Developing signals have started emerging on the struggle for
the leadership of the 9th National Assembly billed for inauguration in June.
It was learnt that more lawmakers were expressing their
interests by the day to preside over the chambers and be among the principal
offices of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
An aide to one of the aspirants in the Senate, who is privy
to the discussion in the All Progressives Congress caucus, said the ruling
party had zoned the Senate presidency to the North-East and the Speaker of the
House as well as the Deputy Senate presidency to the South-West.
The source disclosed that three ranking senators wanted to
become deputy senate president.
According to the source, the leading aspirants in the South-West
gunning for the Deputy Senate President seat are Senator Oluremi Tinubu, who is
the wife of the APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, (Lagos Central); a
former Senate Majority Leader, Senator Teslim Folarin (Oyo Central) and Senator
Ajayi Boroffice (Ondo North).
The source stated, “The latest from the APC is that there is
a zoning arrangement the party wants to implement, which the leaders seem to
have agreed on. The North-East will produce the Senate President while the
South-West will produce the Speaker.
“The South-East and South-South would be included at certain
levels. It will be planned the same way it was done in 2015.
“Now that the South-West will produce deputy Senate
president, the race is now between three ranking members from the geopolitical
zone, namely Teslim Folarin, Oluremi Tinubu and Ajayi Boroffice.”
Also, a prominent APC member in the House from the North-East,
who is part of those backing an aspirant to be speaker, disclosed that they had
begun to lobby their colleagues in the chamber.
The lawmaker said although it was certain that Dogara would
lose the Speaker’s seat, aspirants would not openly declare their bid for the
seat until it was close to the end of the Speaker’s tenure.
The lawmaker added, “Although the APC might want to go for
the old template; within the House, members from the North-East are insisting
on having their slot as speaker. So, for the North-East, it is between
Abdulrazak Namdas (Adamawa) and Mohammed Monguno (Borno). They are the two main
contenders.
“For instance, Namdas came from the constituency of the
presidential candidate of the PDP, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, and he
is the only one who won for the APC in the entire senatorial district Atiku
comes from.”
When contacted on the aspiration, Namdas neither confirmed
nor denied vying for the speaker of the House.
“I am eligible to be speaker but it is too early to make a
stand because we are still dealing with the governorship and state House of
Assembly elections. We will make our positions known as soon as we are back;
when we resume,” the Rep added.
Monguno could not be reached to confirm being in the race.
When contacted on the telephone, his line indicated that it had been switched
off.
Barely one week after the National Assembly elections were
held, several lawmakers, who won, had begun to lobby for leadership positions.
The ruling APC, which has retained its majority status
according to the results declared by the Independent National Electoral
Commission, is said to have already zoned the presiding and principal offices
of the chambers to geopolitical zones.
Several lawmakers in the Senate and House of
Representatives, who spoke to our correspondents, stated that the APC would
soon name its nominees for the leadership of the National Assembly.
A source close to the leadership of the House, who spoke on
condition of anonymity, disclosed that the APC was already considering
re-presenting its choice candidates in 2015 as leaders of the National Assembly
in 2019.
The APC, as the ruling party and with the majority in both
chambers of the National Assembly, had, in 2015, chosen the current Senate
Majority Leader, Senator Ahmad Lawan (Yobe, North-East), to be President of the
Senate, and the House Majority Leader, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila (Lagos,
South-West), to be the Speaker.
However, Senator Bukola Saraki (Kwara, North-Central) and Mr
Yakubu Dogara (Bauchi, North-East), though APC members then, had formed an
alliance with the opposition and minority Peoples Democratic Party to emerge as
Senate President and Speaker, respectively.
While Senator Ike Ekweremadu (Enugu, South-East) of the PDP
was elected Deputy Senate President as part of the deal, Mr Yusuff Lasun (Osun,
South-West) of the APC emerged Deputy Speaker, against the wish of the ruling
party.
However, while Saraki lost his bid to return to the Senate
in the election held last Saturday, Dogara won.
Speaking to newsmen on Thursday, the National Assembly
source disclosed that Lawan and Gbajabiamila might be nominated by the party
again for the leadership of the chambers.
When asked if those picked by APC for the positions had
fresh chances in the 9th National Assembly, the official said, “By the grace of
God.”
The source added, “The APC is still going with the 2015
template. The positions that may be in contention will be deputy senate
president and deputy speaker. This is due to zoning (of top offices to
geopolitical zones) and the characters of 2015 are now different from those of
2019.”
Speaking on the majority status of the APC in the 9th
Assembly, the official noted that the ruling party was already leading even
though not all the results had been declared by the INEC.
“So far from our estimates, when the 8th Assembly was
inaugurated in 2015, APC had 214 and PDP had 140, while other parties shared
the remaining seats. But from the headcount we have done so far, we now have
more than the 214,” the source said.
According to the official, with more opposition parties
winning seats in the chambers, the PDP might be forced to lose principal and
committee seats usually zoned to the minority.
On August 18, 2018, exclusively reported that the APC and
its Senate caucus were considering no fewer than three senators to replace
Saraki for defecting from the ruling party to the PDP.
For the replacements, Lawan is from Yobe State in the
North-East; Ndume is from Borno State, also in North-East; while Abdullahi
Adamu is from Nasarawa State in the North-Central.
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