₦airaland Forum

The race for the senate presidency took an
interesting dimension on Friday as fresh
facts emerged that two leading contenders,
Senator Ali Ndume and Senator Bukola
Saraki, had agreed to work together in the
overall interest of the country.

Both Saraki
and Ndume were said to have perfected the
arrangement on Thursday night after an
exhaustive consultations with their
supporters and loyalists within and outside
the senate.

Our correspondent learnt that Saraki agreed
to support Ndume if the leadership of the All
Progressives Congress decided to zone the
position to the North-East, while Ndume
volunteered to be Saraki’s deputy if the
position is zoned to the North-Central.

A Senator-elect, who did not want his name
mentioned, told our correspondent that
Ndume attended the Pro-Saraki’s rally held
early in the week in Abuja.

Sixty-four other senators-elect also attended
the rally.
Ndume, who is the Chairman, Senate
Committee on Millennium Development
Goals, was the Minority Leader in the House
of Representatives between 2007 and 2011.

One of Ndume’s aides said the senator was
worried that the North-East had not put its
house in order going by the position of the
12 senators from the zone, who held a
news conference and rejected the
emergence of Ahmed Lawan as their
consensus candidate for the post.

He was said to have expressed concern that
lack of cohesion within the North-East
senate caucus was enough to rub the
region of the position.

The aide said there was apprehension
among the senators-elect that if the North-
East caucus picks Ndume for the office of
the senate president, Lawan might rely on
the alleged backing by the APC leadership
and go ahead with his ambition.

He cited the one page advertisement placed
in some newspapers last week Friday by the
Yobe State caucus in the National Assembly
declaring support for Lawan as another
indication of a crack among the North-East
caucus.

Ndume’s aide claimed that the
advertisement was at variance with the
position of the North-East caucus, which
distanced itself from the purported
endorsement of Lawan by other caucuses.

He, however, said both Ndume and Lawan
met during the week and agreed to abide
by the decisions of both the APC and the
North-East caucus on the issue.
Ndume, in a telephone interview, declined
comments but said, “We are appealing to
the party leadership to zone the office of the
Senate President to the North-East
considering our peculiar condition.”

The factors being considered in favour of
the North-East include adverse effect of
terrorism especially since it had been
established that the zone was the most
devastated by the Boko Haram insurgency
and one of the poorest regions in the
country.

Senators from the zone, while advancing
their argument to produce the next senate
president, claimed that the people of Borno
and Yobe states had always been voting for
the opposition parties since 1979.

They argued that if justice was to prevail,
now that opposition party had taken over
the national government, North-East,
particularly Yobe and Borno states, should
be compensated.
Meanwhile, the other two gladiators in the
race, Senators Ahmad Lawan (Yobe North)
and George Akume, (Benue North-West),
continued their campaigns by holding secret
meetings with senators individually and at
caucus level.

A group of people who are campaigning for
the emergence of Akume as senate
president had started pasting posters in
strategic areas of Abuja to drum up support
for the former Benue State governor.

Lawan , on the other hand, has started
making moves to ensure that all the
senators in the North-East and South-West
who had already endorsed his candidature
remained intact.

He paid a visit to the Chairman, Senate
Committee on Science and Technology,
Senator Ajayi Boroffice, on Tuesday as part
of his interactions with those within the
caucus that had endorsed him.
Boroffice, an APC member from Ondo North
Senatorial District, assured the leadership of
the All Progressives Congress that the
endorsement of Lawan, would not cause
any rancour among the lawmakers from his
zone.

realborn:
Ndume?? The same Senator with BH sponsorship allegations to his name? A no no!

realborn:
Ndume?? The same Senator with BH sponsorship allegations to his name? A no no!

Jhena:
ndume? Linked to BH? I'on fink so oooo.....where did you get this?

rahztafari:
you be crackhead, ndume linked to bh? Where u for see that