There are strong indications that the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, is insisting on the removal of the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, in order to grant a soft landing to the embattled Senate President, Bukola Saraki.
Post-Nigeria, reliably gathered on Sunday, July 24, that Saraki might soon bow to pressure, by kicking out Ekweremadu, so that peace would returned to the Red chamber.
Post-Nigeria, reliably gathered on Sunday, July 24, that Saraki might soon bow to pressure, by kicking out Ekweremadu, so that peace would returned to the Red chamber.
Although, the APC was happy with the appointments, which Saraki, made in the Committees of the upper chamber on Thursday, the party believes that for the peace process to be complete, Ekweremadu must resign, or be removed.
Recall, that Saraki had emerged as the Senate President, with the support of his loyalists, under the aegis of Like-Mind Senators, comprising members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the upper chamber, and some of their colleagues in the APC.
However, on Thursday, Saraki began a peace move, when he reshuffled Senate panels and appointed his critics in the Senate Unity Forum as heads of “Juicy Committees.”
An aggrieved APC Senator, said that although Saraki’s action was a right step in the right direction, he should do more.
He added, that the APC was not comfortable with Ekweremadu as the Deputy Senate President, and that Saraki should look for a way of “getting him out”.
He said that besides being a PDP member, the Deputy Senate President had not hidden his disdain for the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
“We are happy with what he (Saraki) did with the Committees, but Ekweremadu cannot remain as the Deputy Senate President. When the PDP was in power, opposition parties did not produce the Deputy Senate President,” a source said.
Another APC leader who spoke on condition of anonymity said, “What Saraki has done is not enough. Ekweremadu must leave that position.”
However, Senator Adesoji Akanbi, (Oyo South), affirmed that the aggrieved lawmakers would not back down on their agitation for the Senate leadership.
The Senator explained that he, and other members despite being offered positions in the Senate, would continue to support the directive of the APC.
He added, that he was sure members of the Forum, who were recently offered positions, would not turn against the party.
Akanbi stated, “We all know what the party wanted from day one. Initially, when the leadership of the Senate was to be formed, we all know where the party stood. Up till now, the party has not changed its position and will not.“Those who have been offered positions have the choice to accept, or not to accept. I am sure that it will not affect their loyalty to their party”.
He said that the forum was formed by Senators who believe in the APC, and the leadership of Buhari.
Akanbi added, “We from the South-West, also believe in the leadership of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. If that (loyalty to the three) is a sin, we are prepared to commit it. If it is a sin to stand by those three – APC, Buhari and Tinubu – we will continue to be sinners.”
The Senator, further noted that the recent reshuffle of committee chairmanship, was not a new thing in the legislature, regardless of which sides of the divide lawmakers belonged.
He added, that those who were giving and taking positions, should do so as representatives of the party, and not as independent individuals.
Elsewhere, a senior aide to Saraki, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said those who were still not satisfied with the leadership of the Senate, were speaking for themselves.
The aide also said that the APC currently lacked the popularity to unseat Ekweremadu in the current scheme of things.
The source said, “How does the APC even want to remove Ekweremadu, when it takes the simple majority to elect the Deputy Senate President, but it takes two-thirds of the entire legislators to remove him.
Eze Afrika
