DETAILS emerged on Wednesday as to the forces at play, leading to the emergence of Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Senator Ike Ekweremadu as his deputy, on Tuesday.
The duo had emerged presiding officers of the Senate, contrary to the dictates of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), a development that had led to a face-off between the APC and the Senate.
Sources, however, said a number of forces were at play, both within the Presidency and the APC, to give Saraki the leeway.
It also emerged that the emergence of Senator Ike Ekweremadu as deputy Senate president was a quick move by the PDP, which capitalised on the absence of some APC senators on the floor that day.
It was gathered that some top APC members close to President Muhammadu Buhari had met him around 3.00 a.m. on Tuesday, to discourage him from going to the meeting scheduled for the International Conference Centre (ICC), after a delegation of party leaders had convinced him on the need to attend the meeting and help salvage the image of the party.
Before President Buhari returned to Abuja, some of the APC leaders were said to have been consistently calling him to save the party from imminent collapse, as a result of the refusal of some members to disobey its preferences on the National Assembly positions.
Upon Buhari’s return, some party leaders were said to have visited him and opened up on why he should stop a plot by the PDP to hijack the Assembly.
But after agreeing to come and address the ICC meeting, another set of leaders of the party, led by a North West governor, was said to have told Buhari to stick to his promise not to interfere in the choice of leaders of the legislature.
It also emerged that the PDP, at its meeting late Monday night, arrived at the choice of Saraki, after a meeting at the residence of Senator David Mark.
Majority of PDP senators at the meeting chose to back Saraki, after Mark had rejected the idea by the senators to re-present him for election as Senate president.
It was gathered that the senators did not really have a deal with the PDP, but they chose to support Saraki, after plea to Mark to contest the seat had failed.
“At the meeting of the PDP senators meant to finalise the issue of Senate president, what happened was that some senators-elect came up with the idea that with the division in APC, the PDP can catch on that to produce the Senate President of the eighth Assembly.
“This led this to a long argument, but Senator Mark explained that it was not possible and that the position of Senate President should be for the majority party unless the PDP wanted to set the country on fire.
“At the end, they all agreed not to present any candidate for the position. One of the senators then asked who the PDP should support between Saraki and Lawan.
“While some senators mentioned Lawan, others said Saraki. It was Senator Andy Uba who insisted on Saraki and the senators agreed to put it to vote and Saraki won.
“The PDP national publicity secretary, Olisa Metuh, immediately issued a press statement late that night to declare that the party was going to support Saraki for Senate president.
“When the Saraki camp heard of the development, they quickly ran to Mark’s residence to thank him. That was around 2.00 a.m. No deal was actually reached on the Deputy Senate President issue.
“The Like Mind senators returned to their hotel and, after long deliberations, they agreed on the choice of Ali Ndume at around 5.00 a.m.
“On the floor, during the inauguration, the PDP senators quickly got words round and decided to nominate Ekweremadu. They insisted they can win the slot, in view of the number on the floor. They actually won.
“I am sure Saraki was shocked at the development when they nominated Ekweremadu. The PDP actually discovered that most of the APC senators were absent during the election and they capitalised on this when it was time to nominate the deputy Senate president. With the PDP being in the majority at the time of the election, Ekweremadu won. There was no way Senator Saraki could have helped Ndume and the PDP clinched the position.
“I can confirm to you that it was the president that called the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to dispatch the police at the entrance of the National Assembly to allow the senators and journalists, as well as the workers, into the premises for inauguration,” a source in the know said

Source:tribuneonlineng.com/content/senate-presidency-how-saraki-ekweremadu-won-the-forces-play-mark-rejected-option-being

stale!!!

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“I am sure Saraki was shocked at the development when they nominated Ekweremadu. The PDP actually discovered that most of the APC senators were absent during the election and they capitalised on this when it was time to nominate the deputy Senate president. With the PDP being in the majority at the time of the election, Ekweremadu won. There was no way Senator Saraki could have helped Ndume and the PDP clinched the position.

Saraki was "shocked" Ekweremadu emerged when by 8 AM on tuesday, it was all over the nesw!!!

This PR/ Damage control by Saraki's camp is dead on arrival.

Long long stories that touch

Saraki should hide himself in shame,If it was only PDP senators that made ekweremadu deputy why was he able to get 54 votes?Saraki knew about what happened and it was the condition given by PDP for his endorsement.