By Charles Adingupu
As the clock ticks closer to the election day of leaders for the 10th National Assembly, a former lawmaker who represented Kaduna central, Senator Shehu Sani, has warned that if proper consultations were not done by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the President, the 2015 scenario which saw the ruling party’s candidates chucked aside for the members’ choices; are bound to play out again.
The Activist turned politician warned the All Progressives Congress (APC) to put its house in order on the choice of the leadership of the 10th National Assembly (NASS) or risk the repeat of 2015 scenario.
The APC saw its nominated candidates lose out during the election of the leadership of the 8th NASS in 2015 when Senator Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara emerged as Senate President and Speaker respectively in defiance of the APC chioces.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, Sani said if proper consultations are not done by the party and President Bola Tinubu, the 2015 scenario is bound to happen again.
“I have no doubt that from now to Monday, if there is no serious consultation, appeasement and horse trading, one thing I know very well is that if the APC goes to the floor without putting its house in order the 2015 scenario will reenact itself especially if there is a secret voting,” Sani said.
According to the former lawmaker, lack of proper consultations was part of President Muhammadu Buhari’s problem which contributed to Saraki’s emergence in 2015 instead of Senator Ahmad Lawan, the preferred candidate of the President.
“If you go back to 2015, one of the mistakes that President Buhari made was that he never consulted the Senators-elect when it comes to the issue of his candidate, he simply wants Lawan to be Senate President without consultations.
“As the president of the country, you have a lot of leverage, there is no way a president will invite Senators-elect many of whom are coming for the first time and say this is the person I want to work with, I need your support and I want you to support him, I mean 99 percent of them will accede to it.
“But if you simply go into a room and decide that out of 109 that it is one person who you believe will be loyal to you and others will not be and you are also doubting the sincerity, loyalty and solidarity of others, you are going to have a problem with others,” Sani stated.
