PDP May Determine National Assembly Leadership as APC Consensus Plan Falters

APC national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun

• Gbajabiamila emerges compromise speaker amid protest       
• APC officially backs Lawan for senate presidency

By Chuks Okocha, Onyebuchi Ezigbo, and Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja

The climate of suspicion and disparity that has pervaded the attempt by All Progressives Congress to present consensus candidates for Tuesday’s elections into the leadership of the National Assembly came to a head on Saturday as the party tried to bring the major players together in a last ditch effort to  strike agreement.   

The leadership of APC decided to hold mock elections for the posts of speaker and deputy speaker of the House of Representatives as well as senate president and deputy senate president. But the exercise was marred by boycotts. During the voting for the House, some of the major contenders staged a walkout, while the voting for the senate was boycotted by a key contender, Senator Bukola Saraki from Kwara State, after it became clear that the APC leadership was backing the other main contestant, Senator Ahmed Lawan from Yobe State. But in what looked like a mere affirmation, Lawan won the endorsement of the party as its sole candidate for Tuesday’s election on the floor of the senate to choose the President of Senate.

As it is, Peoples Democratic Party National Assembly members-elect, who have seemed to remain distanced, yet united, in the wrangling over the leadership of the bicameral legislature, may hold the key to determining the leaders of the two chambers.    

After many weeks of horse-trading, the APC House members-elect yesterday picked Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila as the party’s candidate for the office of speaker of the House of Representatives. He was chosen at a primary conducted by the leadership of APC.

But the APC mock election was marred by a walkout by two key contenders for the office of speaker, the former chairman of house services committee, Hon. Yakubu Dogara from Bauchi State, and Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin from Kano State, and their supporters.

In a joint statement issued under the auspices of the “8th Assembly Consolidation Group,” Dogara and Jibrin frowned on the decision of the APC leadership to ignore the group’s request for a 24-hour delay of the mock election to enable them prepare and mobilise their supports since they were not given prior information. They described the exercise as an ambush.

For the post of senate president, the APC primary held after several shifts and hard bargaining, which did not, however, succeed in convincing Saraki and his supporters to participate.
 

Gbajabiamila scored 154 votes to defeat Dogara, who had only three votes. However, before the election, Dogara had rejected the arrangement and walked out with his supporters, saying the election into the speaker's office should rather be held on the floor of the House on Tuesday.

The decision to hold a primary election was arrived at after hours of closed-door meeting between the leadership of APC, led by its national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, and House members-elect at the International Conference Centre, Abuja. The meeting had earlier been slated for last Thursday, but it was suspended to enable lawmakers attend the valedictory sessions that held in both chambers of the National Assembly the same day.

Odigie-Oyegun said the process of choosing the leadership of the National Assembly would start with the election of the APC candidate for the office of speaker and deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, which would be followed by the selection of the senate president and deputy senate president later in the day.

He explained that the primary election demonstrated the party’s resolve not to impose anyone on the lawmakers but to provide an enabling environment for them to choose their leaders.

“We are here to provide the platform for you, honourable members, to decide who you want to be your leaders. We are not here to decide for you who leads you. We are only here to provide an enabling environment for you to choose your leaders,” the APC chairman told the lawmakers-elect.

He announced that out of 209 APC members-elect in the House, 182 were present at the primary.

After his speech, Odigie-Oyegun opened the floor for the commencement of the exercise, as he named the returning officer for the election, which was the national secretary of APC, Mai Mala Buni, after which members began to nominate candidates.
Those nominated as contestants for the speaker's office were Gbajabiamila, Hon. Pally Iriase, and Dogara, while Hon. Mohammed Monguno and Hon. Mohammed Goni were nominated as contenders for the office of deputy speaker.

However, shortly after his nomination, Iriase announced his withdrawal from the race. He said he took the decision for the sake of peace in the House and the party. Goni, who had been nominated to stand for election into the office of deputy speaker, also stepped down for Monguno.

The election was done with the presiding officer calling the name of every House member to come to the platform to cast his or her vote.

At the end of the voting, Gbajabiamila emerged the winner with 154 votes while Monguno, who was unopposed, became the candidate for deputy speaker. Both of them would stand as the APC candidates for election into the offices of speaker and deputy speaker of the House on Tuesday, when the eighth National Assembly would be inaugurated.

While congratulating Gbajabiamila, Odigie-Oyegun said he was glad that internal democracy, which APC stood for, had again prevailed. He charged Gbajabiamila to immediately reach out to all members, including the aggrieved.

In his acceptance speech, Gbajabiamila said he was humbled by the confidence reposed in him by his colleagues. He said, “This is the change Nigerians want and this is the change we promised them. I’m humbled that my colleagues have given me another four years to lead them; this time, not as the leader of opposition but as speaker of House of Representatives. About 20 members did not make it here today. Those members are part of my group and Monguno's. With that number, it is enough to win election into the speaker's office.”

But Dogara and Jibrin protested the primary, stating, “We have interpreted it to be an ambush, an ambush against the candidature of Yakubu Dogara. We were not informed, it was not advertised and a lot of members are actually out of Abuja at the moment.”

Dogara said that he and other members had gone to the meeting with the expectation that the party wanted to give their final advice ahead of Tuesday’s inauguration of the House.

He said, “However, we began to notice some moves in the hall where members supporting Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila started campaigning and soon we saw ballot papers being moved in the hall.

"Oyegun informed us that they were going to conduct a mock, straw or primary election. After raising these objections, the national chairman, Chief Oyegun, did not respond to any of the points raised.

“Initially, the chairman agreed to halt the process but one hour later the national vice chairman, North, Senator Lawal Shuaibu, came up and said the process must go on whether we like it or not. At this stage we had no option than to walkout of the hall and address the press.”

Dogara and Jibrin said that the choice of speaker was not the exclusive responsibility of APC members, insisting that the speaker would be determined on the floor of the House on Tuesday.

THISDAY gathered that the inability of the APC senators-elect to agree on the system of voting had initially forced the national chairman to call off the meeting and summon another round of meeting at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel. The camps of Saraki and Lawan were expected to send five senators-elect each to the meeting with the APC national leadership.

After several hours of intense political horse-trading and lobbying, the leadership of APC finally came out to endorse Lawan as its candidate for the position of senate president. It followed a voting process where Buni declared Lawan winner with the votes of 32 APC senators who participated, while one vote was voided. He also announced Senator George Akume as the party’s choice for the post of deputy senate president, saying he secured 32 votes.

But the Saraki group continues to lay claim to 34 out of the about 57 APC senators-elect, while Lawan also says he has even more senators-elect supporting him.

With the current situation, it seems it is now down to the PDP legislators-elect to determine the speaker of the House and the senate president, as the APC candidates look set to meet head-to-head at the floor of both chambers of the National Assembly on Tuesday.