Oshiomhole pulls back as Buhari dictates NASS leadership

Moves by Adams Oshiomhole and some of his associates to promote Francis Alimekhena as deputy president of the Senate are being scaled back after Muhammadu Buhari made his stance on Ovie Omo-Agege for the position.

Oshiomhole has now fully adopted the script and is now pushing the Ahmad Lawan and Ovie Omo-Agege tag team for Senate President and Deputy Senate President.

Despite insinuations of indifference, President Buhari is passionately pushing for Lawan and Omo-Agege to become the presiding officers of the Ninth Senate to give him the stability in executive – legislative relations he and his handlers believe the outgoing National Assembly denied him.

The president is also said to be pushing for Femi Gbajabiamila for speaker of the House of Representatives.

It was also gathered that the president does not have a preference on who becomes deputy and he is said to have told senior party officials that he does not care over who becomes deputy speaker, a factor that has so far stalled the decision on it.

Sources close to the development said that the president picked out the pair of Lawan and Omo-Agege on the basis of loyalty. He is said to have observed that despite the failure to get the position as promised him in 2015 that Lawan remained loyal to the president on party politics.

The same factor was also said to have played in favour of Omo-Agege who it was learnt has strong support among the president’s inner caucus. His role in the mace-snatching drama of 2018 and the stiff opposition he gave to Bukola Saraki as senate president was also said to have further endeared the Delta Central senator for the position.

Before now, those pushing for Alimekhena had sought to canvas seniority in the present Senate to project him. Alimekhena who represents Edo North is the outgoing Senate Chief Whip. His supporters had also sold the narrative that his coming from Edo North, the same area as Oshiomhle was immaterial as they pointed to Ike Ekweremadu and Okwesileze Nwodo who were respectively Deputy Senate President and national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in 2010.

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