Follwoing the swearing in of President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, May 29 for a second term in office, the race for the leadership of the National Assembly has intensified, as the federal lawmakers prepare for the proclamation of the 9th Assembly and their inauguration, as well as choosing their leaders thereafter.
Politics and intrigues regarding the emergence of the President of the 9th Senate recorded a new twist yesterday as the Presidency openly indicated interest in approaching the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the Senate Leader, Ahmad Lawan.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Solomon Ita Enang, a former senator himself, who represented the Presidency at the open declaration of Senator Peter Nwaoboshi (PDP, Delta North) for Lawan, was full of thanks to the lawmaker, saying: “I thank you for the support, you are welcome.”
Ita-Enang, in a warm embrace with Nwaoboshi, declared: “It was equally learnt that a former president of the Senate had before yesterday asked some PDP lawmakers still loyal to him to support Lawan’s aspiration.
“Another PDP lawmaker known to have openly supported Lawan is the former interior minister, Abba Moro (PDP, Benue South), who at a strategic meeting in Abuja, disclosed that he was working for Lawan.
“During his own declaration for Lawan at the National Assembly, yesterday, Nwaoboshi, who just got his election to the Senate re-validated by the Appeal Court, announced that the PDP had no candidate for the Senate Presidency and its leadership would not direct its elected senators to vote for any particular candidate for the position of the 9th Senate President.
According to him, the best the PDP leadership would do is to give the elected members of the incoming senate the direction to follow, but not to necessarily impose a candidate on them.
He said: “The PDP has not taken a decision, as a political party, as far as the presiding officers of the 9th Senate is concerned. Our party has not also told us the candidate we should vote for.
“I know the PDP leaders will not say this is the candidate they want; they would only give us a guideline. I also have a right, as the representative of my people, to determine what is good for the Anioma people.
“I am a loyal PDP man. I have not left the PDP and it is not part of my agenda to do. However, regarding the leadership of the 9th Senate, I know my people would be happy with my choice of Lawan. My people know what they benefitted from the support I gave the incumbent Senate President.
“I can make a choice on my people’s behalf, because I have lived among them over the years.”
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