There were indications on Tuesday that the inauguration of the 9th Senate would not be as smooth as expected as crisis was already brewing in the All Progressives Congress (APC) over who becomes the Senate President.
Despite the party endorsing Ahmed Lawan, the senator representing Yobe North for the position of Senate President, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, one of the contenders of the seat, has vowed to fight on, describing the endorsement APC handed to Lawan as unconstitutional and completely against the spirit of fair play.
Adams Oshiomhole, National Chairman of APC, was reported to have announced the endorsement of Lawan and Femi Gbajabiamila as candidates of the APC for the positions of Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives, respectively.
Addressing newsmen on Tuesday in Abuja, Ndume noted that the endorsement ran contrary to the provisions of section 50(1A) of the 1999 constitution as amended.
The section read: “There shall be a President and Deputy President of the Senate who shall be elected by the members of that house from among themselves.”
Warning that the provisions of the constitution didn’t give room for the president and the party leader to force on elected senators or House members, their presiding officers, Ndume noted that the party had not still learnt any lessons from the past.
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 myself 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 form of acceptance speech or soliciting for support from other interested senators.
“The party, which was expected to have learnt her lessons from the 2015 experience, is being made to thread the similar path of boomerang by Adams Oshiomhole.
“Under PDP, it happened with the imposition of Evans Enwerem and Adolphus Wabara as Senate President at different times and also with Etteh as Speaker of the House of Representatives in 2007 before the party eventually got it right in the 6th and 7th National Assembly, particularly in the Senate when Senator David Mark served twice as President of the Senate through support in form of votes given to him by fellow senators and not endorsement by party chairman.”
He advised that the position be zoned by the party leadership and contenders allowed to sort it out themselves, adding that it was only the elected lawmakers that had the right to choose their presiding officers and not the party’s national chairman.
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 it out either through consensus or shadow election.
“The 109 elected senators and 360 House of Representatives members are the constitutional kingmakers as far as emergence of presiding officers of both chambers are concerned, and not national chairman of a ruling party or even the president.”
While declaring that his loyalty to the party and President Muhammadu Buhari had not been affected by the unfortunate decision of Oshiomhole on Monday night, Ndume added, “I don’t even believe that President Buhari was in the know of what Oshiomhole did because he didn’t make any comment on the leadership of the 9th Assembly at the dinner but only greeted us before the organisers of the programme hurriedly called for a rendition of the National Anthem.
“We all left the place in shock and disbelief but my commitment and loyalty to the party remains.”
He said he would consult with party elders from Borno State and many of his colleagues who encouraged him to join the race on the next line of action.
“It is not over until the Almighty Allah makes a final decision on who becomes President of the 9th Senate on the day of inauguration,” he concluded.
PDP Senators Ask APC To Leave Saraki Out Of Power Tussle
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Senate caucus has cautioned its counterparts in the APC to stop dragging the name of the incumbent Senate President, Bukola Saraki, into the schemes and plots by senators-elect of the ruling party over the leadership of the 9th Senate.
The PDP Senate caucus, in a statement by Senate Minority Leader, Senator Biodun Olujimi, and Chairman, Senate Committee on Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Sen. Dino Melaye, stated that it had observed closely as the contenders for the various leadership posts in the APC sponsor various publications in the media to make it appear that Saraki was seeking to play a role in who occupied the various posts in the next Senate.
The PDP Senate caucus warned that such surreptitious attempts to drag Saraki into the issue that did not concern him would not augur well for the smooth take-off of the next Senate and could only create suspicion and ill-will among the incumbent senators and the incoming ones.
The caucus said: “We have noted with regret and surprise how some senators who are interested in becoming the next Senate President and those seeking to occupy various leadership positions in the next Senate have been busy dragging the name of the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, into their schemes for fulfilling their ambitions.
“We believe those involved in this dirty game are only afraid of the shadow of the Senate President.
“Such people should know that Dr. Saraki is not interested in their plots, schemes, and manipulation.
“His concern now is to continue to provide leadership to the eighth Senate and to ensure that the Senate achieves as much as is possible in the remaining two months of its tenure.
“It is obvious that many senators and even senators-elect still defer to Saraki. And this is understandable because he is a national leader of the PDP.
“He is a respected senator who has also provided solid leadership for the Senate. So, those who are afraid of his influence should find a positive way to deal with that, not sponsoring falsehood in the media.”
Lambasting the lawmakers trying to drag the name of Saraki into the mud, the PDP Senate caucus noted that those who were not sure of their grounds in their quest for Senate leadership were busy putting a spin on their visit to the President of the Senate.
“Last week, PDP senators paid Dr. Saraki a visit in his home as a way of encouraging him, and in recognition of the personal sacrifice that he has had to make for providing strong and purposeful leadership to the National Assembly, for protecting the independence of the legislature and judiciary, separation of powers, inclusiveness in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious Nigeria and working for the creation of a conducive environment for business to thrive.
“Those who are not sure of their grounds in their quest for Senate leadership are busy putting a spin on that visit.
“Let it be known that no matter the mischief being sponsored by these spineless people, Dr. Saraki knows that it is the duty of all senators in the ninth Senate to elect their Senate President and other leaders.
“Nobody from outside the Senate has such powers. It is also the right of every senator to aspire to that position as stated by the constitution.
“He has benefitted from this practice of senators within the chambers exercising the right. He is conscious of this fact and will not be a party to any plan to seize or interfere with the process of evolving the leadership of the ninth Senate.
“We, therefore, urge the APC gladiators and their handlers to leave Saraki out of their schemes and manipulations.
“They should go and concentrate on how to convince the senators-elect and ensuring that the election of the next Senate President takes place in a conducive atmosphere with a view to strengthening the institution and making it perform its constitutional roles, without any hindrance,” the PDP caucus said.
National Assembly May Witness Surprises In June – PDP
Again, the PDP on Tuesday said there may be surprises when the ninth National Assembly elects its leadership in June.
Oshiomhole on Monday said the party was not ready to share power with the opposition in the National Assembly.
Oshiomhole said the party would not allow what happened in 2015 to reoccur in 2019 as the party would need a collaborative legislature to provide good governance to the people.
In 2015, APC had pencilled Senator Ahmad Lawan, the current Senate Leader, who hails from the North-East, for the position of Senate President while Femi Gbajabiamila from the South-West was positioned for the Speaker slot.
However, some APC lawmakers rebelled against the party and, in concert with their PDP colleagues, elected Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara as the Senate President and Speaker, respectively.
In a chat with Daily Independent, Kola Ologbondiyan, National Spokesman of the PDP, described the National Assembly as a political environment where surprises could occur at any time.
“The National Assembly is a political environment. Given the fact that it is a political environment, surprises can occur at any point in time.
“Surprises in the National Assembly cannot be foreclosed. Members of the National Assembly play politics within the confines of their respective chambers,” he said.
The party also cautioned Oshiomhole on his utterances over the election of the leadership of the incoming National Assembly, saying he had no capacity to order members of the legislative arm of government, which is independent, on how to go about its business.
The party spokesman said: “Oshiomhole is not talking to soldiers or robots. He is not addressing school boys or girls or babies. He is addressing adults who have the right to think and act according to the dictates of their thinking and reasoning.
“These federal lawmakers are not boys and girls that you can dictate to anyhow. These are accomplished ladies and gentlemen who have the responsibility to determine for themselves how they want to function in office and how they want to elect their leadership.
“Given the fact that the National Assembly is a political environment, Oshiomhole does not have the capacity or wherewithal to straitjacket any federal lawmaker.”
In a related development, there is anxiety in the APC over the rumoured alliance between Senator Danjuma Goje, lawmaker representing Gombe Central, and Bukola Saraki, incumbent Senate President, together with other PDP senators.
Goje, an APC senator, is one of the strong contenders for the coveted position of Senate President.
Goje, who was elected twice as governor of Gombe State under the PDP and won his senatorial seat in 2011 under the same platform before joining the APC, is also from the North-East.
It was alleged that many of the PDP senators see him as one of their own and they are ready to work with him just as they did with Saraki in 2015.
With 42 senators-elect, it is projected that if Goje can get 14 APC senators to support his aspiration, the APC’s arrangement may be truncated while the PDP may produce the Deputy Senate President as it happened in 2015.
A member of the APC’s National Working Committee (NWC) said they had “credible information that Goje, who was a former PDP member before joining the APC, had been having nocturnal meetings with PDP senators in order to truncate the APC zoning arrangement.
“Once bitten, twice shy. They are scheming but they will not succeed. Unlike in 2015, the president, national chairman and other party leaders are united as to where the Senate president and the speaker will come from. We won’t allow the mistake of 2015 to repeat itself,” he said.
Our Senators, Reps Can Hold Major Offices In NASS— PDP
Similarly, the PDP drew a battle line on Tuesday with the ruling APC over who will emerge as presiding officers of the National Assembly (NASS).
Its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, said its elected senators and members of the House of Representatives were constitutionally eligible and could seek election into any office in both chambers of the National Assembly.
The PDP noted that the position of the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, as well as the Deputy Senate President and the Deputy Speaker were not the exclusive preserves of any political party, but a constitutional right of every elected lawmaker in both chambers.
He said: “It is therefore laughable and amount to empty grandstanding and self-delusion for President Muhammadu Buhari and the factional National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, to posture as if the presiding offices and Committee Chairmanship in the National Assembly are exclusive rights of the APC.
“President Buhari and Oshiomhole should wake up to the fact that the National Assembly belongs to no political party but to all Nigerians, who exercise their control through their elected representatives.
“For emphasis, section 50 of the 1999 constitution (as amended) is clear in providing that ‘There shall be:- (a) a President and a Deputy President of the Senate, who shall be elected by the members of that House from among themselves; and (b) a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, who shall be elected by the members of that House from among themselves’.
“Section 92 (1) makes the same provision for the election of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of State House of Assembly.
“The PDP, therefore, does not only have a constitutional say in the process of the emergence of the leadership of the 9th National Assembly, but will, as a matter of constitutional right, field candidates into presiding offices of both chambers, if need be.”
