Senate leader, Ali Ndume met with the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu on Wednesday, August 26.
According to The Nation report, the main focus of the meeting was how to reconcile Senate President Bukola Saraki and members of the Unity Forum, led by Senator Ahmed Lawan.
Ndume, who is said to be leading a fresh initiative for reconciliation of all senators, who have been locked in a cold war since the June 9 National Assembly elections, had initiated the meeting.
According to The Nation report, the main focus of the meeting was how to reconcile Senate President Bukola Saraki and members of the Unity Forum, led by Senator Ahmed Lawan.
Ndume, who is said to be leading a fresh initiative for reconciliation of all senators, who have been locked in a cold war since the June 9 National Assembly elections, had initiated the meeting.
A source in the National Assembly said: “Ndume met with Asiwaju Tinubu about noon and the talks lasted for about an hour. The talks dwelt on the reunification of the APC caucus in the Senate. The Senate Leader said it was time for the crisis in the upper chamber to end.
“He pleaded with Asiwaju to bury the hatchet as the election of principal officers on June 9 was not targeted at eroding the political influence of the former governor of Lagos State.
“In fact, Ndume went to the extent of saying that he was ready to make any sacrifice to bring peace to the Senate.”
According to the source the meeting was meant to pave way for an enlarged session between Tinubu, the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan and other key actors in the Senate crisis.
“We hope that his colleagues will buy into the project when they resume on September 29,” the source added.
This is coming days after a group of senators loyal to Saraki have met President Muhammadu Buhari with the purpose of finding ways of reconciliation with the aggrieved senators in the Senate’s Unity Forum and the leadership of the APC.
Buhari was said to have advised them to “reach out to the aggrieved senators in the Unity Forum”.
The senators led by Lawan on Sunday, August 23, told Saraki, that for peace to return to the troubled Senate, he must obey the directives issued by the APC and President Buhari over the choice of principal officers.
The APC had directed Saraki to accommodate the party’s list of principal officers but he declined and sidelined Lawan’s group.
