Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa who is a key member of the APC Loyalists group is upbeat that peace would return to the floor of the House of Representatives when it reconvenes on Tuesday next week. The Kano-born lawmaker tells ADAMU ABUH and TERHEMBA DAKA in Abuja why Speaker Yakubu Dogara and members of his consolidation group would have no cause to worry again. 

What is the way forward on the crises rocking the House of Representatives over the sharing of leadership position? 
I think that by what is happening now, consultations are still going on especially after the postponed date for the resumption. We will still consult and dialogue.

I see light at the end of the tunnel. Consultations are going on at various levels, at the levels of the various caucuses of the House of Representatives, at the level of the National Working Committee of the party through the reconciliatory committee that is being led by Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal under the aegis of the APC Governors’ Forum. I believe that by the time we resume on next Tuesday, we shall have peace on the floor of the House.

On fears that the two contending camps are not ready to shift ground? 
It is not precisely so. What is happening is that we are now coming across very strange development.

Strange in the sense that while consultations are going on and reconciliatory process are going on through the established committees; the two camps are also interfacing and in most cases at an informal level.

For our group, the Loyalist group, since July 3, when we had the NEC meeting, another meeting was also convened at the Imo House in Asokoro under the Chairmanship of Governor Rochas Okorocha who is the chairman of the APC governors forum and since we as a group agreed to accept the peace accord under Tambuwal, we have never had the time to meet to take any position.

But the consolidation group which obviously is the group identifying with the Speaker and the deputy speaker have made some offers.

These offers we saw on the pages of newspapers. I am not sure such offers were conveyed in a letter to the leader of our group, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila.

But based on what we see on the pages of newspapers, I think it is a very good development. I may not be speaking on behalf of the group because we have not met to take a collective decision, but if I should speak in my personal capacity and in the light of the crises, it is like the Dogara group which is the consolidation group, by making this concession is like they are all out to resolve this impasse.

The Dogara group has conceded to the Femi Gbajabiamila group the position of the majority leader and that of the chief whip just to secure peace and stability of the House. That is a very good development.

And I will want to urge our group members to accept this offer in good faith. This is because the issue at stake is about group and not about individual. It is about collective interest and I want to see reason going by the responses and actions of Nigerians at the moment.

Our people; our constituents are becoming so much disenchanted with the scheme of things now in the House of Representatives. They are not happy that members are quarreling not over the welfare of Nigerians. We are fighting on the floor of the House not because we want to make good laws to entrench better economy, but we are fighting over principal positions.

For this reason, members of our group want to see reason and consider the concession made by the consolidation group. I think it is a welcome development.

In my personal opinion, our group should accept this offer in the interest of peace and stability of the House and I want to believe that whoever becomes the benefactor of this new arrangement still remain proud members of the APC Loyalists group.

I believe in most of the philosophies and conviction that we have as a group. We are now in a situation whereby we have to eschew bitterness and work with what is on the ground.

We have to work with the realities on ground which is that the Dogara group are willing to make concession by conceding two major positions to our group. It is just like a situation whereby you are asking somebody to give you a cake in your left hand and he now decided to give you through your left hand side.

Whichever hand collects it as far as I am concerned, it is still you that collect it. We want to collect the majority leader through Femi and collect other positions through our genuine members of the loyalists group.

At the moment the APC that has provided us the platform to fight Dogara said Femi should have been the Speaker, Monguno should be the deputy speaker and for whatever reasons these things did not work out as expected by the party and at a given point, the party, same NWC in the presence of the leader of the party, President Muhammadu Buhari, in the presence of over 13 APC governors in what we called the NEC meeting admitted the Speaker and the senate president as members of the party.

Then for those of us who are using the party platform to fight these two rebellious members of the party do not have any basis to continue the fight. So in my opinion the fight is over because our mother the APC who directed us has now accepted back their own members and as presiding officers not minding the process of their election.

So I want to say categorically that those of us who were fighting Dogara using the party’s platform as our locus standi have no basis to fight again. So under no circumstances shall we continue to fight Dogara. We have no option other than to accept Dogara’s offer.

Our group has not met since July 3 till date, but if my opinion is something to go by, this is what I think our group should do. But there are fears that some of you in the APC Loyalists group will betray Gbajabiamila? It is not shutting out Gbajabiamila, but if you are refusing Gbajabiamila and accepting Ado Doguwa, it is like you are accepting Gbajabiamila. Like I said it is like you ask somebody to give you carrot through your right hand and the person said no, he is giving you through the left hand side.

It is not about Gbajabiamila, it is about the group and the party and in the case of the party, I have told you my own understanding of the party. I feel Gbajabiamila and Ado Doguwa are committed members of the APC. There is no point refusing the Speaker’s offer. For me if Doguwa accepts what is meant for Gbajabiamila, it is the same as Gbajabiamila.

It is not about Ado, it is not about Gbajabiamila. It is about our group. We are not working around an individual. Ab-initio, we started as loyal APC members committed to the pursuant of our party interest. The party gave us a road map and we toed it to the end.