Another crisis in APC over Senate posts

Firstclass newsline gathered that the sharing of principal offices in
the Senate seems to be creating a fresh crisis in the ruling All
Progressives Congress.
The principal offices are the Senate Leader; the Deputy Senate Leader;
the Chief Whip and the Deputy Chief Whip.
While the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, is believed to have
recommended to the APC National Working Committee that the positions
be allocated to the zones, some leaders of the party, especially those
from the South-West, want them filled by the party's hierarchy.
A senator made this known to one of our correspondents in Abuja on
Thursday just as the APC NWC meeting on Thursday failed to agree
on the modalities for brokering peace among aggrieved members of the
party.
The senator warned that if the issue was not quickly resolved, the
Senate and the APC might "face another round of crisis bigger than
that that resulted from Saraki's emergence as Senate president."
He added, "The Senate President, had after wide consultations,
suggested how the officers to occupy these posts could be appointed.
He suggested the allocation of the four principal offices to some of
the geopolitical zones.
"But some leaders, who are still angry with his (Saraki) emergence,
turned down his suggestion. Some of the influential leaders from the
South-West are insisting that the party should fill the offices. This
is in spite of the fact that the chairman of our party (John
Odigie-Oyegun) and other members of the NWC are in support of
allocating the principal offices to zones.
"The South-West leaders are even saying that allowing the party
leadership to fill the offices, remained the only way to allow peace
to reign in the Senate."
A Senator from the North-Central , who is loyal to Saraki, confirmed
the development on condition of anonymity .
He said that it was true that some APC leaders were insisting that the
party should nominate the senators who would occupy the four principal
offices .
He said, "By the Senate tradition, the party in majority normally
sends the offices to the zones where the Senate caucuses would meet
and choose among themselves in the zone, who occupies the offices.
"Some other leaders of the party are claiming that asking the party to
produce the principal officers was a smart way to impose the Senate
Leader, the Deputy Senate Leader, the Chief Whip and the Deputy Chief
Whip on the Senate."
The senator claimed that a "very influential " leader of the party
from the South-West had allegedly written Odigie- Oyegun that the
leaders would fill the positions. "
He said, "Some of us were just called by some members of the NWC
intimating us of details of a letter forwarded to the body that it
should just fill the remaining four leadership positions in the
Senate.
"In fact, the letter from the South-West leader is that the party must
take charge and name its preferred candidates for the four offices."
It was further learnt that some senators had already met with some NWC
members asking them to ignore the letter.
They were said to have insisted that the tradition remained that the
zonal caucuses which did not produce the Senate President and his
deputy should meet and nominate among themselves.
They added that it was when there were two or more nominations that,
an election could hold and that whoever scored the highest votes
would be the candidate.
Efforts to get the spokesperson for the pro – Saraki group, Dino
Melaye, failed because his mobile phone was switched off.
Spokesperson for the Senate Unity Forum, a group of senators loyal to
Lawan, Kabir Marafa, argued that the choice of other principal
officers who are not elected on the floor of the Senate, remained the
sole business of the party leadership.
He said, "How can the executive of the party at the zonal levels
determine who will be made the Senate Leader, the Deputy Senate
Leader, the Chief Whip and the Deputy Chief Whip?
"It is the party executive that would determine all these. So the
party would write the Senate President. That is the tradition. It
cannot be done at the zonal level, it is absurd. There should be due
process in whatever things we do."
But when contacted , the National Publicity Secretary of the party,
Lai Mohammed simply said, "No comment."
NWC meeting deadlocked
Meanwhile, the leaders of the party will meet again on Friday
following their failure to reach an agreement on how to end the crisis
that arose due to the National Assembly leadership elections .
The meeting, which was held behind closed doors at the party's
national secretariat in Abuja started at about 5.20pm. It lasted
for a little over an hour.
Details of the meeting were not made public as of 8pm on Thursday
when this story was filed. When approached for comments ,
Odigie-Oyegun, said, "We will meet again tomorrow to continue."
It was however learnt that the party leaders had been unable to get
supporters of the Senate President and the APC's preferred candidate
for the Senate Presidency , Ahmed Lawan, to meet face-to-face.
A source, who visited the APC secretariat observed that the posters
and banners of a former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu,
had disappeared from the secretariat.
His banners were hitherto pasted side by side those of President
Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.
Most of the banners were put up by individuals and groups supporting the APC.
It is not clear what led to the disappearance of the posters and banners.
Firstclassnewsline.net