10th NASS: Lawan May Join Race For Senate President

There are indications that Senate President Ahmed Lawan may have concluded arrangements to throw his hat in the ring to retain his position in the 10th National Assembly.

New Telegraph gathered that the outgoing senate president is planning to contest alongside Senator Osita Izunaso from Imo state as deputy senate president.

Already, Senator Godswill Akpabio is pairing with Sen. Jubrin Barau from Kano while Senator Orji Uzor Kalu from Abia is paired with Senator Abdulaziz Yari from Zamfara.

According to our source, the Lawan, who is reportedly said to be opposed to Senator Akpabio’s candidacy is allegedly being propped up by Senator Ifeanyi Ubah (YPP, Anambra), Senator Sani Musa (APC, Niger), Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo state and oil magnate, Chief Emeka Offor.

The source disclosed that the decision for Lawan to join the race was taken at a meeting held Sunday night in Abuja.
“I can tell you for a fact that the Senate President is running. He has chosen to pair up with Senator Osita Izunaso from Imo state to realise his ambition. Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, Senator Sani Musa, Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo state and Chief Emeka Offor are all in his camp to help him actualise the objective”.

Meanwhile, in the House of Representatives, the minority caucus under the umbrella of Greater Majority has resolved to appoint zonal and state coordinators to scout for a consensus candidate for the position of speaker and deputy speaker.

The convener of the group, Hon. Fred Agbedi (PDP, Bayelsa) told the members at a meeting Monday in Abuja that they were to consult their respective governors and party leaders before taking a position.

He said: “Your conveners and other leaders have not either on your behalf or for you adopted anybody for the office of presiding officers. That will only take place when that agreement is reached by all of us. That decision will be our collective decision.

“But I am even saying before we get to that decision, we are going to ensure that take for example, I come from Bayelsa state, I should be able to speak with my governors, party leaders so that whatever I key into is with the understanding that my state leaders are on the same page with and that’s what we expect of all of us to do. So, that we don’t ambush Mr. A or Mr. B.
“So, I want to assure you that we will lead ourselves to arrive at a collective decision and in doing that, we have also resolved to have state coordinators who are going to meet at their different state levels, eventually also have zonal coordinators who will also work at the zonal level in collating decision that they will finally come up with after due consultation. And that’s why we have invited all of us to this meeting so that we all know who and who will coordinate our states and also who will coordinate our zones so that we give the responsibility back to you, interact, consult and then choose the direction to go.

“In all the interactions we have made, our leaders have authoritatively told us that they have not given mandate to their members-elect to identify with Mr. A or Mr. B. The only mandate and directive they gave to our people is to network, interact and give them feedback. And at the appropriate time, decisions will be made, agreements will be reached, alliances formed and then as minorities, we will be doing some sort of agreement as to what direction to go. So, as I stand here, I have not been given any mandate by my party or governor as to what to do.”

“Let me quickly say that if we must do the right thing, if we must actually represent our people, we need to be guided and to be guided, we mean that we need to interact with our leaders in our constituencies, we need to interact with our colleagues from the various states, we need to interact with our party stakeholders and all that in arriving at a decision that will be well for us”, he stated.