Senate presidency, speakership tussle causes ‘irreconcilable differences’ in APC

The meeting of lawmakers-elect of the All Progressives Congress (APC) originally scheduled for Thursday was postponed to Saturday due to “irreconcilable differences” over the choice of leaders of the eighth national assembly, TheCable has been told.

An APC source who spoke with TheCable on Friday said “the party has been divided along interest lines” over the people who should emerge president of the senate and speaker of the federal house of representatives

On May 23, a two-day retreat in Abuja for senators-elect of the party exposed the divergent interests.

In the middle of the retreat, a splinter group that identified itself as the ‘Senate Unity Forum’ issued a statement endorsing the candidature of Ahmed Lawan (Yobe north) as the consensus choice of the party for the top position of the upper chamber.

“We, the senate unity forum comprising senators-elect from various zones of Nigeria, have met, held extensive discussions and resolved to support senator Ahmed Lawan as senate president and senator George Akume as deputy senate president of the 8th senate,” Barnabas Gemade (Benue), spokesman of the group, said.

“Kindly take this to be our collective decision in the best interest of our party, APC and our dear nation, Nigeria.”

But another group of APC senators under the aegis of “35 like-minded senators” quickly endorsed Bukola Saraki (Kwara central) as their candidate for senate president.

Speaking on behalf of the group, Dino Melaye, senator-elect (Kogi) disclosed that the national working committee of the APC had zoned the senate president position to the north-central, where Saraki hails from. This was later refuted by the party.

“Of the 59 senators of the APC, 35 of us present here today hereby reaffirm our collective commitment and resolution to endorse that the candidature of Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki as the senate president of 8th assembly,” he said.

“We have also resolved that the office of the deputy senate president be zoned to the northeast.”

To ease the brewing tension, APC called a meeting of all its lawmakers-elect on Thursday, but the source, who didn’t want to be named, said “irreconcilable issues among the power blocs of the governing party” forced the one-day postponement of the meeting.

He said that the party leadership was in concordance with the candidature of Lawan, which is stirring up a storm in Saraki’s camp.

Similar intrigues are unfurling in the federal house of representatives where Femi Gbajabiamila (Lagos) and Yakubu Dogara (Bauchi) square off for speakership.

In response to the ostensible interference of the party leadership in the “fray”, a group known as ‘the 8th Assembly Consolidation Group’ issued a statement signed by some of its members – such as  Ahman Aliyu Pategi, Zakari Mohammed, Babangida Ibrahim Mahuta, Aishat Dukku, Haliru Jika and Jagaba Adams Jagaba – urging the party not to impose any candidate on them.

“We wish to draw the attention of our great party, the All Progressive Congress (APC), and Nigerians to certain unethical and un-democratic moves by some desperate party leaders who are bent on subverting the laid-down procedure on the emergence of the speaker of the 8th assembly in accordance to the house standing orders and the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria,” the statement read in part.

“We must commend Mr President, Mohammadu Buhari, our leader and father of the nation, for his statesmanship and principled stand that the business of the national assembly leadership should be the sole responsibility of senators and members who are at liberty to regulate and throw up their leaders according to the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria which he swore to protect.

“It is however disturbing that certain individuals are poised on disregarding the presidential declaration and forging ahead to manipulate our party to conduct an unconstitutional shadow election for speakership, which is alien to the constitution and all conventional parliamentary practices.

“The idea is to force a preferred candidate on the party hierarchy and members via intimidation and financial inducements by a certain party leader. Any leadership that is orchestrated outside the hallow chambers is not only an aberration but an insult to our cherished parliamentary tradition and we will be seen as a laughing stock before the developed democracies which we’re copying.”

To pour oil on troubled water, the APC has rescheduled the meeting with its lawmakers-elect for Saturday, and it is expected that the ice would be broken on the issue, since the next national assembly will be inaugurated next week