By Hammed Shittu in Ilorin
Fresh facts emerged at the weekend on how some top leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) across the geo-political zones of the country have thrown their weight towards the emergence of former governor of Kwara state and senator representing Kwara central senatorial district, Senator Bukola Saraki, as the next senate president come June, this year.
The choice of Senator Saraki, it was gathered, was informed by the enormity of his sacrifices for the party’s success at the presidential and national assembly polls.
The APC leaders pushing for Saraki’s Senate Presidency followed the zoning of the position of the Senate President to North Central zone by the party.
THISDAY checks revealed that Saraki remains the only Senator that is worth compensating in view of his doggedness and commitment towards the successes recorded by the APC across the nation.
It was his efforts together with other former PDP leaders that put up various strategies that finally assisted the APC to “remove” President Goodluck Jonathan from office through the massive votes recorded by the APC during the last general polls in the country.
However, with the victory of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (North-west) and Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (South-west), some of the top positions left to be allotted are Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives and their deputies. Other positions are the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), and the Chief of Staff.
Prior to the presidential election, the party had considered the option of rewarding the North-central with the Senate Presidency and the South-east with the Speaker. The Secretary to the Federal Government or the Chief of Staff is reserved for the South-South.
However, with the presidential election over, the party leadership may no longer be disposed to the earlier arrangement as one of the National Working Committee members who sought anonymity told journalists in Ilorin yesterday that, “it would amount to robbing Peter to pay Paul.”
The party leader from the North-east who pleaded anonymity argued that: “How can the party reward the zones that worked against the party and our presidential candidate with juicy positions while the zones that delivered the party are allocated mere deputies?
“I am sure the party will reward hard work. APC in South-south returned only one Senator in Edo North while South-east returned two members of the House of Representatives from Imo State. PDP also posted massive victory in North-central where it won states like Plateau and Nasarawa”, the official added.
The APC’s leadership, it was gathered has scheduled a meeting for Abuja after the Easter break to continue with the discussion on power sharing.
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