Resign Now For South-East To Get SSG Position - APC Tells Ekweremadu

Some APC members are asking South-East leaders and elders to convince the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu to resign voluntarily for the geopolitical zone to get the position of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Tribune has learnt.

This is said to be the new deal being proposed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to get Ekweremadu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) out of the very strategic position he landed in the National Assembly leadership.

APC leaders, particularly those against the emergence of Senator Bukola Saraki as the Senate president, have remained implacable over the election that saw Ekweremadu defeating Ali Ndume for the number two job in the Senate.

Since his emergence alongside Saraki in what is now known as the “hybrid” leadership, there has been no let on the part of those who wanted him out, with the Enugu senator coming under severe attacks in the media.

An alleged criminal case was also hewn out of his controversial election, leading to a police invitation for alleged forgery, a move defined by the PDP as a plot by the APC to take him out of circulation before the resumption of the upper chamber, then force Saraki to conduct a fresh election for a deputy from the new ruling party.

With efforts at forcing him out not yielding the desired result, those pushing Ekweremadu’s ouster are said to have shifted ground from a bellicose approach to a more persuasive and negotiated one, leading to the new deal which was reportedly primed to be more ethnically-inclusive instead of the earlier partisan-based front.

It was learnt that having realized that with Saraki as the Senate president, it would be a futile attempt trying to bulldoze Ekweremadu out of office, his traducers are reportedly lobbying the leaders and elders of the South East zone with the SGF position, which is being reportedly presented as bigger and better placed to benefit the whole geopolitical zone, considering the importance of the position in the polity.

The SGF is largely seen as a more influential office than the office of the Deputy Senate President, but is always held at the pleasure of the president unlike that of the Senate.

While it could not be confirmed if President Muhammadu Buhari is part of the deal, his objection to Ekweremadu’s emergence has been undisguised.

He was expected to name the SGF in the first weeks of his presidency as is the practice but he has vacillated on it so far.

Former Governor Ogbonnaya Onu is largely seen as the leading candidate from the South East, though mentions had also been made of the Secretary to Borno State Government and APC national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, from the South South, who recently said his interest in the post was scant.