Revealed: APC leaders in secret talks with PDP senators-elect to support Lawan for Senate Presidency

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Findings have revealed that the leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have started lobbying some senators  and leaders  of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to support the candidacy of Ahmed Lawan as the next Senate President.

The move is particularly to stop the PDP members in the Senate from either contesting or supporting other senators to occupy leadership  positions in  the 9th  National Assembly.

APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, had earlier said the party did not need the opposition party’s  votes to clinch the presiding and principal offices of the 9th Assembly.

Contrary to this, sources within the APC told PunchNG that the APC leaders are reversing their footsteps when they discovered that the division among their party members in the Senate was real.

There has been rising tension within the APC since two other senators, Danjuma Goje and Ali Ndume, indicated their interest in becoming the President of the Senate in the 9th Assembly.

Sequel to this,  the senators have been moving round to gain the support of the opposition senators for their ambition.

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It was gathered that the party leaders’  decision  to ‘anoint’ Lawan as  Senate President without wide consultations had caused a great division within  the party and among the senators-elect.

One of our correspondents learnt  that both Goje, who was a two-term governor of Gombe State, and Ndume had been working behind the scenes  to outsmart Lawan  by secretly forming alliances with the  PDP.

Speaking with newsmen, a source close to Goje  noted that “Goje is a very experienced and tactical politician.

“He understands the politics of the chamber better and he knows that making  noises  on the pages of the newspapers would not help any of the aspirants.

“He is not disobeying the leadership of the party by making up his mind to contest against Lawan. He is only exercising his rights as a ranking senator whose geopolitical zone has been asked to produce the Senate President.”

While the source hints on alliance with PDP senators, he ruled out the possibility of  the Gombe  State-born  lawmaker  picking a PDP senator as his deputy.

Efforts made by Saturday PUNCH to  speak with Goje to confirm or deny his interest in the Senate presidency and his alleged pact with the PDP failed as of the time of filing this report.

Some of the APC senators-elect who were loyal to Lawan  were said to have held separate meetings  with the  National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and Oshiomhole on the tension  in the upper chamber.

The lawmakers reportedly opined that the best way to ensure victory for Lawan was to reach out to influential members of the PDP within the upper and lower chambers.

One of the sources said, “I can confirm to you that all of us are involved in the lobbying. We know that Goje and Ndume will contest against Lawan but we are not taking chances. We need PDP senators to win and we are already talking to them.”

On his part, Lawan had also  told journalists during the week that he needed PDP votes and that he had started reaching out to them.

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