The All Progressives Congress (APC) changed the political tide when in the March 28 presidential election, it won the presidency and majority of seats in the National Assembly, comprising the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Up till now, the party boasts of 63 of the total 109 seats in the Senate, conceding 45 to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that used to be in control. The winner of the Edo South senatorial election has not been announced, and it could go either way. The party also has over 200 of the 360 lawmakers in the House of Representatives.
While General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.) and Prof Yemi Osinbajo will be sworn-in as president and vice president, respectively, on May 29, the National Assembly will also change its leadership the following month giving its control to the APC.
Presently, there are concerns among stakeholders about the measures the party will use to bring up the leaders of the legislative houses, especially since prior to the party’s presidential primary, there were no clear cut arrangements or modality for occupying any office.
The party had five presidential aspirants from different geo-political zones of the country. Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar from the North-East; Governor of Imo state, Rochas Okorocha from the South-East; Publisher of Leadership Newspapers, Sam Nda Isaiah from the North-Central; General Muhammadu Buhari from the North-West and Kano State governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, also from the from the North-West, all contested for the party’s presidential ticket which Buhari eventually won.
In the PDP, certain positions are zoned to certain areas, making it impossible for anyone from any zone outside it to aspire for such office.
The fact that there are no clear measures and rules guiding occupancy of any office in the APC, perhaps, necessitated the struggle for the leadership of the NASS by its members from different zones.
Presently, there is a struggle for the leadership of the Senate by people from the North-West, North-East, North-Central and the South-West. The only zones left out are the South-East and South-South where the party had a poor showing at the polls.
In the House of Representatives, six law makers including Pally Iriase (South South), Femi Gbajabiamila (South-West), Abdulmumin Jibrin (North-West), Yakubu Dogara (North-East), Monguno Mohammed Tahir (North-East) and Ajibola Isreal Famurewa (South-West) are jostling for its speaker position.
Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, the current Speaker of the House of Representatives and governor-elect of Sokoto state was not the choice of the PDP (where he was a member then). The position was originally zoned to the South-West and not the North-West where Tambuwal hails from.
But the House did away with rule and voted Tambuwal as Speaker. The tenure of Tambuwal remains the most peaceful and organised under current political dispensation.
In that keenly contested race between him and Mulikat Akande-Adeola (South-west), Tambuwal, a former Deputy whip, scored 252 votes to Akande-Adeola’s 90 votes. The total votes cast were 340 with eight invalid votes and one member abstaining.
Whereas the modality to be used by the APC is still not open to the public, it was gathered that the matter is of great concern to the party’s National Working Committee (NWC).
At its meeting at the party’s national secretariat Wednesday, in Abuja, where the NWC deliberated on a number issues including the formation of an APC government by next month, a source at the meeting told LEADERSHIP Sunday that, “The leadership of the party was finding a way to minimise the number of members aspiring for the leadership of the eighth National Assembly”.
While the party is yet to come up with a position on how its leaders will emerge at the NASS, the APC may have to take a cue from the emergence of Tambuwal and allow the lawmakers choose their leaders without any interference and barring of anyone.
Source: LEADERSHIP
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