All is now set for today’s
inauguration of the 9th National Assembly. The frontrunners have
perfected their strategies, plans and plots to emerge as President of
the 9th Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Before
now, for the Senate presidency, three senators-elect from the ruling
All Progressives Congress (APC) were in contention for the position.
They are: Ahmed Lawan, Ali Ndume and Danjuma Goje. But as predicted in
April in one of our reports, Goje finally caved in last week, leaving
Lawan and Ndume in the race. But the party leadership has settled for
Lawan for the position. In spite of the endorsement, Ndume is still in
the race.
Before now, Daily Sun gathered that there are some
people close to President Muhammadu Buhari who were working behind the
scene to thwart Lawan’s ambition. How with the President’s decision to
step in through Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, which
culminated in Goje’s withdrawal from the race last week, about two of
the president’s men who hitherto were with Ndume, appear to have
retraced their steps.
However, the mere fact that Ndume is yet to
be asked by either Buhari or any of the party leaders to withdraw from
the race appears to indicate that the coast is not very clear for Lawan
yet.
Sources close to the leadership of the APC also suggested
that Buhari’s silence over Ndume’s aspiration was a clear indication
that the president may not have fully endorsed Lawan for the position.
The
former Senate Leader has told his supporters that with the level of
support he has gotten so far across party lines, only God can stop him
from going ahead to win the contest. His group believed that it has the
numbers to deliver Lawan as the next Senate President. As at the last
count, the group claims it has at least 64 senators-elect who have
endorsed its candidate.
The senators-elect, the group added, have
appended their signatures in support of Lawan. The group gave the
statistics as 62 APC, one from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and
one from the Young Peoples Party (YPP).
Daily Sun can however
confirm that four additional PDP senators-elect have joined the Lawan’s
camp. It is doubtful, however, if indeed Lawan’s camp has up to 62 APC
senators-elect.
Senator Yahaya Abdullahi from Kebbi, Chairman of
Lawan Campaign Group, noted that the senators-elect decided to endorse
Lawan to prevent a repeat of 2015. This is just as Secretary of the
Campaign group, Senator Jibrin Barau, read out the names of the
senators-elect who backed Lawan’s candidacy.
Regardless, the PDP,
it was gathered, is also weighing its options as at the time of filing
this report. The opposition party’s senators appear to have agreed that
they must act in unison, to ensure that their 44 votes go to one
candidate.
One of the sources close to the PDP’s camp further
said: “We are waiting to take a formal decision. But for majority of us,
Ndume is our preferred choice. We are not comfortable with Lawan; so we
must work hard to get Ndume elected.”
Asked who is likely to
emerge as Deputy Senate President, the source further said: “We are
weighing the options. We have to decide whether we want the kind of the
turbulence we experienced during the 8th Senate or not. For now, there
are two APC candidates from the South South for the position and one
from the South East. But one of them is our enemy based on what he did
during the 8th Senate. So we will certainly not back him; that is if and
when we decide we are not going for it.”
Meanwhile, as at close
of work yesterday, three senators-elect were in the race for position of
the Deputy President of the Senate. They are: Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia),
Ovie Omo-Agege (Delta) and Francis Alimikhena (Edo).
The party is
positioning Omo-Agege for the position, but his candidacy appears not
to be enjoying support from the majority of the APC senators-elect,
including the PDP senators-elect.
In the House of the
Representatives, the contestants for the speakership are former House
leader, Femi Gbajabiamila; Umar Bago and John Dyegh
Others are
the former chairman; House Committee on Information, Segun Odebunmi;
Emeka Nwajiuba and the latest entrant into the contest, Olajide
Olatubosun. All of them are of the APC.
Like the Senate
presidency, the APC has equally zoned the position of the speaker to the
South West, with former House Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila as its
preferred candidate.
But the zoning had not gone down well with
stakeholders, within and outside the National Assembly, with a lot of
persons kicking against it.
Already, the North Central zone is
making a strong case for the position. Bago and Dyegh are from the
North Central. But Bago towers above him. Bago had said the endorsement
of Gbajabiamila only reflects the opinion of the APC national chairman,
Adams Oshiomhole.
The lawmaker, who spoke through the spokesman
of his campaign organisation, Afam Ogene, said the various organs of the
party did not meet at any point to agree on a candidate for the
speakership.
Bago is of the opinion that the speakership should
have been zoned to the North Central because of its contribution to the
success of the APC in the last elections. More especially, he believes
that since the South West already has the vice president, it will not be
equitable for the zone to also produce the speaker.
Apart from
Gbajabiamila, Olatunbosun is also being positioned from the South West.
Those pushing his candidature are positioning him as an alternative to
Gbajabiamila, since some lawmakers who genuinely wanted the South West
to have the position appear wary of what they call Gbajabiamila’s “moral
baggage.”
One of the ex-lawmakers who spoke on the development
appealed to the South West lawmakers, especially and others from the
North and South East, not to collude to deny the South West the position
again on the excuse that the party’s preferred candidate is allegedly
“tainted.” The Gbajabiamila camp is advocating that lawmakers should
respect the position of the APC on the zoning of key offices in the
National Assembly. Director General of the Gbajabiamila Campaign
Organisation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, also denied every allegation against
the former House Leader.
He said: “For the benefit of doubt, we
wish to once again state emphatically clear that Femi Gbajabiamila has
never been convicted for any crime in the United States of America,
Nigeria or any other country around the world for that matter. He has
never been accused of corruption and has no corruption case hanging on
his neck in Nigeria or anywhere around the world. He has not committed
perjury and has never committed perjury in Nigeria or any country of the
world.”
Unlike in the Senate, in the House of House of
Representatives, Gbajabiamila ran a joint campaign with his would be
deputy, Idris Wase, from North Central.
The candidates, their weaknesses, strengths
Senator Ahmad Lawan
He
is one of the longest serving members of the National Assembly. He is
the immediate past Leader of the Senate and hails from Yobe State. In
2015, he was in the race for the position of the President of the
Senate. However, last minute realignment denied him the position. Today,
he is one of the frontrunners in the race to succeed Bukola Saraki as
President of the Senate. Unlike in 2015, the major organs of the party
appear to be forceful in pushing for his emergence. His greatest
weakness is the process by which he emerged as the candidate of the
party.
Senator Ali Ndume
Former Senate Leader, and one of
the aspirants to the position of President of the Senate, Ndume, is
Lawan’s predecessor. He defeated Lawan in 2015 at the North East caucus
to emerge Senate Leader. He enjoys the support of the majority of the
PDP. His greatest weakness is in the fact he did not get the endorsement
of his party, the APC.
Senator Ovie Omo-Agege
He is the
party’s candidate for the position of the Deputy Senate President. But
his greatest weakness is the invasion of the Senate chambers by a gang,
which took away the maze, in which he was fingered.
Orji Uzor Kalu
Former
Abia State governor is seen as a strong APC member from the South East
with the right contacts. A successful businessman cum politician, Kalu
is a dogged fighter who believes in equity and justice. He is also seen
as a bridge builder and stabiliser.
His backers believe that
South East deserves a place in the presiding officers of the National
Assembly, having done better for President Buhari and the APC in the
last election, unlike in 2015. He has contact and strong associates in
the PDP, which would help his candidacy. His only weakness is that the
APC did not officially zone the post he is vying for to the South East.
Femi Gbajabiamila
He
is the immediate past Leader of the House. He is the APC’s preferred
candidate for the position of the speaker. He had at various times in
the past worked against the decision of the majority party in the green
chamber on who becomes speaker. In 2011, as the minority leader, he led
opposition lawmakers to work against the emergence of Mulikat Akande as
Speaker. Akande was the choice of the PDP for the position in the
seventh Assembly. Like Lawan too, he was the party’s preferred choice in
2015. But a last minute political manoeuvring by the PDP caused him the
seat. He lost by about seven votes. Again, like Lawan, his greatest
weakness is the manner in which he emerged as the party’s preferred
choice for today’s contest.
Umar Bago
He is from Niger
State in the North Central. He is seen as coming from the camp of the
immediate past Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara.
He enjoys massive support from the PDP. His greatest weakness is that he
is not the choice of the party.
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