APC confused as Saraki, Dogara consolidate

The leadership of the All Progressives Congress is sulking over the emergence of BukolaSaraki and YakubuDogara as leaders of the National Assembly. Now the election of principal officers has compounded the APC’s woes. EMMA OKEREH in Abuja reports

As the crisis in the All Progressives Congress, APC, continues to fester over the leadership tussle in the national assembly, the president of the senate, Senator BukolaSaraki and the speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. YakubuDogara have stepped up their game to consolidate their grip on the national assembly and by extension, their party.

The duo had last Thursday spurned the party’s directives on the selection of principal officers of its choice. Soon after the inauguration where Saraki and Dogara emerged against the choice of their party, the party again tried to foist its choice on the senate president and the speaker of the House for the positions of senate leader, deputy senate leader, chief whip and deputy chief whip respectively. It also adopted same position for the House of Representatives. But both leaders from the red and green chambers resisted the imposition.

In the senate, the leadership of the party had written to the president of the senate stating its choice for senate leader as Senator Ahmed Lawan who lost to Saraki on the day of inauguration. A letter signed by the national chairman of the party, John Odigie-Oyegun also named George Akume as its preferred choice for deputy majority leader.

The letter was not read on the floor of the senate as the Saraki group otherwise known as the Like Minds has obviously gone into another show of strength with the Lawan’s Unity Forum that has the blessing of the party’s leadership. Rather than read the letter, Saraki announced a meeting of the APC caucus in the senate for 2 pm on Wednesday.

At the meeting, tempers flared and the senators came close to throwing punches at each other, but not without shoving and pushing. The meeting which held at closed door saw the North East senators who got the position of the senate leader rejecting Lawan and rooting for Ali Ndume. When the two groups could not agree, the caucus decided to go into election between the two even as Lawan insisted that the position be handed over to him on a platter of gold since he is the choice of the party.

Every effort made to remedy the situation fell like a pack of cards as Ndume beat Lawan by nine votes to four. Akume also lost to N’allah thus, giving the Saraki group an edge over the party which commentators believe wanted to plant its choices on the way of Saraki.

Surprisingly, the party once again rejected the outcome insisting that its position is supreme and the list it gave out must prevail.

Though the caucus meeting was without bad blood and commotion, Saraki had sued for peace before the meeting which he described in his welcome address as a unique family gathering. He informed them that he had convened the meeting for them to come together, do the needful and embrace each other, put their differences behind them and forge ahead.

In his address he said “it is with humility and sense of responsibility that I welcome you all to this unique family gathering under the banner of our great party, the APC. No doubt, a lot has been happening within and outside our political sphere in the last few weeks. As members of same house, a lot of meetings, interactive sessions and dialogue have been going on and will still continue as expected.

”Distinguished colleagues, I have convened this meeting for obvious reason, among other things, the need to come together, unite with each other and embrace one another on the platform of love, brotherliness, with the belief that we would do all the needful and put our differences behind us and forge ahead.

“As a common parlance, there is always an agreement in disagreement and vice versa. I am well convinced that beyond doubt that today, and after this family reunion, we shall all beat our chest in unionism that yes, we have done it again. I appeal to you all to let us do those things that will unite us than to those things that divide us. For me, I am ready and desirous as colleagues, to work with all of you in order to provide that focused leadership in the senate and national assembly as an institution.

”It is time to bury the hatchet and renew that spirit of love, cooperation and trust in one another. The leadership of our party expects us to hit the ground running and the Nigeria populace is waiting to see us in action to deliver on our promises and commitment. Let us start this journey of unity today and let the world see that yes, in the 8th senate, we are one family. We should not allow ourselves to be distracted by the people around us or be carried away by the noise out there. Let us remain focused and determined.

Needless to state that although the meeting produced principal officers for the positions, it further widened the gulf between Saraki and the leadership of the party. The party insisted that its list must prevail even as president and commander-in-chief, MuhammaduBuhari once again refused to interfere.

But not a few Nigerians want him to wade into the leadership crisis rocking his party as it is generally believed that it constitutes a clog in the wheel of governance. Even the opposition PDP had called for his intervention so that Nigerians will not needlessly suffer.

The two chambers of the national assembly have gone on another round of recess obviously to calm frayed nerves. It is at a time the Buhari administration has not been able to forward his ministerial list to the NASS. Bookmakers are busy beating their chest that Nigeria may not get ministers and a full federal executive till mid August, almost the president’s 100 days in office.

The calculation is that the lawmakers will return on the 23rd of July probably ready with all the principal officers. It will then begin the politics of constituting committees and its chairs and members as this is the engine room of the senate. The ministerial nominees will equally be screened thoroughly and all these delays are not in the interest of Nigerians who expect the administration to hit the ground running especially, in the face of seemingly daunting economic challenges.

Many are of the opinion that President Buhari should not pretend that he does not care about the happenings in the national assembly because if the tussle cripples his performance, he alone will be held responsible. He shouldn’t play the ostrich.

Meanwhile, Saraki and Dogara have shut the national assembly and are presently holding the mace. A quick fix for the APC is to sulk and work with them. After all, they are all members of the same party. There is no known way of reversing what has been done except the principal officers willingly relinquish their highly cherished position. That in itself remains to be seen. APC may also be ingenious for it to have its way. Who knows?