Senate Presidency: APC Senators Backing Saraki Explain Mock Election Boycott

A group of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Senators called ‘Senators-Elect Of Like Minds’ have given reasons for boycotting a mock election held by the party to select the candidate that will vie for the Senate Presidency.

In a statement on Sunday, the Senators said they would only participate in the election for the seat of the principal officers of the Senate which is organised by the National Assembly.

An in-house election was organised on Saturday by the National Working Committee of the APC for the position of Senate President and the deputy.

One of the Senators vying for the party’s candidacy, Senator Bukola Saraki and some Senators boycotted the election that saw the emergence of Senator Ahmed Lawan as the APC candidate for the Senate Presidency.

In a statement signed by Senators, Dino Melaye and Ahmed Sani, the group also maintained their opposition to the use of the open ballot voting for the elections of principal officers of the Senate, describing it as primitive, undemocratic and against universal electoral norms and practice.

“To us, this open ballot voting is primitive; undemocratic and against universal electoral norms and practice.

“In the light of the above, we the Senators elect of Like Minds hereby insist on our position of Open Secret voting process which we believe is in consonance with the provisions of the electoral act, the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and the universal electoral values.

“As responsible citizens of Federal Republic of Nigeria, and leaders in our own right, we have resolved and hereby state that we shall not be part of a process that promotes undemocratic electoral process that may resort to rancorous and uncivil situations which inhibits the rights of individuals to vote for the candidate of their choice, as this process will further divide us than unite members of our party,” the statement read.

The group insisted on the use of open secret voting process for the upcoming elections and also invited the media to a joint press conference by 65 senators-elect drawn from different political parties on Monday.