Romanus Ugwu and Fred Itua, Abuja
The battle line is drawn as federal lawmakers-elect file out today for formal inauguration of the ninth National Assembly and election of principal officers.
The event would mark the denouement of weeks of political tension, intrigues and horse-trading.
Indications that the crack in the camp of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has widened and that the session would live up to its billing as feisty and drama-soaked was further confirmed, yesterday, as former Senate Leader, Ali Ndume, Kabiru Gaya and Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, shunned a high-profile meeting of the party and National Working Committee (NWC) members with their National Assembly members, yesterday.
The meeting was called to formally streamline arrangements and impress on Senators and House of Representatives members to support candidates of the party.
The APC leadership had endorsed Ahmad Lawan as Senate president and Ovie Omo-Agege as deputy senate president and Femi Gbajabiamila as Speaker, House of Representatives and Ahmed Idris Wase as deputy Speaker.
Ndume and Bago are contesting for the office of senate president and House speaker respectively while Dr. Kalu and Gaya are contesting the deputy senate president.
Others who had indicated interest to contest one position or the other at the meeting stepped down for the anointed candidates.Among them are Prof. Ajayi Boroffice, who had declared for the deputy senate president and Nkiruka Onyejiocha for Speaker, House of Representatives.
Though the APC top notchers kept details of the parley to their chest, it was gathered that they deliberated on how to avert a repeat of the 2015 scenario where the former senate president and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara pulled the rug off the feet of the party by clinching the seats ahead of Lawan and Gbajabiamila.
Party National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, who addressed newsmen after the meeting called on Ndume to take a cue from Senator Danjuma Goje by stepping down for Lawan in the interest of the party.
“Well, for now we are still trying to talk to Ali Ndume. I believe that he is a democrat. He understands that in a democracy, it is important that he listens to the voice of the majority and accept the decisions of the majority. I mean, it is all about sacrifice.
“Like I said, I do not know of anybody who has been elected who is not qualified to become the senate president. Senators are equal. For those who have stepped down, they have done that in recognition of the fact that at a particular point in time, only one person will emerge and I believe that my dear friend, Senator Ali Ndume, will not be a lone ranger.
“He will abide by the spirit of the party and he will respect our overall leader who is the president of our country, who is also the leader of our party. I do not have any fear, I believe Ndume will accept the will of the majority.
“All those that have stepped down as a mark of respect for the party leadership are all qualified and they are all unanimous to back the candidates of the party. It (meeting) is basically to firm up all the conversations and lobbying that have gone on and we have already had a meeting with specific conclusions.
“We have all agreed, as a caucus, to endorse Lawan for the presidency of the senate and Omo-Agege for the deputy presidency of the senate,” he said.
Meanwhile, multiple sources in the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) confirmed to Daily Sun that the opposition party may take advantage of the crack in the ruling party and field a candidate for the position of the deputy president of the Senate.
It is, however, not clear who the PDP will field if it decides to go ahead with its plans.
One of the sources said the endorsement of Omo-Agege was a miscalculation.The source said the PDP, which has 44 senators-elect will not vote for Omo-Agege because of his alleged role in the invasion of the National Assembly in April, 2018.
The source said: “The Senate will adopt the secret ballot voting system when we vote tomorrow (today). It means you can’t tell who will vote for or against who. NWC of APC is aware of this. It still baffles me that they opted for Omo-Agege when Kalu and Alimekhena are there. Maybe the APC doesn’t want to win.
“I am aware that the PDP has concluded plans to field its own candidate. The two major contenders, Kalu and Gaya, have vowed not to step down. If APC fields three candidates, the only thing the PDP will do it to nominate one of its own.
“Unless the PDP changes its mind, we may have a repeat of what happened in 2015. I know that the PDP has agreed to vote for Lawan as president. But for his deputy, they are silent. It means they are planning something.”