From Ejike Chinedu, Abuja
If signals from the APC retreat for senators on the platform of the party which held over the weekend in Abuja is anything to go by, the PDP may be fancying its chances of producing the President of the 8th senate.
Out of the 109 senators, APC has a slight majority of 59.
At the retreat on Saturday, two factions emerged from the APC. One which identified itself as Senate Unity Forum, led by Barnabas Gemade (Benue) endorsed Ahmad Lawan (Yobe) for the office of President of the Senate and George Akume (Benue) as deputy. The membership strength of this faction was not disclosed.
The other, “The like minds”, is supporting the candidacy of Bukola Saraki (Kwara) as President of the senate. This group claims to have 35 senators elect as members. The group whose position was read out by Dino Melaye (Kogi) said the deputy will be coming from the North East.
Coming days before June 3 will be crucial for the APC to harmonise its position before the formal inauguration of the senate.
If the current division remains, the slim likelihood that the minority PDP may produce the President of the Senate will be a huge upset.
The APC, being aware of this possibility, organised the retreat to conduct an internal primaries for the senators-elect in order to have a common front ahead of the inauguration. But the outcome may have created a fresh responsibility for the party.
Though APC has formally announced that it will not adopt the zoning formula in choosing the leadership of the National Assembly, the party should do more that talking in ensuring that the options are narrowed to one candidate except it is comfortable with having a Senate led by the opposition.
