The Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside has been embroiled in many controversies in the past, but the latest one that he awarded a whopping N250m contract to a proxy company threatens his continuous stay in that office.
The politician has also been recently put on the spot for splashing N50b on a floating dock which has since remained moribund.
The Cabotage fund was said to have been used to finance the controversial Dock procured mid last year.
According to the magazine’s investigations, the agency boss has already forwarded a memo to that effect to NIMASA Board for onward approval of the new contract.
“The General Jonathan India Garba led board is still studying the memo from the DG which will anytime from now give approval,” a member of the board informed the magazine.
Recently, one of his predecessors was sentenced to a seven-year imprisonment after the court found him guilty of breaching the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC code.
The contract awarded to one Thames Hudson Consulting, for the dry docking and repair of MV Ofure, one of the boats in its fleet.
What made the contract suspicious, some stakeholders in the sector told the magazine, is that the said company does not operate any ship repair facility within and outside the country.
This is even more so after the agency, last year splashed N50b on an idle floating dock in a similar controversial manner.
Since the Dock was purchased in 2018, close sources in the agency said it has not function for one day.
A committee was set up by the agency boss in January this year to recommend ways on how the Dock will be put to use but nothing has been heard on the matter since then, those privy to the matter said.
Other sources told the magazine that the recommendations of the committee have been ignored by the management.
For instance, a memo signed and dated January 29 by one Engineer. Olu Aladenusi on how to engage the facility was said to have been discarded by Dr. Peterside.
That’s in spite of his promise last year that the Dry Dock platform will redefine Nigeria’s shipping business.
At least, over N36b will be realized from the Dock yearly, the DG boasted at the time.
As it is, those promises seemed to have become farfetched because the facility has been abandoned ever since.
Rather than start work, the agency has been incurring direct and indirect expensed on the moribund Dock, the magazine was told.
According to investigations, the agency has been spending $30,000, close to N10 m on the facility as wharfage charges since it arrived last year.
As at March this year, the agency owed the Naval Dockyard over $90,000, close to N30m, it was also revealed.
Also, the agency has spent more than $3m to take care of staff and other expenses for the maintenance of the facility in the last one year
“We spend $10,000 as daily expenses for the maintenance of the platform since the agency took delivery of it since June 11, 2018,” a top agency staff told the magazine yesterday.
Femi Gbajabiamila, immediate past Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, beat all odds to emerge the Speaker of the House, an office he also ran for in 2015, but lost to the immediate past Speaker, Yakubu Dogara.
He is to be assisted by Hon. Ahmed Idris Wase, who was elected unopposed, as the Deputy Speaker. Both men are from Lagos and Plateau states respectively.
Even though both men were their party’s endorsed and officially backed candidate, it did not stop Hon Mohammed Bagu from challenging him to the Speakership office.
Even though Gbajabiamila won with a landslide, securing 282 votes out of the 358 votes cast, the road to that victory was rough.
To win, Gbaja, as he is fondly called, fought off serious allegations of perjury, misconduct and of, having been convicted in Georgia, USA.
The opposition PDP had, on the eve of the election, backed Gbaja’s opponent, Bagu, directing all its elected members to give him a block vote. But not only did the directive come very late, it was was roundly ignored, given the margin of votes with which the new Speaker defeated his opponent.
The election of the Deputy Speaker was a no -event, as Wase, the APC endorsed candidate was shooed in unopposed. That was, however, thanks to Dogara who appealed to his colleagues not to nominate another person after Wase’s nomination, a move the new Speaker acknowledged and appreciated when he made his acceptance speech.
Perhaps, Dogara, seeing Gbaja’s overwhelming victory knew it was going to be a waste of time, and an exercise in futility.
With this victory, it was a clean sweep for the APC, as it not only won all the offices, but got all its endorsed candidates elected both at Senate and the House of Representatives.
This was the opposite of 2015 when all its endorsed candidates lost, and acceded the position of the Deputy Senate President to the opposition PDP.
It was the D-Day at the Senate Chambers of the National Assembly, NASS. Senators-elect, after weeks of lobbying and horse-trading, were ready to elect two of their colleagues to the office of the Senate President, SP, and the Deputy Senate President, DSP.
Millions of Nigerians stayed glued to thier television and radio sets. Expectations were high.
The contestants, five for both positions, were all of the ruling party at the centre, APC, except Ike Ekweremadu, the immediate past DSP, who was a suprise contestant to the position he had held for 12 years.
In 2015, he and his party, the PDP, pulled a suprise when he snatched that position from the APC under the Senate Presidency of Dr Bukola Saraki. When he accepted to run again this time after being nominated, it was a shock to some people. Others felt that perhaps, he had a solid-rock arrangement with his colleagues from his party, and perhaps a few from the APC.
For the Senate President, the APC had backed Senator Ahmed Lawan, immediate past Majority Leader, as its choice, against another of its own, Senator Ali Ndume who resisted all pressures to toe the party line, and step down for Lawan.
For the position of the DSP, the party backed Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, the alleged sponsor of the Mace-snatching scandal by thugs from the Senate Chambers
On the eve of the election, the PDP which had been dilly-dallying, had belatedly, endorsed Ndume for SP, and directed its members to comply. Surprisingly, the party never let-on that Ekweremadu would contest the position of the DSP.
Yet, a tough contest was expected.
But, at the end, it was a no-contest, an anti-climax. The vote was cast by 107 Senators-elect. Lawan scored 79 votes, a landslide which exceeded the 61 votes he was expecting, leaving a miserable 28 votes for the PDP-backed Ndume.
In same manner, Omo-Agege routed Ekwremadu by 70 votes to 37.
This magazine gathered that the PDP-backed candidates performed this woefully because it entered the race a divided house. The party boasts of over 45 Senators -elect. And so, was expected to be the deciding factor. But it failed to do so because its leadership took things for granted. It never held any serious meetings, or consultation with its Senators-elect to take a stand. It kept dilly-dallying, and giving conflicting signals. By the time it met on the eve of the election, and directed its members to give a block vote to Ndume, It was already late. The APC leadership and Lawan had reached out to them. Even the PDP governors were divided. Without any strong direction from the party, some of them had pledged support to the APC officially-backed candidate, just as a couple of them in the South-east, also, worked against the PDP Presidential ticket to spite its Vice Presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
The same scenario is expected to play out in the House of Representatives later today.
“The party betrayed itself”, one of its top officials told this magazine. “We went to the contest, divided”, he added.
In addition, many hold the opinion that the choice of Ekweremadu was not smart. Some expressed surprise that he accepted to put his name forward. An angry PDP Senator told this magazine: ” It is the law of Karma. How much did he help the PDP presidential tickets?” Another asked if he thought the DSP office has become his father’s farmland. “Is the office his father’s farmland? After 12 years, he still wanted more years. He ought to have bowed out when the ovation was highest” Another said, “When he saw how Ndume was routed by Lawan, he should have backed out of the race. He pushed his luck to a stretching point”
For the APC, it is a win-win situation. It enforced party supremacy, And now, it has the kind of Senate leadership it always yearned for, since 2015.
An Abuja High court has ordered the use of open ballot for the conduct of elections into the principal offices of the National Assembly, contrary to the dictates of the Clark of the National Assembly who favors secret ballot. Secret Ballot was used in 2015.
It is believed that with open ballot, the ruling party and the Presidency will be able to influence the voting, since it is alleged by the opposition that the legislators may be psychologically intimidated by the ruling party.
With the dissolution of the 8th senate, the Clark of the National Assembly runs things until a senate president is elected.
But an Abuja High Court presided over by Justice O. A. Musa, has granted an interim injunction restraining the Clerk of the National Assembly, the Clerk of the Senate and the Sergeant-At-Arms to the Senate and others from relying or enforcing the Senate standing orders 2015 (as amended) in the conduct of election of presiding officers of the Senate of the 9thAssembly, pending the determination of a suit filed by Senator Jibrin Barau.
Order 2015 as amended deals with the use of secrete ballot for election of principal officers.
The exparte order has been circulated in the social media by Oshiomhole’s Chief Press secretary, Simon Ebegbulem, having been obtained since yesterday, June 10 2019, though late.
It is not clear whether the Clark of the house has been officially served, without which the secrete ballot will still go ahead. Neither is it clear yet if the leadership of the National Assembly has approached another court of equal jurisdiction to nullify the order.
The comprehensive order reads:
“an order of interim injunction restraining the respondents and each of them, whether by themselves, servants or agents or otherwise from further using, relying or enforcing the senate standing orders 2015 (as amended) for the purposes of conducting any legislative business or affairs in the 9th senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, including but not limited to the election of presiding officers of the senate to commence on the June 11, 2019 and any other day pending the hearing and determination of the originating motion in this case.
“An interim order restraining the first and second respondents, and each of them whether by themselves or otherwise not to use any other senate standing orders for the inauguration of the 9th Assembly whatsoever, including but limited to the election of presiding officers of the senate on Tuesday, June 11, 2019 and any other day except the senate standing orders 2011 (as amended) by the senate on May 24,2011″
The recent resolutions of the out-going members of the Imo House of Assembly have shocked not a few people. I am sure they even shocked themselves. And, the out-gone governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha must be wondering at the behaviour of the “animal called man.”
Politicians cover-up their political prostitution by telling us: “In politics, there is no permanent enemy, only permanent interests”. Yet, I confirm that the case of the out-going IMHA members is fit for the Guinness Book of Records.
Here are why.
Imolites know the story of Okorocha and these members. In the eight years of his government, the IMHA was an extension of Okorocha’s office. Members were at his beck and call. They could not cough without him asking them to. They would not sit without discussing the day’s activities with him. If he asked them not to sit, they wouldn’t dare. They never discussed anything rigorously. They never interrogated him on any policy issue. They never discussed the budget. There was no budget defence. If there was any, it was a huge joke. Anything he wanted, they did. If he asked them to jump, led by the most subservient Speaker since Nigeria’s democracy, Acho Ihim, they would ask how high.
Imo House of Assembly
They looked on, and applauded while the state was in dire distress. They looked on while our educational system was being destroyed. They looked on while he made a ridicule of the state by establishing six Universities in one fell swoop. They looked on while he made nonsense of our civil/public service rules. He hired people at will, fired at will, promoted at will and seconded at will, paid workers 70 per cent of their salaries and, asked them to sign that they were paid 100 per cent. And they looked on while he reduced work days to three days from five.
They looked on while he declared work free days to mark his birthdays. They looked on while he created Community governments, something unknown to Nigeria’s constitution. They looked on while he rendered the local government system irrelevant. They looked on while he created mushroom autonomous communities and appointed mushroom traditional rulers to oversee them. They looked on while he, excuse my language, bastardized our traditional institutions.
They looked on, without a whimper, when people’s houses and major markets in the state were being pulled down. Eke ukwu Owere is a good example. Even though there was a court order to the contrary, nobody could stop him from pulling down the people’s ancestral market. Traders lost billions of Naira. A young boy was shot dead in the process. And, until he left office, the site remained an eye sore. Worse than a pig’s sty.
Madumere
The lawmakers lost their voices, and looked on while the state government disobeyed court orders with impunity. They suspended their own members for refusing to join in their illegality. They applauded Okorocha and, helped him engineer, and endorse the impeachment of two deputy governors.
They looked on as Imolites screamed over the alleged illegal grabbing of their lands for personal and/or selfish use. They looked on as he constructed bridges without rods, and pillars. They asked no questions as the roads he constructed today became large potholes tomorrow. They looked on as he constructed the most ridiculous and, the most dangerous tunnel ever in Nigeria. The Nigeria Society of Engineers had since dismissed the tunnel as a tragedy waiting to happen. The IMHA members looked on as the state capital became one huge smelly refuse dump, and drains and streets of flood and stagnant rivulets.
A couple of days before Okorocha’s exit as a governor, they looked on as he appointed, and swore-in eleven permanent secretaries, a new head of service, and a new accountant general. A few days earlier, they had looked on as he inaugurated board members of parastatals and institutions. Sure, he had the right, but morally, it was wrong.
In all these, they said not a word. They shamelessly applauded him. And hailed him as the best thing to have happened to Imo.
But now, all that is over. It was over within a twinkle of an eye. Even before he entered his private residence on May 28, it was over. The lawmakers made an about face. Like the Jews, the chorus turned to: crucify him. Like Peter, they denied Okorocha. Like Pontius Pilate, they washed their hands off him and his activities which they had, for eight years, applauded and endorsed.
Martin Agbaso
Again, here is how.
It started, gradually, on the day the lawmakers surprised themselves, and resolved to ask questions about the financial status of the state. This was a couple of weeks to the exit of the ex-governor from office. Not a few people thought they were under the influence. But no. They were clear-headed. They went further to insist they never discussed, nor approved the 2019 Budget – something the ex-governor had, as usual, taken for granted. Flowing from that, they invited the Commissioner for Finance and the Accountant General to appear before them. They invited the Chairmen of LGAs’ to also appear before them to discuss their finances. When the Chairmen ignored them, they were suspended from office. The suspension angered Okorocha. He, allegedly, scolded Ihim, who at the next sitting, reversed the suspension. It cost him his Speakership. Most of the members revolted against him. A new Speaker emerged. And quit within 48 hours. And a third Speaker, finally, emerged and raised the ante. This other day, Ihim was given the treatment he enjoyed giving others. He was suspended from the Assembly.
By this time, Ihedioha had been sworn in as governor. Power has changed hands. And so has allegiance. And loyalty. But these happened too soon, in an almost obscene speed.
Suddenly, the lawmakers began to bark and bite. They found their groove. And their breath. And their independence. And, as one cheeky fellow put it, their manhood. Let me add that the women also found their womanhood. Why discriminate against them!
Since then, Imo lawmakers have been trying to exert their independence. They have been trying to distance themselves from the ex-governor’s decisions and activities in office.
So, this other day, to prove to Imolites that they are now repentant of their shameful performance these past eight years, they went for Okorocha’s jugular. In a unanimous resolution, they asked Governor Ihedioha to probe Okorocha’s tenure. And this, a tenure they swore to die for, while it lasted.
They asked him to probe the finances of the state. And they asked for more. From promotions, recruitments, postings, secondments, retirements in the civil/public service, land allocations/ alleged land grabbing, to issuance of certificates of occupancy, they asked him to probe. And, they resolved some more.
They asked Ihedioha to cancel the last-minute appointments and swearing-in of eleven permanent secretaries, the accountant general, and the head of service. They also asked him to cancel the ridiculous establishment of six universities in one fell swoop when the Imo State University, the Teaching hospital, Orlu, and the Imo State polytechnic are dying from lack of funds-induced kwashiorkor.
Ihedioha has listened to them. But having been a member of the House of Representatives, rising to become its Deputy Speaker, and Acting Speaker, he is a man of due process. So, he has not done what some of his governor-colleagues did as soon as they were sworn in. Some of them cancelled last minute appointments and contracts immediately. But he has chosen to set-up two committees to look into the resolutions of the IMHA. Good beginning. And the people are clapping. It will be interesting to know how, and where, Okorocha left the sum of N42billion for Ihedioha to kick start the new government.
However, there are serious issues which the IMHA members forgot. In their hurry to display their new found power, they forgot to pass a resolution on the worst disgrace and shame Imo state experienced under Okorocha.
Here is what.
In the eight years of Okorocha’s reign as the governor, he made it a habit to disgrace people out of office. Most, if not all of them, were innocent of the allegations made against them. Like in a military dictatorship, his government would go on radio and television, and announce the compulsory retirements, termination of appointments, or dismissals, from office, of men and women who had faithfully served for years without blemish. They ranged from directors to permanent secretaries to a Secretary to the State Government, SSG. Those of them who had the liver to challenge him in court did. They won. But, he always chose to disobey the courts – a would-be burden on the Ihedioha administration, since government is a continuum.
Yet, the most outrageous of them all was Okorocha’s connivance with the IMHA to impeach two deputy governors one after the other.
The first victim was Sir Jude Agbaso, his first Deputy Governor. Sir Agbaso was a victim of high-wired politics between Okorocha and his elder brother, Chief Martin Agbaso. Both were political partners in APGA, the political party under which Okorocha won the governorship seat in 2011. I cannot confirm this story, but following is what they say happened between both men.
They agreed that Okorocha would take the first shot as governor, with Agbaso, producing the deputy. After four years, it would be reversed. Chief Agbaso would take the driving seat, while Okorocha would produce the deputy.
But the heart is cunning. Everybody carries his/her own like a bag. Unknown to Chief Agbaso, Okorocha had no intention of keeping to that agreement. As they were making it, he was already thinking beyond that. He was preparing a family political empire. He would do eight years, not four. And after him, his son-in-law, Uche Nwosu, would step in for another eight years. But to achieve that, he needed to foul the relationship between him and the Agbasos in a most cruel manner.
So, in addition to Sir Agbaso’s deputy governorship, he also appointed him the Commissioner for Works. But it was an empty shell. A Greek gift. Sir Agbaso was never part of any contract negotiation, award, signing, or payment. All those were done behind him. Yet, it did not save him from being criminally accused of taking bribe to the tune of over N400m from a God-cursed contractor – a liar from the pit of hell, like those who contracted him to engage in such atrocity. Agbaso was impeached. And, even when he had since been cleared by the EFCC, he is still in limbo. Neither the state government, the IMHA, nor the then weak judiciary which put a seal on a patent lie, has apologised to him.
The second victim of Okorocha’s wicked connivance with the IMHA is the immediate past Deputy Governor, Prince Eze Madumere. He was Agbaso’s replacement. Absolutely loyal to Okorocha, and subservient to a fault, Okorocha connived with the IMHA to impeach him. To do that, Ihim’s IMHA suspended, indefinitely, members who they knew would oppose the move.
Madumere’s crime: He dared say he would contest the governorship seat which Okorocha reserved for his son-in-law.
Both men did nothing. They were criminalized and humiliated to satisfy one man’s obscene ambition. And the man was supported in all that by the IMHA.
Now that the members have decided to swallow their vomit of eight years; now that they have shamelessly found their voices; now that they have realised, belated as it is, their collective sins against their state; now that they have decided to work for the people, and not for one man’s interest, they should go the whole hog.
Before Governor Ihedioha proclaims the next Assembly, they should wipe this shame off their faces and that of the state. They should reverse the impeachment of both Agbaso and Madumere (even though a court has reversed Madumere’s, while Agbaso’s case against Okorocha is at the Supreme Court); with an apology, and restore all their rights and entitlements. A vote of confidence is what is needed.
It has a precedence. The Lagos state House of Assembly, after a couple of years, reversed the unjust impeachment of Femi Pedro, a former deputy governor, under Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and restored all his entitlements. That’s the way to go. And that’s integrity.
The South-east APC is grieving, and so are those politicians from the zone who worked across party lines to give President Muhammadu Buhari, at least, 25 per cent, in three of the zone’s five states.
They did that, according to them, hoping that the zone would be rewarded with one of the first four positions in the National Assembly, NASS.
The positions are those of the President of the Seate, Deputy President of the Senate, the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The Zone was expectant, especially, as two of its sons and a daughter had shown more than a passing interest in the positions.
Orji Uzo Kalu, a former governor of Abia state, and a former member of the House of Representatives, now a Senator-elect, is strongly lobbying and canvassing for the position of the Deputy Senate President. Hon. Nkeiru Onyejiocha, a three-time member of the House and, Hon.Emeka Nwajiuba, Chairman of TETFUND, but now going to the House for the second time, are both lobbying for the position of the Speaker.
In fact, there had been rumours that Senator Ike Ekweremadu, immediate past Deputy Senate President, was being projected to pair with either of the two frontline APC candidate for the Senate Presidency – Senators Ahmed Lawan and Ali Ndume for the DSP position.
But, that’s a long shot. If the resolution of the APC National Working Committee, NWC, last night, is anything to go by, none of that will happen. The South-east will come out empty-handed. If lucky, it may get two of the less high profile positions – one in the Senate, and one in the House.
The APC NWC has pulled the rug from under the zone’s feet.
Rising from the meeting, and flaunting President Buhari’s name, the NWC ordered all APC NASS members to toe the party line, and vote Lawam as the Senate President, and Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila as Speaker. For their deputies, they endorsed Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, the alleged sponsor of the mace-snatching scandal by thugs who invaded the Senate chambers.
Even though Kalu, Onyejeocha and Nwajiuba have not withdrawn, it is expected that they would, to avoid their party’s wrath, and that of the president. An APC high ranking official told this magazine, “Nobody wants to be a Saraki or a Dogara.” He was refering to the obvious prosecution of both men by the party and the presidency for not adhering to the party’s choice for the two top positions in the NASS in 2015. It led to the encampment of both of them to the PDP, where they still retained their positions to the end.
Already, Senator Ajayi Boroffice who was seriously gunning for the DSP position has withdrawn in obedience to his party’s order.
On Tuesday, June 11 Senator Ali Ndume will plot to avenge the loss he suffered two years ago to closest rival, Senator Ahmed Lawan from Yobe state who robbed him of the prestigious position of Senate Leader.
Lawan’s tenure as Leader of the Red Chamber ended last Thursday June 7.
For the two political rivals, the contest for Senate President is both of ego and prestige as they will be fighting the battle of their lives.
Tinubu and Saraki Battle For Relevance
Their supporters are also not leaving anything to chances.
Whatever happens on Tuesday will mar or make the political career of the two political titans.
More importantly, the winner of the titanic contest will determine the political influence of Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu who because of his interest in who becomes the leader of the nation’s National Assembly, had relocated to the nation’s capital.
Another important party in the make or mar contest is Senator Bukola Saraki who sources said, has simply stayed back in the FCT, after his tenure as President of the Senate ended last Thursday, June 6, to back a particular candidate.
“Asiwaju is doing all in his powers to forestall a repetition of what happened in 2015. Once beaten, twice shy, we are going all out this time to make sure Lawan got it” one very close politician to Tinubu told the magazine in Abuja.
Head or tail, either Lawan or Ndume will become the President of the Ninth Senate.
Lawan: 60 senators support me
This became so following the decision of Mohammed Goje to step down from the race last week.
Goje, a former governor of Gombe state, we recalled, took the decision not to run after he had a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari.
The ex- governor has since endorsed Lawan who is President Buhari and the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC candidate for the nation’s number three citizen’s job.
Recall also that an earlier rapprochement President Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo had with Senator Ndume failed make him stepped down for Lawan.
60 Senators Support Me – Lawan
The bulky senator has recently boasted that he has the support of 60 out of the 105 senators across party lines backing his ambition.
“I want to thank PDP senators, some of whom have publicly declared for us, while many of them are working behind the scenes for us. It’s strategic that we didn’t include PDP senators-elect names.
But I know that out of the 44 PDP senators-elect, we can’t have less than 35 to 38. “I want to pay tributes to Sen Ifeanyi Ubah for his support. For my colleagues in the APC, this is the first time that members of the National Assembly either in the Senate or House will come together to endorse a candidate this way.
Ndume: Go for broke
I thank you all for this endorsements,” Sen Jibrin Barau, the spokesman of Lawan campaign said at a press briefing in Abuja last week.
High Intrigues of Cash Politics
But as it’s, serious horse-trading, the magazine has learned is still on going as the two candidates are making the last ditched effort to rally support for their candidature.
It was learned last night from credible sources that money is playing a big role in this contest.
“For the House of Representatives, the sponsors of Gbajabiamila and Bago, who are contesting for the Speaker are spending as much as N25m to woo lawmakers. The Senate is a bit higher, because the stakes are more in the upper chamber,” the source said.
The insider disclosed to the magazine that “each senator is being given close to N30 by both candidates contesting for the office. Apart from this, the contestants are banking on their goodwill to get the support of their colleagues,” the source said.
Whatever assurances Ndume and Lawan have secured among other senators for their quest to succeeded Saraki, a former governor of Kwara state will be put to test on Tuesday.
Buhari Issues Proclamation For 9th Senate
Last week, President Buhari made a proclamation to end the 8th Senate and the start of 9th Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Plot To Amend Senate Rule Thickens
Sources close to the National Assembly told the magazine that a high wire intrigues is currently ongoing in both camps on how to use the Senate standing rule to favour each of the candidates.
The current rules allow senators to vote secretly.
Attempts to change the rule by those said to be disposed to Lawan presidency had earlier been rebuffed by his opponents.
“Top notch in the APC and presidency are still trying to get the rules amended. Because in that sense Lawan will stand a better chance, as no APC senator will risk voting against the party’s candidate for fear of being sanctioned,” the source said.
He explained that ”most senators are still prepared to vote their conscience in spite of the monetary gratifications. But that will only be possible when they are allowed to vote through secret ballot.”
Those close to Ndume told the magazine that the former senate leader is banking on ‘this lacuna’ to pull off a surprise.
Recall that the senator from Borno state has disclosed that the real battle for senate president will be fought on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday when the 9th Senate is expected to have its first plenary session.
Ndume was responding to Lawan who claimed to have secured and sealed deal with 60 APC and PDP senators.
Lawan has even gone ahead to publish the names of the senators backing his ambition.
It’s Fight To Finish- Ndume
Ndume said Well, I’ve said before that I am not looking for endorsement but looking for votes on election day. You know clearly that there is a difference between endorsement and election,” Ndume told reporters.
We have seen endorsements against several elections.
We are there already and it shall become past in a question of hours from now.
I believe that my colleagues shall vote according to their conscience and they shall vote for a candidate that is more suitable for the position of the senate president.
I am not bothered about endorsement rather, I am more worried about the election.
As I’ve said, I shall go into the election on Tuesday and it shall have two sides; it is either one loses or wins.
I do my numbering too, but I do my numbering not by publishing my colleagues’ names.”
PDP Senators Polarized
To make up his number, the bespectacled Ndume is banking on the support of PDP senators and other turncoat senators from the APC who are not happy with their party’s choice of Lawan.
Last week, the PDP held a meeting with its senators on which of the candidate to support.
“The party has made it clear to us that Lawan is not the option despite the decision of some few PDP senators to back the APC candidate. We are keeping our plan close to our chest,” PDP senator who attended the meeting said.
Despite having the numbers to cause upsets at the coming National Assembly election of principal officers for the 9th assembly, the Peoples democratic Party, PDP has been conspiratorially silent on their position, fueling speculations that they may have an ace up their sleeves.
In 2015, the PDP created an upset which, this Magazine was told, if they had wanted to take the senate Presidency they could have done so. But Senator David Mark, then immediate past senate president, declined at the last minute when it was agreed that Bukola Saraki would later decamp to the PDP from the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Fears are that the PDP may be planning such upsets.
The National Assembly standing rules say that the Senate/House of representatives should elect principal officers from “among themselves”. There was no legal backing to partisan endorsement of candidates.
But the alleged pocketing of the other arms of government by the Executive Arm seem to create an atmosphere of fear that any one that goes against the candidates of the Presidency may become targets of witch hunts through legal means and anti graft agencies.
The Presidency has already endorsed Ahmed Lawan for Senate President and the alleged Mace snatcher, Ovie Omo Agege, for Senate Presidency and Deputy Senate Presidency respectively.
Ali Ndume, once allegedly docked for the sponsorship of Boko Haram, is also in the race, making the contest, if opposition politicians are to be believed, a contest of questionable politicians. But their supporters dismiss these allegations on grounds that there has been no proof and no convictions.
For the House of representatives, Femi Gbajiabiamila is the candidate for the presidency. But there has been rumors, purportedly spread by the opposition to test the intentions of the immediate past Speaker of the house, Yakubu Dogara, that he is interested in the position again. But there is definitely going to be surprises, with Gbajabiamila losing the position, according to inside sources. There are rumors he may be unseated by former chairman, committee on NIMASA, Umar Bago, from Niger, if the El-Rufai pressure camp wins through.
The PDP has been holding series of meetings in recent times towards the run up of the NASS elections. Although the meetings were officially premised on the deteriorating security situations in the country, it is believed that it was a crucial part of the agenda of the last meeting of PDP governors with stakeholders. The next important issue, this Magazine was told, was the court case instituted by the Presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar, against the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari of the APC.
The case is still at its preliminary stage as the substantive suit is yet to begin.
It is known, however, that despite the fait-accompli posture of the APC, there is palpable fear on the surprises expected to be sprung this time by the PDP. The relocation of Bola Ahmed Tinubu to his Abuja home for weeks now has a lot to do with it. This magazine’s visit to Bourdilon Road in Ikoyi Lagos, saw it as a ghost place. It used to be a market place of sorts if Tinubu is around. Now, his house in Abuja has become the new Mecca.
Less than 24 hours to the inauguration of the ninth National Assembly, several Senate and People’s Democratic party, PDP sources have informed this magazine that the two APC contenders for the Senate Presidency- Senators Ali Ndume and Ahmed Lawan have both acceded to the Party’s (PDP) condition for support:The return of Senator Ike Ekweremadu as Deputy Senate President.
One of the sources described Senator Lawan’s boast of having been endorsed by 62 Senators as hogwash.
Ndume: Supporters say he will lead an independent Senate
“He is just engaging in a mind game.Senator Lawan is just humouring himself. With PDP’s 52 Senators largely voting as a bloc and about 25 APC Senators not favourably disposed to his aspiration, where did he get the 62 Senators?”,he queried.
Another source described him as being “imaginative”
“Distinguished Senator Lawan is imaginative, he is simply creating imaginations.The 60 something Senators he talked about only exist in his imagination”, he said.
Having secured the Deputy Senate Presidency, the opposition party, The Source has learnt, is now torn between the choice of Ndume and Lawan. Pro-Ndume PDP senators are canvassing support for him on the ground that he was once a member of the party.
They also say that the Senate, under Ndume, will not be a rubber stamp as demonstrated by his defiance of his party and presidency’s pressure to stand down from the race.
Pro-Lawan PDP Senators on the other hand, argue that the Yobe born Senator has a rich legislative experience spanning 20 years, and will perform creditably well as Senate President.
In the PDP itself, there is a muted struggle between Senator James Manager(Delta) and Enyinnaya Abaribe(Abia) for the position of Minority Senate Leader. But the majority opinion in the party is that the South east cannot have the Deputy Senate President and also Senate Minority Leader positions at the same time.
