It may seem that all the intense politicking which the Nigerian polity has experienced in the past few weeks is going to fizzle out with today’s inauguration of the 8th National Assembly and the election of its leadership, which is to follow.
But, DAILY POST observation shows that depending on the way the pendulum swings, “the 8th Assembly particularly the Senate will not relent until it installs a Senate President and Deputy who was not imposed on it by any external influence.”
This was made known by some members who would today be inaugurated as federal legislators. They categorically stated that what the governing All Progressives Congress, APC, leadership is presently doing tantamount to an exercise in futility as even if the party eventually has its way by “anointed candidates emerging as Senate President and Deputy on Tuesday (today), the era of banana peel will definitely be returned in a matter of months.”
One of the Senators of Like-Minds (Saraki’s camp) squealed that the group is not really concerning itself with what their opponent will eventually face on the floor should he emerge as Senate President because it is confident of carrying the day despite not having the backing of the APC National Working Committee, NWC.
He, however, did not deny that his group will resort to mobilizing “majority of members to impeach their Senate President if our aspiration goes south. And I need not remind you that our man (Saraki) has the charisma to rally round Senators to his course.”
It was also gathered by this newspaper that newly elected members of the House of Representatives equally have this as their last resort.
The member-elect however noted that the APC leadership “will be leaving us with no option if it does not desist from favouring one candidate over the other.”
Asked why some of them initially stormed out of Saturday’s meeting called by the APC leadership to elect the sole candidate of the party for Speakership, he explained that they had to boycott the process following the refusal of the party leaders to opt for a secret balloting process.
“With the open ballot system which they adopted where those to vote were required to state their details on the same paper they are to use in voting, that was a means of them knowing those of us who are against their candidates in order to blacklist us.
“I assure you that some of those who voted for Femi would have voted the other way if the balloting was allowed to be done in secret.”
Last Sunday, Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin, who is the spokesperson for Dogara’s campaign body identified as the 8th Assembly Consolidation Group, warned that the APC would be on a path of self-destruction by sticking to the outcome of the party’s straw election the day before.
Jibrin, who is a contestant for the speakership until last week when he stepped down to support Dogara’s bid, insisted that there was no election, noting that, “The mock election is a blatant lie. It was very shameful and disgraceful and the party only made a mockery of itself.
“We walked out of the hall and we never participated in the election. Therefore, the votes allocated to us were a fraud and we will not accept them,” he told a news conference on Sunday.
Jibrin alleged that members of the group had received threats of disciplinary actions from the party since Saturday, but restated the resolve of Dogara’s supporters to ignore the APC and nominate him (Dogora) for today’s election.
Noting that the group had petitioned Buhari to wade into the matter, he stated that it regrets that that the APC appeared set on “derailing” from the ideals which propelled it to power barely a week after it formed government at the Federal level.
“We have decided to write a petition to Buhari to intervene in this matter; to call the party to order. We will go ahead to nominate Dogara on the 9th and we will not back out,” he said.
Meanwhile, those on Gbajabiamila’s camp dismissed this his position, noting that what happened on Saturday foreboded what will be the case on the floor of the House today.
It was gathered that it was the North-West and the North-East determination to edge Dogara out of the contest in favour of Gbajabiamila that made them prevail on Mohammed Monguno, a former contestant for the speakership, to step down for Gbajabiamila.
Monguno was later asked to pair up with Gbajabiamila as his deputy for a single ticket, a move meant to block Dogara in his native North-East.
As regards the race for who presides over the upper chamber of the National Assembly, a group of senators-elect who are canvassing for the emergence Saraki as President has insisted that nothing can prevent the Kwara-born senator from contesting the position today.
The determined Senators and Reps-elect reportedly boycotted a meeting called by APC governors and Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, to resolve the impasse.
In a statement issued on Sunday by Dino Melaye and Ahmed Rufai-Sani on behalf of the Saraki’s camp, they held that the mock primary that produced Ahmad Lawan as the APC consensus candidate was manipulated by the party leaders.
They alleged that the APC leadership did not carry the pro–Saraki group along while the Lawan group was allegedly informed ahead of the meeting.
Revealing that it went to the International Conference Centre venue of the meeting in Abuja with just five members to discuss the modalities for the conduct of the election, the pro-Saraki group claimed that “The Unity Forum (Lawan’s group) insisted on open ballot voting, which we discovered is different from the electoral process used to conduct the earlier election with the House of Representatives members-elect.
“To us, this open ballot voting is primitive; undemocratic and against universal electoral norms and practice.In the light of the above, we the Senators elect of Like Minds hereby insist on our position of Open ballot.
“Secret voting process which we believe is in consonance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and the universal electoral values.
“As responsible citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and leaders in our own right, we have resolved and hereby state that we shall not be part of a process that promotes undemocratic electoral process.
“Such undemocratic process may resort to rancorous and uncivil situations which inhibit the rights of individuals to vote for the candidate of their choice, as this process will further divide us than unite members of our party.
“In conclusion, we the Senators-Elect of Like Minds wish to state categorically that we will participate only in the constitutional election scheduled for Tuesday, the 9th of June 2015 in line with the rules of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” it asserted.
Be that as it may, it is being argued that the possibility of the party-sponsored Senate President and Speaker ultimately suffering impeachment months into their tenure can only materialize to the extent which the beneficiaries were able to exhibit a high sense of maturity in dealing with their colleagues.
This is more so against the backdrop that the Senate President or Speaker is being seen as merely the first among equals.
Hence, analysts say that if the party eventually has its way with the leadership of the National Assembly, the more difficult task of allowing that to remain will rest squarely on the shoulders of Senator Ahmed Lawan and Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, who are widely believed to be enjoying the backing of the APC NWC.
In all of these, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is widely being perceived as the beautiful bride that would decide who would emerge as Senate President and Speaker of the 8th Assembly. Their advantageous position is further consolidated by the party’s stand that it would not be fielding any candidate for the leadership positions.
Outgoing senate president, David Mark, had also noted that he is not interested in returning as Senate President. But reports say the Saraki is seriously wooing the PDP Senators with a promise that he would work for one of them to emerge as his deputy should the PDP lawmakers vote him in as the next Senate President.
Meanwhile, Femi Fani-Kayode, who was the spokesman of the PDP Presidential Campaign, has urged PDP House members to cast their votes in favour of his friend Femi Gbajabiamila.
But then, the PDP late Monday officially made its stand known in a press release by its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh.
The party adopted APC’s ‘rejected stones’ as its preferred candidates for the Senate Presidency and Speakership.
After announcing that the PDP leadership has adopted Senator Bukola Saraki and Hon. Yakubu Dogara for both positions, the party therefore, urged its senators and members-elect in the National Assembly to act accordingly.
Many would see this as PDP’s way of avenging what the legacy parties of APC did to it when the PDP leadership at the inauguration of the 7th House of Reps in 2011 sought to have Mrs Mulikat Adeola-Akande emerge as the Speaker in line with its zoning principle.
At that time, some ‘renegade’ PDP lawmakers teamed up with the opposition parties in the House to elect Aminu Tambuwal in contravention of the directive handed them by their party leaders to vote in Mrs. Adeola-Akande as Speaker.
This much was captured by Dr. Kayode Eesuola, a lecturer in UniLag’s Department of Political Science, who told Channels Television last night that “It is not unlikely that we will see a drama playing out in favour of the PDP. Remember what happened in the case of Tambuwal’s emergence as the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The PDP zoning wasn’t going his way but then some political calculations were made and by the end of the day, he became the Speaker. When he was nominated as Speaker, he was PDP by identity but APC by ideology. That is not unlikely to happen tomorrow (today) because if this crises continues and the 48 senators of the PDP aligns with the Saraki group magic can happen, miracle can happen and if that comes up then we are going to have a replay of the Tambuwal scenario”.
留言