APC National Chair, Reps Caucus Meet Over Automatic Tickets

Baring last minutes changes, a tripartite meeting involving President Bola Tinubu, the National leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as well as the leadership of the National Assembly is expected to hold within the next few days to decide the fate of serving members of the House of Representatives ahead of 2027.

This was the outcome of a closed door meeting that took place place between the party’s national chairman, Yilwatda Nentawe and secretary Surajedeen Basiru on one hand and members of the House of Representatives on the other.

The meeting, which held in the  chamber of the House of Representatives on Monday night had an overview of the executive legislative relationship in the last three years. About 230 members of the party’s caucus attended the meeting which lasted about four hours.

It was gathered that members expressed their concerns over the attitude of some governors to stop the return of most lawmakers in spite of the alleged deal with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to return majority parliamentarians.

But as the bilateral engagements between the party leadership and lawmakers ensue, some governors elected on the platform of the APC have continued to push their demand to replace all federal lawmakers from some identified states.

This development has thrown a slight wedge among the governors’ fold as majority of them had already conceded to a deal reportedly struck with President Tinubu as regards the selection and nomination of candidates for both the National and State Assembly elections ahead of 2027.

According to a source privy to the deal, the President conceded all party positions in the State Working Committees as well as candidates for the State Assembly to the governors.

Similarly, the President was said to have requested that all the NWC positions as well as those to be fielded for the National Assembly elections should be left for him to decide.

It was learnt that Monday’s meeting had an X-ray of the president’s deal with the governors as well as their(governors) push to overturn the agreement reached with Tinubu.

“At least three meetings have been held in respect of this issue between the present and the governors. I know one held in Lagos immediately after Mr President returned from London; it held on a Sunday evening.

“The second one held in Abuja shortly before the convention and both meetings affirmed the earlier agreed positions that governors should take charge of their States while Mr President decides what happens at the national because federal lawmakers are working with the president.

“And in line with that agreement, majority of the governors have agreed to return their federal lawmakers in line with Mr President’s thinking. For instance, Imo, Akwa Ibom, Cross Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Kaduna, Katsina, Kano and at least 20 others have already accepted to return their federal lawmakers in 2027.

“But of course you know this politics; anything can happen and that was the reason the national chairman had to go and meet with the Reps members to feel their pulse because they have really endured and assimilated the ideals of the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr President.

“The only state giving us issues as whole is Ondo where the governor wants to replace all Reps members. We don’t know his reasons but we are looking into the matter internally because the state will lose out on many fronts at the end of it.

“We are taking presentations from all stakeholders and a decisive step will be taken at the end because the most troubling is the fact that the governor is reported to be planning to take the Reps seat to his own Ilaje local government and also take the senate to his federal constituency. We are looking the implications of such because mo one will like to invite the wrath of other zones when the voting period comes”, the source said.