Reps Speaker: North-Central’s faltering alliance

The alliance by North-Central Senatorial District’s stakeholders to boost the zone’s quest to produce the next Speaker of the House of Representatives may have suffered a deadly blow, reports Assistant editor, ‘Dare Odufowokan.

THE key question that came to mind when some leaders of the North-Central geo-political zone, within and outside the All Progressives Congress (APC) vowed to ensure that the zone produces the next Speaker of the House of Representatives, is “if APC legislators-elect from the North-Central can be united in defying the leadership of the ruling party.” Today, the question being asked is: “Can the North-Central alliance survive till inauguration day?”

The change in the question betrays a reduction on the number of chieftains still willing to remain part of a recent alliance of aspirants for the Speakership from the zone recently formed to present a common front in the race to determine who will lead the lower chamber when the 9th National Assembly is finally inaugurated next month. Not a few observers have alleged that the said alliance is meant to stop the ambition of Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, the APC leadership’s preferred candidate for the plum job.

Following the pronouncement by the APC leadership of Gbajabiamila as its choice for the speakership of the 9th Assembly, the race became a straight fight between the Southwest and North-Central geo-political zones with party leaders and other prominent persons from the latter zone insisting that the ruling party’s decision is an unfair one. What started as a subtle agitation soon boomeranged into an open defiance to the directive of the party by a number of Reps from the North-Central who declared interest in the position.

While Gbajabiamila emerged as the only candidate from the South-west, the North Central in no time paraded the trio of Idris Ahmed Wase (APC, Plateau), John Dyegh (APC, Benue) and Mohammed Umar Bago (APC, Niger), as serious contenders for the position. In words and deeds, these North-Central aspirants left nobody in doubt of their determination to challenge the decision of the party and contest the Speakership with Gbajabiamila on inauguration day.

United front

Joining other groups and individuals from the zone to champion the struggle for the Speakership position, the North Central Elders Forum (NCEF) urged President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC to zone the position of Speaker of the 9th House of Representatives to the zone. Its Chairman, Alhaji Muhammadu Ari Gwaska, while addressing the press in company of other leaders of the zone, said APC should share political positions in a manner that will accommodate all the divergent interests within the party.

According to the group, the North-Central zone is too strategic to be relegated in the sharing of positions in the National Assembly. “The North-Central deserves the nation’s number four position based on the number of votes it contributed to the reelection of President Buhari during the last Presidential and National Assembly Elections,” the NCEF said.

Speaking on his determination to reject the zoning arrangement, Hon. Dyegh said, “If they are taking the speakership to the South-west, they should take the Senate Presidency to the North-West. If you are giving the Vice-President, the Speaker; give the President, the Senate President to balance it. Nigeria belongs to all of us; it does not belong to individuals. The North-Central has worked for the unity of this country for the APC and the government of the day, particularly President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election.

He wondered why the party is refusing to give due recognition to the contributions of the zone during the last general elections. According to him, the zone will not agree to be cheated. “Why would they think that our votes don’t matter? We brought the third largest votes over and above the South-West. So, why would they take what rightly belongs to us and give it to the South-West which already has the Vice-President? These are the points we are raising,” he added.

And Bago had this to say; “Until and unless the right thing is done, we reiterate our commitment to the pursuit of equity, justice and the independence of the legislature. It is our contention that our party is being goaded towards the same ignoble path which led to the 2015 fiasco, which the National Assembly leadership tussle turned out to be. We view the development as a poorly choreographed political orchestra aimed at using the hallowed precincts of the Presidential Villa to anoint a candidate from the South-west geo-political zone.”

To further ensure that the quest of the zone to produce the Speaker of the House of Representatives contrary to the desire of the APC leadership is achieved, stakeholders in the zone announced that an alliance of the three frontline aspirants was in the pipeline. Reports had it that the trio were already discussing on how to unite and present only one of them to challenge Gbajabiamila on inauguration day.

Dashed hopes

To show that the zone, as well as the aspirants, intend to walk the talk, during the week, two of the three aspirants from the North-Central announced that they were joining forces against Gbajabiamila, in pursuit of their quest that the next Speaker of the House of Representatives should come from the zone. According to reports, Dyegh visited Bago at his campaign office in Abuja, where an alliance was sealed between their two camps with the sole aim of ensuring that the zone is not left out of the leadership positions of the National Assembly.

The two aspirants said they have agreed to work together to fight Gbajabiamila at the speakership poll. “Dyegh came to us, to identify with our cause and that he also believes in the North-Central speakership project. Therefore, he wants us to form an alliance so that we can foster the aspiration of the North-Central. We will choose among ourselves one person that will go for the position,” Bago said. Dyegh also confirmed the meeting and the planned alliance with Bago.

“It was a solidarity meeting so that the speakership will come to the North-Central. Bago is not my enemy; he is my friend. My visiting him was in solidarity, to show to the world that this thing that we are doing is in friendship and it must come to the North-Central. We must work together and make sure that it comes to the zone,” he said. He insisted that the North-Central zone is united behind them in the pursuit of the Speakership. “We feel it is ours. Other people doing it are just trying their luck,” he was reported to have boasted.

Also, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the ruling APC, Yekini Nabena, joined the alliance, calling on the leadership of the party to reconsider its zoning arrangement and give the position of the Speaker of the House of Representatives to the North-Central zone. In his argument, the deputy spokesperson of the ruling party posited that, with Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo coming from South-West, the zone should no longer be considered in the zoning of National Assembly positions.

“The zoning arrangement must also respect the fact that the North-West and South-West have already produced the President and Vice President respectively. So, for equity and adherence to the principle of federal character, which is a constitutional requirement, the positions of Senate President, Deputy Senate President, Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives in the incoming Ninth National Assembly must be occupied by APC members from the remaining four geopolitical regions of the country,” he argued.

But just as supporters of the alliance were about to start rejoicing, Wase’s campaign organisation and that of Gbajabiamila, fused into one as the two lawmakers announced their resolve to work together as one team. The two camps agreed to work together for the emergence of Gbajabiamila as Speaker and Wase as Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives. Supporters of the two lawmakers say with their alliance, the race for the Speakership is already won and lost.

The Nation also learnt that a number of House of Representatives members-elect from the zone may have decided to join Hon. Wase in dumping the North-Central alliance. “When members-elect gathered in Abuja to endorse Gbajabiamila during the week, did you not notice that some of them are Reps-elects from the North-Central zone? That is to tell you that it is not only Wase that has seen the need to submit himself to the dictates of the party. Some of our new members-elect too have seen that and are going with Gbajabiamila,” a source from the zone said.

More troubles

As if Wase’s alliance with Gabjabiamila in the race for the Speakership is not enough headache for the North-Central zone, the six APC House of Representatives members-elect from Kwara State announced their decision to throw their weight behind Gbajabiamila’s candidacy as the next Speaker of the House. With this development, the North-Central alliance will have to do without support from Kwara State and its lawmakers.

Tunji Olawuyi, the spokesperson of the group and lawmaker representing Ekiti, Isin, Irepodun and Oke-Ero Federal Constituency, told reporters on Tuesday that Reps members-elect from the North-Central state unanimously resolved to obey the directives of their party and support Gbajabiamila. “We are all in support of the party’s stand on Gbajabiamila as Speaker for the 9th Assembly. This is what the party wants and we are going by it to avoid a repeat of 2015 where some people sold out the party,” Olawuyi said.

In a move that further unsettled the alliance in the zone over the struggle for the Speakership position, a group of young party chieftains in the zone under the aegis of the North Central APC Youth Movement recently announced their support for the zoning arrangement of the party for the various leadership positions in the National Assembly and especially the House of Representatives. Promoters of the group claimed it draws its membership from all states in the zone.

Insisting that the Adams Oshiomhole-led leadership of the APC is in order with its zoning arrangement, the group reminded those who are currently raising issues over alleged marginalisation of the North-Central in the leadership of the National Assembly, that the position of Senate President, who doubles as the Chairman of the National Assembly, has been occupied by the North Central in the last 12 years and no other zone has publicly kicked against that or made political issues out of the development.

Speaking in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, at a session jointly presided over by Coordinator and Secretary of the group, Jonah Botruang and Abounu Barnabas, the group noted that the ruling party must prevent a repeat of the 2015 experience where the party was outsmarted in the battle for the presiding officers of the National Assembly. “Senator David Mark was Senate President for eight consecutive years, while Senator Bukola Saraki has been in the saddle since 2015,” the group said.