There are indications that the Peoples
Democratic Party is scheming to assume control of the National Assembly
following the failure of the All Progressives Congress leaders to agree
on zoning of offices.
Saturday PUNCH gathered on
Friday that the PDP caucuses in the two chambers of the National
Assembly were plotting to benefit from the squabbles in the APC by
teaming up with aggrieved elements in the latter.
The aim of such an alliance,
investigations showed, would be the emergence of a Speaker and a Senate
President different from candidates approved by the APC. It was learnt that the PDP hoped that by
ensuring its choices emerged as the speaker and the senate president,
it would “snatch” the control of the eighth National Assembly from the
APC.
A member of the PDP caucus in the House,
who pleaded anonymity, said, “Although we are not disputing the fact
that the APC should produce leaders of the National Assembly, we will
ensure that those who will emerge are people we prefer, not the choices
of the APC leaders. “By
doing that, we will snatch the control of the National Assembly from
them, just as the APC controlled the House through Aminu Tambuwal.”
The APC leaders had on Thursday failed to reach a decision on zoning of political offices at their meeting in Abuja. There were reports that the APC’s
National Working Committee had recommended some zoning arrangements to
its National Executive Committee. According to the reports, the position
of the senate president seat was zoned to the North-Central and the
Deputy Senate President to the North-East.
There were two accounts on the zoning of
speakership. While one stated that the post of speakership was zoned to
the South-West, the other indicated that it was meant for the
North-East. The deputy speakership was said to have been zoned to the South-South, But the APC, in a statement early in the week, denied the reports. Its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji
Lai Mohammed, urged Nigerians to disregard the reports and described
them as products of hyperactive rumour mills.
In spite of the APC’s statement, it was gathered that zoning topped the agenda of the APC leaders’ meeting on Thursday. The PUNCH had reported that no
decision was reached at the meeting because the leaders felt that more
consultations were needed on the issue. It was learnt that some of the PDP
members in the incoming eighth Senate, who would occupy 48 of the 109
seats, had already begun talks with their APC counterparts from the
North-East.
The talks, it was gathered, followed the failure of the APC leaders to take a decision on zoning.
The APC senators that have been
mentioned as having interest in the senate presidency include Bukola
Saraki (Kwara Central); George Akume (Benue North) and Ahmad Lawan (Yobe
North).
Based on the recent general elections,
the APC will have 60 members in the eighth Senate while the PDP will
have 48. Election into the Delta Central Senatorial District is still
outstanding.
Senate presidency candidates reach out to senators-elect
Investigations revealed that the camps
of Saraki, Akume and Lawan had commenced aggressive lobbying and
strategic calculations to outsmart one another in order to occupy the
seat. For instance, while the Saraki camp is
currently seeking the support of the new PDP, which he led alongside
Governor Rotimi Amaechi and others, to defect to the APC, Akume is
relying on the goodwill he is enjoying from the leadership of the APC,
particularly, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
The Lawan camp, on the other hand,
believed that the North-East had been short-changed in the political
office sharing since 1999. The camp has the backing of the APC senate caucus in the zone. It was learnt that the North-East sees
the current development as an opportunity to demand for its own share of
political offices.
North-East APC Senate caucus may form alliance with PDP senators
Sources said Lawan’s group had already
reached out to the PDP caucus in the Senate comprising the incumbent
Senate President, David Mark, and 47 other members, with a view to
forming a formidable alliance that would make their dream become a
reality.
Senators from the North-East were said
to have promised the PDP caucus that they would work towards the
emergence of one of them as the deputy Senate President if their dream
of producing the Senate President materialised.
Attempts to speak with Senator Ahmad
Lawan and the APC North-East Senate Caucus on the alleged discussion
with the PDP caucus in the senate over his ambition were unsuccessful as
of the time of filing this report.
But reacting to the development, a
member of the APC North-East Caucus, Ali Ndume ( Borno South ),
acknowledged that his zone deserved its fair share of the leadership
positions in both chambers of the National Assembly, but stressed that
it would also seek the APC senators’ support.
“The leadership of the party is doing
everything possible to ensure that the zoning is done in such a way that
it will be acceptable to all concerned,” he said.
However, a senator from the North-East,
who did not want his name mentioned, told one of our correspondents that
his people might seek support outside the party, if the leadership of
the APC failed to zone either the speaker of the House of
Representatives or the Senate President to their area. He said, “We have 18 senators from the
North-East, if we get the support of 48 PDP senators, we will get more
than simple majority of 51 votes to produce the senate president.
Already, there are 48 senators in the PDP camp. One is outstanding in
Delta State.
“We are having at least 66 votes if we perfect our alliance with the PDP.” When contacted, Senator Ayogu Eze, (PDP,
Enugu North) said the PDP caucus in the senate would allow the APC
senators to carry out their affairs without any form of interference
from the minority party. He said, “I am in the PDP. I think it is
the responsibility of the new majority party to determine how they will
share their offices in the National Assembly.
“I don’t want to get involved in their
affairs because they were not involved when we were in the majority. We
will allow them to do their show. “I am not sure that the South-East will
lose out completely in the power sharing at the eighth National Assembly
because the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai
Mohammed, had denied the rumour of zoning. He said all we are hearing
about zoning are rumours”
In the House of Representatives, the PDP caucus is also poised to play a major role in the emergence of the speaker, Saturday PUNCH investigations have revealed. It was gathered that the caucus was
closely monitoring meetings of the APC leaders with the aim of working
against their choice as speaker. A member of the caucus, who confided in Saturday PUNCH,
said, “If the APC decides to impose a speaker on the House, which is
what is likely to happen, it will naturally work with aggrieved
elements.”
The North-East, South-West, South-South and North-West are all eying the speakership. But Saturday PUNCH gathered
that views expressed by party decision makers at a meeting of the
National Working Committee of the APC a week earlier, narrowed the
search to the North-East and South-West. However, two APC towering political
figures, one from the North and the other from the South-West, are said
to have consistently disagreed in the course of negotiations, as each of
them insists that the seat must go to his zone.
“What is going on now is a battle between the North and the South-West; each wants to be in full control of the next government. “The North already has the President and
they are likely to have the Senate President. The position of the
South-West is that, if you add speaker to what they (North) have, it is
too much power going to one part of the country.
“That is why the South-West is insisting
on having the speaker in addition to the office of Vice-President;
indeed, a key APC financier has nominated a particular candidate for the
job and has advised all other spirants from the zone to drop their
ambition for the candidate,” a senior party official confided in Saturday PUNCH.
It was learnt that the PDP plotted to
cue into the “burble that will burst” in the event of the losing zone
becoming aggrieved, to “file behind a neutral candidate that is
competent and experienced” as the speaker. The PDP has about 140 lawmakers in the incoming House, as against the APC’s 200 lawmakers.
“If the disagreement in the APC
continues unresolved, there won’t be a guarantee that they will give
block vote to the candidate of the party. They will be divided. “It will be easy for the PDP to woo the
losing group for a team work to clinch the speakership, even if the
candidate has to be an APC member,” one source knowledgeable in the
calculations of the PDP told Saturday PUNCH.
We are watching wrangling in APC –PDP caucus
Deputy House Majority Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor, confirmed to Saturday PUNCH that his caucus was watching the wrangling in the APC with interest. He said it had been the tradition of the
House to allow lawmakers pick a speaker of their choice, as the choices
of political parties usually backfire or end up in crisis. Ogor said, “We are not going to be idle
in the PDP by just sitting and watching. No, we will play a major role
in how the speaker will emerge.
“The much I can say is that nobody or
party can impose a speaker on us. We agree that the party with the
majority is the APC, but members will have to elect their speaker.” Asked whether this major role could also
mean the possibility of a PDP member vying for the seat, Ogor said he
would withhold his comments on the question. “I won’t comment on that question; but I will tell you that we in PDP will not be idle on this matter,” he added.
South-South intensifies campaign for speakership
Also, the South-South intensified its campaign for the speakership position to be zoned to the region on Friday. The South-South has two ranking APC
lawmakers in the House going to the eighth Assembly, namely Mr. Pally
Iriase, and Mr. Peter Akpatason. A group, the Coalition for Justice and
Fairness, made a case for the South-South. It expressed surprise that
nobody was mentioning the zone in the sharing of political offices in
the incoming government.
Coordinator of the group, Mr. Muraina
Ahmed, said excluding any zone of the country from the power equation
was a breach of Section 14 (3) of the 1999 Constitution, which provided
for the federal character principle. Ahmed said, “For the records, the APC,
as the majority party, has the conventional privilege to zone the
offices of Senate President, Deputy Senate President, Speaker and Deputy
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
“The nutty issue that will test APC’s
abhorrence of impunity, which was one of the major reasons Nigerians
voted for the party, is the zoning of the listed leadership offices in
the National Assembly. “To be fair, there are extenuating
circumstances that may hamper the even spread of legislative offices
enumerated above to all the six zones in Nigeria.
“For instance, the South-East has no APC
senator at all and has not produced any ranking APC member of the House
of Representatives. “The South-South has one senator who is a
fresher and does not meet the ranking criterion. But the South-South
has four members – elect for the House of Representatives, two of whom
are ranking, with one of them, Pally Iriase, parading impeccable
credentials and legislative leadership experience.
“This is a golden opportunity that the
APC must not miss. In the spirit of fairness and adherence of federal
character, the position of Speaker, House of Representatives should be
zoned to the South-South geo-political zone.”
We will take position on Senate President, Speaker’s positions soon – PDP
The national leadership of the Peoples
Democratic Party is to meet with newly elected senators and members of
the House of Representatives soon. The meeting will determine who among the
numerous candidates to support among those aiming at becoming President
of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The National Publicity Secretary of the
party, Chief Olisa Metuh, disclosed this in a telephone interview with
our correspondent in Abuja on Friday. Metuh said until the meeting is held, the party could not say which candidate it would support or not. But he said that the party would support
its members in the National Assembly to be active and also support the
cause of the party.
He said, “Well, we have met with them on
the need to support the national leadership of the party as we plan to
reposition the party. They have agreed to work with us on this matter. Attempts to get a reaction from the APC were futile. Several calls to the mobile telephone
number of the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Alhaji Lai
Mohammed, were neither picked nor returned.
The first call was at 3:21pm, the second was at 3:23 and a text message on the subject was sent to him at 3:31pm.This was followed by another set of
calls made at 4:17pm and 6:32pm, none of these efforts elicited a
response as of the time of filing this report (6:35PM).
Source: PUNCH
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