Ranking will determine who becomes Senate President – should All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders embrace a suggestion by a 12-man delegation pushing the Lawan/Akume ticket.
The group has presented the Senate Rules to the APC chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, insisting on ranking.
On the floor of the Senate yesterday, Senate President David Mark ruled out the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the race.
Mark, responding to Akume’s comment at the final session of the seventh Senate said: “Because Senator Akume thanked me, let me also thank him and remind him that we are in the PDP and election of incoming leaders is the matter for APC and not for PDP.
The APC will meet with Senators-elect tomorrow on how its members could forge a united front on Tuesday.
The party may also dump plans to conduct a shadow election for the two leading aspirants – Sen. Ahmed Lawan and Sen. Bukola Saraki.
The 12-man delegation, which was led by Sen. Barnabas Gemade, met with Odigie-Oyegun on Wednesday night in Abuja.
Other Senators-elect on the team were Adamu Aliero, Abdullahi Adamu, Abu Ibrahim, Sola Adeyeye, Gbenga Ashafa, Kabir Gaya, Bukar Abba-Ibrahim, Abdullahi Gumel, Jibrin Barau, Paullen Tallen and Nafiz Suleiman.
Those with Odigie-Oyegun at the session were the National Chairman (North), Sen. Lawal Shuaibu, the National Vice Chairman (South), Chief Olusegun Oni, the National Secretary, Mai Mala Buni,
A source in the team said: “We met the National Chairman and some of the national officers and demanded that ranking should be followed in choosing the next president of the Senate. This is the convention all over the world.
“We made a case for Lawan-Akume ticket because by ranking, they are the most experienced among the senators-elect.
“We told the party clearly that we have 40 senators-elect behind the Akume-Lawan ticket.”
Responding to a question, the source added: “At a point, Odigie-Oyegun asked the delegation why Akume was made Minority Leader in the 7th Senate when Lawan was the most ranking.
“We told the session that Akume was of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) while Lawan was of the ANPP. The ACN had more senators than the ANPP and it was the lot of the ACN to produce the Minority Leader.”
Thirty-five senators who are members of the 40-member Unity Forum yesterday gave reasons why they are backing Lawam for Senate President and Senator Akume as his deputy.
The thirty five members of the Unity Forum signed the letter, which carries a five-point resolution in which they informed the party of their support for the Lawan-Akume ticket.
They also assured the party of their determination to abide by the extant Standing Order of the Senate during voting, when the eighth Assembly is proclaimed on Tuesday.
The letter was signed by Senators Gemade, Ibrahim, Adeyeye, Adamu and Ibrahim. There are also signatures of other members which premised their resolutions as follows:
That “Senator Ahmed Lawan shall be the highest ranking APC Senator and George Akume the second highest ranking APC Senator in the 8th Assembly. This is so as Ahmad Lawan has spent 16 years in the National Assembly; eight years in the House of Representatives and another eight years in the Senate. While Akume has so far spent eight years in the Senate. The next behind the duo in terms of ranking who is also in the contest is Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki who has spent only four years in the Senate. Thus, Senator Ahmad Lawan is the most qualified to be the Senate President while Senator George Akume is the most qualified to be the Deputy Senate President of the 8th Assembly in accordance with Rule 3 Order (2) of the Extant Senate Standing Orders which states as follows;
“Nomination of senators to serve as Presiding Officers and appointments of Principal Officers and other Officers of the Senate or on any Parliamentary delegations shall be in accordance with the ranking of Senators. In determining ranking, the following Oder shall apply-
(i) Senators retiring based on number of times re-elected;
(ii) Senators who had been members of the House of Representatives; and
(iii) Senators elected as Senators for the first time.”
Alluding to the results of the election to buttress its resolution, the Unity Forum said: “Since the Northwest zone which gave the APC the highest votes in the 2015 general elections is represented by the President in this government and the Southwest, which gave APC the second highest votes in the same election is represented by the Vice President in this same government, then the Northeast zone which gave the APC the third highest vote in the 2015 general elections should for the sake of equity be allowed to produce the Senate President and the North central Zone which gave the APC the forth highest vote in that election should be allowed to produce the Deputy Senate President.”
The group contended “ that there were three identified voting blocs that ensured the victory of the APC in the 2015 elections: The Hausa-Fulani bloc, the Yoruba bloc and the Northern minorities bloc. Thus, the Hausa-Fulani bloc is represented by the President in this government. The Yoruba bloc is represented by the Vice President. It has therefore become appropriate and equitable that the Northern minorities’ bloc be given the positions of the Senate President and the Deputy Senate President to be occupied by Senators Ahmad Lawan and George Akume respectively who are of Northern minorities.”
They resolved “that Ahmad Lawan as Senate President will give our compatriots in the Northeast zone a sense of full integration into the heterogenous Nigerian polity.
“That the duo of Senators Lawan and Akume maintained clean records throughout their stint in the public service. This attribute will put them on high moral pedestal to lead the 8th Senate to bring about a corrupt-free Nigeria,” they said.
Tomorrow’s meeting, which was scheduled for yesterday, was postponed because of the valedictory session of the 7th Senate.
A party leader said: “Some senators-elect made representation that it was not ripe for APC leaders to meet with them because the timing clashed with the valedictory session of the 7th Senate.
“Also, some senators-elect had travelled abroad and there was need to recall them to be part of the consensus building by the party.”
As at press time, it was learnt that the APC might drop plans to conduct primaries or shadow election for Lawan and Saraki.
“From the way things are going, the party might not conduct shadow poll for the two aspirants for the Office of the President of the Senate. The two groups do not seem to be ready for consensus.
“Some senators-elect believe it is not within the jurisdiction of the party to conduct shadow election since the Senate is a multi-party setting. They said senators from other parties must have a say on who will lead them.”
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