*PDP Vows To Produce Next Senate President If Saraki Is RemovedThere are underground moves by loyalists of the Senate President Bukola Saraki to make Nigeria ungovernable for President Muhammadu Buhari in the event of his removal from office through his ongoing trial at the Code of Conduct TribunalThere have been fears in some quarters that the trial of Bukola Saraki by the CCT may prove to be his albatross at the end as the Supreme Court ruled a week ago that the Tribunal has the power to try him on alleged falsification of document on his assets and other matters.The plot to make Nigeria ungovernable for President Buhari, Newspot Nigeria can report, was hatched last week during a caucus meeting by the PDP Senators.
Part of the plot, it was learnt, was to draw Saraki into the fold of PDP such that in the event of his ouster from office, the PDP will produce the next Senate President.
PDP already has a comfortable numerical strength in the Senate to make the permutation work, just as some disgruntled members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are already in league with PDP senators on the plot.
Already, Saraki has started distancing himself from President Buhari to who he had severally pledged loyalty, as he shunned the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the APC, while he also stayed away from the Colloquiums organised for the birthday celebration of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu on Tuesday.
The Saraki’s issue had started introducing a session of crack in the ruling APC as an official of the party recently blasted members for leaving the Senate President in the lurch on his case with the CCT despite the sacrifices he had made for enthroning APC.
Alluding to Saraki’s preparedness to engage President Buhari in a duel is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Peter Nwaboshi, who on Wednesday vowed that the PDP would produce the next Senate President in the event that Saraki was forced out of office.
Nwaboshi, in an interview with journalists in Abuja, decried what he called messages of blackmail against Saraki on account of his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).
He said the PDP was ready to replicate the current system in the United States of America, where the Republican Party is in charge of the parliament, while the Democrats are in control of the executive.
“Well, I wish APC the best of luck if they are making that wild goose chase. But I want you to mark what I’m saying; I was the first to address the press in Port Harcourt and I told them that Saraki was going to win the Senate Presidency and I gave them my reasons.
“Then, nobody ever thought that Saraki was going to win. People were saying that APC had decided. But it was clear to me that he was going to win and I had to address the press.
“I said Saraki was going to win and that he was going to get my vote. Eventually, we went there, he won. If, but God forbid, because we don’t see it coming, by chance Saraki is removed; I can tell you that PDP will produce the next Senate President.”
Speaking on how the PDP will get the support of few lawmakers to produce the next Senate President, Nwaoboshi said: “We only need three and we have it. The calculation is very clear to me. The calculation is very clear for PDP.
“We know what it will take us. When I told them that Saraki was going to win, I did a lot of mathematical calculations based on the facts on the ground and it is even clearer to me now that the PDP will win it. We will win it.
“If anybody is thinking that a PDP man is going to vote against a PDP candidate, he is telling you a lie. We have people and we know how to get the people from APC. We will win and that will be very interesting. What is happening in America is going to happen in Nigeria.
“America has a Republican Senate but the executive is led by Democrats. So, it’s happening in different parts of the world. I can tell you with what’s on the ground that we will produce the next Senate President.”
“The man (Saraki) is going to court and he is obeying the court order. Until it is proven that he is guilty, no amount of blackmail will make us shift our ground and our support for him. In any case, my party the PDP, we have resolved in our meeting to support him. So, there is no basis for him to resign.”
Nwaboshi’s statement came barely a week after the all senators elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) met to get united in support of the Federal Government policies.
The meeting held in the house of former Sokoto state governor, Senator Ali Wammako, in Abuja
Although the meeting was initially said to have been called with a motive to get all Senators of APC united for Saraki, it was later learnt that senators at the meeting were more concerned about the embarrassment the disunity was causing the ruling party in the Senate.
According to sources close to the meeting, the lawmakers wanted a situation in which the interests of government would be promoted at all times in the Senate.
The meeting was said to have resolved to work in the interest of the party to ensure that the opposition party (PDP) ever had its way on any matter.
NEWSPOT NIGERIA
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