With just nine days to the inauguration of the incoming government, president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is back to Nigeria from Europe where he had been on a working visit for over one week.
Tinubu’s jet touched the presidential wing of the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja, on Saturday afternoon.
Tinubu left for Europe again on May 10, two weeks after he returned from a tour of three countries, including London, Saudi Arabia and Paris.
He was received at the airport by vice president-elect, Kashim Shettima; Senate President Ahmed Lawan; Senator-elect, Godswill Akpabio; deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Idris Wase, and Kano State governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, among other party big wigs.
The president-elect had last week embarked on the trip to France, saying it was to enable him perfect plans for his inauguration and policy thrusts with his key aides without undue pressure.
“He will use the opportunity of the trip to finetune the transition plans and programmes, and his policy options with some of his key aides without unnecessary pressures and distractions,” a statement from his media office signed by Tunde Rahman had noted.
The statement further noted that in the course of the visit, Tinubu will also meet with investors and other key allies to market investment opportunities in the country as well as his administration’s readiness to create a business-friendly climate through policies and regulations.
“He is scheduled to return shortly for preparations towards his official swearing in as the 16th President of the country on May 29, 2023,” the statement also said.
But Tinubu’s return to the country to prepare for the transition programme may not go smoothly, as the crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress (APC) over its endorsements of some lawmakers as presiding officers of the incoming 10th National Assembly is staring him in the face.
The president-elect, LEADERSHIP Sunday gathered, will today meet with leaders of his party, governors on the party’s platform, aspirants for principal offices of the federal legislature and other stakeholders to resolve the impasse over the National Assembly leadership tussle.
Our sister publication, LEADERSHIP, had reported last week that the party leadership would meet this weekend over the contentious race for the Senate and House of Representatives leadership.
The meeting which comes barely seven days to the inauguration of Tinubu, according to party sources, would either seek to assuage aggrieved aspirants or tinker with the zoning arrangement released earlier by the party.
Meanwhile, the Joint Task Force as well as the Unity Group held separate meetings in different locations in Abuja at the weekend to review their strategies.
Both groups are however sympathetic to Hon Tajudeen Abbass, who enjoys the backing of the outgoing Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila.
In what could pass for a counter move, the aggrieved speakership aspirants under the aegis of the G-6 met with the minority caucus of the House of Representatives yesterday.
Aspirants for the NASS leadership positions had rejected the APC zoning formula which favoured South South’s Senator Godswill Akpabio for Senate president; North West’s Senator Jibrin Barau for deputy Senate president; North West’s Hon Tajudeen Abbas for Speaker of the House of Representatives, and South East’s Hon Benjamin Kalu for deputy Speaker.
APC national chairman, Sen Abdullahi Adamu, following protests, had hinted at revisiting of the zoning arrangement, while conceding the need for further consultations.
The ruling APC has a majority in the Senate but does not enjoy the same in the House of Representatives.
Amid a high number of first time lawmakers, APC has 59 senators-elect out of the 109-member chamber and 160 House members-elect out of the 360 chamber.
However a party source told LEADERSHIP Sunday that the president-elect was earlier scheduled to return on Tuesday, but the national chairman, Adamu Abdullahi, was said to have sent word to him on Thursday night that he was losing grip of the protests against the zoning issue.
“You know Baba is old and each day has been coming with one protest or the other. So he had to send words to the president-elect through his vice, Kashim Shettima who equally briefed his boss,” the source who did not want his identity revealed stated.
It was further learnt that the governing party sought the intervention of the president-elect following concerns over the outcome of the pro-Abbas meeting last Wednesday where less than 80 Reps members-elect attended out of 113 that have appended their signatures.
Another source told thisn paper in confidence: “Funny enough, it was observed that some Rep members were appending fake signatures to the Abbas list whereas they were with other aspirants. That itself calls for great concern.
“Now that he is around, we believe things will be sorted out. I can confirm to you that the deputy speaker Ahmed Wase just held a brief meeting with Tinubu.
“We know Wase was informed of the return of Jagaban who also insisted he must go to the airport which he did”, the source added.
Confirming his meeting with the president-elect, Wase said there was nothing unusual about the meeting.
“It was a meeting between father and son; nothing unusual about it at all. As a father, our incoming president deserves the best of information that can help him launch out well and strong.
“The details are not for public consumption but I can assure you that institutional integrity is about being strengthened by the president-elect in the days to come”, Wase said.
G-6 Meets Minority Caucus
Meanwhile, following the president-elect’s arrival in Abuja, the aggrieved speakership aspirants under the aegis of the G-6 yesterday met with the minority caucus of the House of Representatives.
All members of the G-6, except Wase, who was at the Airport to receive Tinubu, were present at the meeting which was held at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.
Hon Sada Soli who spoke on behalf of the G-6 informed the opposition parties that the group had agreed on an individual as a consensus candidate for the speakership.
He, however, disclosed that the identity of that individual would be kept under wraps until the day of the inauguration to avoid establishment focus and monitoring.
Meanwhile, a source conversant with meetings of the Tajudeen Abbas camp yesterday noted that the strategy meeting was aimed at not just intensifying effort to gain the edge in the numbers game but identifying members who are genuinely with them.
The source said “It appears there are several persons who are just mingling with us to show solidarity because of the position of the president-elect that they don’t want to hurt.”
Minority Caucus Denies Backing Abass For Speaker
Meanwhile, elected members of minority parties for the forthcoming 10th House of Representatives, known as the “Greater Majority,” have rejected claims that they have endorsed a specific candidate for the Speaker’s position.
Rumours of their endorsement surfaced after a meeting between the caucuses, stakeholders, and the outgoing House Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila.
The group was reported to be aiming for consensus, which was misinterpreted by some media outlets as backing Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, the endorsed candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
In response to the rumours, the “Greater Majority” released a statement signed by its secretary, Hon. Ali Isa JC, disavowing any endorsement of Abbas and warning the media against spreading potentially misleading information.
“We hereby use this opportunity to categorically state that at no time did the minority caucuses endorse anyone,” the statement read.
It emphasised that the group’s meetings with Gbajabiamila and Abbas were part of their consultation process, with no promises made to any candidate.
The group further clarified: “Our caucuses will only make our choices known after we have concluded all necessary consultations and our choice will ultimately be based on what will be acceptable to the generality of Nigerians.”
The “Greater Majority” also announced a delay in their retreat in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, now scheduled for May 31st to June 3rd, 2023.
North Weighs Options, APC’s Adopted Reps Team Restrategise
Meanwhile, the Northern political establishment is still reviewing the unfolding leadership tussle for the National Assembly before taking a position, it was learnt yesterday.
It was also gathered that leaders from the region would in coming days begin to bring their influence to bear on the matter.
However, feelers from top northern political establishment indicate that the region is still weighing its options over the array of aspirants for the top positions.
A member of the Board of Trustees of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), who spoke in confidence said, “In a couple of days, maximum 12 days from now, you will feel the pulse of the North. For now, we are merely watching events, weighing our options and putting our ears to the ground.”
The northern chieftain, who was also a former Senator, added: “We are more interested in the candidates with the interest of the North at heart and not those who have sworn to be subservient to their masters. We are looking for those whose antecedents can speak for them.
“For crying out loud, we all wanted the presidency to shift to the South and it did. We caved in by allowing the vice president to come from the North-East. But how would our people see us if what is purportedly zoned to us is now going to be dictated by those we freely supported?
“Of course, this cannot be democracy because if it is, the President-elect would not have supported this autocratic act being perpetrated by one of his close allies,” he said.
Executive, Party Should Not Teleguide Legislators On Choice Of Leadership – ACF
However, the apex northern socio-cultural body, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has asked the APC and the executive arm of government to allow the National Assembly members to choose their leaders.
ACF secretary general, Aliyu Murtala, noted yesterday that normally, the forum does not get involved in political decision, either in a selection process by political parties or government.
Noting that ACF is not partisan, Murtala said, “We normally don’t get involved but what we advise is that quality, merit and political exigencies should be the guiding principle. The National Assembly is going to choose their leadership; our advice is that they should choose what is best for them.
“We belief that the National Assembly issue is clearly not their own problem, for instance they will not go and tell president-elect who should be his secretary to government, Head of Service or minister. The prerogative is on the president-elect to do also in accordance to constitutional requirements for the National Assembly to process.
“So, the National Assembly should be allowed to choose their own leadership and it is not about South or North but who will give the National Assembly the appropriate leadership and I think the members themselves are in the best position to decide. Members should be encouraged to choose quality leadership and not to be teleguided by either the executive or even the party”.
Recall that the spokesman of the Northern Elders Forum, Malam Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, recently advised prospective candidates of Northern extraction to work together and pick consensus candidates among themselves since they know each other’s capacity for the betterment of the larger society.
“But deep down in them, they are not for us. We are already beginning to know some of them, especially when Betara returned from Paris after his meeting with the president-elect.”
The source noted that the unfavorable attendance at last Wednesday’s meeting of the Joint Task was a pointer for them to work harder.
“That is the reason we are calling for a meeting to review our chances and give Concession where necessary. We need to review our strategies to know who is for us and those against us. As of today, no one can boast of having the majority numbers among the members-elect,” the source noted.
In a related development, another frontline speakership aspirant, Murktar Aliyu Betara is said to have intensified his campaign after meeting with president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Paris, France.
According to a source close to the Borno lawmaker, Betara had to up his game because he was pointedly told the alternative option of retaining his Appropriation Committee headship was also not feasible on the ground that he said it late, and that it had been used to placate Hon. James Faleke from Kogi state.
