Fifty-seven senators on Tuesday elected Saraki as Senate President unopposed, having been the only candidate nominated for the post at the inauguration of the Senate. In the House of Representatives, Dogara emerged winner with 182 votes against Hon Femi Gbajabiamila’s 174. The APC had endorsed Senator Ahmed Lawan and Gbajabiamila as Senate President and Speaker, House of Representatives.
Daily Sun gathered that after the initial reaction by APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, wherein lawmakers elected on the platform of the party were described as treacherous, leaders of the party have not come to terms with how the plan to have Senator Lawan elected as Senate President and Hon Gbajabiamila picked as Speaker, House of Representatives, fell like packs of cards.
Sources revealed that owing to the shock, APC leaders are divided on the next line of action.
It was gathered that a section wants sanctions to be meted to the lawmakers, who defied the directive to vote for Lawan and Gbajabiamila, in line with the threat issued by Mohammed on Tuesday.
However, another section of the party prefers that the outcome of the elections at the Senate and House of Representatives be respected and accepted, as Saraki and Dogara are already functioning as Senate President and Speaker, House of Representatives.
The group that is pressing for sanctions, sources said, is of the opinion that if nothing is done, other members of the party, in future, may engage in activities that would jeopadise the collective interest of the APC.
Sources revealed that the group, which has the sympathy of former Lagos governor, Bola Tinubu, with Mohammed and others, wants the APC to show that it can bark and bite by sanctioning the erring lawmakers.
The group, which wants APC to recognise Saraki and Dogara, it was gathered, are afraid that sanctioning those who supported the duo will not only send wrong signals that the party does not want independence of the legislature, but also could cause the polarisation of the Senate and House of Representatives.
The group fears that such division may not only destabilise the Muhammadu Buhari government but also give the opposition Peoples Democratic party (PDP) the leverage to control the National Assembly, since its members are working together.
Also, the group is afraid that sanctioning the lawmakers may push them out of the party, as it happened in the PDP.
The APC had, in reaction to the outcome of elections in the Senate and House of Representatives, stated that the emergence of Saraki and Dogara as Senate President and Speaker, House of Representatives was totally unacceptable and a mark of indiscipline and treachery.
In a statement by Mohamed, APC said: “Senator Bukola and Hon. Dogara are not the candidates of the APC and a majority of its National Assembly members-elect for the positions of Senate President and House Speaker. The party duly met and conducted a straw poll and clear candidates emerged for the posts of Senate President, Deputy Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives, supported by a majority of all Senators-elect and members-elect of the House of Representatives. All National Assembly members-elect who emerged on the platform of the party are bound by that decision.”
The APC maintained that it’s supreme and its interest “superior to that of its individual members.”
Threatening to sanction lawmakers involved, APC said: “Consequently, the APC leadership is meeting in a bid to re-establish discipline in the party and to mete out the necessary sanctions to all those involved in what is nothing but a monumental act of indiscipline and betrayal to subject the party to ridicule and create obstacles for the new administration, adding: “There can be no higher level of treachery, disloyalty and insincerity within any party,” it said.
Culled from Sun newspapers
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