The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Senate President’s

  • Senate President’s zone easiest nut to crack for APC, says Mohammed

    KWARA Central Senatorial District, represented by Senate President Bukola Saraki, will be the easiest to be delivered to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in this year’s general elections, Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed said yesterday.

    The minister said this yesterday in Ilorin while inspecting the Campaign Office and Situation Room of the Buhari\Osinbajo Project (BOP) 2019, a political group drumming support and votes for the APC in Kwara State.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the minister inspected the office ahead of today’s inauguration of the 18,000 grassroots votes’ canvassers across polling units in Kwara.

    Reacting to prediction in certain quarters that Saraki would be returned to the Senate, even if APC wins other elections in the state, the minister said the revolution in Kwara was total.

    “The easiest nut to crack will be the Kwara Central Senatorial District because the first revolution started from there.

    “Cast your minds back to what happened in the last local government elections, you will see that the people of Kwara are ripe for change and we have no fear in any part of the state.

    “When revolution comes, it comes in total and hence the slogan across nooks and crannies of Kwara today, “O to ge” meaning “Enough is enough”.

    “What is happening today in Kwara is mass movement and that is why everywhere we go in the state, we are warmly received, whereas the PDP are being received there with hostility,” he said.

    The minister said after inspecting the campaign office and the situation room of BOP, and interacting with the people, he was confident that the 2019 elections in Kwara would be a walk over for the APC.

    He said the party had no fewer than 18,000 foot soldiers at polling units level all over Kwara, who would in turn target 10 supporters each before the elections.

    According to him, the party will today inaugurate 2,800 grassroots’ canvassers, 193 wards coordinators, 193 wards secretaries, 193 wards women leaders and 193 wards youths leaders.

    Mohammed said the most important was the situation room at the BOP headquarters, which would have the details of every ward coordinator and contact them daily on the progress made and their challenges.

    “We have telephone numbers of all our canvassers, 10 of them in each polling units and we have the mechanism with which we are going to be calling them daily.

    “This method is very important and key strategy even than rallies.

    “Yes, rallies are very good for perception and moral boosting, but the real electioneering campaign work is what is being done here,” he said.

    The minister said it would be difficult for moles to infiltrate the votes’ canvassers, but if they do, there were mechanism in place to fish them out.

    He thanked the party supporters and financiers for their selfless services and reassured them of victories in the coming polls.

    Coordinator of the BOP 2019 Otunba Ganiyu Zubair said the situation room inspected by the minister “is a place of deep thinking to map out strategy to deliver Kwara from slavery and looters”.

    Zubair assured that in the general elections scheduled for February, APC would record outstanding votes and victories never witnessesd in the history of Kwara.

  • Senate presidents and impeachment curse

    SOME respondents told The Nation that APC may have to go back to the nation’s democratic experience for inspirations and lessons on how to impeach Saraki. It would be recalled that in the case of Senator Evans Enwerem, he was backed by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to win in the initial votes with the support of AD, APP and PDP governors.

    This was despite the sweeping goodwill that Senator Okadigbo enjoyed with the then senators. But in spite of the way he emerged on the scene, Sen. Enwerem differed so much with Obasanjo to the chagrin of some senators.

    Five months after, precisely on November 18, 1999, Obasanjo was jetting out for a trip. On his entourage to the airport was the Senate President, who stopped at nothing to demonstrate his loyalty to Obasanjo.

    Before Obasanjo got to his destination, Enwerem had been impeached over alleged perjury and corruption. The move, according to reports, was spearheaded by Okadigbo’s loyalists led by Senator Khairat Abdulrazaq (PDP, FCT). Over 90 senators voted for Enwerem’s impeachment.

    The Upper Chamber was shaken but didn’t fall. Senators rallied to Okadigbo’s side. The absence of Obasanjo also helped his cause. By a landslide majority, Okadigbo became the Senate President, a kind of justice for the denial of the previous months.

    The ebullient, flamboyant Anambra State-born politician, popularly hailed as Oyi, however didn’t last on the seat. He started off strongly but was soon accused of arrogance by members on the account of his strong personality.

    His alleged dictatorial tendencies raised an army of opposing senators who started surreptitious meetings at NICON Hotel in Abuja. While his supporters insisted that all was still well, reports confirmed that the size of lawmakers holding anti-Okadigbo meetings increased by the day with Senators David Mark, Anyin Pius Anyim and Adolphus Wabara allegedly playing leading roles in the unfolding drama.

    However, optimists said Okadigbo, a professor of political science, was more than a match for the senate protestors and presidential hawks working hard on sacking him. Even some insiders said he appeared to have overcome the storms when the reports on the execution of series of contracts approved under Enwerem got him trapped.

    The alleged wrongful award of the 44 contracts made the Senate to institute the Senator Idris Kuta- led panel for investigation. Deliberately, the committee was full of elements within the Upper Chamber known to be indisposed to Okadigbo’s leadership. 

    In late July 2000, the panel found Okadigbo guilty as charged. To force his hands, his deputy, Senator Abubakar Haruna, resigned from office on August 8, 2000. The move was to give the verdict a semblance of validity.

    But Okadigbo was not impressed. He considered that he was the eventual target of the unfolding plot. Despite the many loyalists backing out of his camp, Okadigbo resisted all suggestions to resign. Presidential forces set all the traps, wondering how he would wriggle his way out of the intricate buildup. 

    By August 8, 2000, there was a session presided by Senator John Mbata(Rivers, PDP). He acted as President Pro Tempore after Okadigbo was more or less forced to step down temporarily for consideration of the panel’s report. The Senators got him eventually and voted for his impeachment.

    Anyim Pius Anyim (Ebonyi, PDP) therefore emerged the Senate President in a race that included Senators Wabara, Anyim, Ifeanyi Ararume, Jim Nwobodo and Ike Nwachukwu. Presidential forces preferred Wabara, who floated the idea of a shadow election to present a common front. The Senators played along, knowing they would eventually be the deciders. On August 9, 2000, they voted for Anyim ahead of Wabara, Nwobodo and Nwachukwu. They considered Wabara, who later became Senate President of the 5th Assembly, as a yes-man to Obasanjo.

    Wabara was later to have a feel of the banana peel himself when he started nursing the idea of being a President come 2007 after hosting a political meeting in his country home in February 2005 where Southeast senators reportedly told him he was the best positioned to gun for Igbo presidency.

    When Obasanjo got wind of the move, he returned the favour with a live broadcast where he indicted the Senate leadership in a N55 million education bribe- for- budget scam. The development forced Wabara to resign as Senate President on April 5, 2005.

    Though it may be argued that none of these scenarios exist in the current senate leadership tussle, some conservative APC strategists said the ruling party could possibly dust the history books to find ways of getting Saraki out of the way.

  • Buhari, Mark, former NASS leaders meet in Aso Rock

    Buhari, Mark, former NASS leaders meet in Aso Rock

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday met behind closed doors with some ex- leaders of the National Assembly.

    Two separate meetings were said to have been held at the President’s office at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    Those spotted at the Villa included former Senate Presidents, David Mark and Ken Nnamani, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Bello Masari and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Ita Enang.

    While Nnamani and Masari arrived the same time, Mark, who is still a current Senator approached the President’s office together with Enang about one hour later.

    But it was not clear whether Mark and Enang actually met Nnamani and Masari at the President’s office as Nnamani and Masari were said to have been taken out from the President’s office’s entrance in a vehicle.

    Nnamani and Masari, who had earlier trekked by the Council Chamber in the clear view of journalists when going to the President’s office, have not been spotted to go out through the same way they came in at the time of filing this report.

    The agenda of the meetings was unknown but may not be unconnected with the soured relationship between the Presidency and the current Senate.

    Mark, who came out after about thirty minutes in the President’s office, did not speak to journalists as he walked through the corridor with one protocol officer.

    His visit to the Villa was the first since he stepped down as the Senate President in the last dispensation.

    No official statement, at the time of this report, has been issued concerning the meetings.

    The current Senate President, Bukola Saraki, who is facing Senate Standing rules forgery trial along with is deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, had recently declared that there was cabal in the Presidency.

  • APC denies zoning Senate President’s, Speaker’s seats

    •Gbajabiamila reacts 

    THE All Progressives Congress (APC) has denied a report that

    its National Working Committee (NWC) met on Monday night and decided to zone the Senate Presidency to the Northcentral and the Speaker of the House of Representatives to the Southwest.

    In a statement in Abuja yesterday, its National Secretary, Mai Mala Buni, said the party was deeply embarrassed by the story, which, he said, was apparently planted in the media to sow the seeds of instability in the party.

    ‘’The NWC never discussed the issue of zoning at its meeting.

    Therefore, the report of its decision on zoning is a figment of the imagination of whoever concocted the story,” the statement said.

    APC said nothing has changed since the President-elect said he is ready to work with anyone from any part of the country, who occupies any of the principal offices of the incoming National Assembly, including those of the Senate Presidency and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

    But Rufai Chachangi of Gbajabiamila’s Speakership Campaign Secretariat said any decision reached by the party would be abided by.

    “We are convinced that our candidate, Femi Gbajabiamila has fulfilled all meritorious requirements to emerge as the next Speaker. Gbajabiamila’s acceptance is broad-based and still popular among members,” Chachangi said.