As jostling for the position of the President of the Ninth Senate hots up, there are strong indications that President Muhammadu Buhari might have given the leaders of the All Progressives Congress, including Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a stern directive to ensure victory for Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan.
Some newly elected and returned APC senators, who spoke to our correspondent at the weekend, added that leaders of the ruling party had also made it clear to lawmakers that whoever disobeyed the choice of the entire leadership, would pay for it.
Three of the senators, representing different geo-political zones in the National Assembly, said the APC was not ready to face a repeat of what culminated in the emergence of Senate President Bukola Saraki in the 8th Senate. They all spoke on the condition of anonymity, owing to the sensitivity of the matter and the fear of
penalties.
One of the senators, who scaled through the hurdle of being re-elected with a very narrow margin, said, “Meetings have been held at different times, and the leaders have made it known categorically that nothing would be taken for granted as regards the leadership of the 9th Senate. According to them, it was almost impossible to govern successfully in the 8th Senate because of the costly mistake of not being proactive enough.
“They have said that anyone who disobeys the joint choice of the party in terms of senate presidency will be seriously dealt with. Whoever works against the party’s choice will pay for it. Let me
be frank with you, the President has giving strict orders to the leaders to go and install Lawan. He has told them to make sure he
emerges.”
When asked how a senator could be made to pay for such rebellious action, another legislator who spoke to our correspondent, said, “Sanctions can come in various ways. One sure thing is that the senator should forget about a ticket in 2023. You won’t get APC ticket. Don’t also forget that if the choice of the leaders eventually emerges, the rebel would be sidelined from juicy committee positions, among many other things.”
The lawmaker, who confirmed that the party’s National Leader, Tinubu, was calling the shots as regards who would emerge, specifically said, “The APC mafia is gagging senators seriously and they are being very strict. They
have a clear majority and would not want anything to jeopardise their efforts at having their own
Senate.”
One of the lawmakers, however, said none of the contenders were being sponsored by the former senate president, saying anyone would be foolish to align himself with him publicly.
“Don’t get me wrong; Saraki still commands the respect of many of his peers in the Senate. But you need everyone to emerge. Once the core APC guys notice any alignment in that
line, it may be negative for the contender. We are still looking for a reliable PDP senator that we can take to Asiwaju to help canvass among the PDP group,” he
said.
Two of the senators, however, observed that there might be a crisis in the coming weeks even amongst the APC leaders as there were some contrary choices that might emerge soon.
While speaking with newsmen recently, Lawan had promised to run a bi-partisan National Assembly if elected as Senate President.
The lawmaker also promised to respect the decision of the APC should the party decide to zone the position away from the North
East.
Other senators eyeing the Number 3 position are: Senator Abdullahi Adamu, Nasarawa West, and Senator Ali Ndume, among others.
