Tinubu and Ameachi Clash Over Senate President's Position

The All Progressives
Congress (APC) are now having issues as they try
to figure out which gladiators will take valuable
positions in the nation. According to This Day
sources deep in the APC, the party which won the
March 28, presidential election and secured
majority seats in both the Senate and House of
Representatives has three political blocs within.
These blocs are said to be: the Buhari/Northern
bloc which is made up of the president-elect and
his supporters who have been with him for 12
years and collapsed their structures into the APC
during the merger process; the Tinubu/South-west
bloc led by the former Lagos state governor,
Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu; and the former
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors who
decamped to APC in 2013, led by the Rivers state
governor, Chibuike Amaechi, and Senator Bukola
Saraki.
The battle for political positions is now being
championed by these three blocs.
The Tinubu bloc is said be behind the Senate
minority leader, Senator George Akume, for the
office of the Senate president, while the Amaechi
bloc is pushing hard for the emergence of
Saraki.One source deep in the camp revealed that
Akume has the backing of Tinubu and his group,
which is believed to be the strongest bloc in the
party, but may not have the numbers in the Senate
to push through their goal.
The bloc has three reasons why they want Akume
in the position.
First, the source said that Akume has been with
Tinubu’s group since its days in the ACN,
culminating in his emergence as the Senate
minority leader.
Second, he said Akume is senior to Saraki in the
Senate, having been in the Senate since 2007
while Saraki became a senator in 2011.
Third, the source said Tinubu and his men
understand Akume far better than Saraki who he
said is not close to the bigwigs in the group as is
Akume.
“The Tinubu group is backing Akume because
Saraki seems to be more or less an outsider (to
the group). Besides, Akume has long been in ACN
and he is a senior to Saraki. He is also better
understood by Asiwaju than Saraki,” the source
said.
We also learnt that one other factor not in Saraki’s
favour is his tribe as a Yoruba man, though
geographically located in Kwara in North-central
Nigeria.
However, the APC thinks they would have a tough
time selling a Yoruba Senate president to the
nation due to the vice-president-elect, Prof Yemi
Osinbajo, is also being a Yoruba man from Ogun
state in the south-west.
A source added that it would be a hard sell for two
Yoruba men to become number two and three
citizens respectively, even though they are from
different geopolitical zones.
Despite this, Amaechi’s group wants Saraki in the
position, while the agitation of north-east senators
to produce the Senate president is said to have
had the backing of the former vice-president Atiku
Abubakar.
The senators had demanded the APC zone the
position to their region, saying they are the most
marginalised zone in the country.
This position is being supported by the former
Gombe state governor, Danjuma Goje, who
represents Gombe Central in the Senate, and by
his counterparts in Yobe East and Yobe North,
Bukka Abba Ibrahim and Ahmed Lawan
respectively.
A senator from the south-west, Professor Olusola
Adeyeye (Osun Central), has also indicated interest
in the race.
We also learnt that given different contenders’
interest in the office, it may be difficult for the
power brokers in the APC to reach a consensus
with the contenders on who will become the next
Senate president.
Hence, the source said if a stalemate prevails there
may be a repeat of the episode in the House of
Representatives in 2011 when members of the
House opted to elect their speaker and deputy in
violation of the ruling PDP zoning agenda which
had zoned the two offices to the south-west and
the north-east respectively.
It was against this background that Aminu
Tambuwal from the north-west and Emeka
Ihedioha from the south-east emerged the Speaker
and Deputy Speaker, respectively.
Given the emerging scenario, a source told us that
the Senate might be forced to decide who leads
them through an election that is based on the
coalition built by each of the contenders for the
post of Senate president among their colleagues.
The Senate president position had been held by
David Mark but as the APC are now the majority,
they have to find one of their own.
-naij