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President Muhammadu Buhari
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President
Muhammadu Buhari may no longer be disinterested in the election of the leaders
of the 8th national assembly.
He
has summoned an emergency meeting of all senators and house members elected on
the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The
meeting will hold on Tuesday morning at the International Conference
Centre, Abuja, starting from 9am, just before the federal lawmakers head for the
national assembly complex to elect their leaders.
The
notice of the meeting was communicated by Lai Mohammed, the party’s
national publicity secretary, who said “all concerned must endeavour to
attend”.
TheCable
understands that the emergency meeting was in response to the surprise move by
the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which officially endorsed Bukola
Saraki and Yakubu Dongara for senate president and speaker respectively.
The
APC leadership had held a straw poll at the weekend and picked Ahmad Lawan and
Femi Gbajabiamila as the official candidates. Saraki and Dogara rejected the
outcome of the poll.
However,
with the PDP having a significant number of senators and house members, the
division in APC may play to the advantage of Saraki and Dogara, who were
members of the PDP before the crisis that engulfed the party before the 2015
elections.
“It
has been difficult persuading Buhari to show more than a passing interest in
the leadership of the national assembly,” a senator-elect told TheCable.
“But
it is becoming very glaring to all that nature abhors vacuum. If PDP decides
who becomes senate president as well as who is speaker, there is every chance
that Buhari would have started on a wrong footing.”
At least 55 senators are
needed to pick a senate president and 181 reps to pick the speaker. APC
has 59 senators and PDP 49, while the new ruling party also has 182 reps and
PDP 147.
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