Senate presidency: Mark may return as APC senators split
Senate presidency: Mark may return as APC
senators split
As the race for the senate presidency continues facts are beginning to emerge
that Senator David Mark
may return as the Senate president unless the All Progressives Congress puts its House in order and produce a consensus candidate
for the seat.
It was reliably gathered that Senator Mark
met with the Peoples Democratic Party
senators-elect earlier this week on how
they can capitalise on the disunity in the
APC camp over the Senate president seat.
The 8th Senate will have 60 APC members,
while the PDP will have 48. But if the APC fails to present a consensus
candidate, the ground will be opened for
Mark.
It was learnt that Mark has earmarked N10 billion to ensure that he returns as Senate president, hoping to capitalise on the zoning rancour in the APC.
Already, Senator Bukola Saraki has declared his interest to contest for the Senate president’s seat. Other people in the race who have not
declared their interests openly are Senator
Ahmad Lawan and Senator Gorge Akume,
who is the Minority Leader in the Senate.
The tide seems to be favouring Senator
Lawan because of his experience as legislator and his endorsement by the South West and North West Caucuses of
senators-elect until Friday morning when
senators from his geopolitical zone (North
East) disowned him as consensus candidate of the zone.
However, sources close to the Northern camp revealed that a former presidential aspirant in the zone is not comfortable with the endorsement of Senator Lawan as consensus candidate, preferring
Senator Saraki.
The thinking is that the emergence of Lawan as Senate president will
automatically make the him (Lawan) the
leader of the party in the zone. The presidential aspirant is said not to be comfortable with this.
Our source further revealed that among
the senators-elect from North East region,
who is also a former governor, may be
working for Saraki underground for the
Senate presidency seat as the former
governor is not also ready to accept
Lawan’s leadership in the region.
But the factor that might work against them is the allegation that some people are bringing up again that Saraki illicitly
obtained a N21 billion loan from the now
defunct Intercontinental Bank Plc through
Joy Petroleum, a company said to be
owned by his former aide.
The President-elect, General Muhammadu
Buhari, has made it known that any
candidate with corruption case will not
receive his blessing for the Senate president seat.
