HAS PMB FINALLY MADE HIS CHOICE FOR SENATE PRESIDENT PUBLIC? WOULD IT BE SENATOR AHMAD LAWAN FOR THE SENATE & HON. FEMI GBAJABIAMILA FOR THE SPEAKER SHIP?

Senator Ahmad Lawan

Hon. Olufemi Hakeem Gbajabiamila 

The ruling party are doing all they can to prevent thunder from striking twice at the National Assembly over the choice of leadership for the next session of the house, at both the upper and the lower houses.

The sting of the manuevres, which some have likened to a coup that had installed the outgoing leadership of both Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki and Speaker, Hon. Yakubu Dogara wouldn't be forgotten in a hurry and most likely can never ever be forgotten. In 2015 while the APC was still dragging their feet thinking they had all the time in the world to pick and install their anoited as leaders of the Houses, members of their own party led by wily Senator Saraki and Hon. Dogara like thieves in the night, with the active connivance of the opposition party, gave everyone a rude shock, that nearly gave many heart attacks, when those not slated to lead the house were voted in as leaders of the assembly and from that moment onward the schism that nearly tore the party and the NASS apart began.

Much as the APC on the other side, tried to scheme out, the APC that operated the so called coup in connivance with the PDP, they met a super smart opponent(s), who embarrassed them at each move and turn,  and in fact outsmarted them all the way. So now to avoid falling in to the same pit twice, they seem to have resolved to make hay, while the sun is still shining properly.

The leadership of the APC led by the Chairman of the party in the person of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, former Governor of Edo State met with the APC house of assembly elects only yesterday and advised that all the leadership positions available in the houses must be filled by members of the party alone except for the ones that the opposition should occupy by right. He especially emphasized that those to be elected also must be loyal party members alone. For the Federal House of Representatives, it seems that the preferred candidate, in fact the anointed one for the Speakership position again is the brilliant lawyer and lawmaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, who is the current house majority leader of the outgoing lower house. For the post of who would become the 3rd most powerful man in the country, it seems like everything is again pointing at the same man, that the party had proposed to make the Senate President in 2015, in the person of distinguished gentleman Senator Ahmad LAWAN. But he would have a battle at hand as he must contend with a fellow party man, Senator Ali Ndume.

Senator Ahmad Lawan himself has finally come out to show interest in occupying the post and to lead the 9th session of the National Assembly starting from June 2019. For Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, he has never hidden the fact that he wants to lead the House of Representatives as her speaker. He had thought he was coasting home to victory in 2015, only to be blindsided and beaten by an 8 votes margin the last time, when Hon. Yakubu Dogara and cohorts outsmarted him winning by 182 to 174  votes.

Though the Chairman of the APC at a meeting with all the APC elected Assembly members yesterday, Monday, March 25, 2019 had come out to show his personal support for Senator Ahmad Lawan from Yobe, that endorsement by Comrade Adams Oshiomhole might not have gone well with everyone, especially another Senator, in the person of distinguished Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, who has come out to kick against Oshiomhole's endorsement of the former. Senator Ali Ndume is in fact a fellow member of the ruling party the APC from Borno. The APC have the numerical advantage in both HOUSES on the coming 9th Assembly and want to use the advantage well. Senator Ali Ndume was the former House Majority Leader whom Ahmad Lawan took over from after he was suspended at upper house for 6 months and was removed as Majority leader. He would be 59 come November 20, 2019. He had his OND & HND from Kaduna Poly in 1980 & 82 respectively. He got his B.Ed & M.Ed from the University of Toledo Ohio in 1990, Magna Cum Laude. He has been at the National Assembly for 16 years now, since 2003 as a member of the House of representatives then as a Senator since 2011. So he has the requisite experience needed too. He was formerly of the ANPP then the PDP & now the APC.  From the ensuing scenario, the ruling party had better handle their situation well or they might just allow the same situation that messed them up in 2015 to rear up its ugly head all over again. A house already divided against itself like they say, cannot stand the wiles, schemes, trickery and moves of an opposition/enemy that is very smart too but with its back already to the wall. So they are desperate and wouldn't mind to scatter everything. In fact they can even begin to preach that the House of Assembly is not about party affiliations, but about men and woman who can pick whomsoever they want as leaders.

Senator Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan, 60, was born January 12, 1959. He is currently the Senate majority leader and an APC Member from Yobe North in Yobe State. He has been a member of the National Assembly since 1999 till date, that's 20 years straight. He is a graduate of the University of Maiduguri, Borno State with a B.Sc in Geography 1984, he has a Masters in Remote Sensing from the ABU, Zaria 1990, then he also has a Doctorate in Remote Sensing from Cranfield University, UK 1996. He moved from the House of representatives to the Upper house.

For Hon. Olufemi Hakeem Gbajabiamila, 56, he was born June 25, 1962 so would be 57 come this June just around the time the 9th Assembly would commence. This would be his 5th term in the House, where he has done exemplarily and commendably well. He has represented his Surulere 1 Federal Constituency super well and by extension his party. The trained lawyer, who owns law chambers in both Nigeria and America has had a great 2 decades of experience in the House, where at a point he sponsored the highest number of bills by any legislator. He is always a delight a hear. Were he to become the Speaker of the 9th house, then the House would he the good for it.

ABDULRAHAMAN ABDULRAZAQ OF THE APC WINS BY NEARLY 3 ATIMES THE VOTE OF RAZAK ATUNWA.

Abdulrahaman AbdulRazaq 

The final nail was hammered in with ferocity, in Kwara State on the political career of the Senate President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki as the last vestige of his influence was extinguished & expunged as the results of the Gubernatorial election and state House of assembly elections have finally come but still awaiting final ratification and declaration by the official umpire, the INEC.

From the results from all of the 16 local government areas of the state declared, the ruling party, that's the PDP were summarily pulverized, nearly annihilated and unimaginably pummelled to submission with no answers whatsoever. Though there was unexpected voter apathy, those who still came out, voted massively for the APC giving the new bride of the people, Abdulrahaman AbdulRazaq as much as 331,546 votes in all against the paltry 114,754 for Hon. Razak Atunwa of the PDP, with the APC winning with as much a margin as 216,792 votes. The total vote of the APC nearly tripling that of the PDP, it was a humbling of the meanest order.

With the outstanding win, which some would tag a landslide by Alhaji Abdulrahaman AbdulRazaq of the APC, a new dawn has been ushered in, in Kwara State and every hold of Saraki on power in the state has now been wiped out. It's like it's a totally new beginning, a new dawn. What that actually says then, should be a lesson for everyone, to never ever forget that in politics, especially in a democracy your power lies in the people and their support, once you have lost them and they find an alternative to you, then you are a goner.

And that's a lesson also for the Governor designate too, Alhaji Abdulrahaman AbdulRazaq that he had better be with the people and have them as his top priority or else in 4 years to come too, he himself could become another has been. This is so because the people have now come to understand that the power lies with them.

Congratulations to the winner and to the entire Kwara people. May all your wishes and desires come true. 

WOULD THE OTO GE (ENOUGH IS ENOUGH) TSUNAMI SWEEP OFF RAZAK ATUNWA'S AMBITION TO RULE KWARA STATE?

Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki 

Razak Atunwa

Abdulrahaman AbdulRazaq 

A major whirlwind or better still hurricane Oto ge (it's enough) or should we even call it Tsunami of unprecedented power swept through Kwara State some days back and in the aftermath of her move, the PDP structure in the State, led by its leader, the outgoing Senate President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki and others holding Senatorial positions like him and even those that were in the lower house before and those in his party who wanted to go to the lower house were all swept away and dumped on their asses.

The defeat was totally unprecedented and embarrassing. And just because of the manner and way that defeat came, the PDP structure in the state, that had been brimming with over confidence before, have since been suffering from jitters! Now with the upset and removal of Saraki, would the Tsunami momentum continue as the Gubernatorial election in the state beckons?

Prior to the Presidential and Federal house of assembly elections, those who had been watching Kwara politics keenly had thought that both the APC and the PDP had a 50-50 chance of coming tops at the up coming election, to pick who would rule the state for another 4 years. Although prior to the Tsunami that swept through the state and caused a major avalanche, many had given the ruling party a slight chance above the APC of nicking it, maybe because people gave them the strength based on the power of incumbency. With the state Governor being a PDP person to the core and the supposed strongman of Politics in the state, in the person of Senator Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki being a PDP man, many had thought the PDP in the state had a slight advantage above all others. But the supposed advantage came to nought at the last election and the loss has totally demystified whatever hold Saraki and cohorts seem to have on his people. And so the advantage they seemed to have had before which gave them some confidence has since been lost! If the leader couldn't win his own election in a much smaller area, can he then lead his boy to win his in an election that would cover the whole state?

So now that the Gubernatorial election is upcoming in only a week and the PDP aspirant/contestant Atunwa is a known protégé of Dr. Bukola Saraki, how would their well known relationship, affect the chances of Hon. Razak Atunwa, Saraki's political son in whom he is well pleased, especially as the people of the state seem to want to totally cut off and dissociate themselves from anything that has to do with the Saraki political dynasty in Kwara? Is their brotherhood or connection an advantage or a disadvantage now?

So are we expecting a easy ride for the APC Aspirant, Abdulrahaman AbdulRazaq? We doubt it. Though the PDP were dazed before to near comatose level. The 2 weeks interval between the elections has given the PDP, the opportunity to close ranks quickly and to correct their self inflicted mistakes. Saraki himself would be doing all he can in his power now to make sure he isn't totally disgraced out of power. This would be Operation let's at least save face small. So overconfidence on the part of the APC, could become their Achilles heel, if care is not taken. Just like the PDP in Lagos are trying to throw all they can, spanners, screw-driver, nails etc to clog and stop the wheel of progress in Lagos, the PDP in Kwara state, would literally do all that is humanly possible to up turn that Tsunami that has swept through their state. So we should await a very keenly fought election battle, come March 9, 2019.

Who would win though at the end? Looking through our crystal ball, we see a new order being ushered into the state. There's a man for the job and the people of the state already knows who that is...... Major thing is, no one can ever take the state and her people for granted no more!!!!