NASS Leadership: More cracks as APC ‘House’ divides against itself

• Akeredolu rejects zoning formula, berates party for undermining APC governors
• Why APC ‘aborigines’ opposed Akpabio
• Betara alleges blackmail to drop Speakership bid, says no retreat
• Northern coalition kicks against adoption of Akpabio, Abbas
• HURIWA pushes Izunaso, Kalu for Southeast Senate presidency

Signs that the centre may no longer hold in the spiraling gyre developing over jostle for the 10th National Assembly emerged yesterday, with the Chairman, Southwest Governors’ Forum, and Ondo State governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, becoming the strongest voice of opposition yet to the zoning released on Monday by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Signaling a widening crack within the ruling party ahead of the inauguration of the 10th National Assembly next month, Akeredolu described the NWC move as a skewed arrangement that reinforces injustice and inequity, stressing that individuals positioning themselves as cabals due to their close ties with the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, were behind the move.

APC, on Monday, announced its preferred candidates for the National Assembly leadership, zoning the position of the Senate President to the South-South (Senator Godswill Akpabio) and Speaker of the House of Representatives to the Northwest (Tajudeen Abass).

In a statement he personally signed and made available to The Guardian by his Chief Press Secretary, Richard Olatunde, Akeredolu emphasised that the zoning arrangement, which was designed to shortchange some particular zones will have adverse effects if not immediately reversed.

While maintaining that the North should be allowed to be actively involved in the emergence of those that will be occupying the positions, particularly the Speakership, Akeredolu also lashed out at the leadership of the party for ignoring the input of the Progressive Governors’ Forum.

Akeredolu, who is also the Chairman of the Southern Governors’ Forum, however, lauded the aspirants eyeing the Speakership position for their resilience and urged them not to back down.

He also called on the President-elect to urgently intervene in the situation and give a direction, adding that the NWC must summon the National Executive Committee (NEC) on the need to agree on terms that would strengthen the party.

He said: “Aside from the unpretentious ambiguity in the purported press statement issued by the leadership of the APC, the contents, intentions, and motives of the zoning formula represent early signs of steps aimed at attempts to cabin the hard-earned presidency for our leader, Tinubu, by a few individuals with eyes on Aso Rock power buttons.

“It is trite to aver that it stands logic on the head that one geo-political zone, Northwest in this regard, will be favored with two presiding officer positions out of four while North Central suffers the consequences for its innocence and shrewd loyalty by having none.

“It is an insidious permutation that the Northeast will be deprived in the face of the unsavoury generosity dispensed through two slots to a particular geo-political zone. It is self-repudiating for one to argue, therefore, that the Speaker of the House of Representatives cannot also emerge from the Northeast.

“Therefore, the move to zone the National Assembly leadership positions at the behest of interested personalities with perceived closeness to the President-elect manifestly lays the dangerous foundation of distrust and needless suspicion, even as it structures nothing but a combination of booby traps. We must avoid all these.

“I call on the NWC of our great party to follow the path of purity and justice. It is perhaps expedient that Mr. President-elect interrogate this skewed arrangement and give direction that reflects our collective commitment to equality and fairness.”

In several reactions, some stakeholders in the ruling party corroborated Akeredolu’s views but appealed not to have their names in print. According to them, the issues raised by the governor are very sensitive, not only to the ruling party, but also to the corporate existence of the country.

They also warned the President-elect not to wave aside Akeredolu’s views, particularly where the governor alleged a plot to ‘cabin’ Tinubu’s administration even before it took off.

One of their positions is that the ruling party cannot and should not have directly meddled in the affairs of the legislative arm of government, which is an independent body.

To them, “nobody is saying the NWC cannot and should not zone the offices of the principal officers of the National Assembly, but to have the effrontery to pen down specific names for particular positions is an infringement on the legislative independence. Tinubu wouldn’t have supported such a thing when he was in the Senate.”

They also faulted the NWC for failing to give the North-Central any position while Northwest got two. “Where is that done in a corporate country like this? Our party is playing to the gallery,” they questioned.

When contacted, former National Vice Chairman Southwest of APC, Pastor Bankole Oluwajana, said: “What the NWC said was a recommendation, let’s wait and hear from the President-elect to air his position.”

A former Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu, said Akeredolu has the constitutional right to express his views so far what he reacted to has to do, not only with our party, but Nigeria as a whole.

He noted that the NWC couldn’t have come up with such a recommendation not without having sat and deliberated appropriately to weigh the pros and cons of the matter.

According to him, “when a decision is taken by the apex body of the party, it is supposed to be binding on all. Meanwhile there is still room for adjustment, especially to factor in what the governor raised in his comments.”

A columnist, Prof. Adebayo Williams, supported Akeredolu, adding that it was annoying for some group of people to sit outside the National Assembly and be dictating who to elect to specific position(s).

“If the 10th Assembly accepts it, then it would have turned itself to rubberstamp even before it takes off and Nigerians will definitely have a low perception of it.”

Meanwhile, indications have emerged as to why foundation members of the APC have sworn never to support the emergence of Akpabio as President of 10th Senate.

Chieftains of the party who spoke to The Guardian in confidence disclosed that Akpabio’s antecedents and human relationship make it impossible for foundation members and indeed the entire North to line up behind the former minority whip of the Senate to succeed Senator Ahmad Lawan.

However, when contacted, Felix Morka, the APC spokesman, dismissed insinuations of confusion or disagreement within both the party and the fold of the National Assembly caucus of the party.

It was gathered that in a bid to squelch the mounting opposition to Akpabio’s endorsement, the APC NWC planned a firefighting meeting with aspirants for the position from the North.

One of the Senators-elect that spoke to The Guardian regretted that out of his desperation to return to the Red Chamber and become the President of Senate, the former Niger Delta Minister stoked the imprisonment of staunch APC members from the South-South.

“He made sure that no APC returning Senator from South-South made it back. Some individuals look at him and think that four years is too short a time for him to blackmail the president.

“Senator Albert Bassey has been convicted, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi is also convicted, whose hands do you see in the background? Today, they have told us that Akpabio is the anointed candidate, but we have our conscience to protect,” he stated.

But weaving a constitutional contrast, another ranking Senator said Akpabio’s endorsement does not meet the demands of balance and equity. He stated: “We have six geopolitical zones. Now, you zone the Senate President to the South/South, Deputy Senate President to Northwest, Speaker to the Northwest and Deputy Speaker to Southeast.

“So, why leave out the Southeast and North Central from the four principal offices? Most of us Senators-elect believe that the zoning of the principal officers of the National Assembly did not meet the mark of equity and fairness.

“How can Kano State alone have two of the four principal officers when nothing is considered for North Central? The plan to zone the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) to North Central is an after thought that does not address the imbalance, because the SGF has always been there.”

A ranking Senator, who could not win his election to the 10th Senate, lamented that some individuals around the President-elect and the NWC are making things so cloudy for the incoming administration in the National Assembly.

He recalled how Akpabio blackmailed the Senate during a public hearing on the operations of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) by claiming that lawmakers were being paid various sums of money by way of contracts in the commission.

“It was not the Senate President, Lawan or Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, that he blackmailed, but the entire institution of the legislature, a very important arm of government. Is this the same man that APC wants to make Senate President?” he observed.

But, denying any disagreement or uprising, Morka declared: “The party is solid; we stand united behind our national chairman and the incoming president. So, there is no rift or tension anywhere.

“And, whatever becomes an issue, we will deal with them as a political family and that as it is in other parties and even in normal natural families to deal with. So, there is nothing like that.”

The race for the Speakership of the House is getting intense, as a leading aspirant, Muktar Aliyu Betara, has alleged that he is being blackmailed into dropping his aspiration.

Betara, who chairs the House Committee on Appropriation, made this known when he, alongside other aggrieved aspirants, met with the Abdullahi Adamu-led NWC at the national secretariat in Abuja yesterday.

Expressing disappointment over the development, he vowed that he would not step down from actualising his dream to oversee the affairs of the lower legislative chamber.

He warned that the party must not make the mistake of allowing the repeat of what transpired in the eighth Assembly when Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara emerged Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Also, the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has kicked against the endorsement of Akpabio and Abbas. CNG warned APC against thrusting Akpabio and Abbas as preferred candidates.

CNG spokesperson, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, stated this in Abuja, during a press conference, and cautioned the President-elect against the antics of vested personal interests like those represented by Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai and Kano State governor, Umar Ganduje.

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has warned against exclusion of the Southeast in the zoning arrangement of principal officers of the National Assembly.

HURIWA argued that exclusion of such a large group of citizens from the political hierarchy clearly amounted to elevating apartheid as a national matrix. He called on the President-elect and NWC to review the zoning arrangement by ensuring that the Southeast produces the Senate President.

The rights group, led by Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, also backed the Senator-elect for Imo West Senatorial District, Osita Izunaso, and Senator Orji Uzor Kalu for the prestigious seat of the Senate President.

HURIWA argued that both Kalu and Izunaso who was once a Senator from June 2007 to June 2011 have the legislative experience, maturity and corresponding integrity to lead Nigeria’s red chamber as the nation’s number three citizen.