While
Nigerians continue to wait with patience as President Muhammadu Buhari
comes to grips with the process of governance, not few are amused by the
incoherence of the ruling party in getting its majority in the two
chambers of the National Assembly to settle down to the process of
governance.
Reflective of the disarray in the ruling party,
the APC has been unable to come up with its full complement of principal
officers in the two chambers of the National Assembly.
It is
the longest time since the advent of the Fourth Republic that the
National Assembly has not been able to showcase its principal officers.
Even when the Senate came up with its Leader in the person of Senator
Ali Ndume from Borno and his deputy, Senator Bala Ibn Nallah from Kebbi,
it was another humiliation for the national leadership of the ruling
party.
The humiliation was in the sense that
the party had insisted on proclaiming the leaders for the two chambers,
something that has not been done before.
While the chaos was
ongoing in the House yesterday, the Senate President, Senator Bukola
Saraki announced Ndume and Nallah as the leaders presented by the
Northeast and Northwest caucuses of the party. The APC caucus in the
Senate had earlier zoned the office of the Senate Leader and Deputy
Leader to the Northeast and Northwest and in voting among the senators
from the two zones, the two names emerged.
However, the party
had preferred its poster boy, Senator Ahmad Lawan who vied with Saraki
for the senate presidency for the office of Senate Leader, a move that
was rejected by Lawan’s own zone who voted Ndume by nine votes to the
two votes scored by Lawan.
Besides, the party in a letter to
Senator Saraki had also demanded that another loyal senator, Senator
George Akume be returned as Deputy Senate Leader and Senator Sola
Adeyeye (Southwest) as Chief Whip and Senator Abu Ibrahim (Northwest) be
returned as Deputy Chief Whip. The zoning permutation as articulated by
the leadership would have meant that the South-South geopolitical zone
would be missing in the body of principal officers of the Senate, a fact
many senators had pointed out to the national leadership, albeit to no
avail.
That was essentially because Akume, who was proposed as
deputy leader comes from the same North-Central geopolitical zone as the
Senate President.
In the House the Chief John Odigie-Oyegun led
leadership had also written requesting the nomination of Femi
Gbajabiamila, who lost to Senator Yakubu Dogara in the race for speaker
as House Leader.
Like the choice of Akume, the proposal for the
election of Gbajabiamila from the Southwest would have meant that the
region would have produced two members from the party in the leadership
with the North-Central and the Southeast being denied an office.
The
inclination has inevitably led to suggestions of marginalisation from
some sections of the party, particularly from the areas sidelined.
The
North-Central caucus in the House led by Rep. Ahman Pategi from Kwara
State at a press conference on Wednesday fumed that the party took the
decision to name persons to the various positions without consulting
them expressing shock in the action of their party which they claimed
should not be seen to be preferring individuals or zones over another.
Pategi
who was flanked by about 20 other members from the zone said: “We are
also amazed by the directive of the party to the leadership of the House
to take necessary action on the purported choice by the party, which we
see as a clear usurpation of the powers of the zonal caucuses and their
members as guaranteed by the constitution and the standing rules of the
House of Representatives.
“We, therefore, strongly reject the
purported selection by the party which we see as being in conflict with
the principle of the federal character as enshrined in the constitution
of the Federal Republic.”
“It will be inconsiderate of the party
to consider North-East and South-West that had produced the Speaker and
Deputy Speaker for other positions. The exclusion of two zones is not
acceptable,” he said.
Party members from the Southeast also upbraided the party on its inclinations.
Rep.
Austine Chukwukere, representing Ideato South/Ideato North and Rep.
John Chike Okeafor, Okigwe South of Imo State, who spoke at another
press conference flayed the party saying “We can’t stand here and allow
the party sweep us out.”
But the party is also faced with its
own problems; to wit affirming its authority over the legislators who
were sponsored on the platform of the party.
It is particularly
difficult for the party given that the majority of those stoking the
rebellion including Senator Saraki and Speaker Dogara were dissidents of
the former ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP who moved into the APC
from the PDP after helping to crash their former party.
The two
men ironically were helped to office by the PDP which paid back the APC
for the insidious effort of the former Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN
in frustrating the PDP’s zoning arrangement that helped to enthrone the
Aminu Tambuwal leadership on the House of Representatives in 2011.
Given
the background of how it catalysed the breakup of the PDP in the period
leading to the 2015 election, many are surprised that the APC has
allowed itself to be boxed into this avoidable cul de sac.
The
party’s attempt to stamp its authority has, however, been badly managed
with allegations of cronyism and dictatorship in the running of the
party.
Many of the nominees preferred by the party as principal
officers are known associates of a prominent national leader of the
party, a decision some claim would mean locking out those not close to
the leader from top positions.
Yesterday, as some members of the
APC raised bedlam in what was obviously a pre-planned riot, it was
remarkable that a sizeable proportion of those who rallied in support of
Speaker Dogara were members of the PDP. The import was that the APC was
just like the PDP with Speaker Tambuwal after 2011, pushing the speaker
out of the party into the embrace of the opposition party.
Even
more dangerous for the party is the fact that a sizeable proportion of
those who had been heeding the party’s voice are also coming round to
the side of the speaker.
One state caucus after another have
come to pledge allegiance to the speaker. One of the most telling
examples was the case of the Jigawa/Kano delegation who overwhelmingly
voted by about 90 per cent against Dogara.
When the delegation
paid a courtesy call, and as Rep. Ado Doguwa spoke on behalf of the
joint delegation, it was obvious that the national leadership was
increasingly losing influence over the party members in the House.
Not
hiding the fact that they voted against the speaker, Doguwa said:
“Members of the Kano and Jigawa caucuses did what they did because of
the party’s position, but now that you have emerged as the speaker we
have nothing but to concur with the will of God and to pledge our
loyalty.”
He said that for the next four years that they hoped to accord Speaker Dogara an unalloyed loyalty.
Such
pledges of loyalty are not surprising given the speaker’s powers and
entrenchment. Many other members are also alleged to be taking turns to
pledge loyalty in the light of the fact that the speaker has the final
say on what committees the members may belong to.
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