Senate President Ahmad Lawan dares Tinubu over choice of his successor

Nigeria’s current Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, has reportedly drawn a battleline with the President-Elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and the leadership of the APC over the choice of his successor.

Lawan who tried to wrestle the presidential ticket of the party from Tinubu through a series of underhand subterfuge, has made public his opposition to Senator Godswill Akpabio, the South-South candidate who appears to have won the support of most as a choice that ticks all the boxes including the party’s quest to ensure religious and geopolitical balance.

The Senate President reportedly marched to the residence of the president-elect upon his arrival from France to warn him to abstain from the leadership contest, a bizarre demand given Tinubu’s newly-acquired status as the leader of the party and obvious political interest in ensuring that the new leadership of the National Assembly will not prove an obstacle to achieving his governance agenda.

Lawan was said to have threatened to sponsor a “coup” should the party insist on the choice of Akpabio, including by repeating the infamous grab of Bukola Saraki, the deposed Kwara godfather who joined forces with the opposition to clinch the Senate Presidency against the decided wish of his own party.

Lawan’s rude brashness has rankled many and prompted concerns over his commitment to the success of the Tinubu-presidency. Many maintain that he remains sore over his failure to win the party’s presidential ticket and has sworn to frustrate the incoming administration using his base of support in the National Assembly and members of the outgoing Villa cabal.

The question is whether Lawan, who owes his emergence as the Senate President to Tinubu’s insistence back in 2019, has now grown enough influence and powers to challenge and outwit the incoming president, especially on important decisions central to the composition of the government.