NASS leadership: A story of intrigues, drama

Although the leadership of the All Progressives Congress has tried tomanage the crisis that led to the defeat of the party’s candidates inthe elections for the National Assembly leadership, however the seedof distrust and suspicion have been sown in the party. CHRIS EMETOH inAbuja reports

Since Senator BukolaSaraki’s emergence on the 9th of June asPresident of the Nigerian Senate the developmenthas been greeted with mixed reactions as to the legality andacceptability of the process that produced him, giving rise tospeculations of sabotage.

 
It has become common thing to see senators on the different dividesthrowing accusations at each other and exploring constitutionalloopholes to either fault the legality of the inauguration or touphold it. The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has nothidden their displeasure at the outcome of the election that threw upSaraki as Chairman of the National Assembly, which did not favour their anointed candidate, Senator Ahmed Lawan who was absent at theinauguration making it practically impossible to be nominated inor be voted for. Lawan and his supporters in the ‘UnityForum’ were either by commission or omission said to have gone toattend a conciliation meeting of all APC National Assembly members–elect at the International Conference Center ((ICC) with thePresident, MuhammaduBuhari (even though Buhari did not attend) onlyto be stunned by the news that election was ongoing at the NationalAssembly. Before their arrival to the hallow chamber, the SenatePresident in the person of Saraki was already sworn-in andseated in the red chamber.

 
The APC has remained upset and have continued to accuse Saraki of anti-party politics by entering into an ‘unholy’ alliance with the PeoplesDemocratic Party (PDP). They have since threatened disciplinaryactions against both Saraki and YakubuDogara (Speaker of the House ofRepresentatives). APC and some of their supporters see the Saraki,APC/Ike Ekweremadu (PDP) leadership of the National Assembly as notonly fraud, but also a slap on their face even to the amusement of PDPwhich has taunted the ruling party as not prepared for governance.
While APC still mourns the outcome, PDP and indeed manyNigerians including its members have continued to applaud Saraki andDoraga’s emergence.
It is on record that while APC was committed to having its way indetermining the composition of the National Assembly leadership,Buhari’s position has been non-committal. The President had
repeatedly made it clear that he wasn’t interested in whosoeveremerges as the Senate President and Speaker. His position is now themantra of the Saraki-led group of senators, “The Like Minds” which hassince commended Mr. President for his astuteness in his display ofstatesmanship and neutrality on the matter. But did APC and itsNational Leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu share this view?

 
From every indication and the strength of words emanating from the APCSpokesman, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, it is obvious that all is not well withinthe party hierarchy. In a recent statement, Lai Mohammed describedPresident Buhari as a mere product of APC and not its leader as the
party has many leaders. The party is apparently angered by thepresident’s position on the NASS leadership which is opposed toTinubu’s intentions. On the day the 8th NASS was inaugurated (June9) everyone including journalists was shut out of the Assemblypremises thus giving rise to speculations that the event may not holdafter all, not until the intervention of the Sergeant–at–arm andthe SSS. Unconfirmed sources said that Tinubu had instructedsecurity operatives at the National Assembly to delay the inaugurationuntil he was able to resolve issues with the APC senators on thesenate leadership. It was said that the said invitation to the meetingat ICC emanated from Lai Mohammed and not from the Presidency as theLawan camp had claimed. The plot was to coerce Saraki and Dogara toaccept Tinubu’s decision but that a counter directive came in from thePresident, urging the Clerk to proclaim the 8th Assembly at exactly10am.

 
Another version also not authenticated, has it that while it wasTinubu and Buhari who were behind the shutting of the Assemblythat morning, it was David Mark’s intervention and candid advise to
the Clerk that saved the day and prompted the inauguration thatmorning. Although Buhari was quick in congratulating the duo ofSaraki and Dogara and accepted their elections as constitutional,reports from the Presidency indicted him of complicity in the matterthus giving cause to question his sincerity and honesty in the entiresaga that has enveloped the party as regards the National Assemblyleadership election last week.
The Tinubu leadership of APC believes that the President’s stance onseveral issues including his
refusal to honour ministerial nominations from state Governorscontradicts the positions of the party. Buhari’s hard-line stanceand beliefs on governance is gradually pitching him againstthe AsiwajuTinubu’s leadership of APC and making it obvious that indeed he“is for everybody and is for nobody”.

 
However, while the President accepted the National Assembly leadershipelection as constitutional, his Senior Special Assistant (media andpublicity), MallamShehuGarba speaks to the contrary. He said thatBuhari actually communicated to the Clerk of the National Assembly,SalisuMaikasuwa to delay the inauguration to allow APC Senators meetwith him.
He said: “Well, President Buhari had planned to be there to showsupport for the party and once the process had began, the point hadbeen lost. Let me make this clear, I think somebody just wanted tobump into the President because the President had discussed what hewants. Governor Saraki directly or indirectly, the Clerk of theNational Assembly was reached directly or indirectly and they wouldhave shown that respect to Mr. President, but the process went ahead.
And that is it.

 
“The party had begun a process and concluded it and some of theseactors were part of that process. They knew what had happened. Therewas a shadow election of some sort. It is clear that there was nothingaccidental in all of these things that happened.
The process I meant,what I meant is that the APC as a party had began a process forchoosing leaders.
Shehu debunked claims that the meeting was made secret, adding thatthe invitation for the meeting was online and all efforts were made tonotify the key people involved in the drama that played out onTuesday.
He also denied that President Buhari deliberately kept the 51 APClawmakers at the ICC in order for them not to participate in the election.
He, however, said that Buhari would work with whoever is the SenatePresident, adding that the President would support whatever decisionthe APC takes.

 
Shehu’s position was an expression of disappointment at Maikasuwa whom hesaid hurriedly inaugurated the Assembly against the President’s wish.
But Dino Melaye, Spokesman for the Saraki ‘like minds’ said “Buharicouldn’t have issued two contradicting directives, one asking theClerk to proclaim the 8th Assembly at 10am, and another summoning thesame senators-elect that were supposed to be at the inauguration toanother meeting at the same time”. Melaye said that such informationwhere ever it must have emanated from “is a made in Taiwan informationand full of falsehood.”
But from ShehuGarba’s statement, it is understandable why APC feelsbetrayed. Could President Buhari have played a fast game onhis party? Is it true that he is aware of the purported meeting that costLawan the Senate Presidency and Femi Gbajabiamila the speakership ofthe House of Representatives? Or could it be that he doesn’t know thetrue nature of the situation onground and possibly was not properly briefed. These questions beg foranswers which only time will unravel.