Senate spokesman, Senator Ajibola Bashiru has debunked reports that the All Progressives Congress (APC) caucus in the legislative house has endorsed Senator Abdullahi Adamu as its candidate for the position of APC national chairman.
Some principal officers of the Senate had last Thursday graced the official commissioning of the Senator Abdullahi Adamu campaign secretariat in Abuja, spawning speculation that the caucus may have endorsed the senator.
But, responding to enquires, the Senate spokesman said the senators who attended the ceremony did so in their private capacities, not as representatives of the Senate APC caucus.
“There are three senators vying for the position of APC national chairman. Senator Sani Musa from Niger. The other two- Senators Abdullahi Adamu and Tanko Al-Makura are from Nasarawa. To the best of my knowledge, we haven’t as a caucus decided on who to support.
“As distinguished legislators, it would be to our outmost joy to have one of our own emerge national chairman. This is democracy, and so people are free to support whomsoever they wish to. But as we speak, there’s no time we took a position on any of the three candidates,” noted Senator Bashiru.
Senator Adamu, who was the last entrant to the APC national chairmanship race, had weeks ago caused a stir by claiming that he got the nod of President Muhammadu Buhari as the consensus candidate. Adamu’s claim promoted presidential spokesman Femi Adesina to issue a disclaimer that his boss had no preferred candidate.
Reacting, several senators who attended the event wondered why Senator Adamu was resorting to what they described as “blackmail.”
Said a principal officer; “I was most embarrassed by the report. The other time he took photos with us, he went to town with the lie that the Senate leadership endorsed him. Now, after begging us to attend the commissioning of his campaign secretariat, the next story is that the caucus endorsed him. This is terrible for such an old man!”
Another senator expressed disappointment that Senator Adamu was dropping names, regretting that the development was already causing disaffection in the Senate.
“In a way, I feel that Senator Adamu realizes that he is the most unfit to be national chairman, that is the reason he is resorting to subterfuge. He’s the oldest, the least vibrant; in short, the most unfit for the job,” the senator declared.
