The scramble for the Principal officer positions of the Senate amongst the lawmakers Elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) appears to be over, as the NWC of the party has arrived at a power-sharing template yesterday to accommodate the heavyweights jostling for the offices after consultations with the various blocs of influence in the party.
According to an insider privy to the arrangement, the party concluded that all the aspirants for the principal offices are qualified, alluding that the APC leadership arrived at a “win-win template last night.”
Disclosing the power-sharing formula, the source said the party settled for the following persons as the Principal Officers of the Senate: Opeyemi Bamidele (Ekiti Central, Southwest, Senate Leader); Dave Umahi (Ebonyi South, Southeast, Deputy Senate Leader); Ali Ndume (Borno South, Northeast, Chief Whip); and Lola Ashiru (Kwara South, Northcentral, Deputy Chief Whip).
The source added: “With this formula, the party expects a stable Senate. Hopefully, our senators will adopt this.
“The party doesn’t need to foist leadership on the Senate, but at the same time, we cannot be watching our senators split over a manageable situation.
“Both Bamidele and Ndume in particular are highly experienced. They also contributed to the emergence of the President of the Senate, Sen. Akpabio. It, therefore, became necessary to design a template formula for peace in the upper chamber.”
Earlier this week, we gathered that Senator Ndume was seriously pushing to emerge as the Majority Leader, a position his supporters said, in precedence, is for the Campaign DG of the Senate President.
Recall that he led Akpabio’s Senate Presidency campaign as the DG and Majority Leaders of the 8th and 9th Senates were the Campaign DGs of Saraki and Lawan, respectively.
However, Ndume’s nomination for the Chief Whip position of the 10th Senate by the APC after much persuasion is still a reward for his contributions to Akpabio’s victory.
As the Senate resumes plenary today, the APC, as the majority party in the red chamber, is expected to write to the Senate President either today or tomorrow on their choice of Principal officers.
