Fred Itua, Abuja

ALL Progressives Congress (APC) senators-elect have exposed plan by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to thwart the emergence of Ahmed Lawan as Senate president.

They revealed that PDP caucus has begun negotiation with aggrieved All Progressives Congress (APC) returning and senators-elect to achieve the plot.

The APC leadership had last week endorsed the incumbent senate leader  to succeed Dr. Bukola Saraki, when the ninth senate is inaugurated on June 9.

Former Lagos State governor and national leader of the party had also insisted that the adoption of Lawan was non-negotiable and told those not in sync with the position to quit the APC.

Notwithstanding the position of the party and its leaders, Ali Ndume proceeded to declare intention for the plum job and backed it up with the unveiling of his nine-point agenda.

Meanwhile, those opposed to the choice of Lawan are not backing down in their move to re-enact the 2015 scenario when the anointed candidates of the party to lead the parliament were defeated in both chamber of the National Assembly.

An APC senator and a senator-elect of the party approached, in the plot, but who did not want to be part of it, have alerted APC hierarchy and the campaign team of Lawan.

They revealed that the PDP arrowheads in the plot want them to speak with APC senators and senators-elect from Adamawa, Taraba, Ekiti, Bauchi, Gombe, Kano and Kebbi, with a view to getting their support and buy-in.

According to them, the PDP plans to get its members in the Senate to back a returning APC senator from the North East for the senate presidency, hoping that with the support of about 13 APC senators already penciled down, Lawan would be stopped.

Although the two APC members declined to work with the PDP senators, they are, however, apprehensive that some of their party members in the ninth senate might agree to work with the PDP.

They explained the rationale for resolving to work for Lawan: “At the moment, Lawan is the candidate to beat using well known international parliamentary best practices and parameters.

“All odds are in his favour in terms of experience in the administration of the legislature in this country. He has been in the National Assembly in the last 20 years. His achievements at the committee level are unassailable. Remember the engine room of legislation is the committee stage. Don’t forget he has a PhD.”

The senator-elect who turned down the PDP offer said the candidacy of Lawan should not be opposed because “in all parliaments, be it in the presidential or parliamentary system, the world over, leadership or presiding officers emerge based on their experiences as leaders of the caucuses. Thus, when a party gains a majority after a general election into parliament, the leader of the caucus of such a party in the legislature transforms to be the president or speaker of such parliament in a seamless process. It is an established practice and all stakeholders should make sure we act in conformity with the international standard in this respect.”

While noting the pronouncements of the leadership of their various parties on the constitution of the leadership of the next senate, he called on other senators to engage topmost leaders of their parties on the need to allow international best parliamentary practices and the rule of the senate to guide the process of emergence of the principal officers.

“They also discussed with us the revival of the “Like Minds Group” of 2015 and their various social media campaign of calumny, most especially their deliberate attempt to link a national leader of APC, Senator Bola Tinubu to the emergence of Senator Ahmad,” the source at the meeting said.