Cracks Emerge In APC’s Senate Presidency Bid
Former Senate Majority Leader Muhammed Ali Ndume has criticised the endorsement of Senate Leader Ahmed Lawan by President Muhammadu Buhari and the party’s leadership as the party’s choice for the 9th Senate President seat.
The APC spoke through National Chairman Adams Oshiomhole on its choice in Abuja on Monday. It told its 65 senators-elect during a dinner at the Presidential Villa that Lawan (Yobe North) had its nod for Senate president and Femi Gbajabiamila for Speaker of the House of Representatives.
But faulting the party’s position at a media briefing in Abuja, Ndume said the endorsements were contrary to the provisions of Section 50(1A) of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
The section states: “There shall be a president and deputy president of the Senate who shall be elected by the members of that House from among themselves.”
According to Ndume, neither Oshiomhole nor Buhari or any party leader has the right to force presiding officers on lawmakers.
He said: “What took place at the presidential dinner in Aso Rock on Monday night where Oshiomhole as party chairman, announced Senator Ahmed Lawan and Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila as President of the 9th Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives respectively was very shocking to me and many of my colleagues.
“Oshiomhole, in making the announcement or endorsement, did not even allow me or Senators Danjuma Goje (Gombe Central) and Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa West), widely known to be in the race for the position, to say anything.
“More disturbing was the fact that even Senator Ahmed Lawan, endorsed for the position, was not allowed to make any comment in the form of an acceptance speech or to solicit support from other interested senators.”
He said: “For the sake of cohesion and stability among party members as regards aspirations for such positions, what was expected from the party leadership, was to just zone the positions and allow contenders within each of the zones to sort things out either through consensus or shadow election.”
Ndume expressed doubt whether “Buhari was in the know of what Oshiomhole did.” According to him, “We all left the place in shock and disbelief. But my commitment and loyalty to the party remains.”
Recall that before the inauguration of the Eighth Senate on June 9, 2015, the APC leadership endorsed Lawan and Gbajabiamila for the positions of President and Speaker. Both men however lost out amid deft political moves by other party members.
While the ruling APC deals with squabbles on who clinches the legislative offices, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) raised tension a notch higher Tuesday by announcing it would field candidates for the two seats.
A statement by National Publicity Secretary Kola Ologbondiyan declared: “The PDP does not only have a constitutional say in the process of the emergence of the leadership of the Ninth National Assembly, it will also, as a matter of constitutional right, field candidates into presiding offices of both chambers, if need be.”
Faulting remarks by Oshiomhole that APC would not share any position with the opposition, the PDP noted that the principal offices of the federal legislature “are not the exclusive preserve of any political party but a constitutional right of every elected lawmaker in both chambers.”
It cautioned Buhari, Oshiomhole and the APC “to respect the independence of the legislature, end their imposition plot and sowing of the seeds of discord among lawmakers, as such is directly against our overall national interest.”
