APC senators defy party

Senators of the All Progressives Congress (APC), on Wednesday, defied the leadership of the party, by going ahead to name potential candidates for Senate leadership positions.

The APC had, in a letter written by its national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, addressed to Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, asked the lawmakers to name Senator Ahmad Lawan as Senate leader, George Akume as his deputy, Sola Adeyeye as chief whip and Abu Ibrahim as deputy whip.

But Saraki, who addressed a meeting of the APC caucus in the Senate on Tuesday, had suggested that zonal caucuses of the party should be made to produce the four leadership positions.

Though the meeting ended in near fisticuffs, it was gathered that most of the senators elected on the platform of the party had agreed with the position.

On Wednesday, it was gathered that the lawmakers dissolved into zonal caucuses to name likely candidates for the positions.

Sources in the Senate told the Nigerian Tribune that the position of the Senate President held sway, as senators of the APC eventually agreed on the four candidates that would emerge on the leadership posts.

It was gathered that following the intervention of governors of the party and words from some influential members, Saraki had called his loyalists and expressed readiness to work with Senator Lawan, but at the caucus meeting of the zone, Senator Ali Ndume emerged after a straw poll.

It was also learnt that Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima, a former governor of Zamfara State, offered to step down for Senator Bala Ibn Na’allah from Kebbi State as deputy leader.

Nigerian Tribune gathered that Senator Sola Adeyeye emerged as the consensus candidate for the post of Senate chief whip from the South West, while Senator Francis Alimikhana from Edo State is to emerge as deputy chief whip.

It is expected that Saraki would announce the names of the candidates on the floor of the Senate.

It was gathered that a meeting of governors and caucuses helped in dousing the brewing tension in the party, as some former governors in the Senate concluded that Senator Sani Yerima should step down so that it would not seem as if the ex-governors had hijacked the Senate.

At the floor of the Senate on Wednesday, attempts by Senator Gbenga Ashafa to force the Senate president to read a correspondence from the APC national chairman were rebuffed, as he ruled him out of order.

Ashafa had raised Orders 15, 28(1), 29(1), 30 and 31(4) of the Senate Standing Orders and asked the Senate president to read a letter he said had been delivered to his office.

“Yesterday, most of the media houses published stories that a letter was written by the chairman of our great party, the APC, and we were expecting that that letter, which has been received in your office, will be read in order to see to the resolution of the party leadership tussle.

“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,” he had said.

But Senator Ibn Na’Allah countered the motion, saying Order 28 of the Senate Standing Orders would not support Ashafa’s claims.

Saraki, thereafter, ruled Ashafa out of order, saying “I have listened to Senators Ashafa and Na’allah. Going by the rules and what has been said earlier, I think I will just note what Senator Ashafa has said and we will leave the matter as that. And in that case, I rule that out of order.”

The senators then dissolved to zonal caucuses where they named those expected to occupy the positions.

Govs meet Buhari

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari and governors elected on the platform of APC waded into the leadership crisis tearing apart members of the party in the National Assembly.

Senator Saraki had emerged the Senate President against Senator Ahmed Lawan, the preferred candidate of the party, just as Honourable Yakubu Dogara was elected the Speaker of the House of Representatives rather than Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila, handpicked by the party.

The president met with the governors from Tuesday night till the early hours of Wednesday, during which the governors expressed dismay over the lawmakers’ attitude in apparently shunning the position of the party in the distribution of the remaining party posts at both chambers of the National Assembly.

The Presidential Villa meeting, which started at about 11.00 p.m., held behind closed doors.

However, briefing State House correspondents at the end of the meeting, both Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State and Governor Adams Oshiomhonle of Edo State revealed that the governors had resolved to press for the implementation of the APC’s position in the sharing of the remaining posts and would want the lawmakers to abide by the party’s decision.

Okorocha explained that the governors were worried about the development in the National Assembly and, therefore, were at the Presidential Villa to confer with the president on the way forward.

Revealing that the APC governors had decided to invite the senators, he decried what he called “winners-take-all” attitude and stressed the need for all to be carried along.

Also speaking, Oshiomhole reiterated the need for APC senators to accept the decision of the party’s leadership in the sharing of the remaining party positions.

“Basically, what we are saying is that the senators should adopt the position of the party. We were all elected on the platform of the party. We are not just a collection of individuals. We are a political party and when the party has spoken, we must listen,” he said.

Governors from 16 of the 22 states controlled by the APC were in attendance at the meeting.

Absent were governors of Lagos, Zamfara, Ogun, Sokoto, Yobe and Bauchi states.

Reps caucuses reject Gbajabiamila, Monguno

The North Central and South East caucus of the House of Representatives, on Wednesday, rejected the list of principal officers proposed by the party.

Briefing newsmen, leader of the North Central caucus in the House, Honourable Ahman Pategi, said the party’s position was taken without due consultation with the caucus.

He added that they were shocked when the party stated in the said publications that they arrived at the decision after due consultation.

“We are also amazed by the directive of the party to the leadership of the House to take necessary action on the purported choice made by the party, which we see as a clear usurpation of the powers of the zonal caucuses and their members, as guaranteed by the constitution and the standing rules of the House of Representatives.

“We, therefore, strongly reject the purported selection by the party, which we see as being in conflict with the principle of the Federal Character, as enshrined in the constitution of the Federal Republic,” Pategi said.

To this end, he said that the North Central caucus believed 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.

Also, the South-East caucus of the APC in the House rejected the party’s arrangement in choosing its principal officers, protesting that the leadership of the party, with the arrangement, excluded the zone.

Addressing newsmen on behalf of the caucus, the duo of Honourables Chukwukere Ikechukwu and Chike Okoroafor advised the leadership of the party to go back to the drawing board and ensure that all the zones were adequately represented. [Nigerian Tribune]