“The senate wishes to assure you [APC leadership] that we will remain in our caucus determined, focused and resolved to work with you.”
Ismail Omipidan and Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Senate Majority Leader, Ahmed Lawan, has assured the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and President Muhammadu Buhari, that the party’s senate caucus will impeach Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, when lawmakers reconvene.
Senator Lawan said this during the APC Presidential Convention, which held at the Eagle Square, in Abuja, at the weekend.
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The national convention ratified Buhari’s candidacy as the flag-bearer of the ruling party in the 2019 presidential election.
There, Lawan said, the APC senate caucus intends ‘to force through lots of things.’
He, however, made a passionate appeal to the Presidency and the APC national leadership to intervene in the challenges some of the National Assembly members are facing; to scale the APC primaries in their respective states. He specifically asked for the national leadership’s mediation.
Said Lawan: “The senate wishes to assure you that we will remain in our caucus determined, focused and resolved to work with you.
“On July 15, this year, when we had unceremonious closure of the Senate and the National Assembly for the first time, we had the most cohesive, united and focused APC caucus in the Eighth senate. We remain committed to you and the programmes of this administration. We remain loyal to our party, and we shall continue to support any programme of this administration.
“We thank Mr. President for supporting senators who have remained committed and loyal to this party.
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“I want to take this opportunity to thank the chairman and leaders of the party, for supporting us at the most difficult times in the history of our primaries. I want to add that it is not yet uhuru for some of us. We believe that there are still some issues to be resolved in favour of some of our colleagues.
“I want to also add that the number of senators of APC in the senate remains the largest. I want to call the attention of everyone here to the fact that democracy, as defined by people, remains government of the majority, where minority will always have their say.
“Those who cannot remember that there was a time in this country when nine was greater than 16, I want to remind them that we have come to that point again.
“Now, we have our chamber dominated and occupied by minority leaders. They remain minority leaders occupying our positions. Those who refuse to follow the part of honour and integrity by exiting; we will send them out with ignominy.
“I want to assure everyone here that 2019 is going to be a walkover for Mr. President, by the grace of God. It will see APC winning more than 24 states.
“We will have a national assembly where vast majority of senators will be from the APC and in the House of Representatives.
“We want to have a National Assembly that will, at all times, work with Mr. President, day and night, to deliver to Nigerians what we have lost over the years.
“The leadership of the National Assembly has shown to us that they are not prepared to be loyal to this administration.
“On Tuesday, we will be going back to the National Assembly when our recess is over. We intend to force through a lot of things and pass that budget for INEC and the security agencies for the 2019 election.
“If we cannot convince them, we intend to force through the foreign plan for this administration. Some people have taken our mandate and ran away with it. We intend to fight, defend and promote the interest of this party at all cost,” he assured.
Similarly, Deputy Speaker, Yusuff Lasun, in his remarks during the Presidential Convention, pledged the chambers loyalty to the presidency and the ruling party.
Although he was silent on the fate of Speaker Yakubu Dogara, when the House reconvenes, he, however, explicitly assured of the House’s loyalty to the party.
“President Buhari is our candidate in 2019 election. He has made us proud and that is why we are convinced that, by 2019, he is going to be re-elected.
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“We are convinced that you are going to do us proud by continuing to deliver on those programmes.
“One of the beauties of the last three and a half years is that president Buhari has brought sanity into governance, and today, the fear of Buhari is the beginning of wisdom.
“We must find a way of strengthening the National Assembly…
