Senators elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are intensifying their plot to take over the senate should Senate President Bukola Saraki fail to survive his ongoing legal battles, which they view as power play among contending forces within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

THISDAY got wind of the plot from some of the Senators, who have been meeting over the development in the senate and the travails of Senator Saraki.

Saraki, whose emergence as Senate President was as a result of the overwhelming support given to him by PDP senators despite his party’s opposition to his aspiration for the topmost position in the senate, is currently facing a 13-count charge of alleged false declaration of assets at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

There had been allegations that the current travails of Saraki were aimed at easing him out of the office of the Senate President. But the PDP lawmakers are confident that should there be a need for votes to pick a presiding officer, the party’s caucus is in a good stead to determine who presides over the upper chamber.

Their confidence is predicated on a simple extrapolation of numbers and alliances. For instance, the Senate has 109 seats, with one of the seats vacant as a result of death. The remaining 108 are made up of 59 APC senators and 49 PDP senators.
While the APC caucus is divided over the emergence of Saraki as Senate President, the PDP caucus remains intact, and would only need 11 more Senators to fulfil the constitutional stipulation of one third votes to produce the Senate President.

It was gathered that the PDP senators have also realised that one of the problems President Muhammadu Buhari and others seemed to have with Saraki is the emergence of Senator Ike Ekweremadu as the Deputy Senate President, and are of the view that should Saraki be removed, the APC would not be satisfied until Ekweremadu is also removed – consequently forcing members of the PDP caucus to stay together as a united team to be able to assert themselves and get what they need.

Their calculation is that if APC successfully used the judiciary or other means to remove Saraki, the PDP which already has access to the Senate President's core supporters in APC, would reach out to them, since they are already endangered and aggrieved. This way, they will get the required one third to elect either Senator David Mark or Ekweremadu as Senate President.

According to some members of the PDP caucus, should Mark emerge, his acceptance will be easier because he is still respected among ranking senators, who would all rally round him. Ekweremadu’s choice is believed to be strategic too because of the way the current administration is seen to be treating the Igbos, therefore using his Senate Presidency to balance the lopsided power equation in the country would be the way to go.

In addition, the PDP senators are said to have gone far in their plot such that they already have the understanding of their APC allies that in the worst case scenario that they come face-to-face with threat from the APC leadership (which is most likely), some of them would absent themselves from sitting on the day of the election of a new Senate leadership.

Some of the senators who spoke to THISDAY in confidence on the issue were of the view that should that happen, the new leadership would endure because while its requires a simple majority to elect the Senate President and his deputy, what is needed to remove them is a two-third majority - a number the APC cannot muster in both instances given the current dynamics in the senate, politically and in terms of numbers.

Citing lack of capacity to manage success in a critical institution like the Senate, some of the PDP senators are of the view that a party that is uncoordinated and lacking internal cohesion is evidently unable to lead a critical arm of government like the Senate, much less the country.

The PDP Senators noted that they had every opportunity to have seized the leadership of the Senate at inauguration but chose to be democratic and exhibit political maturity. However, with the development in the Senate, the PDP Senators argued that the need to save the Senate from the greed of some APC leaders had become inevitable, hence their resolve to take over the senate in the event that a need to elect a new leadership arises.

The lawmakers also noted that after all, the Senate in the last few years, especially under the PDP Senate President David Mark, did a lot, not only to stabilise the institution, but the country in general through its many interventions at critical periods in the nation’s political evolution.


http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/apc-may-lose-senate-presidency-to-pdp/221283/#.VgeVJ-TXZU8.facebook

It iz well

PDP needs re-strategizing to still be relevant, probably a re-branding too!

I don't even know why all these media outfits are giving PDP hope. As far as this country is concerned PDP will not lead the Senate. I don't know many of those senators that is as smart as Bukoka  Saraki, who wants to get into the black book of Buhari /Tinubu  not even David Mark. How many people saw this Saraki's trial coming from the angle of CCB, not even Saraki himself. Almost all the senators are corrupt because it was easy to be corrupt during the past 16 years of PDP ruling, so there is always a way to nail anyone when the need be. So I can confidently confirm that all these surface analysis would have worked only if all things were equal in the past the way it starts to be now,  if this country had been freed of corruption in the past 16 years, if stealing had been seen as corruption in the past. PDP gave APC the platform they are riding on now and I trust Asiwaju to crush anyone standing on the riding track. PDP would have become a Senate President if Politic was mathematics but nay politics ain't mathematics. The only person that will ever lead the Senate will have to be the anointed candidate of Buhari/Tinubu. Just watch as events unfold.

If I hear!

The calculation is very obvious. The battle between Saraki and the APC godfathers is an all-loser battle, no matter the outcome.

Should Saraki be removed, PDP will capture the Senate presidency/leadership; should Saraki remain in office, any ministerial nominee emanating or related to the godfathers will never scale through.

chiboyo:
PDP needs re-strategizing to still be relevant, probably a re-branding too!

They are seriously on the path whether APC wants it or not.

APC through their carelessness already shot themselves in the foot...SMH

histemple:
The calculation is very obvious. The battle between Saraki and the APC godfathers is an all-loser battle, no matter the outcome.

Should Saraki be removed, PDP will capture the Senate presidency/leadership; should Saraki remain in office, any ministerial nominee emanating or related to the godfathers will never scale through.

GBAM!!!

Watching how this telemundo drama unfolds

PDP! Capture which Senate? Abeg, da one na long thing!

histemple:
The calculation is very obvious. The battle between Saraki and the APC godfathers is an all-loser battle, no matter the outcome.

Should Saraki be removed, PDP will capture the Senate presidency/leadership; should Saraki remain in office, any ministerial nominee emanating or related to the godfathers will never scale through.

Typical one-way analysis.

Get this, politics is pure mathematics. What makes you think the other APC rebels would not cave in after Saraki is bereft of power? Political survival is key here, and you think PDP (a party that just lost power) can guarantee them that? The APC rebels will eventually realign with the party, at least for now, to fight another day.

It's obvious that the APC rebels used PDP. And from what I can see on my tea leaves, they will dump PDP sooner than later!

Hmmm...

Politics is a game of no not people. Population is a question of people not numbers




Hummmm

APC una see Una life?
BTW, I cant wait for PDP to take over the seat at senate.
It would make the next four years very interesting. People like Tinubu would die before their time.

APC remains a kindergarten party. This is what happens when you are not ready for governance.

Saraki should step down first, them we will see who among those corrupt pdp will dare try to be the Sp

iamboody:
I don't even know why all these media outfits are giving PDP hope. As far as this country is concerned PDP will not lead the Senate. I don't know many of those senators that is as smart as Bukoka  Saraki, who wants to get into the black book of Buhari /Tinubu  not even David Mark. How many people saw this Saraki's trial coming from the angle of CCB, not even Saraki himself. The only person that will ever lead the Senate will have to be the anointed candidate of Buhari/Tinubu. Just watch as events unfold.

you must be tinubu's sperm. Waste of space.

Volksfuhrer:


Typical one-way analysis.

Get this, politics is pure mathematics. What makes you think the other APC rebels would not cave in after Saraki is bereft of power? Political survival is key here, and you think PDP (a party that just lost power) can guarantee them that? The APC rebels will eventually realign with the party, at least for now, to fight another day.

It's obvious that the APC rebels used PDP. And from what I can see on my tea leaves, they will dump PDP sooner than later!

Your point is very valid. But we must also understand that, all these analysis are based on probabilities. Nobody, except the gladiators, can say for sure what will happen.

But we must also recognize that Saraki will be dismissed entirely and that leaves APC with 57 senators to PDP’s 49.

This means that a united PDP just needed only 5 senators, to either vote for them or stay indifferent, to win. Anyways, nothing is certain for now but it is an expensive gambling.

Let's watch on.

Like seriously?

That's their problem.

It's called may

We are watching in 7D as events unfold.

THISDAY, pls correct urself,APC will loses that position to PDP. its certain

iamboody:
I don't even know why all these media outfits are giving PDP hope. As far as this country is concerned PDP will not lead the Senate. I don't know many of those senators that is as smart as Bukoka  Saraki, who wants to get into the black book of Buhari /Tinubu  not even David Mark. How many people saw this Saraki's trial coming from the angle of CCB, not even Saraki himself. Almost all the senators are corrupt because it was easy to be corrupt during the past 16 years of PDP ruling, so there is always a way to nail anyone when the need be. So I can confidently confirm that all these surface analysis would have worked only if all things were equal in the past the way it starts to be now,  if this country had been freed of corruption in the past 16 years, if stealing had been seen as corruption in the past. PDP gave APC the platform they are riding on now and I trust Asiwaju to crush anyone standing on the riding track. PDP would have become a Senate President if Politic was mathematics but nay politics ain't mathematics. The only person that will ever lead the Senate will have to be the anointed candidate of Buhari/Tinubu. Just watch as events unfold.

ok I see

Oga eme APC vum n'anya.