Tension in Senate as APC senators threaten one another

As the NASS draws close to electing its presiding officers of the ninth National Assembly, the federal lawmakers are already colliding over the method the election will take.

Supporters of the two most prominent contenders for the Senate presidency–Ahmed Lawan and Alli Ndume–are now threatening each other.

The current Senate standing rule, copies of which have already been distributed to all the senators-elect, provides that the method of voting shall be by secret balloting.

Some senators loyal to Ndume believe the Lawan camp is jittery, adding that if the process is discarded for another method, there will be violence.

In his reaction to the threats, the spokesman for the Ahmed Lawan campaign group, who incidentally is the spokesman for the Senate, Aliu Sabi Abdullahi, however, said Lawan and his camp would never encourage anything relating to violence.

The Deputy Minority Leader, Emmanuel Bwacha, said the Senate rule on secret voting remained valid, adding: “I am not aware that the Senate rule has been changed.”

Just last Tuesday, the Clerk to the National Assembly, Mohammed Ataba Sani Omolori, was invited to the headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to answer questions relating to, among others, method of voting to elect the Senate president.

Other officials of the National Assembly, including the Senate and House of Representatives clerks had subsequently been invited to the EFCC headquarters over similar issues.

But Lawan campaign team denied putting pressure on officials of the EFCC to harass the National Assembly officials.