APC Picks Lawan, Gbajabiamila To Lead Senate, House

APC Senate president cadidate: Senator Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan from Yobe State (Yobe North)

• Saraki supporters in disarray, boycott mock election
• ‘Dogara stages walk-out with 15 supporters
• Akume, Monguno emerge candidates for Dep Senate President, Dep Speaker
• Buhari’s senators back Lawan

The coast got clearer yesterday for Dr. Ahmed Lawan and Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila to become Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives respectively when the 8th National Assembly is  inaugurated on Tuesday.

Their party,All Progres-sives Congress (APC) last night picked them as its official candidates for the two positions.

Lawan (Yobe North) will run with Mr. George Akume (Benue North) as Deputy Senate President.

The Nation reports:

Lawan polled 32 votes out of the 33 cast at the mock election. One vote was invalid.

The 32 include the three from Katsina State, home state of President Muhammadu Buhari.

It was gathered that the Saraki camp had met at a different location in Abuja and decided to go for outright election on the floor of the Senate.

Yesterday’s session was preceded by horse-trading with APC Senators-elect breaking into groups for consultations.

The intense lobbying delayed the session to allow some Senators-elect to make up their minds.

Although the meeting was scheduled to start by 8pm, proceeding  could not start  until 10.26pm when the APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun arrived with members of the National Working Committee of the party.

At about 10.40pm, the leaders of the party began to address the 33 Senators-elect present.

After waiting in vain for the Senators-elect loyal to Saraki, the National Working Committee of APC proceeded with the primaries at about 11.16pm when it called for nomination of candidates.

At exactly 11.17pm, Chief Barnabas Gemade nominated Ahmed Lawan for the office of the president of the Senate.

It was seconded by Senator Oluremi Tinubu.

When the Chief Returning Officer, Mai Mala Buni (the National Secretary of APC) called for nomination for the office of Deputy President, Senator  Ajayi Borrofice (Ondo North) nominated Senator George Akume. He was seconded by Comrade Shehu Sani( Kaduna Central).

At about 11.23pm, voting commenced with the Chief Returning Officer running through the list of 59 Senators-elect of the APC.

The National Vice Chairman ( North East), Engr. B.B. Lawal conducted the sorting and counting of votes.

Addressing newsmen on the outcome of the primary election, the Chief Returning Officer, Buni said the number accredited voters was 33, 32 voted for Lawan and one was invalid

“By the powers conferred on he by the NWC of the APC, Sen. Lawan, having satisfied the requirements, is hereby declared elected for the Office of the President of the Senate and George Akume for the Deputy President of the Senate.”

Apart from Ahmed Lawan, some of the senators-elect in his camp at the ICC were Rabiu Kwankwanso, Bukar Abba Ibrahim, George Akume, Adamu Aliero, Ajayi Borrofice, Gemade Barnabas, Adamu Abdullahi, Jide Omoworare, Abu Ibrahim, Bayero Nafada, Gbenga Ashafa, Sola Adeyeye, Abdullahi Abubakar Gumel, Suleiman Hunkuyi, Ahmed Barau Jibrin, and Isiaka Adeleke.

Others were Kabiru Gaya, Nazif Suleiman, Nafada Ibrahim, Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu, Shehu Sani, Solomon Olamilekan, Kabiru Marafa, Lanre Tejuoso, Fatai Buhari, Mrs. Monsurat Sunmonu, Soji Akanbi, Bala Na’Allah, Gbolahan Dada, Umaru Kurfi , Abdulaziz Murtala Nyako, and Mustapha Sani.

A Senator-elect from Katsina State, Mustapha Bukar, who left Abuja last night for Germany to attend to his health,wrote a letter to Oyegun expressing his full backing for Lawan.

In his acceptance speech, Lawan said his victory was not only for the Unity Forum that is in the vanguard of his campaign but for the entire senate.

“We need to bring together every APC Senator. This change cannot be a real change unless everybody is on board,” he said and promised to be “just, fair and equitable.”

He also pledged to “reach out to our colleagues who could not make it to this session so that the APC can be one family.”

Lawan’s rival for the position, Dr. Bukola Saraki and his supporters boycotted the process even after signing an agreement earlier in the day with the Lawan group to abide by the outcome of the election.

The decision of the party leadership to go ahead with the shadow election is said to have thrown the Saraki group otherwise known as Like Minds into disarray with some  saying they should have participated in yesterday’s process and others insisting that they were right in boycotting it.

The group last night attributed its decision to stay away from the mock election to the adoption of the open ballot system for the process.

It said that option was primitive and undemocratic.

The Like Minds, in a statement said it “shall not be part of a process that promotes undemocratic electoral process that may resort to rancorous and uncivil situation which inhibits the rights of individuals to vote for their choice, as this process will further divide us than unite members of our party.”

Several PDP senators -elect are reportedly angry with Dr.Saraki for branding the 7th Senate as a failure and have vowed to vote against him on Tuesday.

The Lawan group on the other hand is confident about its chances on Tuesday.

Thirty- one APC senators-elect voted for Akume as the party’s Deputy Senate president candidate. Two votes were declared invalid.

It was preceded by the emergence of Mr. Gbajabiamila as the APC’s official candidate for the position of House ofReps Speaker.

After three hours of voting in the shadow election conducted for APC members interested in the position, Gbajabiamila (Surulere 1,Lagos), defeated Yakubu Dogara (Bogoro/Dass/Tafawa Balewa, Bauchi State) by 154 votes to 3.

Four votes were invalid.

A shocked Dogara stormed out of the International Conference Centre venue of the shadow election with 19 of his supporters.

Spokesman for his group, Abdulmumin Jibrin said the shadow election has no place in the APC constitution.

But moment afterwards, three of them retraced their steps and joined the rest of their colleagues.

One hundred and eighty-three of the party’s 209 Reps-elect signed the attendance register at yesterday’s meeting, the APC National Secretary, Mallam Mai Mala Buni, said.

One hundred and sixty-one of the 183 voted at the straw poll, with about 22 others either abstaining or leaving the venue.

Alhaji Tahir Monguno  (Marte/Monguno/Nganzai,Borno State) scored 153 votes to emerge the sole candidate of the party for the position of Deputy Speaker.

Dogara was understood last night to be trying to negotiate with the leadership of APC for the Office of Deputy Speaker.

He was however told that his move came too late in the day and that he should have done that before the primaries.

It was also gathered that he was contemplating a parallel primary election last night.

Party sources said the APC opted for the shadow election after all efforts to agree on a consensus candidate for the Speaker failed.

The atmosphere at the venue was initially charged but the tension soon gave way in the face of the transparency method adopted by the party’s leadership.

The primary election was conducted after a water-tight screening of members-elect.

Members-elect began arriving the ICC as early as 9am while voting by secret ballot started at 2.26pm.

Before the commencement of the poll, the APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun appealed for calm.

He allowed some members to address the session after which nominations for the Office of the Speaker were invited.

Announcing the result, National Secretary Bunu said: “By the powers conferred on me by the NWC of the APC as the Chief Returning Officer of the election, I certify that Femi Gbajabiamila, having scored the highest votes is declared sole candidate of the APC for the office of the Speaker of the 8th Assembly of the House of Representatives”.

Congratulating the winners, the National Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun said: “On behalf of the party and NWC, I congratulate the sole candidate of the office of speaker. The party wishes you well. More than anything else, I congratulate all of you. You have been exemplary. You have been patient.

“What is important today is that you (incoming members) have freely elected your leaders. This is what the APC stands for. This was done in the glare of cameras and everybody knew you were here. This is what this party stands for; this is what we must do. Internal democracy must prevail.

“I thank you for the example that you have shown today. The party will work and interact with you closely at every stage. Not the point of dictating with you, but to be on the same page in all issues that affects the nation.

“I want to charge you that from the minute you leave this hall; you must reach out to all members of the APC. As Mr. President did, so you must do and stretch your hand of fellowship to the other side. Please, I am not setting anybody down. Most institutions today have suffered a lot of bashing.

“You must restore the confidence of the people in the House. It means sacrifice, leadership by example. We have cut down on waste. You have made us proud today and I am proud to be your chairman”.

Responding after being declared the sole candidate for the Speaker, Gbajabiamila thanked members for believing in him and giving him the opportunity to lead them in the House as Minority leader and capping it with a mandate to be the Speaker when the 8th National Assembly is inaugurated.

He said though the APC had the strength to produce the Speaker alone, the position he is seeking will only be legitimate if elected by all members of the House irrespective of the parties they represent.

He said: “There are about 20 members of the APC that could not make it to Abuja and were not here. These members are part of my and Mongunu’s group. Do, if you really add those numbers to what has been done here today, it is sufficient for the APC members to, on their own win the election to the office of the Speaker.

“But I have said this countless number of times and I will say it again: this is not the mandate that I seek. Legally, yes, we need 181 members to be the speaker and APC can provide that. But that is not the mandate that we seek. It will be legal, but it will not be a legitimate mandate.

“Legitimacy is found only when we get the votes across board, from all members of the House of Representatives. That is a legitimate mandate. That is what I and Mongunu will be seeking when we get to the floor of the House”

Spokesman for the Yakubu Dogara Consolidation Group, Abdulmumin Jibrin dismissed the shadow election as an ambush by the APC leadership.

Jibrin said while the pro-Dogara Reps  were not being  disrespectful to the leadership of the party, they were only insisting that the party should allow the next Speaker of the House to emerge on the floor of the House.

He said: “We stated it clearly that we will not participate in this election because it undermines the principle of the constitution of the APC. It undermines the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“Our position is one and only: the next Speaker of the House of Representatives should be decided on the floor of the House on Tuesday 9th of June, 2015. That is what the constitution provided and that is our own position”

Member elect for Soba Federal Constituency in Kaduna State, Barrister Mohammed Soba said they stood by the decision of the party to present a single candidate for the Speaker of the House.

He said the straw poll conducted by the party was not seeking to disqualify anybody who is interested from contesting.

Dismissing those who walked out of the meeting, he said: “What we are trying to do here is legal. We want to go to the House with one candidate for the position of Speaker. Those that walked out are trying to team up with the PDP. That is why they are trying to stop the party from taking a position.

“We are not stopping anybody from contesting the Speakership when we get to the floor of the House. We are saying here is that we have only one candidate as a party and we will not support any other candidate when we get to the House. But anybody is free to contest.

“If you think you are popular, you go and contest. Many of those who walked out were former PDP members who joined the party. They have never been in the opposition before. So, I am not surprised by their action”.

A top APC leader said last night that Dogara having realized the futility of his walk out ” attempted to renegotiate with APC leadership for the Office of Deputy Speaker. But we said we cannot promise you deputy.

“We told him he should have withdrawn from the race to allow for reconciliation, realignment of interests and a revisit of power sharing. It was too late in the day for Dogara.”

It was learnt that Dogara and his supporters were planning a parallel primary election.

But a top APC leader said the party might wield the big stick if there was any such parallel shadow election.

The leader said: “The party will enforce discipline if any ambitious member misbehaves.”