Senate presidency race: I have no candidate, says Buhari

Firstclass newsline learnt that the president elect's position was
contained in a statement signed by the Director of Media and
Publicity, APC Presidential Campaign Council, Mallam Garba Shehu, on
Wednesday,
Buhari said he was prepared to work with any leader freely chosen by
members of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
The statement quoted Buhari as saying, "I am prepared to work with the
leaders that the House or Senate selects. It doesn't matter who the
persons are or where they are from.
"There is due process for the selection of leaders of the National
Assembly and I will not interfere in that process."
According to the statement, insinuations that Buhari was supporting a
particular candidate were probably borne out of people's expectations
based on the way things happened in the past.
Buhari reminded Nigerians that change has truly come.
The President-elect also assured Nigerians that a new dispensation has
come, adding that, "My administration does not intend to repeat the
same mistakes made by previous governments."
Indications emerged on Wednesday that the Peoples Democratic Party is
divided over the candidate to support among three All Progressives
senators contesting the senate presidency.
Investigations on Wednesday in Abuja showed that contrary to reports
that the PDP senators were supporting Senator Ahmad Lawan, some
members of the party were backing another candidate, Senator Bukola
Saraki.
Besides Saraki (North-Central) and Lawan (North-East); Senator George
Akume (Benue) is also contesting the senate presidency.
The APC has yet to zone the position and others including the
speakership of the House of Representatives.
But it was gathered that some members of the APC caucus in the
North-West, which was earlier reported to have endorsed Lawan, had
started supporting Saraki.
In the PDP, among those supporting Lawan were loyalists of the Senate
President, Senator David Mark, who had been tipped to be the rallying
point of the party's opposition against the APC.
But a crack seemed to have appeared in the PDP as some of the party's
senators-elect attended a meeting of those supporting Saraki at the
Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja on Tuesday night.
The PDP senators-elect that attended the meeting included Governor
Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom; Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State
and a former Ebonyi State Governor, Dr. Sam Egwu.
A source at the meeting, who pleaded anonymity, said that some PDP
senators-elect were backing Saraki because it appeared the APC leaders
were in support of Lawan.
The source stated, "For now, the PDP has not endorsed any candidate
but some of us are in support of Saraki because the APC leaders appear
to be supporting Lawan."
Firstclassnewsline.net