Goje withdraws from Senate Presidency, backs Lawan

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Danjuma Goje on Thursday stepped down for the Senate Leader, Armed Lawan, in the forthcoming 9th National Assembly Senate Presidency race.

The duo had indicated interest to run for the office of the Senate President in the next dispensation.

The elections and inauguration of the 9th National Assembly is billed for next week Tuesday.

The Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, Goje, Lawan and Senator Ita Enang briefed State House correspondents at the end of meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, Abuja.

Goje said that he took the decision as a sign of respect for the President and to obey the decision of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

El-Rufai said “Gentlemen of the press, I am very pleased to report to you that we just came out from a meeting with our leader and mentor, the President with distinguished Senator Danjuma Goje from Gombe state and Distinguished Senator Ahmed Lawan from Yobe state and the senator-Elect, Uba Sani from my state.

“We discussed steps to unify our leadership in the National Assembly starting with the senate.

“I am very pleased to announce that distinguished Senator Goje has agreed to fully endorse and support the choice of the party and that of Mr. President within the Senate, that is Senator Ahmed Lawan.

“We are very grateful to Senator Goje for his sacrifice, patience. This discussion has been going on for a long time and I’m honoured to be part of it and I am grateful to him for recognizing the many years we have worked together when he was Minister, as Governor.

“I know him to be a man of impeccable integrity and a man of his word and I am very honoured that he has come to see Mr. President and to conclude this matter once and for all.” he said

Goje said “First, I want to use this opportunity to thank Allah for giving us this opportunity today. I want to thank my teeming supporters, associates across the country, who have been calling me to declare for the senate presidency, I have listened to them and I thank them very well.

“I want to say that as an elder statesman in the senate for a long time. At my age, I should be able to appreciate leadership coming from our elders. So in spite of all these calls, in spite all the support I have among my colleagues in the senate, I have decided to in deference to the loyalty I have for his excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari and in deference to the loyalty I have for my party, the APC in the interest of our party and the development of this country, in other to assist Mr. President to deliver his promises, I have decided to respect his wish by not declaring to contest this senate presidency.

“Instead, I am supporting the party’s position thereby endorsing the candidature of Senator Ahmed Lawan.” he stated

Asked if the decision was an imposition, he said “I don’t think is an imposition, I am not compelled to step down, I just told you that my age I have the capacity to think well and respect my elders and respect my patty.

“And in party politics…I am independent. I have been winning my elections many many times from local government to house of Assembly, to National Assembly to governorship and I was also a minister. To say that I have been threatened to support somebody, no!

“I am supporting him based on my own conviction that I am doing the right thing for our country, for our president” he added

Lawan said “Let me thank Mr. President, our leader, President Muhammadu Buhari for giving us the leadership that we need at this point and always.

“We have just come out of a closed-door meeting just like his excellency the governor Nasir El-Rufai said and mine is to thank Senator Goje and El-Rufai for making it possible for us to achieve what we have achieved today.

“For me, this is a great day and a very important moment for the contest for the office of the senate. The endorsement by senator Goje, is going to bring so much unity in the APC and indeed in the entire senate in a very bi-partisan fashion. I believe that is the way to go.”

According to him, they want to go to the ninth senate focused and united right from onset.

He said “The country needs a senate that is focused and united for optimum performance and I believe that the senators-elect will be happy to hear that this has been achieved.

“I want to thank Senator Goje, he is a very experienced politician like he has said. He has been in this business much longer than most of us really. And I respect him even when there was so much clamour for him to run for the position of the president of the senate, he never came out to publicly declare.

“Even though he had enormous respect and following, but the position he has willingly taken to respect the wishes of the party and president is the best position any politician could take. And there is nothing better than to have a family that is very united, very solid and very focused.”

He also thanked those who have been working behind the scene to broker the latest understanding.

“By the end of today, I’m sure that the complexion for this race would have been changed for the better.” he stated.