Battle for Senate Presidency threatens APC: North East strategizes to wrest top position from the Middlebelt

Battle for Senate Presidency threatens APC: North East strategizes to wrest top position from the Middlebelt

The ongoing jostling for the Senate Presidency position is threatening the All Progressive Congress (APC), amidst bribery allegations. The Middlebelt and the North East are currently on a collision course.

According to PointBlank News, the bitter battle between Senate Minority Leader George Akume and Senator Bukola Saraki over who should succeed Senate President David Mark after May 29 may have thrown up Senator Ahmad Lawan. The Yobe-born Senator Lawan is chairman, Senate committee on Public Accounts.


Kwara State-born Saraki and Akume who hails from Benue State both are of All Progressives Congress (APC). Both men are former governors and have of late been locked in a battle over the Senate Presidency.

The North central APC caucus in the Senate is reportedly sharply divided over Akume and Saraki.

Apparently mindful of the acrimony that has trailed the political aspirations of Akume and Saraki, some ranking senators from the zone have begun moves to present Lawan as the zone’s consensus candidate.

Related Story:

• $500,000 Bribery Allegation Rocks APC Zoning Panel

The APC caucus is reportedly worried of allegations that some senators bribed members of a committee set up to advised the party on the zoning of offices.

They are reportedly disposed to Lawan’s candidacy on the ground that, unlike some of the aspirants for the office, he is the least controversial and has no corruption case hanging on his neck.

“Lawan is one of the few senators with no corruption case hanging on his neck aside the fact that he is the most ranking senator from the north in the APC right now”, reasoned one Senator.

Should APC consider the ranking rule, Lawan who has a doctorate degree, has a huge edge over Saraki and Akume having been in the National Assembly since 1999. Besides, he reportedly has an amiable personality.

“Lawan served two terms in the House of Representatives and he will start his third term as a senator in June 2015,” reminded the senator.

Senators jostling for Lawan are reportedly miffed by the campaign by some colleagues from the Northwest that ranking rule be jettisoned to allow some of them contest the seat.

This group of senators, Pointblanknews.com checks revealed, do not have qualms with the realization that President-elect Muhammadu Buhari is from the same zone.

One ranking senator told Pointblanknews.com that, considering accessibility and ranking, Akume has an edge over Saraki.
Akume’s aspiration enjoyed a boost on Tuesday following his endorsement by Barnabas Gemade, a respected senator and former national chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Another factor said to favour Akume is that he was governor four years before Saraki. He is reportedly calm and fatherly. On legislative experience, Akume is also four years older than Saraki because he has been in the chamber since 2007″ offered the senator.

Another senator expressed worry that Saraki was in the race for what ordinary should have been Akume’s for the asking having been a principal officer for four years.

The senator added that Saraki’s rumoured presidential aspiration in 2019 may also work against the Kwara-born senator.