There are indications that a large number of APC lawmakers led by for former Governor Bukola Saraki of Kwara State,\u00a0 have endorsed\u00a0\u00a0 Immediate past Senate President, David Mark,\u00a0 as the likely beneficiary of\u00a0 Saraki\u2019s revolt.<\/p>\n
Saraki is in the race with Ahmed Lawan from Yobe who has the blessing of the party and President Muhammadu Buhari already.<\/p>\n
President Buhari had expressed serious concerns to some associates that a\u00a0 Saraki led senate\u00a0 would not lend him the necessary legislative backing to wage a major war against corruption.<\/p>\n
. Saraki carries a lot of corruption baggage, dating back to his days as an executive of the defunct Societe Generale Bank of Nigeria, and continuing with his tenure as Kwara State governor.<\/p>\n
Saraki, who has no fewer than 35 senators on his side, is\u00a0 irate that he was schemed out of the APC\u2019s nomination for the Senate Presidency<\/p>\n
As it stands,\u00a0 Lawan has 33 to his side, Saraki has 26 , while PDP\u00a0 has 49. Since PDP has no candidate, the APC is left with two choices,\u00a0 agree on one candidate or endorse Mark.<\/p>\n
. Last Saturday, the party bypassed the former governor amid concerns that he could not be totally relied upon to lead an effective and cooperative Senate that would give President Buhari reliable legislative backing.<\/p>\n
Instead, the APC adopted Senator Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan from Nigeria\u2019s northeast state of Yobe as its candidate for the Senate Presidency.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile,\u00a0\u00a0 the\u00a0 APC is weighing measures to force the incoming class of National Assembly members to postpone their convening beyond Wednesday.<\/p>\n
According to a senior party source, the postponement \u201cis to enable President [Muhammadu] Buhari [to] rein in rebellious lawmakers within the ranks of our party.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senator Bukola Saraki
\nMr. Buhari is expected back in Abuja on Thursday night after attending the ongoing G7 meeting in Germany.<\/p>\n
In the owner house,\u00a0 the APC\u2019s choice of Lagos legislator, Femi Gbajabiamila, as the party\u2019s sole candidate for Speaker is also\u00a0 causing a rift.<\/p>\n
Yakubu Dogara, an aspirant for the speakership who hails from Bauchi State, leads the disaffected legislators opposed to\u00a0 Gbajabiamila.<\/p>\n
Additional reports from SaharaReporters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There are indications that a large number of APC lawmakers led by for former Governor Bukola Saraki of Kwara State,\u00a0 have endorsed\u00a0\u00a0 Immediate past Senate President, David Mark,\u00a0 as the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n