Senator Ahmed Lawan, who won the shadow primaries to contest for the presidency of the Nigerian senate, on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, has said he will reconcile all the groups in the 8th Senate.
He spoke moments after he emerged as the candidate of the APC for the post. But from all indications, he has a Mount Everest to climb to achieve the objective of reconciliation.
Lawan had emerged along with Senator George Akume as Deputy Senate President at the mock election of the party to choose its candidates, held in Abuja on Sunday.
The shadow election was boycotted by Senator Bukola Saraki’s group.
The Saraki group had on Sunday afternoon signed an agreement with the Lawan’s group to abide by the outcome of the election.
The Saraki group reportedly failed to secure a request to postpone the election.
And moments after Lawan’s emergence, the Saraki group issued a statement, deploring the voting method as undemocratic.
In a statement signed by senator-elect Dino Melaye and senator-elect Ahmed Rufai Sani, on behalf of senators-elect of Like Minds, they said. “We the senators-Elect of Like Minds today 6TH of June 2015, on the invitation of our party, attended an interactive meeting with selected 5 members from each group, the Unity Forum and the Like Minds Group.
“Regrettably, the Unity Forum insisted on open ballot voting which we discovered is different from the electoral process used to conduct the earlier election with the House of Representatives members elect. To us, this open ballot voting is primitive; undemocratic and against universal electoral norms and practice.
“In the light of the above, we the Senators elect of Like Minds hereby insist on our position of Open Secret voting process which we believe is in consonance with the provisions of the electoral act, the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and the universal electoral values.
“As responsible citizens of Federal Republic of Nigeria, and leaders in our own right, we have resolved and hereby state that we shall not be part of a process that promotes undemocratic electoral process that may resort to rancorous and uncivil situations which inhibits the rights of individuals to vote for the candidate of their choice, as this process will further divide us than unite members of our party.
“In conclusion we the Senators-Elect of Like Minds wish to state categorically that we will participate only in the constitutional election scheduled for Tuesday, the 9th of June 2015 in line with the rules of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“We by this press release invite the media to a joint press conference by the 65 Senators-Elect of Like Minds drawn from across party lines on Monday morning, the 8th of June 2015,” the statement read.