The All Progressives Congress choice for
the post of Senate Leader, Ahmad Lawan, seems to have lost out as the
North-East caucus of the party in the Senate has picked Senator Ali
Ndume for the post.
But the Senator representing Osun
Central Senatorial District, Olusola Adeyeye, was unanimously
endorsed by the South-West caucus as the chief whip .
The need to have a senator from the
South-South among the principal officers of the upper chamber of the
National Assembly, also threw up Francis Alimikhena as the deputy
Whip.
Investigation by one of our
correspondents on Wednesday revealed that it was resolved at a meeting
between the APC governors and Senators on Monday night that only a
member from the South-South should occupy the position.
The APC national leadership had nominated the Senator representing Katsina South, Abu Ibrahim, as the deputy whip.
Before these emerged, members of the
House of Representatives from the North-Central had protested against
the “purported” sharing of the principal offices in the House by the APC
to the exclusion of their zone.
Adeyeye’s name was on the list of
principal officers approved by the APC leadership as contained in a
letter addressed to the Senate President, Bukola Saraki.
The letter was signed by the National Chairman of the party, John Odigie – Oyegun, on Tuesday.
The PUNCH gathered that no
dissenting voice was recorded at the meeting of the South-West caucus
when the issue was discussed on Tuesday afternoon.
It was also learnt that the Senators
from the South-West, at their meeting with the National Leader of the
APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, on Tuesday night, agreed to make Adeyeye
their representative.
Investigations by one of our
correspondents on Wednesday revealed that 11 out of the 13 senators
from the North- East voted in favour of Ndume (Borno South ) as the
Senate Leader during their caucus meeting.
The party had zoned the position to the North-East but named Senator Ahmad Lawan (Yobe North), as its preferred candidate.
Also, the party’s choice for the post of Deputy Senate Leader, George Akume, was said to have been rejected by the caucus.
The caucus members were said to have
argued that since Saraki, who is from the North Central had emerged as
the senate president, it would be fair and just, to allow another zone
take up the position.
Consequently, the North-West caucus met
on Wednesday and endorsed the candidature of Bala Ibn Na’Allah ( Kebbi
South), as the deputy leader.
When contacted, Lawan dissociated
himself from the election conducted by the North-East caucus. He
insisted that he would align himself with the position of the APC
leadership.
He said, “I am not aware of any
election. The party has spoken it is now left for the Senate president
to make the announcement.”
However, moves by the pro-Lawan senators
to make the Senate President read the letter containing the names of
the APC choice for the Senate leadership positions were however
frustrated on the floor on Wednesday by Saraki.
Senator Olugbenga Ashafa ( APC Lagos East) had at the start of plenary tried to compel the Senate President to read it.
Ashafa, who relied on Order 15 of the
Senate’s standing rule that deals with matter of breaches of personal
privileges, argued that Saraki’s failure to read the letter or give it
consideration in any way within the last 24 hours, showed that
contempt of breach of privilege had been committed.
He said, “A letter that was written by
the chairman of our great party, was sent here and we expected that that
letter which has been received in your office, with due respect, should
be read in order to see to the resolution of the party’s leadership
tussle.
“Mr. President, by virtue of the
privilege of being one of the senators of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria and coming from our party, I believe that that letter should
have been read to the hearing of all senators here present.
“Perhaps that will be the solution to the leadership tussle in the Senate.”
But Ashafa’s request was opposed by another APC senator, Na’Allah, through a counter-point of order.
He urged the Senate to ignore Ashafa’s request.
Na’Allah said, “I am proceeding on the
same order 28 just to offer an explanation. By the popular rule of
interpretation of documents that has been agreed by parties, the
ordinary letters and words used must be given their effective meaning.
“With your permission, I am going to
read sir: ‘There shall be a majority leader of the Senate. The Majority
Leader shall be a senator nominated from and not by.”
He said the implications of the word
‘from’, was that Senators from the opposition party cannot produce
officers to fill those positions.
Saraki, while ruling on the two-point of orders, agreed with Ibn Na’Allah.
He said, “I have listened to Senator
Ashafa and Senator Na’Alla and in going by our rules and in going by
what I said earlier, I would just note what Senator Ashafa has said. I
think we will leave the matter for now and in that case, I rule Ashafa
out of order.”
Another frantic effort by Senator Kabiru
Marafa to draw the attention of the Senate to the alleged illegal
ammendment of the Senate Standing Order 2015, was also frustrated at
plenary.
Marafa had argued that the ammendments
to the Senate Standing Order were allegedly fraudulently done because he
was not aware of any process leading to the exercise.
He urged the Senate to annul the
election of the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, since the
document used to conduct the poll was a fraud.
His point of order was countered by Ekweremadu, who argued that the amendment to the standing order was a regular exercise.
According to him, the version used for 1999 was different from that of 2003. Ditto for 2007 and 2011.
Saraki also ruled him out of order.
He explained that since Marafa had
raised the issue on June 10 and he had ruled on it, the issue should no
longer be brought to the floor.
There was also tension in the House
when members from the North-Central faulted the APC’s sharing of the
principal offices to the exclusion of their zone.
They were joined by their APC colleagues
from the South-East, who also accused the APC leadership of being
“unfair to their own zone, in spite of working tirelessly to ensure that
the party had a presence in the South-East.’’
The APC reportedly zoned the position of
the House Majority Leader to the South-West; the Chief Whip to the
North-East; the Deputy Leader to the North-West and the Deputy Whip to
the South-South.
If the proposal of the party succeeds, a
former House Minority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, who is from Lagos
State, will become the majority leader.
The Chief Whip will likely be Mohammed
Monguno from Borno State, while the Deputy Leader will go to a member
from Kano State, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa. Pally Iriase from Edo State is
likely to be the deputy whip.
The party was said to have formally
written the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, on its decision, but he reportedly
kept sealed lips over the matter on Wednesday owing to mounting tension
on the issue.
Dogara did not read any letter from the
party on the floor on Wednesday as he was said not to be sure of what
would be the likely reaction of aggrieved members.
It will be recalled that even the South-South that was given the position of deputy whip rejected it on Tuesday.
The PUNCH obtained a copy of the letter on Wednesday.
It was dated June 6 and had reference number, APC /NHDQ/NAM/015/06.
The letter read in part, “Please, find
below for your necessary action, the names of principal officers
approved by the party after extensive consultations, for the 8th House
of Representatives.’’
Reacting to the development on
Wednesday, the North-Central Caucus said it rejected the sharing of the
positions by the APC without considering the “fact that the zone has
over 50 members in the House.”
The caucus also faulted the “claim” of
the APC that it consulted with all zonal caucuses before it arrived at
the sharing formula.
“We, therefore, strongly reject the
purported selection by the party, which we see as being in conflict with
the principle of Federal Character as enshrined in the 1999
Constitution,” the Leader of the caucus, Ahmad Pattegi, told a news
conference at the National Assembly, Abuja.
He added, “The caucus believes strongly
that there should be fairness and equity in the selection of other
principal positions of the House, following the emergence of both the
Speaker and Deputy Speaker.
“We believe it will be inconsiderate of
the party to consider both the North-East and South-West after both
zones have produced the speaker and deputy speaker respectively.
“We have resolved to pursue this injustice vial all civil and legitimate channels.”
The tone of the South-East caucus, which
has two members in the House, was not different as it expressed
disappointment over the sharing of the positions without giving any to
the zone.
The Leader of the caucus, Chukwukere Ikechukwu, called on the APC ‘s leadership to reverse its decisions.
“We reject in its entirety, the
distribution of the positions and we call on the party to reverse it. We
condemn it in its entirety, “ he stated.
Earlier on the floor, Dogara had fought
hard to prevent an exchange of hot words between Gbajabiamila and the
former House Deputy Leader, Leo Ogor, from degenerating.
Ogor, a Peoples Democratic Party lawmaker, and Gbajabiamila had always been against each other at the 7th Assembly.
But, the animosity between the two had
worsened since June 9 when Ogor openly supported Dogara to become the
Speaker in an election which Gbajabiamila lost by eight votes.
On Wednesday, the two quarrelled over the rules on procedure for amending motions on the floor.
A motion on attacks on farmers by herdsmen was being debated when a member, Musa Serkin Ada, moved for an amendment.
But, Ogor raised a point of order to argue that the rules of the House did not provide for the body of a motion to be amended.
Dogara agreed with Ogor and ruled on the issue as concluded.
However, as the speaker made to call the
next item on the Order Paper, Gbajabiamila objected and raised a point
of order to re-open the matter on which Dogara had already decided.
The Lagos lawyer quoted Order 8 (32) to
point out that “any part of a motion” could be amended, contrary to the
earlier ruling in favour of Ogor.
“We are setting a precedent in this House, which I think we have to be properly guided”, he argued.
As Gbajabiamila spoke, Ogor sprang up
from his seat to complain that it was “in breach” of proceedings for him
to attempt to re-open a matter decided by the Speaker.
“We should all try as much as possible
to respect ourselves and the rules of this House. The speaker has ruled
on this issue; our rules say you can only bring up such an issue via a
substantive motion,” he said.
“He is a third timer (won election to
the House for three times) and he should know that what he is doing is
not right”, Ogor shouted, pointing his finger at Gbajabiamila.
The former minority leader too responded that he knew why Ogor was agitated.
“I understand your worries; I do,” he added.
Dogara intervened to stop the two from further exchanging words, but he still ruled in favour of Ogor.
The PUNCH obtained a copy of
the letter the APC’s National Chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun, wrote to
Dogara on Tuesday, conveying the decision of the party on the sharing of
the offices to him.
The letter, dated June 6, had reference number, APC /NHDQ/NAM/015/06. It was duly received and signed by the speaker’s office.
It read in part, “Please, find below
for your necessary action, the names of principal officers approved by
the party after extensive consultations, for the 8th House of
Representatives.’’
The document named Gbajabiamila as the
majority leader; Ado-Doguwa as his deputy; Monguno as the chief whip;
and Iriase as the deputy.
Buhari’s meeting with Dogara fails to hold
A meeting between President Muhammadu
Buhari and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, did
not hold on Wednesday as earlier scheduled.
According to the itinerary of the
President seen by one of our correspondents on Tuesday, Dogara was
billed to meet with Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on
Wednesday.
The meeting slated for 10am would have
afforded the speaker the opportunity of having a face-to face
interaction with the President for the first time.
Journalists who rushed to the
Presidential Villa in anticipation of Dogara’s arrival were visibly
discouraged when he did not show up.
As of the time of filing this report at
about 7.35pm, the Speaker had yet to arrive the Villa and no reason
was given for the development.
