APC cries foul, Buhari congratulates, as Saraki Ekweremadu lead Senate

Rallying to recover from what politics watchers have described as a coup of sorts, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has described as totally unacceptable and the highest level of indiscipline and treachery, the conduct of Tuesday’s inauguration of the National Assembly which led to the emergence of Bukola Saraki  and Yakubu Dogara as Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives, respectively.

‘Senator Bukola and Hon. Dogara are not the candidates of the APC and a majority of its National Assembly members-elect for the positions of Senate President and House Speaker,” the party said in a statement yesterday.

It added, “The party duly met and conducted a straw poll and clear candidates emerged for the posts of Senate President, Deputy Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives, supported by a majority of all Senators-elect and members-elect of the House of Representatives.

“All National Assembly members-elect who emerged on the platform of the party are bound by that decision, “ the APC emphasised.

‘’The party is supreme and its interest is superior to that of its individual members,’’ the party said in a statement issued in Abuja Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed.

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday urged all the elected representatives of the people to focus on the enormous task of bringing enduring positive change to the lives of Nigerians.

The call is contained in a statement issued by Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the President, on his reaction to the outcome of the just-concluded election of leaders of the National Assembly.

The statement said the President would rather that the process of electing the leaders as initiated and concluded by the All Progressives Congress (APC) was followed.

It added that nonetheless the President took the view that a constitutional process had somewhat occurred.

The process that threw up Saraki was described by some political watchers as a coup of sorts, because voting was conducted when the main body of APC legislators was away at the Interntional Conference Centre, where they were to be addressed by President Muhamagu Buhari.

Said  one political watcher yesterday, “The intrigues that characterised the outgone administration of the People’s Democratic Party are playing out again, throwing up Bukola Abubakar Saraki,as the Senate President, to lead the eighth National Assembly.”

Saraki, an All Progressives’ Congress (APC) member, a former governor and a senator in the seventh National Assembly, was elected unopposed by 57 senators to lead the red chamber.

Simlarly, Yakubu Dogara (APC-Bauchi) on Tuesday emerged  Speaker of the House of Representatives, polling 182 to defeat Femi Gbajabiamila (APC-Lagos) who polled 174 votes.

The fallout of the election also led to the nomination of Yusuf Lasun (APC-Osun) as the Deputy Speaker following his nomination by Ibrahim Babangida (APC-Katsina).

For the first time in the history of the legislature however, the opposition party, the PDP clinched the deputy senate president position, with Ike Ekweremadu sitting for another term of four years. Ekweremadu who was deputy to David Mark, the former senate president for eight years between 2007 and 2015, polled 54 votes to defeat Ali Ndume who got 20 votes.

Saraki, a former PDP member, was elected senate president following his nomination by Ahmed Sani, which was seconded by Dino Malaye, both also former PDP members but all now in the APC.

Salisu Maikasuwa,Clerk of the National Assembly, who presided over the election, announced that 57 senators-elect were present for the election of Senate President. The number was more than the 38 needed as a quorum for the election to hold.

However, 51 members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) senators-elect including Ahmed Lawan, George Akume, chosen by the party, were absent at the election.

The Senate consists of    APC and  PDP members.

The emergence of the duo shows the ruggedness of thePDP and the party’s ability to spring surprises when all hope seems lost some analysts say.

Analysts see this as a launch pad for  the PDP to emerge strong again, especially given that Saraki was once a PDP member who climbed to the senate presidency with the assistance of his former party.

This also indicates a crack in the APC, which could create difficulty for the party to implement its campaign promises ,especially when the legislature is PDP-in-APC skin, analysts say. 

The manner of the conduct of the election is a reminder of the PDP days as the ruling party. It is also a reminder of the intrigues that led to the election of Aminu Tambuwal, the former speaker, House of Representatives, during which the legislators shoved aside the directives of the party to elect their choice of candidate, political watchers note.

Saraki’s election held when the APC legislators were at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, venue of the meeting where the president, Muhammadu Buhari was scheduled to address all Senators  and House of Representatives elect of the  party.

Those called to the meeting included the legislators from the two chambers and party stalwarts like Bola Tinubu, Bisi Akande, National Chairman of the Party, John Oyegun and other members of the National Working Committee of the APC. 

The meeting scheduled for 9am was delayed by the absence of the President who arrived Nigeria from Germany just yesterday morning.

At about 11:25 am, news filtered in that Bukola Saraki had emerged Senate President, and some of the Senators loyal to the party’s leadership including the consensus candidate, Ahmed Lawan left the centre with fury and headed for the National Assembly Complex.

The senators left behind were seen in pockets discussing the issue. Some of them threatened on the sideline that the APC Chairman , Oyegun would be removed. 

In a similar vein, Oluremi Tinubu, wife of the former governor of Lagos, stated aloud while storming out of the hall that the whole process that saw to the emergence of Bukola Saraki as senate president was null and void.

“We will do our own too, I’ll not say more than that” she submitted in anger. 

Oyegun, speaking on the development, informed that the party would examine the situation and react in due course. 

“We just watched it on television too but we will address you (pressmen) when the total situation has been re-examined by the party.

On the the meeting scheduled to take place between the President, Muhammadu Buhari and the Federal Legislatures elected under the platform of the APC, Oyegun said “the meeting could no longer hold as the event (at the national assembly) has overtaken it”.

Kayode Eesuola, a lecturer in the Political Science Department, University of Lagos said politicians will come out in their true colours now that it is time to allocate positions.

He noted that when Tambuwal was elected as Speaker, he was PDP by identity and APC by ideology. We have seen an alignment of the 49 PDP senators with the Saraki group, and a replay of the Tambuwal scenario has played out.

“Saraki emergence is fantastic for Nigerian democracy. For the political parties, it may not be too good because at the level of ideology and principle, the Senate is supposed to be the first opposition to the Executive. And so, if we have this paddy-paddy arrangement between the Executive and the leadership of the Senate, you are not likely to have a very good democratic outcome.”

Badejo Ademuyiwa, Owede Agbajileke, Joshua Bassey & Kehinde Abdusalam