party, All Progressives Congress APC in regards
to sharing principal offices in the Senate.
The principal offices are the Senate Leader; the
Deputy Senate Leader; the Chief Whip and the
Deputy Chief Whip.
The President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, is
believed to have recommended to the APC
National Working Committee that the positions
be allocated to the zone, however, some leaders
of the party, mainly those from the South-West,
want them filled by the party’s hierarchy.
On Thursday,a senator in Abuja said that the
APC NWC meeting failed to agree on the
modalities for brokering peace among aggrieved
party members.
The senator warned that if the issue was not
quickly resolved, the Senate and the APC might
“face another round of crisis bigger than that
that resulted from Saraki’s emergence as
Senate president.”
He said:
“The Senate President, had after wide
consultations, suggested how the
officers to occupy these posts could be
appointed. He suggested the allocation
of the four principal offices to some of
the geopolitical zones.
“But some leaders, who are still angry
with his (Saraki) emergence, turned down
his suggestion. Some of the influential
leaders from the South-West are insisting
that the party should fill the offices. This
is in spite of the fact that the chairman
of our party (John Odigie-Oyegun) and
other members of the NWC are in
support of allocating the principal offices
to zones.
“The South-West leaders are even saying
that allowing the party leadership to fill
the offices, remained the only way to
allow peace to reign in the Senate.”
A Senator from the North-Central , who is loyal
to Saraki, confirmed the development on
condition of anonymity .
He said that it was true that some APC leaders
were insisting that the party should nominate
the senators who would occupy the four
principal offices .
He said,
“By the Senate tradition, the party in
majority normally sends the offices to
the zones where the Senate caucuses
would meet and choose among
themselves in the zone, who occupies
the offices.
“Some other leaders of the party are
claiming that asking the party to produce
the principal officers was a smart way
to impose the Senate Leader, the Deputy
Senate Leader, the Chief Whip and the
Deputy Chief Whip on the Senate.”
The senator claimed that a “very influential “
leader of the party from the South-West had
allegedly written Odigie- Oyegun that the
leaders would fill the positions. “
He said,
“Some of us were just called by some
members of the NWC intimating us of
details of a letter forwarded to the body
that it should just fill the remaining four
leadership positions in the Senate.
“In fact, the letter from the South-West
leader is that the party must take charge
and name its preferred candidates for the
four offices.”
It was further learnt that some senators had
already met with some NWC members asking
them to ignore the letter.
They were said to have insisted that the
tradition remained that the zonal caucuses
which did not produce the Senate President and
his deputy should meet and nominate among
themselves.
They added that it was when there were two or
more nominations that, an election could hold
and that whoever scored the highest votes
would be the candidate.
Efforts to get the spokesperson for the pro
Saraki group, Dino Melaye, proved abortive
because he couldn't be reached on his mobile
phone.
Spokesperson for the Senate Unity Forum, a
group of senators loyal to Lawan, Kabir
Marafa, argued that the choice of other
principal officers who are not elected on the
floor of the Senate, remained the sole business
of the party leadership.
He said, “How can the executive of the party at
the zonal levels determine who will be made the
Senate Leader, the Deputy Senate Leader, the
Chief Whip and the Deputy Chief Whip?
“It is the party executive that would determine
all these. So the party would write the Senate
President. That is the tradition. It cannot be
done at the zonal level, it is absurd. There
should be due process in whatever things we
do.”
But when contacted , the National Publicity
Secretary of the party, Lai Mohammed simply
said, “No comment.”
Punch.
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