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Tag: Senate president

  • Senate President: Northern youths back south south

    A group of northern youths under the auspices of the Pan African United Youth Development Network wants the leadership of the All Progressives Congress and the Presidency to allow the south south geopolitical zone produce the Senate President in the 9th Senate in the interest of equity and national interest.

    The group said the position of the Senate Presidency be zoned to the South-south geo-political zone considering their contribution to the development of the country.

    President of the group, Habib Mohammed said in a statement made available to The Nation that it will be politically lucrative to compensate the south south with the office of the Senate President and balance the political equation in the country.

    The group ask “the Presidency and the leadership of the All Progressive Congress (APC) to consider zoning the office of the Senate Presidency to south south, considering the contribution of the region to the national economy of the country.

    “It will be politically lucrative to compensate the region with the Senate Presidency and also to balance the political equation of each region so that no region feel marginalized. Doing this will further enhance the intertribal and ethnic relationship.

    “We also ask all elected Senators to put aside sentiments and selfish interest and work for the national interest first by giving the south south the opportunity to produce the next Senate President in the interest of equity, fairness and justice.

    “We believe that the South South zone deserve to be given the opportunity considering the fact that they remain the only zone in the country that has not produced any principal officer of this government since 2015 when the Buhari government came into office.

    “Currently, the North West and South West have the President and Vice President, a situation that will remain so for another four years; the North Central is currently occupying the position of Senate President, South East, occupies the position of Deputy Senate President, while the North East has both the Speaker of the House of Representatives and Senate Leader, with the South south the only zone left out.

    “Zoning the position of Senate President to another zone outside the south south will amount to robbing them of a well-deserved position especially when you consider the fact that they currently have ranking Senators from the zone.

    “It is our belief that the North East should be given the position of Deputy Senate President in the 9th Senate. In view of this, we urge President Muhammadu Buhari, the National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the National Chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole to put the interest of the nation at heart, consider the principles on which they stand and on which the party was built and allow the south south produce the next Senate President.

    “We recall that when the zone occupied the position during the second republic, the legislature had a near perfect and cordial working relationship with the executive led then by late former President Aliyu Shehu Shagari. We have not had such a relationship since then.“

  • Buhari’ll decide senate presidency – Omo-Agege

    The senator representing Delta Central Senatorial District, Sen. Ovie Omo-Agege says President Muhammadu Buhari will be actively involved in the process of selecting the next leadership of the Senate.

    Speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Warri, Omo-Agege said the President and the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) would avoid the 2015 mistake that led to the emergence of Sen. Bukola Saraki as the president of the Senate.

    ‘‘Anybody who is going to be Senate President, in the 9th Senate, must be somebody who is loyal to Mr President, the party and the constitution.

    ‘‘The Senate President will be determined by Mr President. Mr President will indicate to us through the party who he want to work with,’’ Omo-Agege said.

    The ruling APC is set to produce the next Senate president after winning the majority of senatorial seats at the upper legislative chamber in the Feb. 23 election.

    Asked if APC has zoned the senate presidency to any geo-political zone, the lawmaker said ‘‘I do not know.’’

    ‘‘But what I can tell you is that we are going to have a Senate that will work with Mr President.

    ‘‘The era of allowing renegades who rode on the back of Mr President, who rode on the back of the party to go in there and trade the party’s mandate, I think that era is gone.

    ‘‘I am very hopeful that this time around, Mr President will step in and decide not only the zone that will produce the Senate president and the leadership but also who should be.

    Read Also: S/South to APC leadership: give us Senate President for equity sake

    ‘‘We don’t want to erect another opposition leader in the Senate, as we had in the 8th Assembly.

    ‘‘There are a lot of us in the Senate who are returning to the next senate who fits into that position. We are so many but any decision the President makes, we will all fall in line and abide.

    ‘‘We want President Buhari to succeed and it is all in our place, some of us who are close to him, to tell him certain calls he should not make because we know ourselves in the National Assembly and we do not want a repeat of the Saraki saga as we go back to the ninth Senate.’’ he said.

    Speaking on the upcoming Saturday’s election, Omo-Agege said the APC stood a chance to win the March 9 governorship elections in Delta, saying ‘‘Delta people are determined not to be in the opposition again.’’

  • Southsouth joins race for Senate President

    As the race for the leadership of the Ninth National Assembly begins, different geopolitical zones are advancing reasons they should produce the next Senate President.

    Before the elections, there were speculations that former Akwa Ibom State Governor Senator Godswill Akpabio was being considered for the position, but the former Minority leader was not re-elected.

    A source said under the current arrangement,  the Northwest occupies the position of President, the Southwest takes the position of the Vice President,  the Northcentral and the North East are occupying the position of Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives.

    He said: “If you look at the current arrangement, the Southeast is occupying the position of the Deputy Speaker, even though he is not a member of the APC, while the Southwest again has the position of Deputy Speaker.

    “In all these, it is only the Southsouth that has not been accommodated as they have been completely alienated. There was the argument in 2015 that there was no ranking Senator from the Southsouth. Now, there are two ranking Senators from the zone. They are Francis Alimikhena and Ovie Omo Agege.

    “The Southsouth should be allowed to produce the Senate President, while the Speaker should go to the North Central. The position of Deputy Senate President should go to the Northeast, while the Southeast takes the position of Deputy Speaker.

    “It is their thinking in the Presidency that since the President is from the Northwest and the Vice President from the South West, the four senior principal offices in the National Assembly should go to the other four zones. in other words, nobody from these two zones should be in contention for these positions.”

    The source said unlike 2015 when the President did not secure 25 percent in majority of the states in the Southsouth, President Buhari was able to muster the required 25 percent in almost all the states in the zone.

    He said:  “There is no way President Buhari can finish an eight year tenure of two terms without the Southsouth occupying any of the six senior positions in government. That will be grossly unfair to the zone. So, the thinking is that the Senate President should come from the Southsouth.”

    Ranking Senators from the Northcentral and North east are already eyeing the position of Senate President with Senate Leader Ahmed Lawan among the top contenders.

    It is not however clear what process will throw up the next Senate President, but a senior member of the National Working Committee (NWC) told The Nation that the party has learnt from its mistakes of 2015 and would  get involved in the process of selecting the leadership of the National Assembly.

  • Where did Saraki place God in his devious political scheming?

    I admire the physical appearance of the outgoing Senate President, Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki. He is tall, handsome and sun-tanned. When you meet him at close quarters, as I once did when he came to attend the funeral ceremony of the mother of his bosom friend, Muyiwa, son of motor magnate, Chief Stephen Bakare of Oluwalogbon Motors fame, at Ilara, Eredo in Epe Division of Lagos State some years ago, you would find humility written all over him. He won my heart on that singular occasion.

    Another younger friend of mine, who is also in the motor selling business, had also once spoken highly of Dr Saraki for his personal character. But that is where it ends. His politics, as I have been observing him since his emergence as Senate President, is a direct opposite of my painting of him above. He was needlessly arrogant and dangerous as a political player while presiding at the Upper Chamber.

    When the social media was awash some time ago with different photographs of Saraki looking at President Buhari in very suggestive manner either at praying ground or at other public functions, my initial reaction was to suspect that the anti-Saraki sentiment was being taken a bit too far. But the over ambitious Saraki was the one who himself confirmed that he hated the nation’s President with passion.

    For what reason? Because of politics? Instead of him trying to learn at the feet of his nemesis, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, whose own style of politics was laced with forgiving spirit and accommodation, he was outright vindictive, intent on destroying anybody or anything that stood in his way of subduing the country. He tried to play God.

    But the only God I know and revere is never mocked. He looked on while the shenanigans of Saraki played out, waiting for the appropriate way and time to teach him a potent lesson on why man must NEVER play God.

    Maybe you still don’t know where I am heading? Okay, you will get my drift presently.

    Saraki recruited foot-soldiers like his deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, and garrulous Senator Dino Melaye and they acted Saraki and Atiku’s script throughout, in their efforts to undermine Buhari for no other reason than a morbid fear of their past and their determination to resist the CHANGE his own party promised because they desired the sustenance of the status quo, of privilege and mindless exploitation of the majority.

    If you still doubt the supremacy of God over all things, why did Ike and Dino win their return tickets back to the Senate and their comrade leader-in-political-crime, Saraki, fail so woefully, in spite of his vaunted invincibility?

    This should be a lesson to little minds with the feet of clay, whose stock in trade is slyness, shameless manipulation of facts, glorification of mediocrity, vindictiveness of the worst dimension and utter disregard for the existence of Almighty God.

  • It’s over for Saraki politically, says Oshiomhole

    The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole on Wednesday mocked Senate President, Bukola Saraki for losing his re-election bid.

    He said though the ruling party had been planning to impeach the Senate President, it was better his constituents retired him politically from the Red Chamber.

    He spoke with State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja after congratulating President Muhammadu Buhari who was declared winner of last Saturday’s election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    Oshiomhole also pointed out that there was apprehension before the February 23 presidential election over who was going to win the election.

    He said President Buhari’s statement that the ruling party should be magnanimous with the victory was what was expected of a statesman.

    According to him: “Even in victory, he sowed humility and hand of fellowship to those who share commitment to the future of Nigeria and contested against him. But in every race, there would always be a winner.”

    Apparently referring to Saraki, who lost his bid to return to the Senate, Oshiomhole said: “People who came to the senate with less than a 100,000 votes and began to hold the country to ransom, their own people have recalled them home.

    “While we were saying that we will impeach them, their people said they would rather bury them.

    “Politically, now, they are out. It shows the power of democracy, it’s a leveler, an equalizer.

     “You cannot be bigger than the people.  Our people say that a politician is likened to an Okro tree. It should never grow taller than the person who planted it.

    “And those who plant the political okro tree are the Nigerian people. I think, a couple of lessons have been learnt.

    “This game is for those who are humble, those who believe in the people. There are no dynasties, the people are the sovereign.

    “When they borrow you the power, remember, it is only lend to you, and it will expire, and it will require renewal. If you don’t behave, thy will remove you.”

    On false prophesy about Nigeria, he said: “For those analysts who have been active since 1999 in his fourth republic, this is the most keenly contested election and my joy is that first, in the electioneering season, given all issues about security in Nigeria, there is no incident of terrorists attack except one or so in maybe Yobe or somewhere. That for me, to God be the glory.

    “The second is people who had predicted that Nigerians are going to fight, are going to war and that we are preparing for a Second World War. I am sure again, they have been put to shame.

    “I know that Nigerians believe in their country, we appreciate our friends but we also know that those friends will never accept us as citizens of their country.

    “The only country we cannot be deported, the only country we don’t need visa to stay, no matter who you are, no matter what you do, is Nigeria.

    “It is the only home we can truly call our own. Even for those who have multiple passports of various nationalities because their real country is Nigeria.”

  • Why Senate President must vacate seat immediately, by senator

    The humiliating defeat Senate President Bukola Saraki suffered in the Saturday presidential and National Assembly elections was an indication that he should vacate the Senate Presidency immediately, Senate Committee on Labour and Productivity Chairman Senator Abu Ibrahim said yesterday.

    Ibrahim, who represents Katsina South in the upper chamber, told reporters in Abuja that Saraki should vacate the Senate Presidency seat to save the little goodwill left for him.

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain also declared the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) completely dead in Katsina State. He said if Saraki failed to heed the damning defeat handed him by his own people to vacate the seat, he would be a lame duck Senate President “because his over-bloated image has been completely destroyed”.

    He said the prediction that APC would retire Saraki from politics has become a reality.

    Ibrahim added that the greatest undoing of Saraki in Kwara State politics was self-centeredness.

    Ibrahim said: “Some of us predicted that APC will retire Saraki. It has come pass. It was obvious that Saraki was not going to win the election.

    Saraki was always for himself. Selfishness does not serve any politician well. That was Saraki’s greatest undoing.

    “Kwara people showed clearly that they were tired of Saraki and his antics. His image, mostly over-bloated, has been destroyed completely. If I were Saraki, I will throw in the towel immediately.

    He should not wait until the end of the Eight Senate. If he refuses to go immediately, he will be a lame duck Senate President because nothing is left for him to cling on.

    “Kwara people, his own people, have rejected him. If I were him, I will not wait any longer. He should leave the seat; Kwara people have spoken. I will congratulate the people of Kwara State for the outcome of the elections in that state.”

    Asked why the APC failed to stop Saraki’s loyalist, Senator Dino Melaye, from returning to the Senate, Ibrahim said the party had dealt with the root, the branches were not important.

    On PDP, Ibrahim said the party is dead in Katsina.

  • Mohammed: I owed my appointment as minister to Buhari

    Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed has said that he owes his appointment as a minister to President Muhammadu Buhari and no one else.

    He described as laughable the report that the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, was instrumental to his appointment into Buhari’s cabinet.

    This followed the claim by Special Adviser (Media) to the Director-General of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, Dr. Doyin Okupe, that the minister owed his appointment to the Senate president.

    The minster, in a statement signed by his media aide, Mr. Segue Adeyemi, described the report as fiction writing.

    The minister also challenged Okupe to make evidence of his assertion available.

    The statement reads: “The attention of the Honourable Minister of Information and Culture has been drawn to a statement issued by the Special Adviser (Media) to the Director-General of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, Dr. Doyin Okupe, in which he bold-facedly credited Senate President Bukola Saraki with the appointment of Mohammed as minister.

    “The entire statement by Dr. Okupe is nothing but fiction writing, for which he deserves a hall of infamy award (in the fiction writing segment). Not one of the claims he made in his statement is true.

    “For the record, Alhaji Lai Mohammed owes his appointment as Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to President Muhammadu Buhari and no one else. It is, therefore, laughable that anyone will seek to take credit for that appointment.

    “We challenge Dr. Okupe, who concocted the story in question, to make available to Nigerians any evidence he may have to support his assertion that the President sought the permission of Dr. Saraki to appoint Mohammed as minister.

    “We understand that Dr. Okupe’s cheap attempt at mud-throwing is nothing but a proxy fight, rooted deeply in the politics of Kwara State.

    “We are aware that Dr. Okupe’s boss is feeling the heat emanating from the ‘O To Ge’ (enough is enough) movement in Kwara, and that even the strongest of men will become disoriented and disillusioned at losing the support of a people, who once venerated them to high heavens. But that is a self-inflicted wound for which Okupe’s boss, an acclaimed slave master, has no one but himself to blame.

    “Alhaji Mohammed is very proud to lead the ‘O To Ge’ movement that is set to finally bring down the Berlin Wall of political hegemony in Kwara State and send Dr. Okupe’s boss into political oblivion. That will also free Dr. Okupe himself from merely being his master’s voice, so he can fully devote his time to his new-found pastime – fiction writing.”

  • ‘Saraki, PDP masterminded polls postponement’

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) South West Youth Forum has accused the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of orchestrating series of events that eventually led to the postponement of the Presidential election earlier schedule for this weekend.

    In a statement issued in Lagos, by its spokesperson, Mr. Olutunde Mayowa, the Forum reminded Nigerians that the opposition created the chain of events that led to the postponement when the Senate President deliberately delayed the passage of the INEC budget thereby denying the agency funds its needed to kick start the preparations.

    “Though INEC has its blame for shoddy preparation but we should be clear headed in tracing both the remote and immediate cause of this postponement and the embarrassment it has caused our nation.

    “Saraki’s National Assembly has become nothing but a clog in the wheel of progress by making it impossible for agencies to access funds they need to function, that much they did when for months Saraki and his hatchet men failed to pass the INEC budget. The result of that is what we are seeing now.

    “We were expecting INEC to perform miracles, but truth must be told, the opposition created this scenario for their selfish benefits,” the Forum said.

  • Buhari, Obasanjo, Jonathan, others meet in Aso Rock

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday met behind closed doors with members of the National Council of State at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    The meeting started at 11.a.m prompt at the Council Chamber.

    The meeting comprises of past presidents and heads of state, Chief Justices of Nigeria (CJN), leadership of the National Assembly, state governors among others.

    Those at the meeting on Tuesday included former Head of Interim National Government, Ernest Shonekan, Olusegun Obasanjo, Abdulsalami Abubakar, Goodluck Jonathan.

    As soon as he arrived at the Council chamber, Buhari went round to have a handshake with some of the past leaders including Obasanjo.

    Obasanjo also offered the opening Christian prayer while Mohammed Uwais said the Muslim prayer.

    One minute silence was observed in honour of former President Shehu Shagari, and late CJNs Aloysius Katsina Alu and Idris Kutigi

    Former Heads of State Yakubu Gowon, Ibrahim Babangida and former CJN Mariam Muktar sent apologises for their absence at the meeting.

    Others at the meeting on Tuesday the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President, Bukola Saraki, former CJN Mohammed Uwais.

    State governors at the meeting included Osun, Kebbi, Zamfara Plateau, Ebonyi, Adamawa, Edo, Lagos, Niger, Borno, Ogun, Ekiti, and Kogi.

    Deputy State governors at the meeting included Bauchi Deputy, Kaduna Deputy, and Rivers Deputy,

    Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Head of Service, Winifred Oyo-Ita, National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, FCT Minister, Mohammed Bello and Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige.

    Read Also: End ASUU strike now: Buhari orders Ngige

    Without listing the details of the agenda during the opening session, the Secretary to the Government of the Federations, Boss Mustapha said that the meeting will discuss five-point agenda.

    But issues expected to be considered at the meeting included the National minimum wage, and confirmation of the appointment of the acting Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu.

    The forthcoming general elections and security of the nation are also expected to engage the attention of the Council of State.

    The meeting was still in progress at the time of filing this report.

  • Senate President alleges threat to life

    Senate President Bukola Saraki is alleging threat to his life and those of his family in Ilorin, Kwara State.

    He accused thugs allegedly sponsored by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the police as the brains behind the alleged move to eliminate him and his family.

    Addressing reporters in Abuja yesterday, Saraki  who doubles as  the Director General of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Organisation, claimed that on Thursday, APC thugs “shielded by policemen went to my family quarters in Agbaji in Ilorin and vandalized houses, shops and inflicted wounds with matchetes  on three people.”

    He said: ”All these destructions took place in the presence of policemen who came with them but watched without any care, as the APC thugs and supporters unleashed violence on our people.

    “For me, personally, I believe the decision to attack people and properties in my family ancestral compound is a direct affront and attack on my person.

    “And whatever signal these APC elements with support from the police believe they are sending is definitely sinister, uncivilized and unfortunate.”

    The Senate President said the police continued to show undisguised hostility towards him and his supporters in the state.

    The former Kwara State governor said reports of the attacks were filed in relevant police stations in Ilorin, but expressed doubts that anything tangible and constructive would come out of the reports.

    He stated further that as part of the plot, the police, under the directive of the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, on Thursday, commenced the transfer of Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) out of Kwara State.

    Saraki called on Nigerians and the entire world to hold the IGP responsible should anything untoward happen to him and members of his family.

    “While the police are free to take decisions on the deployment of their personnel, we found the postings in Kwara State strange and more than a mere coincidence,” he said.

    “It should also be noted that IGP has posted three different Commissioners of Police to Kwara State in the last six months. In fact, the previous and current Commissioner of Police in the state got strict instructions from the IGP not to relate or engage with the Senate President”, Saraki added.

    According to him, the usual practice has been that the Commissioner of Police personally ensures the security of the Senate President whenever he visits his home state.

    He said all his predecessors in office were accorded that security cover whenever they visited their home states and that he also enjoyed it in his first year in office from 2015 to 2016.

    Saraki expressed apprehension over his personal safety as the ward to ward electioneering is about to begin across the state.

    He said: “We need to make it clear to the entire world that now that ward to ward campaign is about to begin in the state and I am set to participate in that grassroots campaign, as I have always done, nobody is sure what instructions Mr. Idris has given to the police command in the state.

    “Thus, the entire world should hold the IGP responsible if anything untoward happens to members of my family and myself”.