Senate Presidency: How Oshiomhole Triggered Crisis In NASS

By Temidayo Akinsuyi

Lagos – The statement
made by Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, National Chairman of the ruling All
Progressives Congress (APC) declaring Senator Ahmad Lawan as the next
President of the Senate is the major cause of crisis in the race for the
leadership of the National Assembly, Daily Independent has gathered.

Sources
in the National Assembly told our correspondent that before
Oshiomhole’s declaration, Lawan was already running almost unopposed,
though some ranking senators in the APC were interested in the position.

Speaking
further, our source said while the APC lawmakers had an axe to grind
with Oshiomhole for attempting to impose his will on them without
consultation, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senators are determined
to prove to him that “they can still upturn the plans of the APC
despite being in the minority”.

The source said: “Before now,
Lawan was having a smooth ride until Oshiomhole publicly declared that
the party has chosen him as the Senate President and that the decision
is final.

“This infuriated a lot of APC senators who felt that
while the party can zone to a particular region, it has no power to
determine the candidate without consultation with the lawmakers,
especially others who are interested in the position.

“That is
why Senators Danjuma Goje and Ali Ndume are hell-bent on contesting
despite series of interventions by key stakeholders in the presidency
and even party leaders like Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

“They felt Oshiomhole’s dictatorial attitudes cannot be allowed to stand since they are an independent arm of government.”

It
would be recalled that the APC’s National Publicity Secretary, Lanre
Isa-Onilu, at a press conference at the party’s national secretariat in
Abuja few days ago, had said the decision on Lawan was final and binding
on the senators.

He said: “We have decided who will be the next
Senate President, according to what democratic principles allow, and
that person is Senator Ahmed Lawan.

“That has been done and
announced, it is left for the party to cross the ‘t’s and dot the ‘i’s
to get that sorted out,” Isa-Onilu had said.

Reacting to the
statement by APC, Ali Ndume, one of the top contenders representing
Borno South, had said: “Let me say that the decision by the party to
settle for an individual instead of zoning the position to a particular
geo-political zone, and consult or allow the senators from that zone to
decide who among them they prefer as Senate President, is a surprise.

“We
were surprised on Monday when the national chairman of our party told
us a decision had been taken to adopt Ahmad Lawan as candidate from the
North East for the position of the President of the Senate.

“The
reason why I am shocked, and I am sure that is the feeling of my
colleagues, is that the constitutional provision for the emergence of
the leadership of the Senate is clearly spelt out.”

Also
speaking, a member of the PDP’s national working committee (NWC) said
that senators elected on the platform of the PDP would prove to
Oshiomhole that they were not pushovers and would have a major say in
who becomes the number three man in the next dispensation.

“I
think senators elected under our party are keeping their fingers crossed
for now, but when the time comes, they will prove to Oshiomhole that
they are not pushovers or minors in the determination of the leadership
positions, especially the Senate Presidency and Speaker of the House.”

Source:- Independentng