The untold story

The emergence of Senator Bukola Saraki as President of the 8th Senate on Tuesday was allegedly the climax of the high power political intrigues, drama and permutation that had dominated the contest for the seat among heavy weights and power brokers within the camps of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Since the party snatched victory from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last general elections on March 28, it had allegedly found struggle for positions and power among its fold too hot to handle, which some claimed was what later snowballed to become the party's nemesis.

From the issue of the purported zoning, to the mock election to select its candidates for Senate Presidency and Speaker of the House of Representatives, the APC allegedly found it difficult to reconcile the camps of Ahmed Lawan (Yobe North) believed to be fronting for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Senator Bukola Saraki (Kwara Central).

According to report, the cat and mouse game allegedly between Tinubu and Senator Saraki on who becomes the president of the 8th Senate reached a crescendo on Monday, less than 24 hours to the day of the inauguration.

After it became obvious that the leadership of APC, led by Tinubu was out to ensure the seat of the senate president way elude him, Saraki courted members of his former party in the PDP to bail him out of the quagmire.

That courtship was said to have resulted in a meeting with the former Senate President, David Mark, at the former's residence on June 3, where he reportedly agreed to throw his weight behind Saraki.

Saraki, it was also gathered, also reached out to other top PDP leaders and went further to enlist and got the support of another APC leader in the person of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

As a result of those high level consultations, the PDP reportedly convened a marathon nocturnal meeting on Monday which began around 8:00pm and lasted till about 1:00am on Tuesday with its leadership at Mark's residence in Abuja where the party's returning and elected senators discussed how to go about proceedings at the senate the following morning.

Three options were said to be part of the resolutions reached at the meeting, which was either to back Saraki for the ticket, to endorse Ahmed Lawan or stay neutral.

The second option was reportedly dismissed and the members were said to have voted to determine the issue.

At the end of the count, Senator Bukola Saraki allegedly got 28 votes leaving 16 of them undecided.

It was former governor of Plateau State and returning senator-elect Joshua Dariye, that reportedly swung the 16 others for Saraki with his argument that the minority is expected to be subjected to the will of the majority.

That action, it was further learnt, delivered almost en bloc, the vote of the PDP for Saraki.

It was this unanimous adoption of the PDP senators at the meeting that allegedly ended by 1:00am that led to the statement issued by the party's spokesman, Olisah Metuh 16 minutes after making the decision binding on the PDP senators to back Saraki for the seat.

When the news reportedly got to the APC about the decision of PDP to adopt Saraki as its candidate, the party was said to be alarmed and immediately set machinery in motion to spot the plot.

The APC leadership was said to have concluded that the best way to stop Saraki was to prevent him from participating in the process, which reportedly prompted it to concoct a meeting with Mr President at the International Conference Centre (ICC) which was scheduled for 9:00am while the time of the inauguration was fixed for 10:00am.

The President purportedly shunned the ICC meeting and up till now, there has not been any official explanation for his absence.

Although the APC leadership was said to have got across to the President with the request that he prevail on Bukola Saraki to accept the decision of the party and choice of Lawan by the party.

While the president, who had then just returned from the G7 meeting in Germany, was not part of the earlier decision at the instance of Tinubu and his cohorts, Buhari was said to have reluctantly agreed to do their bidding as a party man and to create party stability.

It was after the President's reluctant acceptance that the party reportedly sent text messages to party leaders and elders, notifying them about the meeting and also purportedly used contact at the security hierarchy to militarised the complex and stop entry into the premises for the inauguration.

This was reportedly done to ensure the event did not hold until they have finished the plot at the ICC.

On Tuesday, security men however subjected the people entering the complex to a frustrating security measures with the claim that they are carrying out orders from above.

Part of the plan was also to fly things in the media on the morning of the inauguration about the postponement, which online medium reported.

However, when the APC leaders were allegedly putting finishing touches to their plans, Saraki, apparently got wind of the plot to stop the inauguration and purportedly made the move to outsmart the APC leaders and beat them in their own game.

Saraki, it was further learnt, reportedly moved secretly into the complex as early as 5:00am before the security men could enforce the directive just like it happened during the era of Tambuwwal, when lawmakers were locked out of the National Assembly Complex.

From there, he was said to have started networking and rallying all the senators in his camp as other Lawan loyalists and party leaders where converging at the ICC.

It was while at the ICC that news filtered in that Saraki had been installed as the Senate President.

Revealed: Buhari told assembly clerk to 'slightly delay' election of senate president

President Muhammadu Buhari reached out to the clerk of the National Assembly, Salisu Maikasuwa, to “slightly delay” Tuesday's inauguration of the senators-elect, Barnabas Gemade, an All Progressives Congress (APC) Senator representing Benue north east, has revealed.*

Fifty-one APC senators were at the International Conference Centre (ICC) for a meeting with Buhari – which eventually did not hold – when the Assembly Clerk declared open the inauguration process and called for nominations for the post of senate president.

While Ahmed Lawan, APC's choice, could not be nominated as he and all his loyalists were at ICC, Bukola Saraki, an APC lawmaker but also the adopted candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was announced

as sole nominee – and consequently the winner, much to the displeasure of the Lawan camp and the APC hierarchy.

Now, the Lawan-led senators under the umbrella of Unity Forum are insisting that Saraki's election as senate president is illegitimate, as the election should not have started when it did.

Gemade told journalists that Maikasuwa was to blame for Saraki's emergence, claiming that he disobeyed Buhari's instruction to delay the inauguration of the assembly pending his meeting with the APC senators-elect.

He said the insinuation that the senators who were absent during the election boycotted it was unfounded, saying that they, as loyal party members, had gone to heed the call of the president.

“This process, which remains unconstitutional, cannot confer legitimacy on the elected senate president,” NAN quoted Gemade as saying.

“Our right to participate in the election of the senate president is a constitutional right, which cannot be taken by any person or group. The clerk of the National Assembly, knowing full well that the quorum for election had not been met, went ahead to conduct the election that shut the door to 51 other senators.

“We will like to make it very clear that the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria gives the letter for the proclamation. The clerk is the one that received the correspondence of Mr President that there must be a slight delay in order to enable him to speak with senators of the APC before they commence the process. In the House of Representatives, they were able to catch up because their own happened after the Senate.”

Gemade said that although a quorum was formed for the inauguration of the senate, quorum was not formed for the election of principal officers. He also argued that the two-third majority, which applied to impeachment, should have also applied to the election.

He maintained that every eligible senator ought to be present whennomination was made and closed; and that if all eligible senators were not present, then a quorum had not been formed.

However, another group of senators, the 'Like Minds' led by Dino Melaye (APC-Kogi West), dismissed the arguments of the Unity Forum, saying Buhari could never have fixed two meetings for the same time.

“The president, in his constitutional duty, sent a proclamation letter to the National Assembly,” Melaye said.

“In that proclamation letter, he stated categorically that the proclamation of the 8th Senate will be done at 10 am. on June 9, 2015.

“How can Mr President, on one hand, send a letter of proclamation to the National Assembly and, on the other hand, call for a meeting at the International Conference Centre?

“If Mr President wants to meet legislators, the defence house is there, the villa is there, the banquet hall is there; why International Conference Centre? However, did Mr President eventually attend to anybody at International Conference Centre? Capital No!”

Melaye argued that Buhari had consistently reaffirmed that he had no preferred candidate and was ready to work with whoever emerged. He said the APC senators who backed Saraki were still loyal party members and had declined to attend the meeting as they were kept waiting for hours for a supposed meeting with the vice president on Monday.

“The Buhari that we know cannot and will not give two contrary opinions, especially one that is against the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he added.

“The letter of proclamation was written, duly signed, time stated, date stated; he will not do otherwise. It is not true that we disrespected the president and if the president wants to do that, he would have called.

“He had the powers to call the Clerk of the National Assembly to say 'please postpone to 12 pm, I want to meet senators at 9 am'. We in the Like Minds group are ready to have one, united senate.”

Melaye also denied media reports that David Mark was sworn in as senate leader, saying the position is exclusive to the ruling party.

Tinubu tamed, PDP regroups, Buhari baffled… and other takes from Tuesday Thriller

It was a development foretold but it was equally an eloquent testimony to the veracity of that ageless axiom: history has a way of repeating itself.

Before appraising the emergence of Abubakar Bukola Saraki as Senate President and the crowning of Yakubu Dogara as Speaker of the House of Representatives, you have to rewind to early June 2011. The then ruling PDP had zoned the speakership to the south-west.

But Aminu Tambuwal, now Governor of Sokoto state, had other ideas. Relying on the opposition then, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), which did not want the PDP to have any foothold in the South-West through any high ranking public figure, Tambuwal went against the directive of his party. He not only emerged speaker, he romanced the opposition throughout his reign.

That was the most audacious challenge to the PDP since its creation in 1998.

A game of high stakes

Fast-forward to 48 months later and the same scenario has played out itself. But this time around, the stakes are higher and the players are veterans in the game of political subterfuge. Bola Tinubu. Bukola Saraki. Ahmad Lawan. George Akume. The ruling APC had made it clear that the official candidate was Lawan. But Saraki and his supporters would have none of that.

A “primary” mock election had produced, expectedly, Lawan, but Saraki's supporters under the aegis of Senators of ‘Like Minds’, kicked against it, claiming that the mock election was arranged to favour Lawan. They vowed that their man would contest nonetheless.

With the 51 senators pro-Lawan absent, Saraki emerged senate president with 57 votes. Since simple majority is needed to win, Saraki carried the day. The real issue here was not the emergence of Saraki but the seeming rebirth of the PDP and the decimation of Tinubu's influence.

Ike Ekweremadu, the last deputy senate president, still a PDP member, was nominated as Saraki's deputy and he was also returned.

The battle will now shift to the cabinet…

*The PDP 'coup de grace'…

The opposition PDP was instrumental to the emergence of Saraki and Dogara. And it might have marked the rebirth of the party as it has now tested its strength in the new dispensation. It is expected that APC will try to squeeze out Saraki and Dogara – given the statement issued by the party kicking against their election. But since at least two thirds majority is needed to impeach the senate president or speaker, it will always be difficult to achieve.

As long as the PDP lawmakers remain behind Saraki and Dogara, all they need to do is to preserve his own camp within the APC. If APC does not play the game better, they may end up pushing Saraki and Dogara and their camps out and that could give PDP back the majority in both chambers. The highlight of PDP's rebirth is the against all odds, the party is retaining the senate deputy president slot through Ike Ekweremadu.

With the emergence of Saraki and Dogara, the rebuilding of PDP may have started. It was no coincidence that these two gentlemen were members of the PDP until the crisis. Dogara and Saraki were part of PDP that gave President Goodluck Jonathan a run for his political money before defecting to the APC.

Buhari baffled

President Buhari is learning the realities of Nigerian politics the hard way. He had always insisted that he would not interfere in the choice of the leadership of the two chambers of the National Assembly. But upon return from Germany earlier on Tuesday, he had to call an emergency meeting of the APC senators-elect to counter the moves by PDP. The Saraki camp did not attend the meeting. But even the president himself did not attend, raising questions about how much he knew about the invitations sent to APC lawmakers.

In a statement issued by his spokesman after the events of Tuesday, Buhari expressed regrets that the APC members did not follow the process put in place by the party. He notably refused to congratulate the winners but promised to work with them. Again, he maintained that he did not have any preferred candidates. But he appears genuinely baffled by the turn of events.

The Tuesday Thriller could just be the beginning of plenty drama in this new dispensation.

I'll work with new NASS leaders - Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has thrown his weight behind the emergence of Senator Bukola Saraki and Hon. Yakubu Dogara as the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Buhari said this in a statement on Tuesday by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina.

He said though he would have preferred that the leadership of the National Assembly came about through the arrangement put in place by the All Progressives Congress, since the emergence of Saraki, Dogara and the others had conformed with the constitution, he had no issues with it.

“President Buhari had said in an earlier statement that he did not have any preferred candidate for the Senate and the House of Representatives, and that he was willing to work with whoever the lawmakers elected,” Adesina said.

He continued: “That sentiment still stands. Though he would have preferred the new leaders to have emerged through the process established by the party.”

Adesina stressed that the stability of Nigeria's constitutional order and overall interest of the common man were uppermost on the President's mind as far as the National Assembly elections were concerned.

The President called on all the elected representatives of the people to focus on the enormous task of bringing enduring positive change to the lives of Nigerians.

Taming the Lion

The victories of Saraki and Dogara were a major blow to Tinubu whose influence in the APC is obviously rankling many leaders of the party and ruffling not a few feathers. Yemi Osinbajo, Tinubu's choice, had emerged as Buhari's running mate after Tinubu himself failed to clinch it last year.

Tinubu was also the man pushing the candidacy of Femi Gbajabiamila for speaker. He was the man behind the Lawan project for the senate presidency, although Buhari's name was frequently mentioned as the prime mover. If Lawan and Gbajabiamila had won, Tinubu would have helped produce the vice-president, senate president as well as the speaker.

That is: No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4. The turn of events means the Lion of Bourdillon has been tamed, at least for now.