Senate Presidency: 59 APC Senators To Select Sole Candidate

Ahead of a one-day retreat organized
by the All Progressives Congress
(APC) for its senators-elect in Abuja
tomorrow, checks indicate that the
party is going ahead with an open
primary to select a sole candidate to
succeed David Mark as Senate
President next month.
A ranking senator from the South west told
Daily Sun yesterday that the APC is set to
organise primary election for all contenders
for the Senate Presidency, “much in line
with how the primary was conducted to
select our presidential candidate in 2014.”
All 59 senators and senators-elect of the
party would be delegates at the primary.
The ranks of the APC senators depleted by
one with the death, on Saturday, May 16, of
Borno senator, Ahmed Khlaifa Zannah.
It is yet unclear whether the primary would
hold in Abuja or Lagos but it was further
gathered that, all the 59 senators and
senators-elect are “expected to sign an
undertaking to abide by the party position
on whoever emerges as the party’s
candidate after the primary.
“Thereafter, the runner-up is expected
to emerge as the deputy Senate
President. In the event where the
runner-up is from the same zone as
the winner of the primary, another
primary election would be conducted
and whoever emerges would be the
deputy.”
Some senators are reportedly not happy
with the arrangement. They would rather
senators are allowed to “choose our leader
in the chamber,” said a senator from the
North west but who declined to be named.
Presently, major contenders are:
Senators Ahmad Lawan (Yobe, North
east), Bukola Saraki (Kwara, North
central), George Akume (Benue, North
central) and Ali Mohammed Ndume
(Borno, North east).
Daily Sun checks reveal that the major
contenders have since sited their campaign
headquarters at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel
in Abuja and spending heavily with block
bookings for presidential suites every week.
The presidential suites are now venues
where the aspirants hold court, and also,
hold regular consultations and schedule
meetings with their returning colleagues as
well as senators – elect across the APC and
the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Another ranking senator privy to the
arrangement claimed that “aspirants have
been picking hotel bills of members of the
incoming Eighth Senate, almost
immediately after the one-week induction
programme organised by the National
Institute for Legislative Studies (NILS).
Meanwhile, about 65 senators, gathered
under the aegis of The Like Minds have
vowed never to allow imposition of a new
Senate “by some highly influential members
of the APC.”
They argued that the initial decision to zone
the position of presiding officers of both
chambers and the endorsement of certain
aspirants by some caucuses, was to ensure
the emergence of anointed aspirant that
would be imposed on the lawmakers.
Some legislators believed that the current
arrangement by the party to conduct a
primary election would not only guarantee
legislative independence but also produce
presiding officers who would not take
orders from any individual within the party.
“Instead of having a Senate President that
would take directives from a particular
individual within the party, we would prefer
someone who is independent-minded…,”he
said.