The crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress (APC), following the emergence of Senator Bukola Saraki as president of the Senate is far from over. APC senators in the Saraki and Ahmed Lawan camps are set for another show down. This time, the battle is over which of the two camps would produce the Senate leader, deputy Senate leader and majority whip as well as deputy majority whip.

While members of the House of Representatives have resolved to take a cue from the unity and harmony that existed in the 7th Assembly, under the leadership of former Speaker, Honourable Aminu Waziri Tambuwal and forge ahead in the interest of the country by closing ranks to work with Honourable Yakubu Dogara as their Speaker, the story is not the same in the Senate.

Another trouble brewing in the Senate is the allocation of juicy committees across the two major political parties the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and how the Saraki and Lawan groups would further allocate the committees available for the APC.

The crisis over who emerges senate leader, deputy, whip and deputy whip gave rise to the one over committees. The standing rules of the Senate states that the Senate president is the chairman of the selection committee with the deputy Senate president as vice chairman. Members of this all important committee that allocate committees to senators are the senate leader, deputy senate leader, chief whip, deputy whip, minority leader, deputy minority leader, minority whip and deputy minority whip.

A senator, who pleaded anonymity, told LEADERSHIP Sunday that, "you see what is happening is that the Saraki people feel they should have everything and we are not going to accept that. They connived with the PDP and produced the Senate president and went further to enter into what I call a government of National Unity with them and gave them the deputy Senate president without the consent of the APC which gave them the platform to become senators and if you look at the composition of the selection committee, you find out that the senate president is chairman and the deputy is the vice chairman, which means Senator

Ekweremadu would also be making a case for the PDP, so we must have our people there and make sure that we scuttle that." He continued, "we want Senator Lawan and George Akume to be part of that selection committee by first and foremost becoming members of the leadership of the Senate and we have the backing of our party on this matter as we have always had. We understand the Senate president does not want these two people in the leadership and I promise you if they try that, we would make this Senate unbearable for them, mark my words. We are ready for them and I just hope they would not try anything silly if they want the togetherness of this Senate."

Speaking further, the source who is from the South-West told LEADERSHIP SUNDAY that, "the truth of the matter is that the Senate president and his deputy are sitting on a time bomb. In fact, we would prefer where the APC senators would come together and cast votes for who becomes Senate leader and the rest and I assure you they would try to frustrate that but whichever way they want it, we are equal to the task. We must make sure that the Deputy senate President Saraki gave to the PDP ends there, they are not going to get any good committee."

But senators loyal to the Senate president, under the Like Minds Senators group, have declared that they would reject the attempt by their party, the APC, to forcefully make Lawan the Senate leader. LEADERSHIP Sunday recalls that the party and lawmakers in the Senate and House of Representatives are set to lock horns once more over attempts by some leaders of the party to dictate candidates, mainly of the Unity Group, which supported Lawan's Senate presidency bid, for the remaining leadership slots in the two chambers.

EADERSHIP Sunday gathered that APC's leadership is allegedly working to see Senator Lawan emerge as the Senate majority leader, while Senator Akume would be his deputy. For the Senate chief whip, Senator Olusola Adeyeye has been picked for the position, with Senator Abu Ibrahim as his deputy.

But making their stands known in separate interviews yesterday, members of the group, Senators Ahmed Sani Rufa’i and Danjuma Goje, said the election of the four principal officers is the exclusive preserve of the zonal caucuses in the Senate, and any other move by the APC leadership would be illegal. Speaking in separate interviews in Abuja yesterday, Rufa'i, a former Senate deputy minority leader, and Goje, insisted that imposition of principal officers on the chamber would be resisted.

"There cannot be imposition. As far as I'm concerned, the party cannot impose leadership on us...It's unconstitutional and against the rules of the Senate. "The Senate majority leader, deputy majority leader, Senate chief whip, deputy chief whip are elected by their caucuses and the 8th Assembly cannot be different," he stated.

"The best thing the party can do, given the circumstances, is to give us directives. Any attempt to impose will be resisted and this will further divide the party," he added, while insisting that the party should follow due process. "We should follow due process. To allow the party to impose leadership on the Senate president is to make him to fail because you cannot force him to work with his rivals."

Dismissing allegations that they are working at parallel lines with President Muhammadu Buhari, the senator said, "we are committed to giving President Buhari protection in the Senate. What we're doing is definitely not against the president." On his part, Senator Danjuma Goje cautioned the party leadership against further polarising the party by imposing leadership candidates on lawmakers. He accused one of the leaders of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, of being the brain behind the move.

"Trying to impose another set of leadership on the National Assembly is to cause further crisis in the party. It will complicate matters and generate further crisis in the National Assembly," he pointed out.

Continuing, Goje said, "it's not the tradition. The tradition is to try to reach consensus by making the zonal caucuses decide for themselves. This is another dictation by the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. Leaders must be supported by the led. We, in the APC, are craving for change and this change must be seen in the way the affairs of the party are run.

"Imposition is against the spirit of first among equals. You can impose and we reject! I want to strongly advise the national chairman to go about it very softly. I’m aware that majority of the members of the National Working Committee (NWC) are not in support of this decision.

"The president of the country, who was elected on the platform of the APC, believes that leaders must emerge through a constitutional process and the rule of law. Imposition and impunity was what drove us away from the PDP." National chairman of the All Progressives Congress Chief John Odigie-Oyegun had assured that the party was working round the clock to end the crisis caused by the emergence of Senator Saraki as Senate president.