NASS ELECTIONS: Mulikat, Tambuwal set for tight race in Reps •200 members-elect back Adeola-Akande •Mark set to re-emerge Senate president

THE stage is set for the proclamation of the seventh National Assembly today, with the convening of senators and Reps-elect  for the new session in Abuja.

The Clerk to the National Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa, who will conduct the elections into the two chambers of the Assembly had issued statements confirming that the elections would kick off at 10.00 a.m.

Going by tradition, the process would start from the Senate, where the clerk would first read the presidential proclamation. The clerk would then proceed to conduct elections into the seat of Senate president and his deputy before moving over to the lower chamber, the House of Representatives, where he would also conduct the election of the speaker and the deputy.

It was confirmed, at the weekend, that all is now set for the unanimous adoption of Senator David Mark as Senate President. His deputy in the last Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has also been adopted as the deputy president of the Senate in the seventh Senate kicking off today.

One of the coordinators of the Mark for Senate president campaign, Senator Smart Adeyemi, told newsmen last week that 91 senators had endorsed Mark and Ekweremadu as of last Friday.

He also said on Sunday that all was well with the arrangement to install Mark as president of the new Senate, adding that senators had given their words and that Mark and Ekweremadu were the sole candidates for the presiding officer-posts in the upper chamber.

The situation in the House of Representatives is, however, not as certain as that of the Senate. It was confirmed that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is sticking to its choice of Honourable Mulikat Adeola-Akande for the post of Speaker of the House. The position of the deputy speaker is also retained in the North-East, with Honourable Yakubu Dogara being the preferred choice.

But the campaigners for Honourable Aminu Tambuwal (PDP North-West) were unrelenting till Sunday.
Some of the supporters of Honourable Muraina Ajibola, who was earlier endorsed by the South West PDP for the top job, were being reached by Tambuwal, with a view to feasting on that division.

Though Ajibola was yet to announce his support officially for Mukilat, it was understood that the PDP in the South-West had asked him to do so.

Sources said on Sunday that the former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, had agreed to the choice of Adeola-Akande and conceded to the president the right to back any of the contenders.

He was, however, said to have warned Jonathan of the plot by some forces to hijack the speaker position and use it to frustrate his government policies and programmes.

It was also learnt that Obasanjo had admonished all PDP members-elect from the South-West on the need to ensure that the zoning arrangement of the party remained intact.

It was gathered on Sunday that members of the Labour Party (LP), as well as old and the newly elected members of the House Representatives from the South-East, South-South, North-Central and North-East had agreed on the need to elect Adeola-Akande and Dogara as speaker and deputy.

It was learnt that Adeola-Akande’s competence as a lawyer and the need for gender and religious balance in the political equation gave the Oyo State-born lawmaker the edge.

Some top PDP leaders were also said to be working on the leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Senator Bola Tinubu, to ensure that members of his party voted for the choice of the PDP.

It was gathered that Tinubu had been convinced on the need for a speaker from the South-West, even if the candidate did not belong to his party.

It was also gathered that details of the N10 billion scam that rocked the Honourable Dimeji Ban-kole-led House, with the involvement of Tambuwal and Honourable Emeke Ihedioha, had been shown to Tinubu and members-elect of the seventh House of Representatives.

PDP leaders were said to be relying on details of the scam to convince members on the need to elect a clean House, which would not be out to protect vestiges of the bad past.

A statement by the media aide to Bankole, Mr Idowu Bakare, also confirmed the alleged involvement of Tambuwal and Ihedioha in the N10 billion scam.

Bakare, in the statement, said Bankole was not even part of the sharing of the alleged loan, which was shared among the principal officers, including Tambuwal and Ihedioha.

Meanwhile, no fewer than 200 members-elect of the House were said to have signed for Honourable Adeola-Akande as speaker, on Sunday.

Sources confirmed to the Nigerian Tribune that the lawmakers cut across the geopolitical zones, including the South-South, South-East, North-Central and North-East.

Some South-West lawmakers, including all Labour Party lawmakers, were said to have signed for Adeola-Akande.

It was gathered that the PDP was sure of getting a bulk of members-elect from the North-West, with a source confirming that members-elect from Kebbi, Niger and Zamfara had agreed to back the woman candidate.

Members-elect were said to be pledging in droves to back the zoning arrangement of the PDP and stop the anti-zoning elements attempting to rubbish the plan.

In another development, the process of electing the new speaker of the House of Representatives has continued to generate more controversy, following the resolve by new members-elect to vote against any imposed candidate.

This is coming as Honourable Tambuwal shunned all entreaties from state governors and the presidency to withdraw from the race.

Checks revealed that some members were rooting for Tambuwal on the basis that his leadership would affirm the independence of the legislature.

Speculations were rife that a section of the PDP had shown sympathy for the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and had called on the leadership of the party and the presidency to allow members of the House to freely elect who would lead them.

The General-Secretary of NBA, Mr Olumuyiwa Akinboro, in a statement, said the perceived interference in National Assembly matters amounted to a breach of the Nigerian constitution.

The NBA said members of the National Asembly and, indeed, the House of Representatives, were elected freely by the people, adding that there was no reason the election of speaker or any other officers should be imposed by the presidency.

The group reminded the president of the goodwill commanded by the peaceful conduct of the last elections in Nigeria from across the globe, noting that it would be too early to squander such popular goodwill.