Concerted efforts being made by the leadership of the ruling All
Progressives Congress (APC) to pacify some senators who are against its
zoning formula in the selection of the leadership of the National
Assembly failed to yield its desired result as Senators Danjuma Goje and
Ali Ndume insisted on vying for Senate presidency in the 9th National
Assembly.
While Ndume has insisted that he will not step down for
the party’s anointed candidate, Senator Ahmad Lawan, Goje, who is
believed to enjoy the support of senators elected on the platform of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) even though he has not formally declared
his intention, is believed to be working underground to subvert APC
leadership decision.
It is widely believed that the
leadership of the APC which is working tirelessly to avoid the coup plot
of 2015 is in talk with Goje to withdraw from the race and support
Lawan, who will in turn compensate him with a juicy committee headship.
However,
on Thursday, Goje was openly called upon by a group of Amalgamated
Youths from the North-East to declare his ambition without any further
delay. A move political analysts said was one of Goje’s schemes.
In
making the call at the entrance to the National Assembly, the group led
by one Bello Ambo from Bauchi State, said neither the endorsement of
Lawan by the national leadership of APC nor expression of interest by
Senator Ndume should prevent Goje from throwing his hat into the ring
now.
According to him, as far as public service experience is
concerned, Goje stands far above the other two having controlled a whole
state for eight years between 2003 and 2011 and being in the Senate
since then with required parliamentary experience.
“Position of
Senate president requires administrative and parliamentary knowledge
enormously possessed by Goje as against the two other contenders from
the zone”, he said.
When reminded that the ruling party has taken
a final decision on who should occupy the position with the endorsement
of Lawan last week Monday, the coordinator of the group said
senators-elect are mature people who can decide who their leader should
be and should be allowed to do so.
“Our party (APC) is a party of
the people and not few leaders. The party should allow the people in
this case, senators-elect, to decide whoever they want as their leader
in whatever capacity.
“For us the Goje Support Groups from the
North East for the presidency of the 9th Senate (GSGNE), Senator Danjuma
Goje is the right man for the job. He has the required experience as
tested administrator and high ranking lawmaker.
“He is a man of
the people and a senator with all what it takes, in carrying others
along across party lines and most importantly, a party man to the core
who will fit perfectly into the next level agenda of President Muhammadu
Buhari”, he said.
Speaking on the development on Channels
Television programme, ‘Politics Today’ on Thursday, Opeyemi Bamidele,
senator-elect for Ekiti Central, said they are concerned that events of
2015 does not repeat itself again, especially the needless confrontation
between the executive and legislative arms of government.
“It’s
not about Lawan. The concern we have is that it must not be the same old
story. We all saw what happened in 2015. When there is confrontation
with executive and legislative arms of government, it is the country
that suffers.
“From all who have come out to contest as Senate
president, I have not seen anyone who is not eminently qualified but
there are global parliamentary best practices that must be followed.
“This
is about democracy and definitely you cannot stop people who feel
strongly about contesting from contesting but we need a leadership that
is not only experienced but that can relate with people across party
lines.
“Senator Lawan is the most experienced. By the time we
will be inaugurated, he would have spent 20 years in the National
Assembly”, he said.
Also speaking on the same programme, Senator
Abiodun Olujimi, the Minority Leader of the Senate, said while the PDP
will not field any candidate for the position of Senate president, the
ruling APC will play into their hands.
Olujimi said anyone
contesting for the position of Senate presidency and thinks 44 PDP
senators out of 109 senators are not needed will be making the greatest
mistake of his life.
“The controversy is unnecessary because the
dynamics of the Senate is different from what is outside. What will
happen is that whoever will be the Senate president will have to network
between APC and PDP lawmakers.
“Anyone who thinks 44 members out
of 109 senators are not important will have another thing coming.
Anyone who ignored that will suffer just like it happened when we
resumed in 2015.
“No. We are not going to field a candidate but they are going to play into our hands”, she said.
