…gives reasons party’s DSP bid collapsed

By Dirisu Yakubu

ABUJA- Following the emergence of Senator Ahmed Lawan as Senate President in the election of presiding officers of the 9th Assembly which held on Tuesday; fresh facts have emerged on why the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP endorsement of Ali Ndume failed abysmally.

Ahmad Lawan

Less than 24 hours to the inauguration of the Assembly, governors, lawmakers and chieftains of the PDP held series of meetings in Abuja in a bid to influence the emergence of new leaders expected to pilot the affairs of the Senate and the House of Representatives for the next four years.

In the early hours of Tuesday, the leadership of the party issued a statement urging lawmakers elected on its platform to vote Ndume as Senate President in an apparent move to deny the All Progressives Congress, APC annointed candidate, Lawan from emerging.

Ndume kicks as Lawan claims 99 senators-elect endorsements(Opens in a new browser tab)

However, Ndume could only garnered a total of 28 votes as he lost to Lawan who polled 79 votes to clinch the exalted seat.

In an exclusive chat with Vanguard on the outcome of the election, a chieftain of the PDP who craved anonymity said the endorsement came a little bit too late.

Nass Leadership: PDP rejects Lawan, Gbajabiamila(Opens in a new browser tab)

According to him, the party was all along rooting for former Gombe state governor, Danjuma Goje, only for him to bow out of the race a few days to the election.

He noted that the development left the party’s Senators with little choice order than to support whoever they felt comfortable with.

He said: “We wanted Goje but he chose not to go into the contest at the eleventh hour. The party quickly called stakeholders’ meetings to determine a particular direction but at those meetings, it was clear a consensus was going to be very difficult.

“Ndume became the most suitable option after that owing largely to the fact that apart from our believe in his ability to be his own man, he was also our former member. We directed our members and his (Ndume) colleagues in the red chamber to show him solidarity but it is clear now that some ignored this directive.”

He also came short of accusing Senator Ike Ekweremadu of gifting the APC the Deputy Senate President’s seat following his loss to Senator Ovie Omo-Agege.

“There is a time for everything and this is all I can say concerning the Office of the Deputy Senate President. We thought we had a chance but after our meetings, we realized we had zero chances because we knew what some of our people were going to do,” he added.

Vanguard reliably gathered that though the PDP wanted a female lawmaker to succeed the immediate past DSP, Ekweremadu’s decision to seek a return to the seat he has occupied in the past twelve years left many of his party faithful stunned and disappointed.