10th NASS: Fresh Crisis Over Move To Replace Abbas

As the rumble over the leadership of the National Assembly festers, there are indications of fresh moves to replace Hon Tajudeen Abbas with Hon Sani Jaji as preferred candidate for the speakership position of the House of Representatives.

LEADERSHIP gathered yesterday that barring any last minute change of plan, the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) would unveil Jaji on Thursday.

It was learnt that the move, which is fallout of ongoing deliberations over the impasse surrounding the speakership race, is aimed at finding a middle ground between the warring camps, while also retaining the position in the North West.

While Abbas is the anointed candidate of the APC, Jaji is a member of the aggrieved aspirants popularly known as G-6.

While b members-elect hail from the North West, Abbas is from Kaduna, while Jaji is from Zamfara.

It was also gathered that Abbas and Hon Idris Wase would be offered ministerial slots as a way of appeasing them.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, it was learnt, met separately with Gadgi and Betara yesterday, while Wase is likely to meet with the president today.

A source disclosed to our correspondents that as of Monday night, emissaries from the president were sent to some aspirants of the G-6 to convince them to accept the party’s zoning arrangement.

The source added that the move by the president was in a bid to mend the damage caused by the handlers of the leadership selection process in the National Assembly.

It was gathered that apparently disturbed that the impasse had dragged on for too long, the president decided to appease the G-6 members.

“He (Tinubu) wants to have a stable administration once he kicks off with his cabinet. The president sent independent hands to secretly find out the strength and weaknesses of each of the aspirants, including the G-6 and the Yari group.

“It will shock you that the outcome is negative because if we don’t break the G-6 by appeasement, we will not go anywhere; so also the Yari and Kalu alliance.

“For the G-6, I think we have made tremendous progress because the president has conceded to drop the choice put forward by the outgoing speaker, I mean Abbass but he still insisted that the northwest must produce the speaker.

“So what he has personally proposed that will be unveiled on Thursday is that he would return to his original plan of Sani Jaji because that was his choice initially and originally before the surprise recommendation came from Gbajabiamila.

“His argument is that Jaji is well known to him, he belongs to the G-6 and since they have reaolved to support one of them, he preeees him and that may be announced on Thursday evening.

“And by way of having an inclusive arrangement, Abbass and Wase are likely to come on board as ministers to represent their states,” our source who did not want his name in print said.

In the party’s zoning arrangement, the leadership of the APC had endorsed Akpabio as Senate President and Senator Barau Jubrin as his deputy.

Hon Abbas also received the blessing of Tinubu and APC as the next Speaker of the House of Representatives, with Hon Benjamin Kalu as his deputy.

But APC lawmakers-elect under the aegis of G-6 fiercely opposed the zoning arrangement, describing it as “an unconstitutional imposition of leadership of the 10th Assembly by forces outside the National Assembly.”