APC leaders, govs disagree over National Assembly
National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie Oyegun (left) and the President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari during a visit in Kaduna at the weekend
EFFORTS by top All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders, serving governors and governors-elect to douse the crisis caused by the struggle for top leadership positions in the National Assembly are yet to achieve desired results.
A meeting convened in Abuja to address this last week ended up widening the cracks in the party’s ranks as stakeholders were said to have insisted on having the topmost positions to their zones.
A tentative but informal arrangement said to have been agreed upon immediately after the March 28, Presidential/National Assembly elections had favoured the retaining of the Senate President in the North Central; House of Representatives’ speaker in the South West, Deputy Senate President in the North East while the South South was to produce the Deputy House speaker.
The game changed after the governorship election when senators began to jostle for positions other than the ones allocated to their zones, a development which created the impression that the matter was far from being resolved.
It was gathered that an informal meeting of one of the power blocs in the APC, led by some old and newly-elected governors of the party was convened in Abuja last Thursday with some APC bigwigs and National Assembly members in attendance.
At the meeting, the candidacy of Senators George Akume, Bukola Saraki and Ahmad Lawan were considered.
Although it was agreed that whatever decisions arrived at by the meeting would be subjected to ratification by the APC National Executive Committee (NEC), those in support of pushing the Senate Presidency to either North Central and North East failed to reach a compromise.
Indications from the meeting showed that Minority Leader, George Akume and former Kwara State governor, Senator Bukola Saraki, who is also Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology were candidates considered from the North Central.
It was gathered that at the meeting, the North East, which had earlier pushed for the Senate Presidency was considered for the Deputy President of the Senate.
But there is division among the ranks as some chieftains in the party are still pushing for the Senate President slot to go to North East, with particular interest on having the Chairman of the Senate Public Accounts Committee, Senator Ahmad Lawan from Yobe State as President of the Senate.
Lawan is now the highest ranking Senator having been elected into the House of Representatives in 2003 where he served two terms. In 2011, he was elected into the Senate and was re-elected on March 28th for a third term in the Senate.
It was also gathered that the meeting considered zoning the Senate Chief Whip or Deputy Senate Leader to the North West.
The Senate Leader position, which the North West is jostling for may be shifted to another zone.
An APC principal officer who attended the Thursday meeting said that, “although the party was yet to formally meet on the zoning arrangement, an influential leader of the party from the South West may prefer zoning the Senate Presidency to the North East with Lawan taking the slot because the North Central has occupied the Senate Presidency since 2007.”
Conversely, it was gathered that the APC may likely retain Speaker of the House of Representatives in the North even though the South West is favoured to clinch the post based on the ranking rule in the chamber.
However, the North West has rejected offers of Senate Chief Whip or Deputy Majority Leader.
Immediately the meeting ended, senators from the North West convened an emergency caucus meeting where the positions were rejected.
The source further disclosed that, “any decision taken by the group will be conveyed” to the national leadership of the party later.
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18 Comments
In the end it may be easy to oppose than to rule…what about the 1980s ministers that have been mentioned? …getting
Archaeologists to excavate people whose ideas expired before the turn of this
century is a clear indication that Buhari will return Nigeria to
trade-by-barter system. Prepare to exchange your goat for cassava!
hmm looks like you are just back from the moon, what have the current ministers achieved, they ran the economy aground. check the exchange rate. Thank God that the prodigal son from Niger delta have been shown the way to otueke
H can’t live in Otueke until the change we voted for takes effect – he would be in Abuja in his farm there to forestall his folks from kidnapping him for ransom
ha ha ha LOL
He has promised to use technocrats in his government or why did you think he is lobbying ECOWAS and other groups to vote Adeshina that served under and campaigned for GEJ for the the top African bank job. It’s because he believes in the guy’s records. SO please let’s pray for Buhari to succeed, Nigeria is still ours.
The first trade-by-barter we expect is that of rule of law, for, rule of men. The next one is exchange of stolen wealth for justice. The next one is massive theft for public service. And then mass poverty for massive upward mobility.
That is the beginning of the end. This party is a mix of power hungry incompatibles. There is no way they can govern effectively.
So, you are are still in that mood? then waite untill you see another miracle, who no know go know.
I thought you said nothing should be expected?
I will adopt the words of late bola ige,lets siddon and look,if this new government will not reduce the pump price of fuel,pay youth corpers without jobs 10k per month and give primary school children a plate of food all across Nigeria within 3 months from may 29,2015,i will make sure I remind them everyday of this promise,nobody will take us on a ride anymore in this country
God bless you my dear, that’s the way to go!
Calarba boy, you may continue to siddon look for eternity, let me remind you that you have nothing to expect from the incoming administration because you did not even vote for them. You and ur Akpabion voted for continuity of clueless and colorless gorvernment represented by Jonathan, ably assisted by ur uncle, Akpabio.
I am not a northerner, but I still voted for him because of those things he said which I believed is possible because of the wealth we have in this country that has been mismanaged. So there is nothing wrong in reminding GMB of those things.
You cannot blackmail GMB because of your hate, how many times did you reminds Gej of his promises to the people of the southeast in his entire 6yrs rudderless goverment? Your people dominated that government and advices him wrongly, nobody is going to stamped GMB into taking any unnecessary decisions that has no bearings on the lives of the poor Nigerians who massively voted him into power. You PDP hate preachers are warned to stir clear from GMB.
Thank you – we would keep the government honest and I agree with the core of your message, even though I might calibrate it differently. Having said that, please also come up with the “how” as well. For example one way I see the promises being fulfilled is to “vacuum” all our stolen common wealth from private pockets back into the treasury of the federal republic (to fund all the promises) and I hope we can count on you not to wince when this starts…as we need a huge vacuum machinery to do this considering the amount of public funds in private pockets – a task that MUST be done starting June 1, 2015. So I’d tie the rate of the reclaim of the stolen billions to the index of monitoring of the delivery of the promises, for now – that correlation is key and measurable
Remind them when a new budget is passed. They will run the first year on Jona’s budget which has no such plans.
Let the south-south get something through Edo, since the minority leader slot of the house of reps automatically goes to the south east
The South South will have Tompolo as NIMASA chief, the Navy will have Asari Dokubo as Fleet Admiral, Boyloaf will be the IGP and Bassey will be the CBN governor!
We will review and take appropriate action.