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President
Muhammadu Buhari
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•APC governors, state chairmen want Saraki, Dogara to accept party’s
list on principal officers
•Ogbeh may head disciplinary committee
•Ogbeh may head disciplinary committee
For President Muhammadu Buhari, the emergence of a
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) member as deputy Senate President in the
current dispensation is nothing short of a setback for his administration.
He is irked that some
members of his own party, All Progressives Congress (APC), conceded the
position to Ike Ekweremadu when the PDP never gave that much all through
its 16 years in power between 1999 and last May.
But he is optimistic
that the APC will overcome the setback.
The Nation report continues:
President Buhari made his
feelings known at a meeting with a delegation of the Unity
Forum at the Aso Rock Villa on Friday night.
The forum is the
group of senators backing Dr. Ahmed Lawan, the APC anointed candidate for the
Senate Presidency.
Buhari, at the meeting,
reportedly pleaded for the understanding of APC Senators as the party
explores reconciliation options.
However, the majority
of the APC governors and state chairmen of the party are insisting that
Senate President Bukola Saraki and House of Reps Speaker Yakubu Dogara
comply with the party’s directive on the choice of principal officers of the
National Assembly.
The APC governors and
state chairmen are encouraging the leadership of the party to enforce discipline
to prevent it from collapsing.
Some party leaders, it
was gathered, have proposed a former National Chairman of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Audu Ogbeh, as chairman of the APC Disciplinary
Committee to look into allegations of anti-party activities against some
members.
President Buhari at the
Friday meeting was said to have said there was no reason for the party to
be divided over who heads the National Assembly.
“The President gave us
audience and admitted that the development in the Senate was a setback but he
expressed confidence that APC will overcome it,” a source at the meeting said.
“He said there was no
basis for the split among APC Senators which led to the concession of the
Office of Deputy President of the Senate to the PDP. He said PDP did not give
the opposition such an opportunity in its 16 years in power.
“Buhari told Lawan and
others not to take the law into their hands as the leaders of the party explore
reconciliation options. He said peace and the survival of the nation’s democracy
should be paramount more than any other thing.”
Asked to assess the
President’s mood at the session, the source added: “He was not happy about the
development in the Senate but he was hopeful that the situation is redeemable
if some leaders can sacrifice their ambitions for the survival of APC and his
administration.”
Another source said: “The
session was cordial and reassuring. The President interacted with us
individually and even had time to crack jokes with us before we receded into
the business of the day.
“As for the Lawan group,
it was Senator Barnabas Gemade who spoke on behalf of the 51 aggrieved
Senators.
“Gemade said the Unity
Forum is after justice since its members have demonstrated their faith in APC
leadership and having been loyal to the party to a fault.
“Gemade restated the six
demands of the group and the need to prevail on Saraki and Dogara to abide by
the directive of the party on the nominees for principal offices in the Senate
and House of Representatives.”
The source quoted Gemade
as saying: “When the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo called a meeting to
address the looming challenge, it was only our group that responded; we were
the only group which participated in the party’s straw poll and even on June 9,
we deferred to the party’s invitation to a meeting at the International
Conference Centre.
“Before anybody knew it,
the Like Minds went for the inauguration of the Senate and elected Saraki.
“We have proved our
unflinching loyalty to the party. This is the time for the party to assert
itself and enforce discipline or else members will continue to take the
leadership of the party for granted.”
Ahead of the meeting of
the National Executive Committee of the APC on Tuesday, there were indications
last night that the governors elected on the platform of the party and state
chairmen are pushing for Dr. Saraki and Hon. Dogara to comply with the party’s
directive on the choice of principal officers of the National Assembly.
They said they will no
longer tolerate the defiance of the party by the two leaders.
A member of the NWC said:
“We are expecting a stormy session on Tuesday. Saraki and Dogara will have to
choose between loyalty to the party or self-serving agenda.
“The only condition for
moving forward is for these leaders to accept the list sent to them by the
National Chairman of APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.
Those recommended
by the APC for Senate positions are Sen. Ahmed Lawan(Majority
Leader)—North-East; Prof. Sola Adeyeye( Chief Whip)—South-West; Sen. George
Akume( Deputy Majority Leader)—North-Central; and Sen. Abu Ibrahim(Deputy Chief
Whip)—North-West.
The party’s list for the
8th House of Representatives is as follows: Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila (House
Leader)—South-West; Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa( Deputy House Leader)—North-West;
Hon. M. T. Monguno( Chief Whip)—North-East; and Hon. Pally Iriase( Deputy Chief
Whip)—South-South.
It was gathered that if
Saraki and Dogara refused to respect the party’s list, APC may resort to sanctions.
It was learnt that some
forces in the party are pushing for the appointment of a former National
Chairman of PDP, Chief Audu Ogbeh as the head of the party’s Disciplinary
Committee.
A top member of the party
said: “There is no doubt that Ogbeh is well grounded in party politics and he
is a disciplinarian. We are thinking of him to assist in unraveling the
anti-party activities in the Senate and the House.”
I’ve No Deal With PDP, Ekweremadu, Says Saraki
•Promises reconciliation with aggrieved senators, party leaders
Senate President Bukola Saraki claimed yesterday that he had
nothing to do with the re-emergence of Ike Ekweremadu as Deputy Senate
President at the June 9 controversial election at the Upper Chamber.
Saraki, whose choice as
Senate President went against the wish of his party, the All Progressives
Congress (APC), also denied receiving any message to attend a party
meeting at the International Conference Centre (ICC) on the day.
He spoke at his maiden
press conference in Abuja as Senate President.
He said that contrary to
the insinuation in many quarters, he had no deal with Ekweremadu
or the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Ekweremadu becoming
deputy senate president.
All he did, according to
him, was to reach out to all Senators to support his (Saraki’s) bid to head the
Senate.
His words: “On the
morning of the inauguration, I didn’t finish meeting until 4:00 of that day and
I had got information that efforts would likely be made to make sure that I
didn’t get access into the chambers.
“So, as early as 4:00am
and 5:00am, I had made contingency plans that I must get into the National
Assembly because the plan before was that Senators-elect should go to the
Transcorp Hilton Hotel around 8:00clock and 9:00am to proceed to the National
Assembly.
“But I was advised that
it would not be safe or secure for me to do that because some people made sure
that if I didn’t get into the chambers, it would not be possible for me to be
nominated for the nomination to be seconded and for me to accept the nomination.
“I can tell you today
that I was in the National Assembly Complex as early as 6:00 in the morning and
I stayed in a car in the park from 6:00 in the morning till quarter to 10:00am.
“This is the truth. I
stayed there and I was there with no communication whatsoever.
“So, anybody who said
they spoke to me to go to the ICC, that is not true because I didn’t even
know what was going on. All I was monitoring was how people were arriving at
the complex.
“It was at quarter to
10:00 that I got information that the Clerk to the National Assembly had
entered the chamber.
“So, I got out of the
small car I was inside, stretched myself and put on my babariga because
I didn’t have it on before then.
“I walked from the car
park into the chamber. That was why some of you would have seen that I looked
very tired on that morning.
“Even when I was in the
chamber, I didn’t know what had transpired earlier on.
“The only thing I
observed was that it appeared that some of our Senators were not in the chamber
and the fact that my colleagues arrived in batches, I had the opinion that they
were on their way and by 10:00am, the programme started.
“Before I knew it, my
election had come and gone. Even my people were worried. It was only when I got
into the chamber that they were relieved.”
On the alleged pact
between him and PDP Senators to vote for him and then choose Ekwermadu as
Deputy President of the Senate, Saraki said there was no such deal.
He blamed the re-election
of Ekweremadu to the position on the absence from the Senate chamber
of greater majority of APC Senators.
“Never in our wildest
imagination did we envisage that some Senators would not be present on the day
of the inauguration,” he said.
“In my own view, and in
the view of some of those who worked closely with me, I worked hard for my
election.
“I had direct contact
with every single Senator, one on one; weeks leading to the election. I did not
rely on anybody. I worked hard both in our party, the APC, and out of it.
“I approached every
Senator, I talked to them…we built confidence, not only in the APC, but also,
in the PDP. I talked to them.
“That was why I laugh
when people said I had a deal with Ekweremadu or I had a hand in the emergence
of Ekweremadu.
“I didn’t need any deal
to win. I had penetrated…There was no deal; I didn’t need any deal in the first
place.
“I had worked hard such
that everybody who was a Senator, I campaigned hard and canvassed for their
votes and won their confidence.
“One of the meetings held
at Transcorp Hilton, which Senator Godswill Akpabio co-chaired with Senator
Ibrahim Gobir and a few others had both APC and PDP members in attendance.
“At that meeting, if you
heard most of them there, the position they took was that ‘this is the Senate
President they want.’
“Across party lines, they
believe in me and that this is the Senate President that can lead us…there was
no deal.
“Sometimes, I wonder how
some of our colleagues found themselves at the ICC. If it had been a case of
the Clerk of the National Assembly making an announcement that the
event had been postponed or it was no longer holding… There was no invitation.
I’m sure some are asking now: what really happened?”
Saraki also said that
long before the June 9 election PDP Senators had made it clear that they
would support him “without even meeting me because in their own meeting,
majority had decided to vote for me.”
He added: “In their own
interest, strategically, they decided that, look this is a fait
accompli because 30 of their own Senators were going to vote for this
man anyway and the remaining felt it was better to join.
“It wasn’t until 2:00am
that they called us to tell us about their decision.
“With regards to the
deputy, when they told us that they had a candidate, we, too, told them we had
a candidate for Deputy Senate President in the person of Senator Ali Ndume.
“After our own meeting,
it was our thinking that it was after the election of the Senate President that
the two groups in APC would meet and we would agree on a candidate.
“We never in our
imagination thought they would not turn up. By the time we got there, we were
only 24 while the PDP Senators were more than 40.
“In an election, there is
no way they would not have defeated us and that was what happened?
“Now, when people say it
was a deal, I say that if the Clerk to the National Assembly had started the
procedure in the House of Representatives first and moved to the Senate
thereafter, today, we, the APC, would have had the deputy Senate
President.
“It is unfortunate that
we have a PDP man as Deputy Senate President. It is painful. It is painful for
any APC member because we went through the struggle. That was not what we
signed for.
“But it has happened; but
it is unfortunate and it is not fair to put the blame on one side because it is
a combination of errors and miscalculations that led us to have what we have.
“So, to suggest that it
was out of a desperate act to emerge is what I reject completely and those who
followed the events would know that I didn’t have that deal to emerge.”
Asked about his
relationship with the APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu he said: “he is
one of the leaders of the party. We have great respect for him. Myself and him,
we have worked very closely together on major issues in this party leading to
this issue that were very important at different stages in the development of
our party.
“In this matter, as much
as I wanted to win his support, unfortunately I didn’t happen. It happens like
that.
“I think at the end of
the day we will look at the things we have done together that have gone well,
many before now: three, four major issues.
“One is a setback but I
don’t think that that in any way should be what should dictate the kind of
relationship that we have. I believe that we are both responsible and committed
to the project of the party and idea that we would overcome this and move
forward.
“That’s our intention as
part of the healing process too to be able to do that and it will happen.”
On the process of healing
in the Senate, he said “The process of healing is going on. It is just two
weeks after the election. It is normal after an election like this, for this
kind of position that was fiercely contested, there will be sentiments, there
will be emotions.
“If you can remember
after the presidential primaries, for weeks there were huge sentiments and
emotions. There are some people today who are now pretending that they love
President Buhari more than us. They didn’t attend rallies, they sat in their
houses. We were begging them.
“What I’m saying is that
two weeks for me is short in a healing process. We need to give some time. Two
weeks is too short.
“What I can assure you as
somebody who has taken this position I will not stop until I see there is a
full healing process, full reconciliation. Those that know me know that I’m a
fair minded person. I will be fair to everybody because everybody too has
contributed for us to get here.
“Things have happened
unfortunately, it cannot be a winner takes all; everybody must be part of that
process. We will get there. During this period of recess, by the time we come
back, I believe that we will be able pretty much to get together as united APC
family.
“I want my action to
speak more than what I say. Let’s come in one month’s time. I’m confident that
this will be a thing of the past. The issues before us when we were elected are
greater than this.”
Saraki also said that the
talk about 2019 presidential election makes him sad.
He said: “On 2019
aspiration, I hear a lot about this 2019 and honestly I feel very sad. I’m
very, very sad that people are talking about 2019.” 
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