11th May, 2015
Ayorinde Oluokun/Abuja
The battle for the leadership of the new House of Representatives expected to be inaugurated on 4 June, 2015 has gathered momentum with members divided in their support for the two leading candidates – Femi Gbajabiamila (South West) and Abdulmumin Jibrin (North West).
Though there are other contenders like Representatives Pally Iriase (SouthSouth) Ajibola Famurewa (South West) Yakubu Dogara (North West) Mohammed Monguno (North East), P.M.NEWS investigations on Monday revealed that the race have been narrowed to between Gbajabiamila and Jibrin.
The two aspirants have set up mobilization committees to reach out to their colleagues elected from the different geopolitical zones. The failure of the leadership of All Progressives Congress, APC, to come out with a clear cut zoning policy has further heightened intrigues and scheming among the two candidates who, as was gathered, are deploying their foot soldiers across the federation to seek support of party leaders and newly elected members of the House.
While many believe that Jibrin who is the chairman of the House Committee on Finance should not contest for the position of the Speaker because he is from the same political zone as president-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, his supporters have dismissed such suggestion.
Jibrin, like his supporters, argued that while Buhari will be the President for the whole country, the North West should be compensated for giving the largest number of State House of Assembly, Senators members of House and even the highest number of votes to the APC in the 2015 general elections.
He argued that members of the House elected from the North West should be allowed to contest for all available positions in the Green Chamber.
“What do we tell our people if you exclude us from leadership positions in the National Assembly simply because of zoning? We want the President to concentrate on the entire country. We want other offices that we will take back to our people because they need to hold on to something,” said Jibrin.
However, it was gathered that though he has the support of a significant members of the House, he may not have the support of Reps elected from his region as well as the leadership of his party.
On the other hand, Gbajabiamila’s ambition, as was gathered, is being driven by the belief that the APC may eventually zone the position of the Speaker to the South West.
Also, the fact that the Senate President will surely come from the North following the failure of the South-East and the South-South to return any Senator on the platform of APC to the Red Chamber also brightened his chances. The Surulere, Lagos State Representative was the House deputy minority leader in the sixth National Assembly as well as the Minority Leader in this seventh National Assembly that is about to end.
Apart from zoning, lawmakers who spoke to P.M.NEWS affirmed that Gbejabiamila has been tested and has the requisite experience to successfully lead the House.
It was gathered that some members who are opposed to Gbajabiamila’s candidature believe that he is too temperamental and too tied to the apron strings of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the former Governor of Lagos State who is believed to be a major backer of his ambition.
However, in spite of the overwhelming support being enjoyed by Gbajabiamila and Jibrin, P.M.NEWS gathered that Iriase, the Deputy Chairman of House Committee on Constituency Outreach is also making a strong argument for the zoning of the Speakership to the South South in tune with the principle of Federal character. Iriase who is representing Owan East Federal Constituency of Edo State, anchored his bid for the Speakership on the need for fair play, equity and justice.
For now, it’s difficult to know why each of the six geopolitical zones in terms of support for the leading candidates as members have been speaking in discordant tones. Sources close to the two leading contenders are claiming that their principals have support from the different geopolitical zones.
It was also gathered that each of the contenders are feverishly courting the support of members of PDP who, with over 130 members, still have considerable voting strength and may determine who eventually becomes the Speaker if the majority APC lawmakers are unable to agree on a consensus candidate.
The contest for the leadership of the House is also reverberating in the Senate. Elected members of the upper chamber from the South West have promised to give bloc votes to Senator Ahmed Lawan,‘who is one of the four leading candidates for the position of the Senate President.
According to the agreement, elected Representatives from the North East who have the largest number in the House will then support Gbajabiamila for the position of the Speaker.
While it is not yet clear how this will turn out given the fact that some members of the two caucuses in the House and the Senate have denied knowledge of such arrangements, some members are already warning APC to be careful of the way it handles the zoning of the leadership positions in the National Assembly.
They warned that the party should allow members to choose their leaders to avoid suffering the fate that befell PDP in 2011 when members rejected the choice of PDP, the then ruling party.
They also argued that the party should come out with its position on zoning on time as the contestants are already deploying resources to back up their ambition and it may be nearly impossible to convince them to back off due to zoning after they have gone far and have committed a lot of resources to the process.
On the other hand, they also argued that Jibrin and Gbajabiamila should be prevailed upon by the party leadership to reach a decision that will make them to be presented as the consensus candidate of APC for the position of Speaker and the deputy Speaker.
Indeed, some reports indicated that the South West and the North West have agreed to present a joint ticket of the two principal officers of the Green House based on the numerical strength of the two zones in the House.
While North West has the highest number of elected members of the House of Representatives with 92 members, and the South West has 82 members, the two zones thus constitute more than one third of the 360-member House.
“Any delay could cause the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to form the leadership of the assembly in an unusual manner,” Kano State Governor, Alhaji Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, said while advising the leadership of APC to act fast in the zoning formula of the leadership of the National Assembly in a chat with journalists over the weekend.
“I advise the national leadership of APC to act fast before it is too late in the zoning formula for the National Assembly leadership. APC should consider that the issue of leadership of the National Assembly is very important. I also advise the party to avoid making mistakes as the PDP did in 2011. I know they are working on it (the zoning formula), but let it be fast,” Kwankwaso added. He also warned the party to avoid what happened to the PDP in 2011.