The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the All Peoples Congress will meet this week to ratify the zoning of key posts in the National Assembly.The National Working Committee(NWC) of the party , which rose from a meeting in the early hours of Saturday, had zoned key offices like the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
But findings in Abuja on Sunday showed that the NWC agreed that the Senate President should be zoned to the North Central.The decision has now left Senate Minority Leader, George Akume from Benue State and Bukola Saraki ( Kwara State) as the two front liners for the post.
However, investigations indicated that the decision on the zoning of the position of speaker was not very clear , as influential political figures from both the North and the South are allegedly scheming to have their candidates assume the seat.
The development led to two separate accounts on what exactly transpired at the NWC on the position of speaker. One early account claimed that the post was zoned to the North-East. But, a second account insisted that as of the time the meeting ended on Saturday morning, it had been resolved that the South-West should take the speaker’s slot.
By this account, the post of Deputy Speaker was reportedly zoned to the South-South.It was learnt that to achieve this arrangement, the post of Deputy Senate President was also zoned to the North-East.This implies that while the North will be in charge of the Senate, the South will control the House.
A top National Assembly official in Abuja said, “This is the way things stand, looking at the general direction of the negotiations. “What is most important though is that, all of this is actually in principle. “It is the NEC that will have the final say in this week. It then means that a lot of lobbying and wooing by both the North-East and the South-West will take place this week ahead of the NEC”,
It was gathered that should the South-West push its way through at the NEC, House Minority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, would likely emerge as the speaker of the 8th House. Gbajabiamila (Lagos State), a lawyer and fourth-time member of the House , had also served as Deputy Minority Leader in the 6th Assembly.He has been largely regarded by his colleagues as the “leading voice of the opposition” since 2003.
The National Assembly source added, “But, if the North-East takes it, the man to watch is Yakubu Dogara (Bauchi State). “He has a lawmaker from Borno State, Mr. Mohammed Monguno, as his rival in the zone.
“Much again depends on what the NEC will ratify, between Deputy Senate President and House Speaker as the position zoned to the North-East.”
Investigations revealed that the APC was guarding the process “cautiously “ to avoid a possible revolt by the younger and mostly independent-minded members of the House, who might choose not to toe the party’s line.
“In 2011, the current Speaker, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal (North-West) , emerged against the decision of the Peoples Democratic Party to zone the seat to the South-West.
“The APC is being careful to avoid a repeat scenario, where members will vote in a direction different from the party’s,” the official said.When contacted, House spokesman and member of the APC, Zakari Mohammed, confirmed that decisions had been reached on zoning.
He added, “Certain decisions were reached, but you see, there is still NEC ahead. “We should wait for the NEC to ratify and come up with a decision to avoid unnecessary speculation”.
It was gathered that despite the fact of the NWC narrowing the position of speaker to between the South-West and the North-East, Chairman, House committee on Finance, Abdulmumin Jibrin (North-West) was still campaigning for the job. For example, Jibrin, who is from Kano State, is scheduled to meet with newly-elected members this week in Abuja.
Others in the race are Pally Iriase (Edo State); Ajibola Famurewa (Osun); Mojeed Alabi (Osun); and Mohammed Monguno. (Punch)
