By Ishaya Ibrahim
August 7 was no ordinary day for the All Progressives Congress (APC) national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, and the party’s deputy national chairman, south, Niyi Adebayo.
That day, both men decided to put paid to the long-contemplated plan of ousting Bukola Saraki as president of the senate and Ike Ekweremadu, his deputy.
With Godswill Akpabio resigning his position as senate minority leader and joining the APC, Oshiomhole and Adebayo were convinced that their plan would work.
At 4:30 am, they began a meeting with APC senators that are amenable to leadership change in the senate.
They looked at all the options available to them – effecting a change through legal means or doing so by any way possible.
For the legal procedure, the meeting noted that to change the leadership of the Senate, a total of 74 Senators would be needed to attain the 2/3 requirement.
They also noted that APC was only sure of between 51 and 53 Senators. But they said a good number of the APC Senators were currently out of the country. So, the legal procedure was ruled out.
Oshiomhole was mandated to contact President Muhammadu Buhari to inform him that they don’t have the numbers, but with his direct go ahead, they could activate the second option, which is to remove Saraki and Ekweremadu through any means possible.
The members broke off for one hour to allow for feedback from the President.
Meanwhile, Oshiomhole had become frustrated because his telephone calls were not allowed through to the President who is vacationing in the UK.
The meeting reconvenes. This time, the discussion moved to who succeeds Saraki as president of the senate.
Ahmed Lawan was suggested as the best replacement for Saraki since he is already the leader of the APC caucus in the senate.
Another senator observed that Lawan is from the North East geopolitical zone as Yakubu Dogara and it won’t be good for the party to have the two presiding officers of the National Assembly from the same zone. He suggested that George Akume be appointed as Saraki’s replacement since both men are from the same geopolitical zone.
While the debate for Saraki’s replacement was still unresolved, another bunch of senators, mainly from the North West, opposed a move by some other senators to make Hope Uzodinma deputy senate president. One of the Senators who was vehemently against Uzodinma’s choice, referred to him as corruption personified.
As at 6:02am when our source gave us the report of the meeting, the Senators were yet to reach an agreement on how to proceed with the leadership change, and if the Presidency would be able to give legitimacy to their plan by congratulating the new senate president.
The source also notified this Newspaper that Oshiomhole told the senators that the impeachment must happen within the next 48 hours or it can’t happen again.
While the meeting was still strategizing, operatives from the Department of State Service (DSS), had invaded the National Assembly in a move to secure the premises for the lawmakers who wanted to oust Saraki.
It was believed that the director general of the DSS, Lawan Daura, did not consult with Acting President Yemi Osinbajo before deploying his men for the mission.
Spokesman for the Acting President, Laolu Akande, tweeted announcing the sack of Daura, one of the closest allies of President Muhammadu Buhari.
“AgP Yemi Osinbajo has directed the termination of the appointment of the DG of the DSS, Mr. Lawal Musa Daura.
“Mr. Daura has been directed to hand over to the most senior officer of the State Security Service until further notice.”
Shortly after Daura’s sack, the siege on the National Assembly was called off.
