Senate Presidency: Saraki’s Men Dares APC

The Like Minds, a group of senators-elect back­ing Senator Bukola Saraki as Senate presi­dent, is set to upset the APC’s mock primary which produced Senator Ahmad Lawan as the party’s candidate.

In a communiqué issued by the group after a meeting on Saturday, Saraki’s backers promised to unveil their mem­bership of 65 senators today.

“We, senators-elect of Like Minds on June 6 on the invita­tion of our party, attended an interactive meeting with se­lected five members from each group, the Unity Forum and The Like Minds group.

“Regrettably, the Unity Fo­rum insisted on open ballot voting, which we discovered was different from the elector­al process used to conduct the earlier election with the House of Representatives members elect.

“To us, this open ballot vot­ing is primitive; undemocratic and against universal electoral norms and practice. In the light of the above, we, senators-elect of Like Minds, hereby in­sist on our position of open se­cret voting process which we believe is in consonance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, the constitution of the country (as amended) and the universal electoral values.

“As responsible citizens of Federal Republic of Nigeria, and leaders in our own right, we have resolved and hereby state that we shall not be part of a process that promotes un­democratic electoral process that may resort to rancorous and uncivil situations, which will hinders the rights of indi­viduals to vote for the candi­date of their choice, as this pro­cess will further divide us than unite members of our party.

“In conclusion, we, sena­tors-elect of Like Minds, wish to state categorically that we will participate only in the constitutional election sched­uled for Tuesday (tomorrow) in line with the rules of the Senate.”

Dino Melaye (Kogi State) and Ahmed Rufai Sani (Zam­fara State) signed the commu­niqué on behalf of the group.

Meanwhile, President Mu­hammadu Buhari has issued a proclamation for the inaugura­tion of the Eighth National As­sembly tomorrow.

It was gathered that the proclamation got to the office of the Clerk to the National Assembly (CNA) last week.

With the constitutional duty performed, the two chambers are now set for the election of presiding officers.

The CNA is expected to perform the inauguration in the Senate first before going to the House of Representatives. Election of the Senate presi­dent and the deputy would be conducted tomorrow. The APC caucus is expected to announce officers for Senate leader, deputy, chief whip and deputy later on.

TheSun