Lawan wins APC’s straw poll for senate president

Ahmed Lawan (Yobe north) has emerged sole candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the position of senate president in the eighth national assembly.

Lawan was the only candidate in the election, as Bukola Saraki (Kwara central) and his group of “like-minded senators” boycotted the process.

‎Lawan polled 32 votes out of 33 votes cast. One vote was invalid.

George Akume (Benue north west) was also elected deputy senate pres‎ident unchallenged.

He polled 31 votes out‎ of 33 votes cast. Two votes were invalid.

The party had earlier held a similar election for the speaker of the house of representatives.

Femi Gbajabiamila‎ (Surulere Lagos) emerged APC’s sole candidate for speaker of the house after polling 154 votes to defeat his only challenger, Yakubu Dogara, who got only three votes.

Speaking after the election, Lawan described the election as history in the making.

“This is history in the making. Change has come to Nigeria and our party is exhibiting change in all its activities,” he said.

“The process has been transparent, and we have confidence that this national working committee will go ahead to bring everybody together.

“Nigerians deserve a functional legislature, and a productive and focused legislature. From this moment on we will embark on reaching out to our colleagues on the other side.‎”

On his part, John Oyegun, APC national chairman, urged‎ the lawmakers to bring change into the 8th national assembly.

Saraki’s group immediately responded to the emergence of Lawan and Akume as sole candidates of the APC for senate president and deputy senate president.

In a statement signed by Dino Melaye, the group said: “We, the senators-elect of Like Minds today 6th of June 2015, on the invitation of our party, attended an interactive meeting with selected five members from each group, the Unity Forum and the Like Minds Group.”

“Regrettably, the Unity Forum insisted on open ballot voting, which we discovered is different from the electoral process used to conduct the earlier election with the House of Representatives members elect. To us, this open ballot voting is primitive; undemocratic and against universal electoral norms and practice.

“In the light of the above, we the senators-elect of Like Minds hereby insist on our position of Open Secret voting process, which we believe is in consonance with the provisions of the electoral act, the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and the universal electoral values.

“As responsible citizens of Federal Republic of Nigeria, and leaders in our own right, we have resolved and hereby state that we shall not be part of a process that promotes undemocratic electoral process that may resort to rancorous and uncivil situations which inhibits the rights of individuals to vote for the candidate of their choice, as this process will further divide us than unite members of our party.

“In conclusion, we the senators-elect of Like Minds wish to state categorically that we will participate only in the constitutional election scheduled for Tuesday, the 9th of June 2015 in line with the rules of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“We, by this press release, invite the media to a joint press conference by the 65 senators-elect of Like Minds drawn from across party lines on Monday morning, the 8th of June 2015.”

The result of the poll looks far from sacrosanct, though, and it may well be unable to influence Lawan’s eventual emergence at senate president.

With a total of 60 senators in the next senate, APC still has 27 senators who didn’t vote on Saturday night. Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) also has 49 senators who could swing the Lawan’s temporary victory the other way.