Election of Senate Bureau:

 Aboubakary Abdoulaye to Replace Niat?

Sources say it may take just a slight push for Biya to confirm the Lamido of Rey Bouba, Aboubakary Abdoulaye, as President of the Senate. Aboubakary is currently the Senior Vice President of the Senate. He assumed the interim and has been representing the Senate ever since the Senate President, Niat Njifendi, took temporal leave to attend to his failing health.

By Ayukogem Steven Ojong in Yaounde

Just a little push from the North, and Biya will confirm Aboubakary Abdoulaye as President of the Upper House of Parliament.

                Currently the Senior Vice President of the Senate, Aboubakary Abdoulaye, assumed the interim ever since the senate President, Marcel Niat Njifendi, took seriously ill and has been away for medical attention.

               

Aboubakary Abdoulaye

With Niat’s condition not improving, the President may just decide to relieve him of his duties to give him adequate time and space to rest and to concentrate on his health concerns.

                If this is the thinking of the head of state, then he would need a suitable candidate to replace Niat at the Senate. Political bookmakers say Aboubakary Abdoulaye may just be catapulted to the Senate top seat. He would thus become not only the second personality of the state but also the heir apparent to the coveted Etoudi Palace.

                A graduate of the prestigious School of Administration and Magistracy, Enam, Aboubakary was Secretary of State for Agriculture before succeeding his late father as the all-powerful Lamido of Rey Bouba.

                Having grown up as a prince, and given his late father’s privilege relations with Ahidjo and then Biya, Aboubakary is not a stranger in the corridors of power. But knowing what has usually befallen those who have manifested ambitions in the past to succeed Biya as President of the republic, the monarch of Rey Bouba has since advised himself to stay timid and self-effacing.

                And this is despite his appointment by Biya as the CPDM boss of the North region that is, after the former boss, Marafa Hamidou Yaya, compromised the trust and confidence that Biya placed on him. Marafa failed to conceal his lust for the highest office on the land. He is now paying the high price for his impatience and inordinate ambition.

                Besides, Lamido Aboubakary is also not unawares of the humiliation that Biya visited on Cavaye Yeguie Djibril, when the latter attempted to move from the National Assembly to the Senate in 2013, in a desperate bid to remain the next of kin of the regime.

                “The CPDM had passed a law excluding members of the National assembly from running for Senate. Blinded by his lust for power, Cavaye attempted to by-pass the orders of the CPDM owner and natural leader, Paul Biya. He was stopped midway. Cavaye has still not digested the humiliation, even though, he has still not given up his ambition of being Biya’s heir apparent. Cavaye has refused to aknowlwdge the National Assembly as the lower house, and the senate the upper house of parliament. Each time the President receives New Year Wishes at the Unity Palace, Cavaye would hastily organize his own immediately after, not waiting for the senate to do so before him. He still comports himself like the de facto number two of the state,” explains a source at the Assembly.

                The source noted further that in the run-up to the recent twin election on 9 February, Biya instructed that CPDM MPs who have stayed for long in Parliament should drop and make way for younger persons to also have the opportunity. It was understood that the President was sending a signal to the Lamido of Tokombere in the Mayo Sava division, Caveye Yeguie Djibril, to step down for a younger person. But Cavaye did not. He ignored Biya’s message. He went on to put his candidature and has returned to the Glass house.

                Currently devastated and weakened by illness, it remains to be seen how Cavaye will continue to carry himself along in this 10th legislature that is just beginning.

                So, not oblivious of the fate that befell Marafa, Cavaye and others of their ilk, Aboubakary has been very careful. We are told that he has avoided to manifest any ambition. He has remained quiet, self-effacing and obedient, both to Niat and Biya.

                However, it remains to seen whether or not Aboubakary Abdoulaye really enjoys the support and sympathy of the people of the wider North region and the Grand North.

                That notwithstanding, sources close to president Biya, argue that in making his choices the president at times does not concern himself with whether an ally is loved by his people or not; he catapults them to wherever he wants, and whenever he deems it necessary. The case of Philemon Yang is still fresh in the minds of political watchers, who reckon that the son of Jikijem-Oku was maintained at the Star Building as PM for 10 good years, despite losing successive elections in his native Bui subdivision.

                Like Philemon Yang, Aboubakary also failed to secure the entire Mayo Rey division for the CPDM in 2013 and in the last twin elections on 9 February 2020. He lost Touboro, the economic heart-beat of Mayo Rey to the UNDP.

                But this may not stop Biya exalting him by confirming him as President of the Senate. Let’s wait and see.