Dogara; Gbajabiamila
In this report, LEKE BAIYEWU writes that the ongoing crisis among members of the ruling All Progressives Congress at the National Assembly may not end soon
The 8th Assembly started on a controversial note. With the June 9, 2015 inauguration almost marred with chaos, the National Assembly was forced to proceed on two long recesses. Currently, the resumption slated for July 21, 2015, has been postponed to July 28.
The impasse, obviously, is breaking the fibre that binds members of the ruling All Progressives Congress at the Lower and Upper legislative chambers of the National Assembly.
Six weeks after being sworn in to carry out legislative duties that would be of immense benefit to the electorate, warring APC lawmakers are preoccupied with who occupies certain leadership positions at the legislative chambers. The intra-party crisis, political pundits strongly believe, has put issues of national importance that may need the lawmakers’ urgent attention on hold.
With the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, announcing names of occupants of principal offices in the Senate based on the sharing formula designed by his loyalists, and against the wish of his party, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, seems to be toeing the same path.
Dogara has stuck to his position that each of the six geo-political zones in the country should occupy principal offices—a repeat of Saraki’s move at the Senate. Though the Speaker promised announcing principal officers upon resumption, observers have said, this move will either heal old wounds or worsen the internal wrangling within the party.
Dogara had last Tuesday said the leadership tussle in the APC caucus of the Lower House was almost over. He also said he would announce the principal officers of the House this Tuesday.
“We will announce the remaining four principal officers by the time we reconvene on July 21.We pray that this matter has come to an end by the grace of God,” Dogara said.
Should Dogara go ahead to defy the APC zoning formula, the party may be losing its structure at the National Assembly completely. Some observers have said this will stoke up flames in the party.
There had been several botched peace moves, while several reconciliatory meetings held to unify the warring sides had been deadlocked.
The National Executive Committee of APC later waded in through the Progressive Governors’ Forum, asking the governor of Sokoto State, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, to lead a committee that would look into the crisis. Tambuwal was the Speaker of the House during the seventh Assembly. He was also elected against the wish of his former party, the Peoples Democratic Party – the then ruling party—in 2011 before his defection from the PDP to the APC in 2014.
Political pundits had seen Tambuwal’s choice of leading the reconciliatory committee as strategic – the ex-Speaker had witnessed all sides of the game. The committee met with the two warring factions led by Yakubu Dogara and Femi Gbajabiamila separately, but its findings and recommendations have not been made public. If the speculations on the findings by the Tambuwal-led committee are anything to go by, its members may be sharing the same view expressed by the Dogara-led faction.
In fact, as part of the recommendations of the Tambuwal committee, a one-on-one negotiation meeting had been arranged for Dogara and Gbajabiamila on July 5, which also failed.
The Speaker was said to have offered Gbajabiamila the chairmanship of the Ad Hoc Committee on Constitution Review— an influential and heavily-funded committee that deals with issues relating to amendment of the 1999 Constitution and responsible for the report of the 2014 National Conference. The yearly budget of the committee is said to be around N1bn.
Under the relevant rules of the House, the committee is usually chaired by the Deputy Speaker, with members drawn from the six geo-political zones. But Dogara was willing to give the position to Gbajabiamila in exchange for the position of Majority Leader, with the lower chamber amending its rules to accommodate the transfer of the responsibility from Yusuf Lasun, who is the Deputy Speaker to Gbajabiamila.
Gbajabiamila, who held the position of a Minority Leader at the seventh Assembly, reportedly rejected the offer, insisting on becoming the Majority Leader in compliance with the decision of the party.
By July 8, it had become apparent that the Tambuwal-led committee was unable to get the warring sides to reach a compromise. SUNDAY PUNCH learnt that the stalemate in the discussions to reconcile the two sides, only pointed to the possibility of conducting caucus elections to elect the principal officers.
The group led by Gbajabiamila had insisted that any considerations outside the recommendation of APC’s leadership on sharing principal offices would not be entertained by its members. The Dogara-led group had also insisted on sharing the offices on geopolitical zone basis.
Lawmakers loyal to the APC had earlier on July 1, 2015, met Buhari, where they appealed to him to caution Dogara and members of his group.
The 30 lawmakers led by Gbajabiamila, who attended the meeting on behalf of their colleagues, accused the APC lawmakers loyal to Dogara of allegedly colluding with the PDP to polarise the ruling party. This, they alleged, will give room for the ‘disloyal’ lawmakers to later defect to the opposition party.
They demanded that Dogara be asked to return to their fold and announce occupants of the four principal offices in the House, as directed by the party.
The lawmakers noted that though Buhari has said he would not interfere in the affairs of the legislature and would work with whoever emerged as the leaders of the National Assembly, the President’s intervention was needed in order to save the party’s integrity.
The APC loyalists further said, “The 39 APC members in the House continue to collude with the PDP to flagrantly disobey Mr. President, the governors and the party with a view to bringing the party and government to ridicule before Nigerians.
“The conduct of the 39 APC members colluding with the PDP is tantamount to affront, ultimately targeted at polarising our party so as to give room for many of them to decamp to the PDP.
“It is, therefore, imperative for Mr. President to take a stand and save the integrity of the party by cautioning the 39 members, which include the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker, to respect honour and obey our party leaders and their directives.”
The lawmakers lamented that the opposition and the 39 rebel APC members continued to hold the APC leadership in contempt. They wondered what would be the reward of the 174 of them that have remained obedient and loyal to the party.
But Dogara, on Tuesday, stressed that the ranging storm would soon be over. He disclosed that there had been a series of meetings to resolve the crisis in the ruling party and that there were positive signs that the crisis was nearing its end.
The genesis of this political imbroglio between APC members at the National Assembly seemed to have sprung from the party’s dismissal of the zoning formula. Though propounded by then ruling Peoples Democratic Party in sharing appointments and other political positions among the six geopolitical zones of the country, it was also employed for sharing principal offices in the legislature.
Rather than be a slave to ‘zoning formula’, the ruling APC opted to conduct a mock National Assembly leadership polls for aspirants on June 6— three days to the inauguration of the eighth Assembly. There, the party adopted Ahmad Lawan as President of the Senate and Femi Gbajabiamila as Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara, who were eyeing the Senate presidency and House speakership seats, respectively, had formed alliance with members of the opposition PDP in the upper and lower chambers to defeat the choice candidates of their party in the National Assembly leadership elections held on June 9.
Although almost all – if not all – members of the House of Representatives participated in the leadership election of the lower house, it was not the same with the Senate where Saraki emerged President of the Senate while 51 of his fellow APC senators were attending a general meeting with the leadership of the party elsewhere.
In the process, which critics described as a premeditated coup, Senator Ike Ekweremadu of the opposition PDP was elected the Deputy Senate President, the same office he occupied in the 7th Senate. That development worsened the situation. Ever since then, the party and the National Assembly in extension have known no peace.
That was the first shocker for the APC.
After Saraki and Dogara’s hijacked the number one positions in the Senate and House of Representatives respectively, they started another revolt against their party on the selection of occupants of other principal officers.
Notwithstanding the embarrassing situation in the party, the Chairman of the APC John Odigie-Oyegun had written to Saraki, nominating Lawan and three others as the party’s choices for the post of Senate Leader, Deputy Leader, Chief Whip and Deputy Whip.
However, the Saraki camp had insisted that the APC caucus in the Senate would determine occupants of the offices at geo-political zone level.
Again, the Senate President went ahead to announce the other principal officers of the Senate who were not those nominated by his party.
When the Senate resumed sitting on June 23, he announced three out of the expected four principal officers of the Senate, based on their nomination by their respective zonal caucuses in the red chamber. The nomination letters addressed to him by the APC senator’ caucuses were from the North-East, North-West and South-South.
The North-East caucus nominated Senator Ali Ndume as the Majority Leader; North-West adopted Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah as the Deputy Majority Leader; while the South-South caucus adopted Senator France Alimikhena as the Deputy Whip. The Chief Whip was not announced as the caucus from that geo-political zone were said to have refused to produce a representative.
The APC had initiated peace moves in the Senate, with the Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole, leading a committee saddled with the responsibility of restoring peace among lawmakers in the party. Again, there are fears that the move may have hit a brick wall, as the committee has not been able to convene any meeting with the warring sides.
Like he did to Saraki, Odigie-Oyegun had, in a letter dated June 23, asked Dogara to announce Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila (South-West) as the Majority Leader; Mr. Alhassan Ado-Doguwa (North-West) as his deputy; Mr. Mohammed Monguno (North-East) as the Chief Whip; and Mr. Pally Iriase (South-South) as the Deputy Chief Whip. The North-East and the South-South later swapped positions.
But the lawmakers had gone into a forced break on June 24 after a fracas broke out on the floor of the House over the sharing of principal offices.
In what indicated what to expect when the lawmakers resumes, Dogara, in his reply to Odigie-Oyegun’s letter on Thursday, said he had opted to zone the Majority Leader of the House to the North-West, which has 86 APC lawmakers.
The new set-up will override the party’s request that Gbajabiamila of the South-West be made occupant of the office. He claimed that the South-West (Yusuf Lasun) already had the Deputy Speaker. He added that it would not be fair to give the same zone the position of the House Leader while some zones had nothing; the same explanation he gave for zoning the Deputy Whip to the South-East, instead of the North-East as proposed by the party.
In the letter, he also proposed to zone the post of the Deputy House Leader to the North-Central with 33 members, while he zoned the position of the Chief Whip to the South-South. The Deputy Whip, by Dogara’s arrangement, would come from the South-East.
The Speaker reiterated his long-standing argument that the principal offices in the House should go round the six geo-political zones of the country, on which Saraki also insisted in the Senate.
Part of the letter reads, “Since then (the day a fracas broke out on the floor of the House), efforts have been made by the party, progressive governors and other interested persons to intervene and resolve the issues.
“We want to place on record our unflinching loyalty and respect, not only to you as an individual, considering your antecedents, but also to the party, APC, under whose platform we were elected to the House.
“We have no intention whatsoever of disobeying your directives or the party’s position on any matter. We would, of course, prefer a situation where we are consulted on matters concerning the House before directives are issued and made public.
“We feel strongly that the issue of federal character in the election or appointment of principal officers of the House is a cardinal, legal, moral and constitutional principle that should be respected by our party. It is however obvious from the letter under reference that this principle was not taken into consideration.”
Now that it appears that the APC and its loyal representatives are losing out of the game, Gbajabiamila and his supporters are said to be spoiling for war when the House finally resumes. Perhaps, it might lead to another free-for-all in the hallowed chamber.
With the current indications on the crisis in the National Assembly, it remains uncertain when the lawmakers will settle down for work under the new administration.
But a former parliamentarian and Convener of the Coalition of Northern Politicians, Academics, Professionals and Businessmen, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, has dismissed the current legislators as lacking national interest. He decried that moneybags had hijacked the legislature, citing the example of some former governors in the Assembly.
Mohammed said, “I have left parliament since 1984 when the General Muhammadu Buhari administration moved us out (in a coup). I can tell you that even for those in the PRP (Peoples Redemption Party) who rebelled against Aminu Kano and the mainstream of the party, it was the greatest pride. I am happy to have been a member of the National Assembly in the Second Republic because we were men of honour.”
The Russian-trained medical doctor-turned-politician stated that although lawmakers and their parties in the defunct republic might have “misbehaved” at one point or the other, “at the core and foundation of all the parties, was national interest.”
Mohammed observed, “There were times when some people were selfish, greedy, nepotistic or even tribalistic and biased, at the end of the day, what we did in the Second Republic was a pride to all Nigerians. I will be more than glad to go back to those years than get myself involved in the current National Assembly. What we have now is cash and carry. Anybody who has the money now can cause problems (in the Assembly).
“They have billions at their disposal; they have more money than sense. They don’t give a hoot about national interest. That is going to be the problem throughout the life of this parliament.”
A former Vice-Chancellor of the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Prof. Sheriffdeen Tella, also lamented the negative impact the bickering was having on governance and the pace of work by the new administration.
He said, “It has a lot of implications. For example, even if the President already has a list of his ministers, he cannot present it to them (lawmakers) yet because things are not in the right position yet. The issues have to be resolved in time so that other things can follow. Presently, the crisis is taking a lot of toll on decision making.
“The legislators should know that they were actually elected on the basis of their party. It is a rare case where people voted for individuals. Once they are there on the platform of their parties, they have to respect their parties’ constitution. The earlier they accept that the better for them.”
Similarly, a lecturer in the Department of Political Science of the University of Lagos, Prof. Solomon Akinboye, expressed his concern about the conduct of lawmakers at the National Assembly. While recalling how what transpired at the Assembly on the inauguration day, he blamed the APC for not allowing its loyal members to be on the ground.
He said, “This problem would not have arisen if, on the first day of their meeting, when the election was conducted, all the members were there (at the floor of the Senate). I do not know why there were two factions – one at the International Conference Centre waiting for the President for a briefing, the other was in the chamber of the National Assembly conducting election.
“If all of them had been together at the initial stage, and conducted the election, it would have been all credible. I believe that the problem was caused by the APC first. It should have allowed all members to be there at that time when the election was conducted. It appeared that there was some level of defeat on the part of some people; some people played prank, a dirty game. That was what led to the unfortunate scenario.”
Akinboye, however, described the crisis as one of the teething problems in a growing democracy. “Of course, the crisis will have its (adverse) effect on governance, certainly yes. But I believe that the problems are not insurmountable,” he stated.
The political scientist argued that current democratic dispensation is not 16 years old as many people believe. He stated that democracy started properly in 2011 when the votes of the electorate first counted, and later the 2015 election.
He said, “It is not 16 years that we have been having democracy. What we have been having is what I describe as civil rule, not democracy. We started nurturing democracy in 2011 when we had that credible election, aside from the (June 12) 1993 election that is still the best in this country but that was surreptitiously annulled by (military dictator, Gen. Ibrahim) Babangida.”
When the floors of the Senate and the House of Representatives will be open again on July 28, close watchers of the political scene are expecting to see lawmakers find a solution to the challenges that have caused them to adjourn sittings since June 9, 2015.
Source: punch
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