Following the commencement of the the trial of the Senate president, Senator Bukola Saraki, at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) on a 13-count charge bordering on false declaration of assets, colleagues in the Senate have begun scheming for a possible replacement.
Some senators including those who had vowed to remain with him to the end of his trial have asked the Senate president to consider the resignation so as to save the Senate, as an institution.
The option was thrown to him at a special meeting held by a group of some loyal senators.
Senators eyeing Bukola Saraki’s seat Photo credit: Daily Trust
The senators who are likely to replace Saraki are both from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), which has the majority in the Upper Chamber, and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which has the second highest number of senators.
Here are 6 senators are gearing up to replace Saraki as Senate president of Nigeria should he fail to survive his trial:
1. Senator Ike Ekweremadu (PDP, Enugu West)
Senator Ike Ekweremadu is the Deputy Senate president and is likely to get the nod to replace Saraki
Ekweremadu is definitely favoured by the ranking rules of the Senate. He has been at the Upper Chamber since 2003 and deputy Senate president since 2007.
It was believed that Saraki rewarded the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with the deputy Senate president seat following his alliance with them in June 2015.
The return of the immediate past Senate president, Senator David Mark (PDP, Benue South) to the Red Chamber has brightened the chances of the PDP to clinch the post should it slip off Saraki’s hand.
Mark, aside from being the most ranking senator, was said to be a key player in the emergence of senate presidents since 1999. It is on record that he played immeasurable role in the emergence of Saraki.
2. Senator Ahmed Lawan (APC, Yobe North)
Senator Ahmed Lawan
Lawan has been at the National Assembly since the return of democracy in the country in 1999. After 8 years in the lower chambers, Lawan was elected into the Nigerian Senate in 2007, and he has been a member of the upper chambers since then. He is the most experienced senator in the ranks of the AAfter 8 years in the lower chambers, Lawan was elected into the Nigerian Senate in 2007, and he has been a member of the upper chambers since then. He is the most experienced senator in the ranks of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He was the preferred candidate of the APC for the Senate seat in 2015, but Saraki in alliance with PDP senators pushed him aside.
Members of the Lawan camp are relying heavily on the backing and support of the presidency and that of the leadership of their party, especially the national leader, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
3. Senator Ali Ndume (APC, Borno South)
Senate leader Ali Ndume
Ndume’s name is ringing in the Upper Chamber as a likely successor for Saraki. The Senate Leader contested for the deputy Senate president seat, but he was defeated by Ekweremadu, on the strength of PDP alliance with Saraki.
The continued re-echoing of Ndume’s name as a contender for the seat has upset the loyalists of Saraki who are seeing him as one of their own. Ndume, a second time senator, stepped up from the House of Representatives to the Upper Chamber in 2011.
Some say that the Borno-born senator has his eyes set on the Senate Presidency.
However the chances of either Lawan and Ndume are being hindered by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, who is from Bauchi state in the North-East, the same geopolitical zone as the two.
4. Senator Mohammed Shaaba Lafiagi (APC, Kwara North)
Senator Mohammed Shaaba Lafiagi
Another APC senator that is eyeing the Senate president seat is Lafiagi. He is not known to talk much, but each time he speaks, his words carry weight.
He hails from Kwara state just like Saraki and was said to be a beneficiary of the Saraki political dynasty in Kwara.
Senators in another faction in the same Saraki camp are pushing for Lafiagi, with a view of retaining the position in Kwara state.
5. Senator Abdullahi Adamu (APC, Nasarawa West)
Senator Abdullahi Adamu
Supporters from Saraki’s camp are reportedly weighing the option of Senator Adamu as the next Senate president.
Senator Adamu was a two-term governor of Nasarawa State, from 1999 to 2007, on the platform of the PDP, decamped to the APC in 2014 and is the chairman, Senate Committee on Agriculture.
The former governor is being considered for the job in order to retain the position in the North-Central geopolitical zone, where the current Senate president comes from.
6. Senator Suleiman Adokwe (PDP, Nasarawa South)
Senator Suleiman Adokwe
He was elected Senator for the Nasarawa South constituency in May 2007. Adokwe was appointed to committees on Senate Services, Security & Intelligence, Navy, National Planning,Downstream Petroleum and Capital Markets.
In a mid-term evaluation of Senators in May 2009, he had not sponsored any bills but was stated to be surprisingly brilliant on the floor.
Adokwe is a supporter of labor unions, which he has said can offer constructive criticism of government, as their leaders avoid corruption and support democracy in the unions.
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