RANKING senators who have been re-elected for the Ninth Senate have devised various strategies to lobby and woo their colleagues and the newly elected members of their parties to support their aspirations.

Our correspondent discovered on Sunday that top aspirants for the position of presiding officers have converted some suites in the Transcorp Hilton Hotels to a mini secretariat.

Some newly elected and returning federal legislators were sighted going in and out of the emergency secretariat, as of Sunday evening.

A ranking senator who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity confirmed that top aspirants for the position of senate presidency have relocated to the hotel about three weeks ago to perfect necessary strategies.

He said, “What they are doing is not new. It has been a normal practice over the years. They use the mini secretariat to hold strategic meetings and to also lobby the new lawmakers that they would need their support.”

None of the newly elected senators sighted by our correspondent offered any comment on their mission.

Investigations by our correspondent also revealed that the aspirants for the office of presiding officers have promised to consider newly elected lawmakers in the allocation of chairmanship of ‘juicy’ committees.

They were said to have also reached out to elected members in the opposition Peoples Democratic Party and promised to reward their support with the chairmanship of committees.

This is contrary to a statement credited to the leadership of the All Progressives Congress that only members of the party would take over as presiding officers, principal officers and chairmanship of ‘juicy’ committees.

A member of the Ahmad Lawan group, who spoke on condition of anonymity said, “The politics inside the senate chamber is totally different from political party politics; we are already talking with our colleagues in the opposition.”

The spokesperson for the group, Senator Sabi Abdullahi, had earlier told journalists last week that Lawan was already reaching out to the PDP senators-elect.

The development came just as the orientation programme organised by the National Assembly management for all elected federal lawmakers started in Abuja on Sunday evening with a dinner in their honour.

The programme, which will be in batches, would run from March 31 to April 13 in the nation’s capital.

However, findings by our correspondent revealed that the lawmakers scheduled to attend the first batch of the orientation programme started arriving Abuja on Sunday and were lodged in the hotel by the National Assembly management.

Security has been beefed up around the premises while officials expected to offer various services were being screened by security operatives as of the time of filing this report.

Investigations by our correspondent also revealed that the leadership of the APC might this week ratify a proposal from one of its ad hoc committees which recommended the zoning of the Deputy Senate Presidency to the South-South geopolitical zone.

Other recommendations are: Majority Leader, (North Central); Deputy Majority Leader, (South-East), Chief Whip (North-West) and Deputy Chief Whip, (South-West). – Punch

– Apr. 1, 2019 @ 8:12 GMT |