There are indications that efforts at resolving the leadership crisis bedeviling the House of Representatives has suffered another setback, as a one on one meeting between Speaker, Yakubu Dogara and Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila ended without any headway, The Punch reports.
According to the report, the two warring sides had met in Abuja ahead of another intervention meeting on the crisis by a committee of three set up by the governors of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
At an earlier meeting between Dogara and Gbajabiamila’s groups, the speaker was said to have offered Gbajabiamila the chairmanship of the Ad Hoc Committee on Constitution Review.
The influential and heavily-funded committee deals with issues relating to amendment of the 1999 Constitution and the added responsibility of looking at the report of the 2014 National Conference.
According to the report, with an estimated yearly funding of about N1bn, the committee would spend around N4bn between 2015 and 2019.
The Speaker was said to have been willing to give the position, normally reserved for the Deputy Speaker to Gbajabiamila in exchange for that of Majority Leader of the House.
However, the former minority leader was said to have promptly rejected the offer, insisting on becoming the majority leader in compliance with the decision of the APC.
A National Assembly official, who confided in the newspaper, said Dogara’s group went to the meeting with Gbajabiamila to restate its position that the principal offices in the House should go round the six geo-political zones.
The source said: “The Speaker made the offer because he was still insisting that it would be unfair to other zones for the South-West to produce both the deputy speaker and the majority leader.
“The ad hoc committee is an important committee and the Speaker offered it in place of the majority leader position that Gbajabiamila is seeking.
“But, there was no headway because the Gbajabiamila group turned it down and said they would stick to the decision of the APC.”
According the source, the former minority leader was said to have argued that the issue was not about heading committees but to instill party discipline and “sustain good governance.”
When contacted, according to the report, Gbajabiamila first denied knowledge of it, saying, “I am not aware; you are the one telling me.”
He however, after much prodding, said if he is offered, he will apply the position of the party.
“I will go with the party’s decision and the decision of the majority of members of my caucus,” he said, admitting that discussions were ongoing to resolve the dispute as of 3.09pm on Sunday.
It was also gathered that the Gbajabiamila-led group met with the Governor Aminu Tambuwal-led three member committee, in an undisclosed location in Abuja, on Sunday, where Gbajabiamila refused to shift ground, telling the committee that the onus was on Dogara group to respect the party’s position.
Gbajabiamila, who confirmed the meeting with the governors on Sunday, said the parley ended without his group shifting ground on its demand that
the party’s decision must prevail.
He said: “There are people who are saying party supremacy is no longer relevant.
“Well, our position is clear; it is either party supremacy or the entire APC caucus will conduct an election to decide on this matter.
“This point was made very clearly at the meeting,” he said.
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