A fresh crisis may be brewing in the All Progressives Congress, over the selection of principal offices in the Senate.

The principal offices which are; Senate Leader, Deputy Senate Leader, Chief Whip and Deputy Chief Whip, have put the Federal lawmakers at loggerheads with the leadership of the party.

Senate President, Bukola Saraki, is believed to have recommended positions to be allocated to the zones to the APC National Working Committee while some leaders of the party, especially those from the South-West, want the positions filled by the party’s hierarchy.

The NWC of the APC met on Thursday, June 18, to broker peace among aggrieved members of the party, but it however, ended in futility.

A senator, who spoke to Punch Newspapers, warned that if the issue was not quickly resolved, the Senate and the APC might “face another round of crisis bigger than that that resulted from Saraki’s emergence as Senate president.”

He was quoted to have said: “The Senate President, had after wide consultations, suggested how the officers to occupy these posts could be appointed. He suggested the allocation of the four principal offices to some of the geopolitical zones.

“But some leaders, who are still angry with his (Saraki) emergence, turned down his suggestion. Some of the influential leaders from the South-West are insisting that the party should fill the offices. This is in spite of the fact that the chairman of our party (John Odigie-Oyegun) and other members of the NWC are in support of allocating the principal offices to zones.

“The South-West leaders are even saying that allowing the party leadership to fill the offices, remained the only way to allow peace to reign in the Senate.”

A Senator from the North-Central, who is loyal to Saraki, was also reported to have revealed that some APC leaders were indeed hellbent that the party should nominate the senators who would occupy the four principal offices.

He said, “By the Senate tradition, the party in majority normally sends the offices to the zones where the Senate caucuses would meet and choose among themselves in the zone, who occupies the offices.

“Some other leaders of the party are claiming that asking the party to produce the principal officers was a smart way   to impose the Senate Leader, the Deputy Senate Leader, the Chief Whip and the Deputy Chief Whip on the Senate.”

“Some of us were just called by some members of the NWC intimating us of details of a letter forwarded to the body that it should just fill the remaining four leadership positions in the Senate. In fact, the letter from the South-West leader is that the party must take charge and name its preferred candidates for the four offices.”

 

 

Meanwhile, the leaders of the party are expected to meet again on Friday following their failure to reach an agreement on how to end the crisis that arose due to the National Assembly leadership elections.