Goje, Gaya deepen 9th Senate leadership tussle

…As Yobe Youth Coalition endorses Sen. Lawan for Senate President

…Ex-Minister cautions APC over hasty decision on NASS leadership

Tunde Opalana and Mathew Dadiya, Abuja

The race for leadership positions in the 9th Senate took a new dimension on Thursday as two former governors, Danjuma Goje of Gombe and Kabiru Gaya of Kano states joined the race.

While Senator Goje’s ambition for Senate President was rallied by a body of support groups, Senator Gaya officially declared his interest in the Deputy Senate President position.

A group of young Nigerians under the umbrella of the Amalgamated Youths from North East on Thursday further threw open the race for the post of Senate President in the 9th Senate when they stormed the National Assembly to openly canvass for one of the gladiators in the race, Senator Danjuma Goje.

The group made public covert moves by Danjuma Goje (APC Gombe Central) and his promoters who is yet to officially declare his intention.

1Addressing the press at the entrance of the National Assembly, Bello Ambo from Bauchi State, the leader of the Amalgamated Youths, said Goje’s ambition should not be dwarfed by neither the endorsement of Lawan by the National leadership of All Progressives Congress (APC) nor expression of interest by Senator Ndume.

Projecting Goje, he said the former governor of Gombe State has more experience than the other two contenders, having controlled a whole state for eight years between 2003 and 2011 and also been in the Senate since then with required parliamentary experience.

He said: “Position of Senate President requires administrative and parliamentary knowledge enormously possessed by Goje as against the two other contenders from the zone.”

Against the backdrop of the APC leadership endorsement of Senator Ahmed Lawan, Ambo said Senators-elect are matured people who can decide who their leader should be and should be allowed to do so.

He said: “Our party (APC) is a party of the people and not few leaders, the party should allow the people in this case, Senators -elect, to decide whoever they want as their leader in whatever capacity.

“For us, the Goje Support Groups from the North East for the presidency of the 9th Senate (GSGNE), Senator Danjuma Goje is the right man for the job. He has the required experience as tested administrator and high ranking lawmaker.

“He is a man of the people and a Senator with all what it takes, in carrying others along across party lines and most importantly, a party man to the core who will fit perfectly into the next level agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari.”

Also speaking, another leader of the group from Yobe State, Abdul Saleh, said though Lawan is from his state, but since the position of the President of the 9th Senate is zoned to the North East, Senator Goje should come out to contest for it and take it.

When asked, who sponsored them, Saleh said that nobody, adding that they are yet to meet Senator Goje personally.

He said: “We are politically conscious youths from the North East resident in different areas of the Federal Capital Territory and in particular, card carrying members of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

“We are calling on Senator Goje to contest for the President of the 9th Senate, being the most qualified person from the zone as far as we are concerned.

“The party might have spoken in support of Senator Ahmad Lawan, but Senators-elect are to decide when the time comes. Goje should come out and contest, the same way Senator Ali Ndume is doing.

“The more they are in the race, the better the offers before Senators-elect to pick from.”

Meanwhile, Senator Kabiru Gaya has also formally declared his intention to contest the position of Deputy Senate President.

Gaya’s incursion into the race threw the political calculations open as it was believed that the position of the Deputy Senate President should be left for Senators from the Southern zones.

The fourth time senator argued that the North West zone ought to produce the Deputy Senate President since the zone gave the highest vote to President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 general election.

Gaya said he was vying for the position being the most ranking senator from the North West geopolitical zone.

He also posited that there were strong indications that the APC leadership is considering zoning the Speaker, House of Representatives to the South West, Deputy Speaker to North Central, while it had already zoned the position of the Senate President to the North East.

He said: “If the six zones are accommodated in the sharing formula for the National Assembly leadership positions, four of them contributed tremendously to the election of Mr. President.

“The South West, which has now got the position of the Speaker, North East which has not got the position of Senate president, North Central has the position of Deputy Speaker.

“Considering the zoning arrangement, it is clear that the North West has been left behind and I am a ranking senator from the North West. That means the deputy senate president position should go to North West”.

He said Nigerians should rise above ethnic consideration and ensure that the most qualified persons are elected into positions instead employing sentiments to determine appointments.

He said there was nothing wrong with the northern part of the country to produce the President and Deputy President of the Senate, neither will it be out of order for President Buhari to come from the same zone with the Deputy Senate President.

He said: “As a former governor, I have the capacity and capability to run the office of the DSP. Politics is leadership. Those who work hard should be rewarded”.

In a related development, a socio-political group under the aegis of ‘Yobe Youth Coalition for Advancement of Democracy’ (YCFAD), on Thursday, endorsed the candidature of Senate Leader, Ahmad Lawan, for Senate President, with a call on other contenders to step down.

Alhaji Mustapha Bukar, Yobe Coordinator of the coalition, declared the position of his group in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Damaturu.

According to the group, the leadership choice of the party for the 9th Assembly should be the choice of all the senators-elect.

The coalition said the senate leader had unequal qualities and high commitment to good governance more than any of the names mentioned eyeing the Senate presidency.

It said that All Progressives Congress (APC) and the presidency must indicate strong interest in the leadership of the National Assembly to avoid the misfortunes of the eighth Assembly, which was characterised by personality conflicts.

“At a time when the Senate leadership was fighting the presidency and delaying passage of budget, Sen. Lawan had been consistent and showed a lot of concern for the interests of Nigerians.

“We do not have any more time to waste on unwarranted confrontations and controversies as recorded in the last four years.

“Therefore we need a positive and vibrant Assembly that will complement the Executive arm to develop the economy and provide needed infrastructure for Nigerians,” it said.

Meanwhile, in view of a likely crisis over the leadership of the 9th National Assembly, a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Minister of Sports, Engr. Bala Ka’oje, has advised his party against taking hasty decision that could boomerang.

Ka’oje, who noted that electing leaders of the 9th National Assembly is done in the chambers, accused the APC Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, of making public a decision that could be detrimental to the party by announcing a preferred candidate of the party.

Bala said this on Thursday while interacting with journalists in Abuja, adding that the APC must not allow a repeat of the 2015 scenario if it wants a robust assembly.

He said: “In Nigeria, we have very serious problem especially in the APC. Nobody cares to consult others. The party chairman is claiming he knows everything. No one wants to consult people like us. Yes, we won election but it was a fierce contest.

“The PDP took some states belonging to us. I’ve been to the APC chairman’s house more than five times. I left my card but he never looked for me. They don’t care about the advice we offer even in the newspaper.

“I advised that we should zone National Assembly positions as quickly as possible. If you zone position, everyone know what is coming to him.

If you zoned the office of the Senate president to the Northeastern states, for example, there is nothing wrong in nominating three people and forward their names to zone to select one.”

“With that, it helps. All we heard was that the chairman of the party nominated the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House,” Ka’oje said, adding that it is not done like that when it comes to National Assembly politics.

“When we were in the other party, we contributed money to assist contestants. Did he do that? Here he is telling them they must obey him. Obedience is reciprocal.

You can’t appoint people to lead the Senate and the House. It’s a problem in the APC and that problem will continue to happen because the party is not doing the right thing,” Ka’oje said.

“Oshiohmole is only interested on his interest. See what we faced in Rivers, Zamfara, Cross River and the rest of the states? He keeps making too many errors that are bad for the party,” Ka’oje added.

The United Kingdom licenced engineer, who noted that the APC has majority in both chambers of the National Assembly, urged the party leadership to always seek advice from other experienced politicians within the party on critical issues rather than claiming to “know-it-all.”