Thursday’s nauseating rumpus in the chamber of the House of Reps again
brought to the fore questions about the unity and preparedness of the
ruling All Progressives Congress, APC for governance.
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.
This 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.
While the chaos was ongoing in the House, 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 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.
“We can’t stand here and allow the party sweep us out,” said a South East reps member.
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 corner.
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.
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 Dogara.
One of the most telling examples was the case of the Jigawa/Kano
delegation who overwhelmingly voted by about 90% against him.
Hon Doguwa told the speaker: “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.”
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.
by Emmanuel Aziken, Vanguard's Political Editor
