PORT HARCOURT—The ambition of Senator Bukola Saraki to become the next Senate President has been endorsed by the incoming senator for Delta North Senatorial District, Chief Peter Nwaoboshi.

Speaking with journalists on the sideline of the one day retreat for senators-elect and members-elect in Port-Harcourt last Monday, Nwaoboshi described Senator Saraki as the most detribalized legislator and having the best administrative experience among the contenders for the office of Senate President.

“We must quit playing with mundane things. At this point in our national history and in the bid to further entrench the ethos of democracy, as it concerns the Principle of Separation of Power, we all agreed that competent and capable hands must be elected or put in position of authority.

“Senator Saraki is the most qualified to occupy the seat of the Senate President. He is a detribalized Nigerian. He was once a chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum and in that position, he was able to hold the various governors from different political parties together.

“He is not somebody that anybody can just pick up and dictate to. This means he will not allow any external force to dictate to us in the Senate. He has done it before, even in Kwara State.

“If you remember, there was a time the younger sister wanted to run for the governorship seat but Saraki put his feet down and said, ‘no. For the sake of justice and equity, I will not be in support of that’.

 “Yes, he might have stepped on the toes of his father and later reconciled with him. But the fact is that he is a man who is able to stand on his own. We don’t want a legislature that will be controlled from the outside.

“Of course, when he sits in the midst of former governors, they will also give him respect, himself having been a former governor. Nowadays, the governors everywhere seem to want to hijack the structure of the party and every other thing. But no governor will look at him with contempt because he was there for eight years”, he said.

Citing Saraki’s pedigree, he said:

“You have to look at the people we learnt he is contesting with. We have to ask what has been their position on some burning national issues. For example, what is their disposition to the people in the South-South? What is their disposition to other religions across the country?

“What we want is somebody who is a true Nigerian; somebody who is capable and competent and of course, we want somebody who can stand and defend the independence of the legislature”, he said.

Meanwhile,  the aspiration of the former two-term governor of Kwara State was said to have received a boost at the Port-Harcourt retreat of PDP senators-elect as he was said to have been endorsed by 30 PDP senators-elect.
“I can authoritatively tell you that some of us, numbering 30, met with Senator Saraki here, at Hotel Presidential, Port Harcourt, on Sunday and the subject of our meeting was the issue of the Senate Presidency.

“As things stand, Saraki is likely to emerge as the successor of Senator David Mark. Even at the retreat today (Monday), Saraki remained the main issue among our colleagues.

“About 80 per cent of the senators present are supporting him. I can tell you that the whole South-South, for example, is supporting him. Those who wanted to discuss him negatively are jittery as he had won over those gathered in Port Harcourt”, the source said.