Ahead of Tuesday’s election of principal officers for both legislative chambers, facts have emerged as to how lawmakers will pick their leaders.
The main contenders in the Senate are Ahmad Lawal and Ali Ndume while the House has seven contenders, Femi Gbajabiamila, Mohammed Umar Bago, Jide Olatunbosun, Segun Odebunmi, Nkeiruika Onyejeocha, John Dyegh, and Emeka Nwaduba.
In the Senate, the signals are becoming clearer as the Lawal Omo-Agege ticket has been sealed by the presidency after Senator Danjuma Goje politely stepped aside while endorsing Lawal
Ali Ndume, on the other hand, has vowed to soldier on and take the contest to the wire.
Presidency’s sealing of Lawal’s ticket does not automatically translate into victory as the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP still holds the trump card with 51 senators.
On Friday, Lawal unveiled 99 senators which he claimed have all endorsed him as the next Senate president.
Ndume has however countered that position declaring that it is a fluke as this is impossible since the PDP with 51 senators can turn the tide if they pull their number in support of either of the candidates or if they collectively vote a candidate of their choice.
In the Senate, there’s the possibility of a dark horse emerging as president if Lawal does not hold tight to what he has in his kitty.
The fact that Goje was asked to step down for him at gunpoint is not enough for him to celebrate as the same Goje can turn in his supporters to another candidate to register his protest.
If this happens then Lawal should be ready for a shocker.
In the House, the game plan seems to be that of bandying unverifiable figures.
While the Gbajabiamila camp claims to have 183 endorsements of both returning and new lawmakers, the Bago camp dropped a bombshell that 195 lawmakers too had endorsed Bago. This figure is far above the 360 members expected to vote on Tuesday.
The big question is who are the remaining 12 that cannot vote on election day.
One of the aspirants, Hon John Dyegh openly declared on Thursday that what they have been bandying all these while are just imagined figures.
He vowed that nothing” will make me step down not even if offered a billion dollars.
“I will only step down if my people in the North Central ask me to do that or no dice.
Olatunbosun, Odebunmi, Nkeiruika Onyejeocha, Nwaduba, and Dyegh are still very much in the race.
They have vowed to cross the finishing line on Tuesday.
The two leading contenders are Bago and Gbajabiamila and the battle between these two front-line contestants has been legendary.
In a recent national television programme, Hon Victor Afam Ogene, spokesperson of the Bago Campaign Organization and Hon Abdulmunin Jibrin had a heated argument over Gbajabiamila Atlanta Georgia debacle.
While Jibrin defended Gbajabiamila all through he could not answer a simple question whether Femi Gbaja was the same person as Femi Gbajabiamila.
For almost two weeks the mudslinging game continued until suddenly there was a ceasefire.
For now, all the camps are working round the clock to win the confidence of the lawmakers.
In the last three weeks, the Gbajabiamila camp had announced through live coverage of how they are leading other candidates.
And for the Bago camp, they have gone back to the drawing board to see how they can tame the Goliath’s camp to ensure victory for the David in this contest for the soul of the green chamber.
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