How Saraki Endorses New Candidate
It has just been revealed that Nigeria’s current opposition party, PDP has secretly perfected and concluded plans to capitalize on the division in the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC to grab the coveted Senate Presidency as the 8th national assembly awaits inauguration tomorrow. According to
It has just been revealed that Nigeria’s current opposition party, PDP has secretly perfected and concluded plans to capitalize on the division in the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC to grab the coveted Senate Presidency as the 8th national assembly awaits inauguration tomorrow. According to
our source, a PDP Senator-elect, who pleaded anonymity, the PDP has
hatched a plan to shock the APC during tomorrow’s inauguration by
presenting a yet to be named candidate who may eventually win the Senate
Presidency, hoping the APC will remain cracked as it is presently.
Senator Bukola Saraki |
Our source confirmed, “we will shock the APC tomorrow, all we pray is
for them to remain divided as they are. With their rift, which they may
likely not resolve before tomorrow, the PDP will definitely emerge as
the next President of the Senate”. When quizzed on the fact that an APC
candidate is relying on the PDP senator–elects to defeat his party’s
anointed candidate, he simply said; “the game is about number, it’s not
over until it is over, those expecting us to vote for them when we know
we can actually win with the number of senator-elects we have at our
disposal should know they may be chasing shadow. We will shock them
tomorrow”, he concluded.
It should be recalled that the All progressives Congress had on Saturday
elected Ahmed Lawan and George Akume as candidates for Senate
Presidency and Deputy the respectively in a shadow election. The
election was reportedly boycotted by Senator Bukola Saraki (an aspirant)
and his supporters. In the 8th national assembly to be inaugurated, APC
has 56 Senators while PDP 49.
In another news, following disagreement over the selection of a
candidate for senate presidency, Senator Bukola Saraki has reportedly
withdrawn. The former Kwara State governor and some disgruntled APC
senators have decided to back David Mark for a third term as the senate
president. Some aggrieved APC lawmakers led by for former Governor
reportedly reached an alliance with People’s Democratic Party lawmakers
overnight to present a PDP candidate as President of the Senate.
The Immediate past Senate President, David Mark, was named as the likely
beneficiary of Mr. Saraki’s revolt. Also it is reported that David Mark
has been mobilizing disgruntled APC senators to back him for a third
term in the premier post at the Senate. Another source disclosed that
several PDP senators were demanding outrageous sums of money from APC
leaders in exchange for casting their votes for candidates favored by
the party.
Former Governor Saraki is reportedly irate that he was schemed out of
the APC’s nomination for the Senate Presidency. Last Saturday, the party
bypassed the former governor amid concerns that he could not be totally
relied upon to lead an effective and cooperative Senate that would give
President Buhari reliable legislative backing. Instead, the APC adopted
Senator Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan from Nigeria’s northeast state of Yobe as
its candidate for the Senate Presidency.
It was learnt that President Buhari had expressed serious concerns to
some associates that a Nigerian Senate led by Mr. Saraki would not lend
him the necessary legislative backing to wage a major war against
corruption. Mr. Saraki carries a lot of corruption baggage, dating back
to his days as an executive of the defunct Societe Generale Bank of
Nigeria, and continuing with his tenure as Kwara State governor.
Meanwhile, Bamikole Omishore, Special assistant on media and advocacy to
Senator Bukola Saraki, has dismissed rumours that the former Kwara
state governor will dump the All Progressives Congress (APC) for another
party. Saraki, who switched from the Peoples Democratic Party to the
APC is unhappy with his party’s conduct of mock primaries for Senate
President which was held on Saturday, 6 June, 2015.
He boycotted the election along with members of Like Mind describing the
process as “undemocratic and against universal electoral norms and
practice.” Since the boycott, rumour of his exit from the party has been
making the rounds. But in response to the rumours, Omishore wrote on
Twitter. “There is absolutely no iota of truth in rumour that Sen
@bukolasaraki will dump APC we are committed to CHANGE. NO MORE BUSINESS
AS USUAL,”.