By Nwangwu Uba
Ahmed Bola Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos state and national leader of the All Progressive Congress, APC, appears to be happy that Bukola Saraki, the Senate President , lost the Kwara state Central Senatorial district in the Saturday, February 23, 2019, National Assembly election to Ibrahim Oloriegbe of the APC.
This is evident going by his recent Statement that the frosty relationship between the eighth National Assembly , led by the Kwara state born politician, and President Muhammadu Buhari of the ruling APC, would not repeat itself with the ninth National Assembly, which is dominated by the party.
The former Lagos state governor who could not hide his feelings that the APC government major traducer, Saraki , would not return to the Senate on May 29, 2019 , is however, not comfortable that Yakubu Dogara, the Speaker of the House of Representatives was re-elected into the House of Representatives , because of the troubles, the duo gave to Buhari, thus, making it difficult for him to fulfill his 2015 ,electioneering Campaign promises to the people.
The APC national leader may have alluded to the troubles which the duo gave to president, in his first term in office , to the delays in the approval of the country’s yearly budgets . He noted that these eight National Assembly leaders presided over the padding of budgets with ”pet projects that would profit them and their political cronies”.
According to him, they had made things difficult for the President to fulfill his electioneering Campaign promises by down cutting funds earmarked for provision of basic infrastructural facilities like roads , health and Educational facilities to the people.
It is not surprising why , Tinubu, the APC national leader and the Katsina born state born Nigerian President , are doing everything within their powers to prevent a repeat of the leftist control of the eighth National Assembly in the ninth National Assembly.
The line- up of those that had been nominated by Tinubu and the Adams Oshiomhole led APC, National Executive Council speaks volume. The party was said to have endorsed Ahmed Lawan , the current Senate Leader, from the north east geo-political region, to be the next Senate President , but Ali Ndume, a ranking Senator , from the region, who was said to have the support of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, elected Senators is ready to slug it out with him.
The Value News learnt that Saraki , the outgoing Senate President may have thrown his weight behind Lawan to succeed him , which may have forced the APC leadership and the Presidency to go back to the drawing board to avoid a repeat of what happened in 2015, when Saraki and his cohorts hijacked the National Assembly.
Political watchers fear that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and Department of State Security Operatives, DSS, operatives may go after the Senate President as soon as he vacates the office next June to account for the spending of the budgetary allocations to the Senate in the last four years.
But unknown to them , the out- going Senate President has his plan B, to beat the security Agencies plot. He did not hesitate in opening up about his next move when the opportunity came. While the likes of Tinubu and Oshiomhole, both Chieftains of APC, believe that Saraki was finished politically having lost the 2019 National Assembly election , they got it wrong. He was appointed by the International Human Rights Commission, IHRC, as one of its ”Ambassadors -at-large.
Friday Sani, the Diplomatic Head of the Commission in Africa , who broke the news , in a letter on March 6, 2019, stated that ”sequel to the approval of the Secretary General of the IHRC, Saraki, the Nigeria Senate President has been appointed as one of the ”revered Ambassadors-At-Large of the World Human Rights Agency, thus saving him from the alleged plot of the EFCC and DSS to force him to account for his stewardship in the eighth National Assembly. Saraki may have been recommended for the position to the Commission because of the brevity and maturity displayed in the face of an obvious provocation in the legislative Chamber during the last Presidential and National Assembly elections.
Going by the mandate of Senate President new office , which he was said to have gladly accepted on April 10, 2019, he is expected to lead the Diplomatic team of IHRC in various Diplomatic missions on human rights violation across the world.
He could not hide his feelings as he expressed his appreciations to the IHRC , for his nomination for the plum position. Political analysts had given kudos to the Senate President for outsmarting the APC leadership to take up an International appointment that does not require the support of the government
. Many believe that if the leadership of the IHRC, had waited for the Nigerian President to submit a name to the Commission for the appointment , Saraki may not have made it as an APC chieftain could have been nominated by him at the instance of the cabal that surround him in the Presidency .