An angry President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday reprimanded legislators-elect of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), largely made up of Senators and House Representatives, over a perceived intra-party rebellion, as the battle intensifies over leadership positions in the 9th National Assembly, sources have told Huhuonline.com. The APC has said the party’s decision on the selection and zoning of principal officers for the incoming 9th legislature is supreme; but the endorsement of Sen Ahmed Lawan (Yobe North) for the position of Senate President is being challenged by former Senate Majority Leader, Ali Ndume, who has insisted on taking the position.
The issue is already dividing the ruling party, opening the window for the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to flex its muscle and play the role of kingmaker during the elections for principal officers of the legislature, slated for June 9, 2019. Sources revealed to Huhuonline.com that an angry President Buhari told a conference call with APC leadership that included party chairman, Adams Oshiomhole that the APC cannot win the general elections and then lose the power to govern in parliament, saying the party should call out the outgoing Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, who he accused of fomenting the rebellion within the ranks of APC lawmakers against the party’s hierarchy.
Sources said the conference call had planned to broach the subject of the dissonance within the APC amid fears of an implosion, only to be met with the tough talk by the President, that legislators-elect were not toeing the party line, and should do so henceforth, or face the consequences. Speaking after the conference call, which ended abruptly after Mr. President read the riot act, Mr. Yekini Nabena, an APC chieftain told reporters in Abuja that the party’s decision must be respected by its legislative caucus and opposition lawmakers in the National Assembly.
“APC has overwhelming majority in the National Assembly and has a legitimate right to make its choices on the selection and zoning of principal offices. The APC family is in agreement on the party’s supremacy and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other opposition parties should focus on their minority positions,” he said.
According to Nabena, the outgoing President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, Speaker Yakubu Dogara and the PDP National Assembly caucus have been moving from pillar to post to frustrate the plan of APC. He, therefore, cautioned Saraki and House Speaker, Yakubu Dogara to steer clear of the leadership in both legislative chambers.
“The APC has learnt its lesson from the outgoing National Assembly when impostors masquerading as party men sabotaged our party and hijacked our mandate; affliction shall not rise up the second time. The efforts by the Adams Oshiomhole leadership of the party are commendable in achieving a fair selection and zoning arrangement that appeals to a greater section of the party stakeholders.
He said the PDP had a hidden evil plot to interfere in the emergence of incoming National Assembly leaders. Nabena said that the APC was aware of the scheming by Saraki, Dogara and the PDP caucus to interfere with the emergence of the incoming National Assembly leadership. “Their plans are bound to fail as the APC is a strong party with unity of purpose,” he said.
Neither Saraki nor Dogara nor the PDP has commented on the APC allegations, but the surprise move by the APC leadership to publicly call out Saraki, Dogara and the PDP caucus was compounded by talk within the party’s inner circle of the formation of a splinter APC Parliamentary caucus who have vowed to resist any attempts by the executive branch of government and the ruling party to impose the new leadership of the national assembly.
Former Senate Leader, Senator Ali Ndume, has rolled out a nine-point agenda for the coveted office of Senate President he is vying for in the ninth Senate billed for inauguration in June. Ndume (APC Borno South), who chairs the Senate Committee on Establishment and State Services, has objected to the imposition of Senate Leader, Senator Ahmad Lawan, as the next Senate President by the APC leadership saying the move was unconstitutional. Unfolding a nine point agenda as he intensifies his campaign for the Senate presidency, Ndume promised to uphold the independence of the legislature, and expressed willingness to “work harmoniously and inter-dependently with the executive without undermining the principle of separation of powers.”
Meanwhile, the North Central APC Ambassadors staged a peaceful protest to the party’s national secretariat asking that the position of House Speaker be zoned to the region. The party announced it has zoned the speakership to the Southwest and endorsed House majority leader, Femi Gbajabiamila. In a letter dated April 1, 2019 addressed to APC Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, the group insisted that the zone should be rewarded with the position in view of the number of votes it delivered to President Buhari during the elections. It argued that since the Northwest has the President, Southwest has the Vice President, while the Senate President has been zoned to the Northeast, the House Speakership should naturally be zoned to North Central.
In all the calculations, there is a growing schism within the APC whether or not the President and the ruling party; or rather the imperatives of national interest that should guide the selection of leaders of the National Assembly. “We cannot have a situation where our party leadership in Parliament is opposing the government. When you start threatening that you will go against the government, what you are doing is actually casting aspersions on the judgement of the President,” one APC source said of the leadership tussle.
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