The ongoing scheming, alliances and counter-alliances trailing attempts by the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) to micro-zone the posts of House Speaker to Femi Gbajabiamila and Senate presidency to Senator Ahmed Lawan continues to upstage the shifting sands of high tide politics that is enmeshed in cutthroat intrigues and backdoor negotiations and horse-trading between strange political bedfellows. While Gbajabiamila, aka Baba Jamila made a strategic gamble to co-opt the deputy leader, Ahmed Wase who agreed to be the deputy Speaker, signs of the unsettling schemes in the Senate keep emerging each passing day, with Sen. Lawan facing stiff challenges from relatively formidable rivals in the persons of Senators Ali Ndume and Danjuma Goje. But it is obvious that until June 6, when the National Assembly would be inaugurated for the 9th Plenary, no deal could be said to have been done and concluded.
Huhuonline.com has learnt that as the countdown to the June 6 deadline for elections of the principal leaders of the legislature nears, the Presidency has repeatedly expressed frustration over the inability of the APC to rally the support of its own lawmakers behind the party’s anointed candidates. President Buhari according to sources, has complained to close aides that APC chairman, Adams Oshiomhole is a showboat that revels in public theatrics and shouting matches in the media, whereas building consensus demands discretion and negotiations. The president is very anxious over the possibility of having a frosty relationship with the new leadership of the legislature as was the case in 2015. Aso Rock sources quoted President Buhari as “cursing” the APC chairman when he sought audience with him and even refused to meet Oshiomhole and APC national leader Bola Tinubu in London. The president believes Tinubu has displayed poor judgement when he told APC lawmakers-elect to either back the party’s anointed candidates or quit the party. The backlash over Tinubu’s comments left Buhari fuming.
With the Gbajabiamila-Wase joint ticket, it is perceived that Gbajabiamila is gathering popular support from lawmakers. Sources told Huhuonline.com that, Wase, who would have constituted a clog in the wheels of Gbajabiamila’s aspiration, settled for the position of deputy speaker after succumbing to pressures on him by the presidency and the APC leadership. Before his reversal, Wase was leading the clamor for zoning the House speakership to North central geopolitical zone because the Southwest where Gbaja hails already has Prof. Yemi Osinbajo as vice president. While citing Section 14(3) of the 1999 Constitution, Wase had argued that the composition of the government or any of its agencies, and institutions, including the national assembly needed to reflect the federal character principle.
APC apologists continue to argue that the Gbaja-Wase pact has the great prospects of ensuring stability in the House by galvanizing majority of members, especially lawmakers from the north towards working for the nation. Determined not to leave anything to chance, Gbaja has gone on a charm offensive with visits to key traditional leaders across the country, including Kano Emir, Muhammed Sanusi II and Sheik Dahiru Bauchi, to elicit their support for his speakership bid. Sources also told Huhuonline.com that Gbaja used the opportunity of the hajj in Mecca, Saudi Arabia to connect with his fellow Muslim lawmakers in a bid to further concretize his support base in the House drawn mainly from the Northeast and Northwest zones, with a numerical strength of over 130 of the 360 House members. The APC Governors’ Forum is also rallying support for the Gbaja-Wase ticket even though the President is yet to openly voice his endorsement for the two.
Gbaja-Wase ticket rekindles religious fault lines
But those opposed to the Gbaja-Wase ticket, argue that it smacks of insensibility to Christians, for the duo who are Muslims to preside over the affairs of the lower legislative chamber. As the argument over joint Muslim ticket rages, Muhammed Umar Bago and John Dyegh; both APC second term lawmakers from Niger and Benue respectively, said they are still in the House speaker’s race, insisting they are better placed to occupy the office of speaker than Gbajabiamila. Huhuonline.com also understands that incumbent Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, is positioning himself for reelection, while the chairman, House Committee on Media and Publicity, Abdulrazak Namdas (APC Adamawa), also declared his bid for the exalted seat. The two lawmakers are still maintaining studied silence over the Gbaja-Wase pact.
Gbaja doubles down on religious fault lines
The Gbaja-Wase camp has dismissed the religious charge as baseless and entirely without merit, contending that the National Assembly has had both Muslim/Muslim and Christian/Christian leadership since the return to democratic rule in 1999. Citing precedence, the pro-Gbaja-Wase apologists point to the era in the Senate, when David Mark (Christian) was President and Ike Ekweremadu (Christian) was Deputy Senate President, while Victor Ndoma-Egba (Christian) was Senate Leader. Further, is a similar scenario when Dimeji Bankole (Muslim) was House Speaker; with Usman Bayero Nafada (Muslim) as Deputy Speaker. The apologists argue that there was no religious feud then and neither was there evidence that these officials took advantage of their offices to further the cause of their religious beliefs.
The pro-Gbaja apologists also faulted the widely held notion that APC’s decision to zone the speakership position to the Southeast flew in the face of the power sharing arrangement among the six geopolitical zones in the country. Recalling the situation in 2011 when the North West geopolitical zone produced both Aminu Waziri Tambuwal as Speaker and Namadi Sambo as Vice President, they contend that there was nothing wrong if history repeated itself with the Southwest zone producing both Speaker and vice president. It is worth recalling that Tambuwal’s emergence as House speaker was in flagrant breach of the party’s zoning arrangement.
The lobbying and public relations offensive seems to be swinging the pendulum in Gbaja’s favor.
Huhuonline.com can authoritatively report that after a headcount of his loyalists, Gbaja now has the backing of no fewer than 178 newly elected members of the House. The lawmakers drawn from APC, PDP and other opposition parties maintained that Gbaja has the wherewithal to offer the desired leadership for the Green Chamber in the 9th legislature.
One of the lawmakers, Onofiuk Luke (PDP, Akwa Ibom), was quoted as saying: “We looked through the antecedents, we had to look through the credentials of those aspiring to lead the National Assembly and we acknowledge the fact that with the current challenges in the country, we need a bipartisan approach to solve these problems. And the person and the man that has shown that capability, that has shown that capacity, that has what it takes as reflected in his manifesto to carry the entire party along in resolving and solving the issues of Nigeria, the man who will not mortgage the independence of the legislature, but at the same time will not engage the executive in unnecessary fisticuffs is Gbajabiamila.”
Gender and Zonal opposition
Despite growing partisan consensus, Chike Okafor and Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, both House Reps from Imo and Abia States of Southeast geopolitical zone, have remained bitter critics of Gbaja’s endorsement. Okafor insists that contrary to public statements by the APC leadership and pro-Gbaja apologists, Gbaja was at no time roundly endorsed by President Buhari and his APC colleagues during a recent parley in the presidential villa. Okafor disclosed that the Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee (NWC) lured him and his APC colleagues to the presidential parley and used the event for propaganda purposes to sell Gbaja’s candidature.
Okafor, who is also Chairman of House Committee on Health Services, categorically ruled out the possibility of stepping down from the speakership race, declaring that it would be equitable and fair for the Southeast geopolitical zone to produce the Speaker at this point in time in the nation’s history. Okafor said it behooves the APC leadership to take measures aimed at averting a repeat of the 2015 experience whereby the opposition beat the APC to its game by installing Dr. Buhola Saraki and Dogara as Senate president and Speaker of the House respectively.
He recalled how the ruling party denied Southeast the opportunity to produce any of the principal officers in the National Assembly on the grounds that “we did not have a ranking member under the party. Such excuses are not tenable this time in view of the zone’s performance in the recently held general election. “It remains unthinkable that APC will abandon the more than 400,000 of its supporters that voted for the party across the Southeast, to cede the Speakership to the Southwest zone that already has the vice president, the national leader of the APC and multiple Grade-A appointments.”
The lawmaker said by his training and exposure, he has a better grasp of the economy than the others, and thus will be able to help steer the 9th Assembly, House in line with current economic realities.
Also, insisting that she is best suited to be House speaker, Hon. Onyejeocha, who would be making it to the Green Chamber for the fourth term, said as a female lawmaker she would unite the different tendencies in the legislature, if elected Speaker, adding, “I would leverage on that and bridge the gap. It would provide support and also help to bring up more women to the parliament, executive positions and from the grassroots.
“Above all, my election as speaker would douse separatist agitations, because what it simply means is that you are part of Nigeria. As I speak, we have elected the president, the vice-president; we have to talk about the Senate President and the Speaker. I believe that if we have a Speaker from the Southeast region, the people there would see that they are part of Nigeria and it would douse all claims of marginalization.”
Senate leadership tussle deadlock
While the race for the House speaker seems to be cascading to some form of denouement with the Gbaja-Wase pact, uncertainty reigns supreme in the Senate over Senator Ahmed Lawan, APC’s preferred candidate. As the race intensifies, the Senator Ahmad Lawan for ninth Senate President Group has resolved to meet with his two main challengers; Ali Ndume and Danjuma Goje. Huhuonline.com learnt from sources that the PDP with 43 Senators plans to vote en bloc and is using its strategic number to negotiate with Goje and Ndume.
Apart from bidding for Deputy Senate President, the main opposition party is also negotiating for the chairmanship of strategic committees of the Senate. With division in the ranks of the APC senators-elect, the coast appears clear for the PDP to play kingmaker with its 43 seats in the upper legislative chamber. To prevent this eventuality, Lawan is making intensive efforts to build consensus with Goje and Ndume.
But in what many considered a surprise move, elders from the Northeast, North Central and the Councilors’ Forum decided to throw their weight behind Senator Ndume’s aspiration. Apparently receiving impetus from lawmakers from the zones, stakeholders in Abuja maintained that Ndume is better placed to serve as senate president than Lawan. The acting chairman of FCT Northeast Elders Forum, Major Peter Jankari (rtd), explained that an Ndume-led National Assembly would engender the much-needed synergy between the executive, the legislature and the judicial arms of government. He added that Ndume is in good stead to discharge the duties of a Senate President in the light of his years of experience as Senate Leader in 2015 and Minority House Leader in 2003.
Also, chairman of North Central Zonal Forum, Dogara John Bassa, said: “Senator Ndume is qualified to be first among equals among the eggheads in the Senate to defend and project the desire of good governance to the citizenry. We decided to lend our support for his candidature because he is the man of the people with vision and courage that will take the legislature and indeed Nigeria out of the political quagmire.”
Sources close to Lawan, who is the Senate leader, with 20 years federal legislative experience, told Huhuonline.com that the decision by Lawan to meet with his two rivals came after Lawan held one-on-one consultations with all senators-elect across party divides from all the six geo-political zones, and failed to get a majority of them to back his candidacy. The Lawan for Senate President Group believed it was high time their principal engage the other contestants –Ndume and Goje.
Ndume, former Senate leader, who chairs the Senate Committee on Establishment, has made public his intention to contest the Senate presidency and refused to step down even after meeting vice president Osinbajo, while Goje, who is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, has not made public his intention but is discreetly working towards realizing his ambition.
Meanwhile, there are indications that both Ndume and Goje may form a common front to challenge the ambition of Lawan. Sources close to the two senators told Huhuonline.com that the duo have been meeting on the need to form a coalition against the adoption of Lawan by the APC leadership led by its National Chairman, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole. According to the source, “The plan is to have a formidable force to checkmate the imposition of Lawan on the senators-elect and already Ndume and Goje are talking along this line with other senators-elect of like minds.”
The uncertainty has not been helped by the North-east APC Youth wing which has accused the party’s national chairman of anti-party activities. The youth in a statement by their Secretary, Abubakar Maigari, likened the APC under Oshiomhole to a truck under the control of a drunken driver cascading down the hill without brake. They said the last straw that will break the ruling party’s camel’s back is Oshiomhole’s desperation to impose leaders on the ninth National Assembly.
The party youth pointed out that the threat by Oshiomhole and former Lagos State Governor, Senator Bola Tinubu, to expel lawmakers-elect who oppose the imposition agenda is appalling. According to the youth, it is irreconcilable that the same Tinubu, who orchestrated the removal of the APC leadership winning team led by Chief John Odigie-Oyegun and hoisted Oshiomhole on the party, is Oshiomhole’s alter-ego and partner to destruction of the party.
“Several members of the ruling party have been lost to the opposition since Oshiomhole became APC national chairman on June 23, 2018, yet the looming ninth National Assembly leadership election crisis may threaten the corporate existence of the ruling party,” the group said.
