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.
