“We will not recognize Saraki as Senate President”

Kunle Awosiyan |

Aggrieved APC senators believed to be supporters of Senator Ahmad Lawal have said that they will not recognized Dr. Bukola Saraki as the Senate President unless the Deputy President Ike Ekweremadu resigns.

The group described the emergence of Ekweremadu as a palace coup and that the only condition that would make them recognize Senator Saraki as President of the Senate was for Ekweremadu to resign.

Though the aggrieved lawmakers, under the auspices of the Senate Unity Forum stated that they did not have personal hatred against Saraki and Ekweremadu, they still believed that the Deputy Senate President had not met the required votes to be in that position.

“We demand that Senator Ike Ekweremadu must resign his position because he needed at least 55 senators to emerge as deputy senate president. Ekweremadu is a lawyer and an experienced lawmaker. He knows he is not qualified to win the election with 54 votes.”

According to SUF spokesman, Senator Kabir Marafa, pro-Saraki senators must explain why they disregarded all the arrangements put in place by the leaders of the APC to produce consensus candidates for post of Senate President and Deputy Senate President.

The senator called for thorough investigations into why the Clerk of the National Assembly was in a hurry to conduct the election of the senate president and the deputy without following the normal procedure as contained in the Senate Standing Order.

Marafa further said the pro-Saraki lawmakers should tell the party leadership why they rushed to the chamber on June 9 and hurriedly conducted the election, while the rest of the APC lawmakers were at the

“Apart from Ekeweremadu resigning, we are also demanding thorough investigations into the decision of the Clerk of the National Assembly to conduct the election when he was aware that the President had summoned us to a meeting,” he said.