The Peoples Democratic Party last week met with its lawmakers on the tussle for speakership of the House of Representatives. OLAMILEKAN LARTEY writes on the intrigues surrounding the race for the post in the last one week The South-West caucus of the Peoples Democratic Party is in a quandary on the calculations that the activities of the Action Congress of Nigeria may truncate the efforts of the zone to clinch the speakership position in the House of Representatives.
According to the zoning and power sharing formula of the PDP, the Senate Presidency goes to the North-Central; Deputy Senate Presidency goes to the South East, while the position of Speaker has been zoned to the South- West. The deputy speaker has been zoned to the North- East. The zoning and power sharing formula also gives the position of Secretary to the Government of the Federation to the South-East while the position of party chairman goes the North-East.
The appointment of Senator Pius Anyim as the SGF by President Goodluck Jonathan showed clearly that the PDP would abide by the zoning agreement and would, therefore, not rock the boat any further.
Those who are contesting the speakership include , Mrs. Mulikat Akande-Adeola and Muraina Ajibola, both from the South-West and Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, North-West.
That the PDP is confused over the tussle for the speakership is an understatement. The party had met the lawmakers-elect at least three times in the last three weeks. On Friday, it read the Riot Act to the lawmakers, warning that it would not tolerate the violation of its power-sharing arrangement. In spite of the warning, the anti-zoning lawmakers have remained adamant.
The ruling party’s confusion over the tussle was compounded by the feelers from the opposition parties, who had vowed to thwart its zoning arrangement. Specifically, there were indications last week that the ACN might have concluded arrangements to ensure that the PDP zoning formula, which the party sees as undemocratic, would not see the light of day.
At a meeting in Lagos two weeks ago, the ACN was said to have endorsed Tambuwal, as part of efforts to weaken the PDP in the South-West. Indeed, it was gathered that a top ACN chieftain had been the arrowhead of the campaign to support the North-West to clinch the speakership position. The ACN chief had summoned the meeting in which the South-West caucus, which comprises members of the PDP, ACN and LP, were lobbied to support Tambuwal at a meeting in Abuja.
If the ACN succeeds in the project, it would have put a spanner in the works of the PDP zoning arrangement, but it would have achieved its aim of finally snuffing light of the PDP in the South-West. While the ACN sees the speakership position in the South-West as a threat, the few members of the PDP see its absence from the zone as a death knell for the South-West in national politics.
Commenting on the tussle, an ACN member of the House, Mr. Biodun Akinlade, urged the Executive arm of government not to intervene in the race for the speakership of the House.
Akinlade also stated that the ACN members-elect were not divided over the speakership of the House, adding that all the party representatives would support one candidate.
“The wish of the lawmakers should be allowed to prevail. Selecting National Assembly leaders is purely the business of members and they should be allowed to elect leaders of their choice,” he said
A source told The PUNCH that the action of the ACN might backfire because the party had again sold itself to the PDP the way it did before the presidential elections, when it endorsed and voted for the PDP to the detriment of its own candidate. “What is the future of the opposition if an ACN chief can be campaigning for a PDP candidate for the position of speaker? In the sharing of posts they did not even consider the leading ACN chief for position of deputy speaker. The progressive posture of the ACN is a sell out,” the source said.
The opposition would play a decisive role in the process of electing a speaker for the House and ensuring that the South-West does not clinch the position of speaker that was zoned to it. While the Congress for Progressive Change has said it will cooperate with like-thinking parties to ensure a speaker emerges. It said the PDP would not be that party. National Publicity Secretary of the CPC, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, said its members in the House of Representatives would not work with the PDP in its quest to select a speaker for the House. “For us as a party, we shall do what is right and form alliances with the right party, but definitely not the PDP. We shall have alliances with parties that share the same values with us,” he said.
In spite of the ACN’s support for Tambuwal, the situation is still cloudy as there are reports of division among its lawmakers. Even a former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has publicly denied that he is one of the ACN forces behind Tambuwal’s quest to be speaker of the seventh asse mbly. Tinubu who is the de facto leader of the ACN said his alleged support for the PDP member was mere speculation. “I am not a gambler. How do you expect me to respond to such gambling speculation as those who play coupon do? I do not play coupon so I can’t make permutations. Whoever the House of Representatives selects as speaker and other leaders is solely their choice. What Nigeria needs now is stability and action, not this kind of speculation,” he said. Tinubu told reporters in Lagos that the House of Representatives had the right to choose its leader. The ACN chief added, however, that zoning would not be acceptable in the process of making that choice.
Pro-zoning elements in the PDP panicked last week as the ACN’s threat to the emergence of either Ajibola or Akande-Adeola as speaker of the House intensified. Short of campaigning against Tambuwal, they appealed to zonal sentiments which the ACN had jettisoned a long time back and rather settled for reality. They raised issues of “protecting the heritage of the South-West” and the need to strengthen the government. “Are they trying to bring down the government at a time we need to address the misdeeds of the sixth assembly? What is the contribution of the people they are supporting to the House in the past years?
The PDP is determined to ensure that anti-zoning lawmakers do not succeed. Its Chairman, Dr. Haliru Bello, on Friday, said all elected members must ensure a strict adherence to the party guidelines. “It is regrettable that our party has for too long been bedeviled by a history of indiscipline,” Bello said.
The PDP has endorsed Akande-Adeola, thus narrowing the contest to her and Tambuwal. Governors elected on its platform have also met with the lawmakers with a view to ensuring that the zoning arrangement is not violated.
The South-South and North-East caucuses of the party have also endorsed Akande-Adeola, saying they will toe the party line. The North-East caucus leader, Mr. Jerry Uchendu, said “We believe in political compromise for the sustainability of our democracy and our country. No zone should be left out in the political equation of the country and for the stability of the country. We have told our colleagues that we should not question the platform that brought us to Abuja.”
As the seventh National Assembly is inaugurated today, events on the floor of the lower chamber will determine the level of discipline in the PDP.
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Speakership: Where does the pendulum swing?