There were indications yesterday that despite their endorsement, the fate of former minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, and Hon Tajudeen Abbas, in the ongoing race for the leadership of the 10th National Assembly may still be hanging in the balance.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) hinted yesterday that it would have no option than to eat some humble pie by revisiting the zoning of principal offices of the 10th Assembly.
Apparently unsettled by the growing protests against the arrangement, national chairman of the party, Sen Abdullahi Adamu, told aspirants for the Senate presidency race who stormed the party’s national secretariat in protest that the party would go back to the drawing board and review the zoning formula.
Bowing to pressure, Adamu admitted that the zoning list is flawed because it was drafted without adequate consultations.
APC had on Monday officially announced the endorsement of Akpabio (South South) as president of the 10th and Abbas (North West) as Speaker of the incoming 10th Assembly.
The party also named Tajudeen Abbas, from Kaduna State (North West) as Speaker of the House and Benjamin Kalu from Abia State (South East) as deputy Speaker.
Miffed by the development, the Senate president aspirants yesterday confronted the party leadership over the choice of Akpabio, vowing to call the party’s bluff on the floor of the Red Chamber on inauguration day.
The aspirants who said one of them, Senator Osita Izunaso, was unavoidably absent met with the APC national working committee barely 24 hours after some aggrieved speakership aspirants had stormed the national secretariat on Wednesday in protest against the endorsement of Abbas as the next Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The aggrieved Senate president aspirants who met with the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) threatened to disobey the party’s directive on the current zoning arrangement if it is not reconsidered.
Speaking at a meeting with the party’s NWC, the aspirants who submitted a letter they jointly signed asked the party to correct the mistake on the zoning formula or face the consequences.
They are former Zamfara State governor, Senator Abdulaziz Yari; former governor of Abia State and Senate chief whip, Orji Uzor-Kalu; Senator Sani Musa, and their colleagues who joined them in solidarity.
Before the aspirants of the upper legislative chamber came protesting, their House of Representatives counterparts referred to as the G7 group had equally confronted the APC NWC, asking the party’s leadership to be prepared for a repeat of what happened in 2015 when those endorsed by the party could not emerge as presiding officers of the National Assembly.
Overwhelmed by the barrage of protests and criticisms from the aspirants, stakeholders and some governors on its platform, the governing party yesterday admitted that the zoning list it released was faulty.
Responding to submissions of Senators Yari, Kalu and Musa, the APC national chairman, Adamu, took responsibility for the zoning list of the National Assembly leadership, saying it was drafted without adequate consultations.
He pleaded with the aspirants to ceasefire and wait for the final outcome of another meeting with the president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, when he returns to the country.
Assuring that this time around consultations would be enlarged, Adamu said, “As chairman of the APC, I take responsibility for what has gone on air. I take absolute responsibility for that. Yes, there was no sufficient or adequate consultations with you who are contesting and it is simple principle of democracy that you get views and opinions. But the circumstances that we found ourselves in after the elections frustrated our desire.
“We will go back to the drawing board. We owe our party that duty to take a look whether what was done cannot be changed; what was done needs some changes or reviews.
“Hold the fire until the last word is heard from us. We are the custodians of the party as NWC but we are not acting alone. The voice of the president-elect is an essential voice. We must accommodate him, the best we can. I will not compromise on that.
“So, he is right now outside the country and by the grace of God when he comes back we will go back to the drawing board and put our heads together again and see what we will get.
“I cannot preempt that. I will wait until we hold that meeting with Mr President-elect, and the same team that we had the same meeting with. If we need to enlarge the committee we will do so. We will be better informed through contributions that we will be made.”
Adamu also said the agitation of the North Central geopolitical zone for reward of voting massively for the party is genuine and would be looked into.
Noting that votes are very important in a partisan democracy, the national chairman said, “On the issue of the North Central – I remain tongue tied talking about North Central- your argument is extremely plausible. I assure you, we will take a look at it along what has been given to the public.
“I don’t want to believe that vote is not essential thing. Vote remains the essential thing in every democracy because vote is the opinion of the populace.”
Earlier, leader of the delegation, Yari, who presented a letter conveying their grievances to the APC national chairman said they were not satisfied with the party’s choice for the office of Senate president.
He said if zoning of the presiding officer of the Senate is not reviewed or reversed to give consideration to the North West which gave APC the highest votes to produce president, the people will turn away from it in 2027.
The former Zamfara governor warned that APC would lost the Senate presidency if it is bent on maintaining its anointed candidate for the plum job.
He stated: “Now if you look at the calculation of what we have in the Senate, it is not a magic we are thinking of because if care is not taken, if we play the way you presented to us, it is not acceptable. Opposition do the nomination and they have their way, which is going to be another problem to us.
“So Mr Chairman, we are not undermining what you are doing; we are doing this for the sake of this party to grow and we are doing it for the best interest of the party because where we are talking today, if we from the North take another decision, it will not be good to all of us and it will become history, and we don’t want that to happen.
“It only if we do justice that we will protect that from happening but we should all pick our pen today and write it, which is 11th May. Anything to the contrary walahi (I swear) the Northern Nigeria will take another decision”.
On his part, Senate chief whip, Kalu, described the zoning formula as undemocratic and unconstitutional, vowing that they were going to challenge it.
He told the NWC members: “We are going to say no. I am a party man and we have never disobeyed this party but this is the first time that we are going to say no on the floor of the Senate. The party should go back to the drawing board and rezone, not by name but by zones.
“You people have done it before and we will do what you have done in the past. So, it is better we settle properly as 59 Senators of the APC. The difference is not much. If you count three or four of us out, you are losing votes already and we have the capacity to get more from the other side and from our colleagues in the party”.
Kalu faulted the impression that the South East zone did not give the party the needed votes in the last general election.
Defending the zone in race for National Assembly leadership positions, the former Abia governor said, “Vote is not a measurement. We had a hurricane in our zone. We need one another and not the level of votes cast. Those who did not vote for the party today can vote for the party tomorrow if they are properly aligned.
“After all we have made progress. Before we used to be one or two Senators but it is no longer so. This thing did not only happen in the South East. Many people from areas where the presidential candidates came from voted along certain lines. I appeal to you people that you must cede something very reasonable to the South East.
“What happened is that there was a presidential candidate from the south East and the entire people of the area decided in a certain direction because if we look at the election, it was not only in the South East that thing happened. Every part of the country had problem of voting.”
In his remarks, Senator Musa expressed dismay about the zoning arrangement, especially as it did not favour the North Central despite its huge contribution to the party’s success.
He stated: “Our geographical setting has become like institutions. You cannot give positions to individuals. I would have expected my brothers from the North West to stand against this template and say let us toe the line we have been toeing since 1999. This injustice needs to be corrected.
“We have six geopolitical zones. The president is from South West; we have vice president for North East. We have the office of Senate president, deputy Senate president, Speaker and deputy Speaker. It is only fair to throw this out to the other four geopolitical zones.”
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