Fresh facts have emerged that the main opposition party, the Peoples
Democratic Party, despite denying having candidates for the positions of
Senate President and Deputy Senate Presidents, are planning to field
candidates for these two positions.
The opposition party’s renewed interest in the senate positions was as a result of the obvious division in the ruling All Progressives Congress and the party’s inability to present consensus candidates for the two positions.
Though the ruling party had on several occasions moved to harmomise the
positions of the different groups in the party to arrive at consensus,
the moves had failed as a major party to the tussle had refused to bend.
Consequently, the opposition party, which sources said had earlier
concluded that it could not lead the eighth senate, was bent on
capitalising on the division in the ruling party to take over the
leadership of the Senate.
The party is waiting to see if the ruling All Progressives Congress will
not be able to present a consensus candidate for the office of the
Senate President.
Saturday PUNCH reliably gathered in Abuja on Friday that the PDP had
designated some members to monitor the APC’s meetings with the incoming
lawmakers on Saturday (today).
It was learnt that although the PDP had said that it would not intervene
in the election of the National Assembly leadership, it might review
its decision based on the outcome of the APC’s meetings with its
lawmakers.
The APC National Working Committee will hold separate meetings with the
party’s senators-elect and their counterparts for the House of
Representatives in Abuja.
The PUNCH had on Thursday reported that the party convened the meetings
to enable the incoming lawmakers to choose consensus candidates for the
senate presidency and speakership of the House of Representatives.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said that
the meetings, which were initially scheduled for Thursday, were
postponed to Saturday because of the valedictory session held in the
Senate. The candidates contesting the senate presidency are Senator
Bukola Saraki (Kwara State, North-Central) and Senator Ahmed Lawan (Yobe
State, North-East).
The APC had said that it would not zone the office to any of the six geo-political zones.
The two main contestants for the senate presidency have intensified lobby among the 108 senators-elect.
The Senate is made up of 109 senators out of which the APC produced 60
while the PDP has 49 members. However, one of the APC senators-elect
from Borno State, Ahmed Zannah, had died leaving the party with 59
members.
It was gathered that the national leadership of the PDP had encouraged
its senators-elect to vote for a single candidate for the position of
the senate president.
The thinking in the party, it was learnt, was that if its 49
senators-elect could vote for a single candidate, it would not be
difficult to get 10 members from divided APC senators to also vote for
the PDP candidate.
Any of the aspirants needs a simple majority vote to become the next President of the Senate.
The election is expected to come up on Tuesday.
A member of the National Working Committee of the party, who spoke with
our correspondent on the condition of anonymity, said, ”We are waiting
for the APC to see if its leadership will be able to settle the issue of
who becomes the senate president among the two contenders. “If this
fails, we know what to do. We either support the candidates rejected by
the APC or we field our own candidates for the position.
“It is just a mere convention that the party with the majority should
produce the presiding officer. It is not in the constitution. So, if the
ruling party and its senators fail to agree, we will settle the quarrel
for them.”
But the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Olisa Metuh,
insisted that the party would not dabble into the affairs of the Senate
in particular and that of the National Assembly in general.
He said, “We believe senators are mature, experienced and exposed. They
hold mandates of their people and we believe that the election for the
Senate presidency and the deputy Senate President should be left for our
party members to decide on their own; the PDP has no candidate for the
Senate President and deputy Senate President.”
