinubu explained to Akume that Lawan and Senator Mark are very close and already, some members of the PDP support him. Lawan has a good track record in the Senate and has been backed by almost all the senators in the North-East who feel the zone has been seriously marginalised.

“The catch there is that if the APC members in the Senate do not support Lawan and he wins the Senate presidency with bloc votes from the PDP and his friends in the North-East, he will be loyal to the PDP and may sideline us just as the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, attributed his victory to the APC back in 2011 even though he was a member of the PDP.

“Mark will definitely do everything possible to ensure that Akume does not emerge Senate President if we pick Akume because they are not on good terms. Tinubu told Akume that he sacrificed his presidential ambition for the sake of the party.

“Tinubu, therefore, urged Akume to settle for the Deputy Senate presidency or Senate Majority Leader.”

The 8th Senate will have 60 APC members while the PDP will have 48. The number of senators in the North-East is 18.

The source said Akume was also asked to step down because the North-Central, where he hails from, had been holding the Senate presidency since 2007 while the North-East had never presided over the upper chamber of the National Assembly since independence.

He added that giving the North-East the seat would also be a way of rewarding them for giving the APC the second highest number of votes during the presidential election.

He said, “The current Senate president is from Benue State and has been in charge for eight years. Would it be fair to also handover the Senate presidency to another person from Benue?

“The President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, got more than 2.5 million votes from the North-East and this should be rewarded.”

It was learnt that Lawan, who just won a third term in office, had already been accepted by those close to the President-elect because he was among those who led Buhari’s presidential campaign in the then All Nigeria Peoples Party in 2007 in Yobe State.

The source told our correspondent that a committee comprising Tinubu’s wife, Senator Oluremi Tinubu; Senator Babafemi Ojudu, Senator Gbenga Ashafa and Senator Ajayi Boroffice had been set up to meet with the aggrieved parties.

 

culled from punch

Akume, Tinubu meet in Lagos over Senate presidency

Senate Presidency: Tinubu bows to pressure, dumps Akume

ABUJA- AHEAD of the inauguration of the 8th Senate where a new Senate President would emerge, strong indications emerged yesterday that the National leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC and former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu may have bowed to pressure from the Senators that he should allow them elect their own Senate President.

Following insistence on the Senators to have their own Senate President without being under intense pressure from ‘ outside’, former Governor Tinubu who has been a strong supporter of Senate Minority leader and former governor of Benue State may have soft- pedalled on him.

It was gathered yesterday that feelers at the Induction Course for Senators and members of House of Representatives elect holding at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja may not have gone down well with the APC leader against the backdrop that he was also pushing for the House of Representatives Minority leader, Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila from the South West for the Speakership position.

While some Senators want the position of Senate president zoned to North Central and preferably, the Chairman, Senate Committee of Environment and Ecology and former governor of Kwara State, Senator Bukola Saraki, the former Lagos State governor was said not to be comfortable with Saraki with 2019 political colouration.

According to a source, Tinubu was said not to be supporting Saraki now because with such a position, he may be too powerful come 2019 with the support of Senators and some Governors, he may be eyeing the presidency.

At the moment senators prefer Senate President zoned to the North Central with Saraki, because they see in him the qualities they want in the leader which must be a reflection of the members of Senate without external influence.

With Tinubu now dumping Akume, he may shift his support to a candidate from the North East and a source told Vanguard that the Chairman, Senate Committee on Public Accounts, Senator Ahmed Lawan from Yobe may fit in.

Some influential backers behind Akume led by Tinubu have withdrawn their support mainly because they see he is not a reflection of the choice of Senators and any attempt to railroad him will be rejected.

With different aspirants for the position and divergent support from leaders, indications have emerged that if no compromise was arrived at, the race wouldlikely to be thrown open to the contestants from the north east and north central.

A Senator attending the induction programme for national assembly members at the Hilton Hotel, said, “the issue of senate president is the personal issue of the senators so all leaders who are insisting on producing the senate president should know that it is our affair and not the thinking of APC leaders.

“We are going to ensure that our leader emerges among us and not through any form of imposition from any quarters.

“If care not taken, those insisting on taking all will lose all because the north east has almost succeeded in getting majority members to support its desire to produce the speaker of the House of Representatives and if feelers from the party leadership is anything to go by, Tinubu has told his foot soldiers to ceasefire on the Akume project.”

There is also push for Honourable Yakubu Dogara from Bauchi, North East for Speakership just as from South South, Honourable Pally Iriase from Edo State is also a very strong contender for the position and Honourable Abdulmumin Jibrin from Kano, North West Zone is also eyeing the position. The feeling is that the South West has the Vice President and should not pick the Speaker as well.

 

Senate Presidency: Tinubu bows to pressure, dumps Akume