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There are indications that Senators that are opposed to Dr. Bukola Saraki’s leadership of the Senate are poised to ask for his resignation when the upper federal legislative chamber re-opens on Tuesday (tomorrow). The anti-Saraki Senators are citing the trial of the Senate president by the Code of Conduct Tribunal for alleged false asset declaration as a reason for Saraki to go while his supporters are saying the man should not be proclaimed guilty before he goes through the judicial process.

The Senate will resume plenary on Tuesday. The lawmakers have been on break since August 13. Investigations in Abuja on Sunday indicated that both anti-Saraki Senators and those supporting the Senate president are poised for a showdown when they return to the chambers. While the anti-Saraki Senators are said to be resolute in their plot to end his leadership of the Senate, the pro-Saraki members are said to have vowed to ensure that the man is not forced out of office.

Curiously, the Senate president’s opposers are mostly members of his All Progressives Congress while his loyalists are from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party. A strong member of the anti-Saraki faction of the Senate, under the aegis of the Senate Unity Forum, who spoke with one of our correspondents in Abuja on Sunday, explained that his colleagues were determined to restore the integrity of the upper chamber by ensuring that a senator standing trial for corruption would not continue to preside over their affairs.

The APC senator from the North-East geopolitical zone, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “Posterity will judge us if we continue to condone corruption in the legislature instead of distancing ourselves from it. It is our intention to reach out to more senators who had yet to see things from the same perspective like us and we will play our role and leave the rest for Nigerians to judge.

“The Senate president may rule us out of order while his supporters may also make noise and shout us out but we will say our own and allow history to be the judge. Nigerians know what is going on and majority of our people now have access to the mass media more than ever before, so they will also know the role that each senator plays in the whole saga. We are not assuring Nigerians that our efforts alone would get Saraki out of office but we will do the needful as responsible lawmakers and would encourage Nigerians to take it up from where we stop.”

Another APC senator from the South-West geopolitical zone, who also craved anonymity, argued that it would be better for the Senate president to step aside to face his trial at the CCT. Some Senators of Like Minds, being the name of the pro-Saraki Senators’ group, who spoke with newsmen said they were aware of the plot by some of their colleagues in the SUF to blackmail the Senate president over his current trial at the CCT. One of them, who is an APC Senator from the North-Central, who would also not want his name mentioned, said that his colleagues were fully prepared to tackle any externally motivated motion on Tuesday.