Senate President: Plot to stop Saraki thickens

Prominent leaders of the All Progressives Congress have banded together to thwart the efforts of Senator Bukola Saraki from emerging the Senate President. His rebellious disposition even against his late father has been cited in the case against him. OLUSESAN LAOYE reports

Intense pressure is now being mounted as the plot to stop Senator Bukola Saraki from emerging President of the 8th Senate thickens. The inauguration of the new National Assembly is to take place next week Monday all things being equal. Saraki is one of the leading contenders for the Senate leadership and number three position in the order of protocol in the country. Though the odds seem to favour him, however latest development point to the possibility of his defeat in the race.

Despite the fact that he is said to be enjoying wide support within and outside his political party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, he is facing strong opposition from some of the leaders of the party who fear that he may be difficult to control and might pursue a different agenda if he becomes the Senate President outside that of the party.

In the race for the Senate President, Saraki is fighting it out with other ranking Senators like the former Majority Leader, George Akume (Benue), Danjuma Goje (Gombe), incumbent Senate President, David Mark (Benue), Ali Ndume (Borno), Ahmed Lawan (Yobe). Among all the candidates interested in the job, only Mark is of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, but he may not in any way be favoured because he would be operating in the Senate as an opposition. He has been on the seat for eight years uninterrupted.

Sources informed Hallmark that some strong leaders of the APC are not willing to allow Saraki to be the Senate President, and they based their argument on the doubt over his loyalty to the party, which he joined after it has been formed. It was also argued that Saraki only wanted to use the party to achieve his personal ambition which they believed could at the end of the day be detrimental to the aspirations and what the party was set out to achieve in a long term.

Hallmark was reliably informed that the plot to stop Saraki has continued to thicken on daily basis, while some powerful leaders of the party are as well mobilising to deflate any move being made to win the support of the majority of the APC members, who would be in the 8th Senate. It was gathered that leaders and members of the APC met both in Lagos and Ibadan last weekend to deliberate on the way forward, after President Muhammadu Buhari was sworn in. At the meeting the issue of the leadership of the National Assembly was said to have been exhaustively discussed, while strong opposition against Saraki was said to have been mounted by those who felt that his leadership of the Senate would not be in the interest of the party.

Other issues said to have been raised against him was that he is likely to pander to the PDP and that his interest could cause a big crack in the party if not properly handled. It was said that strong argument was made on the loyalty of whoever would be the Senate President. Those who were said to have been in Saraki’s favor believed that he is still very young and has the energy and the connections to reach out to those in the party and outside the party. But the elders said to be at the last weekend’s meeting decided to call another meeting where strong directive would be given to the old ACN, ANPP and CPC members to stand against his candidature.

The arguments going on now is that the party should stay out of the selection of the leadership of the National Assembly pointing as there was no law that says the ruling political party should produce the key leaders of the National Assembly. It is therefore under this argument that Mark is hiding to still want to try his luck. Even some of the elected PDP governors, especially the immediate past governors who would join the next National Assembly are blunt about it and from the look of things they want to effect a change in the rule that the party in power produces the leadership. To them it is not mandatory but for administrative convenience between the executive and the legislature.

Looking at the race for the Senate president critically, four people from two geopolitical zones of the North Central and the North East are in contention. They are Saraki, Akume, Ndume and Lawan. Saraki and Lawan are neck and neck in terms of popularity, reach and the charisma to lead.  While the younger elements in the APC and others are rooting for Saraki, the elders and those who called themselves concerned fellows in the APC and outside the party are strongly canvassing for Lawan. Even at the last meeting of the selected caucus of the APC, it was Lawan that was endorsed.

The case against Saraki

Saraki to those who are with him has been described as a strong personality with the required political structure, followership and with huge resources to bulldoze his way. He is also regarded as a person who could meander between the APC and the PDP members in the Senate and within the executive. Issues that were raised against him and which the leaders of the party are considering has to do with loyalty, ambition and ability to resist any attempt to dominate him or to block whatever he believes in.

He is also being described as someone who could call the bluff of anybody without remorse. It was said that if Saraki could stand up to challenge  and fought his late father, Olusola Saraki to a standstill in the face of everything that he  stood for in Kwara politics, as well as his wealth, then there is nobody that he cannot challenge. Some people also went as far as thinking that he has the will and capability to remove the President if he becomes so powerful.

They cited his case with former President Goodluck Jonathan whom he accused of sending EFCC against him. Saraki it was said nursed animosity against Jonathan over the issue. He was said to be in the midst of the crisis that  Jonathan had with the cabal, who were in control during the illness of the late President Umaru Yar’ Adua, which led to some of them working against Jonathan’s emergence as Acting President and subsequently as President.

It was this confusion that was carried over to the PDP during the time of Alhaji Bamanga Tukur as the National Chairman of the party. Saraki was more or less the arrow head of those who rebelled against the PDP and formed the new PDP which was led by the former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar with Abubakar Kawu Barage as their Chairman. It was this splinter group of the PDP along with some serving governors then, who moved to the APC when the crisis in the PDP could not be resolved.

Other political factor being canvassed against Saraki is the North Central zone where he hails from is also what is affecting other candidates from the zone. It was argued that the North Central had produced many Senate President and the latest being Mark who spent eight years. Others who had served the country as Senate President are, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, 1992 to 1993, Senator Ameh Ebute 1993 till the time late General Sani Abacha took over. Although North Central APC was said to have strong backing for Saraki, latest campaign against him and the zone where he comes from is fast changing the situation in favour of Lawan from the North East.  Again despite his so called endorsement and popularity, he would still have a person like Akume who was initially tipped for the position of the Senate President to contend with in the zone.

Why North East is being considered

The North East is also seriously working hard to get the position. This is the zone where the list of those jostling to be Senate President is long, but a person who many party loyalists believed may get it in the zone is Lawan. Virtually all those talking about the Senate President spoke glowingly of Lawan whom they described as a cool headed person, who has been in politics and in the National Assembly for a long period of 16 years. He has been there since 1999. He and Ndume appear to be having the same number of years and pedigree in the National Assembly, but what is putting Ndume at a greater disadvantage for the job was that he deserted the ANPP and went to the PDP when he had a brush with the former Governor of Borno State, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff in 2010, but Lawan despite his turbulent period in the ANPP remained in the party.

Lawan it was said has been a loyal party man who has remained in opposition and has continued to fight the PDP in his state Yobe and in the National Assembly. It was said that Lawan is a real party man who had been in the same political party with Buhari, and that he stands in a better position to project Buhari more than others who are aspiring for that position, especially, the likes of Saraki. It was argued that Lawan’s allegiance has always been with the party and he is one of those instrumental to the merger of the ANPP with other political parties to form the APC. What may also work in the favour of Lawan, apart from the fact that the singsong now in the APC is that the North East should be allowed for the position is that the Senate Presidency should not be the exclusive right of the North Central in view of those who had occupied the position from there.

The parties that constitute the APC are ACN, CPC, ANPP and a faction of APGA. The argument therefore is that the CPC now has President Buhari; ACN has produced the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo. It was said that out of the three major players in APC only ANPP has been left out and with this situation on ground, it has now become a privilege for ANPP to produce the Senate President and this is where Lawan comes into the picture. Some members of the party pointed out that if the North East is considered, there should not be any other person than Lawan.

How the Senate President will emerge

One fundamental issue which Hallmark gathered would be introduced in the selection of key officers of the National Assembly is transparency, accountability and most importantly corruption matters. It was said that since the present government is after these three issues, whoever has a case to answer may not be considered and that the party would not want any distraction from other political parties, so that President Buhari would be able to operate smoothly without hindrance.

But what is also bothering some of the members of the APC was the statement by President Buhari that he would not interfere with the process of how the National Assembly would pick its leaders. These set of people believed that in as much as Buhari said that he was not interested in the selection of the leadership of the National Assembly, there is the need for him to worry about the person who would lead the legislative arm of government, since it is mandatory that he works with them for effective governance. They argued that whoever would be appointed the Senate President or the Speaker of the House of Representatives should be cool headed and not those who would at the end of the day gang up with the opposition to give the executive tough time.

On his part, Saraki has given reasons why he wants to be the Senate President in his recent interactive session with the press in Abuja. He said he wanted to be involved in the process of doing things right and get the country in the right direction. According to him, it is important for the legislative arm of government to make an impact on how the country should move forward; stressing that over the years the impacts of those in the National Assembly have not been felt.

Saraki was particular about the National Assembly being allowed to pick who leads them, saying that what is of great concern to him is injustice, lack of due process and internal democracy. He believes that the APC legislators and the entire 109 members in the Senate should be able to allow internal democracy and due process because to him these are the issues that would not cause problem.

Meanwhile, Hallmark gathered from competent sources that as intense lobbying goes on now across the states, prominent leaders and members of the APC, who will be in the Senate are now being consulted. Prominent amongst them are the immediate past governor of Kano State, Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso and Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko, the immediate past governor of Sokoto state to help actualize the party’s dream.