By Olusegun, Olanrewaju and Nathaniel Zacchaeus

The D-Day is here when members of Nigeria’s 10th National Assembly members will pick their principal officers.

Already, necessary security and logistics arrangements have been perfected by the management of the Assembly for the inauguration of the 10th Senate and House of Representatives today.

ThisNigeria investigation revealed that the premises of the apex legislative institution have been decorated in the nation’s green and white colour, preparatory for the occasion.

The Clerk to the National Assembly (CNA), Sani Magaji Tambawal, in a paid announcement, had said the event would hold at the makeshift chambers being used by the federal lawmakers, while their guests, other invited personalities, and accredited journalists would use the big tents erected in the arcade of the federal parliament.

A combination of security operatives from the military, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), the Department of State Service (DSS), and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) were seen taking positions as of the time of filing this report yesterday evening.

The election of presiding officers would be the first assignment of the CNA after he had read the proclamation letter from President Bola Tinubu and completed the roll call of elected members in attendance as of 10:00 am.

 

*Akpabio, Yari set for showdown over Senate Presidency

Two elected senators, who are also former senators, Godswill Akpabio and Abdul’Aziz Yari will be contesting the position of Senate President while the duo of Senator Barau Jibrin and Orji Uzor Kalu will be battling to secure the seat of deputy senate president.

Akpabio and his supporters, under the auspices of the Stability Group, had claimed that it had more than enough senators-elect on their side, while the Yari group operating under the aegis of Senate Democratic Caucus, is also throwing weight around.

Akpabio and Jibrin had been endorsed by the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) before adoption by President Tinubu.

Some of the senators in the Akpabio/Jibrin’s Stability Group include Ali Ndume, who is the Director-General: Dave Umahi (Chairman) and Senators Opeyemi Bamidele, Solomon Adeola, and others.

Yari, on the other hand, had aggrieved aspirants including senators Orji Uzor Kalu; Osita Izunaso, and Sani Musa in his fold.

The former governor of Zamfara on Sunday night, named Kalu as the deputy senate president aspirant, who would run on the same joint ticket with him.

Further investigations by ThisNigeria revealed that former and serving state governors have stormed Abuja for the epoch-making event.

Both sides were sending out propaganda information about their numerical strength as of the time of filing this report.

For instance, the Akpabio group issued a statement last night that all the South-East senators-elect had endorsed the erstwhile former governor of Akwa Ibom State, but the Yari’s group was quick to debunk it.

 

*Abbas, Kalu most likely to emerge House speaker, deputy

Weeks back the mill had been buzzing that the duo of Tajudeen Abbas and Benjamin Kalu had been primed to pick the House of Representatives speakership and deputy speakership respectively, ahead of today’s inauguration.

As the APC consensus candidates for the speakership and deputy speakership respectively, the duo of Abbas and Kalu spent more time garnering the needed support of many members-elect, apart from garnering the backing of governors, civil society organisations (CSOs), and other stakeholders, for endorsement.

The ruling party’s National Working Committee (NWC) had on May 8 released their list of consensus candidates for the four parliamentary slots of senate presidency and deputy presidency; Speakership and deputy speakership.

In the zoning plans, the APC endorsed Akpabio from the South-South geo-political zone as the President of the 10th Senate, while Barau Jibrin from the North-West was picked as his deputy.

Also in the House of Representatives, the party endorsed Abass from the North-West as the Speaker and Kalu from the South-East as Deputy Speaker.

Since the announcement, other aspirants for the office of the Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, several members-elect, and some key stakeholders have been simmering with resentment.

The anger was more evident in the green chamber particularly, as the aggrieved aspirants formed a group known as the G-7, with a plan to rebel against the party’s choice and select their consensus candidates.

But despite their decision to forge ahead, it appears Abass/Kalu are favoured in the eyes of their colleagues and party stakeholders, as endorsements have been flying in from all corners.

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Monitoring

Ahead of campaigns, the National Assembly leadership had begun a Parliamentary Monitoring Organisation, OrderPaper Nigeria, and its partners through their annual performance appraisals beamed light on the importance of performance, capacity, and character as criteria in the race for National Assembly leadership.

An online report stated that the MVP Hall of Fame initiative, which is in furtherance of OrderPaper’s contributions to legislative strengthening and promotion of improved service delivery in the National Assembly, aimed at identifying and sustaining a distinct class of legislators who are performance-driven, excellence-inspired, and public-spirited.

It added that the annual appraisals focused exclusively on the core legislative function of law-making, and consideration for the MVP nomination and subsequent shortlisting essentially applied the criteria of Value, Impact, and Productivity in rating the contributions of those shortlisted.

The team of panellists that conducted the selection had Prof. Ladi Hamalai, a former director general of NILDS, as the head with Prof. Ali Ahmad, a former lawmaker, Ikechukwu Uwanna, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, Amos Dunia, Kemi Yesufu as members, while Oke Epia is the founder.

 

*Endorsement by members-elect

Apart from tacit support by Vice President Kassim Shettima, feelers are that Abass and Kalu are probably in a vantage position to clinch the speakership.

A report noted that, during the visit to APC national secretariat, the large number of members-elect that attended the session was ‘too many to count’ as, despite the large size of the NWC conference room, many members-elect couldn’t find seats.

“Probably not believing that the majority of the people present are all members-elect, the APC Chairman Abdullahi Adamu had to insist that all members-elect should introduce themselves individually, which they did.

“He was shocked to see that even members of PDP, NNPP, LP, APGA etc were part of the delegation. It took members of the team close to 30 minutes to introduce themselves.

“At the meeting, Abbas and Kalu informed the party’s NWC that over 250 members-elect are currently working with them ahead of the June 13 inauguration.

“Also, recently, one of the speakership aspirants and former member of the G-7, Hon. Ado Doguwa, withdrew from the race to join the campaign trail of Abbas and Kalu.

“Declaring his support, Doguwa said he and two other aspirants Hon. Makki Yalleman and Hon. Abdulraheem Olawuyi had seen reasons to join the APC preferred candidates.

According to him, “I have benefited from party arrangements, this kind of arrangement. I’m the majority leader courtesy of my party. So, it’s only fair to stand beside my party’s decision. The time has come for me to pay back.

“We are here individually and collectively to support Tajudeen. We are surrendering our speakership ambition. The selection process of Abass is not biased and he and Kalu are qualified to be speaker and deputy.”

The most recent and momentous endorsement came from the spokesman of the Coalition of United Political Parties, CUPP, and member-elect representing Ideato North South Federal Constituency, Ikenga Ugochinyere.

He and 62 other members-elect who announced that they are backing Abass and Kalu as Speaker, Deputy Speaker of the incoming 10th Assembly called on the other candidates in the race who were banking on opposition votes to stage a rebellion against the Tajudeen Abbas/ Benjamin Kalu ticket to withdraw from the race as the opposition votes they were banking on would no longer be available for them.

 

*Endorsement by governors

State governors have also taken their sides in the National Assembly leadership war.

Apart from the CSOs and lawmakers who have declared their support for the duo, they have also gotten the blessing of some outgoing and incoming governors.

For instance, Nasarawa State governor, Abdullahi Sule, warned that he and his counterparts from the ruling APC caucuses in the North would not go against the choice of the then president-elect regarding the leadership of the 10th National Assembly.

Sule said as a governor, he also has preferred candidates for the leadership of his State Assembly, and that nobody would disagree with him on such a decision.

According to him, they are loyal party members who would want the new Tinubu administration to succeed.

On his part, former governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong, urged the speaker and deputy speakership candidates to remain true to the attributes that endeared them to the party’s leadership which informed their selection and endorsement.

Lalong also appealed to the duo not to forget North-Central if they emerge after the inauguration of the National Assembly.

 

*Wike, Uzodimma, Fubara, other govs storm Abuja, mobilise for Akpabio

Meanwhile, the former Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, and the Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, have intensified their campaigns for the choices of the APC leadership.

This came just as senators from the South-East geo-political zone yesterday abandoned their own, Orji Uzor Kalu, as they endorsed Akpabio (APC-Akwa-Ibom) and Jibrin (APC-Kano) as their choice candidates for Senate President and Deputy Senate President of the 10th Assembly, respectively.

Imo State governor, Hope Uzodimma, disclosed this in Abuja after a meeting he held with the 15 senators-elect of the South-East geo-political zone.

“It was a meeting of the South-East caucus of the Senate. All 15 of them attended the meeting. We resolved to toe the line of the preferred candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Senate to support Akpabio and Barau.

“As it has to do with the Senate president and the Deputy Senate President, the APC, with most senators-elect has preferred and recommended Senator Akpabio and Senator Jibrin.”

According to the Imo State helmsman, “Whether you are Labour Party (LP), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) or the APC, the South-East is South-East, and leadership is leadership.

“We think we will be more organised in the interest and unity of the country to work with the ruling party so our people will also have the opportunity to get dividends of democracy,” Uzodimma stressed.

“Engagement is continuing. I am leaving now for an important meeting to engage some senators-elect with opposing views to the choices already made.

“The rule of the business is; you will disagree first before you will agree. So having disagreed all these while, between now and Tuesday morning, we will all agree,” the governor added.

On his part, Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, who is in Abuja ahead of today’s inauguration, declared the stance of the state to support the APC’s preferred choices of Akpabio as the Senate President and Abbas as the speaker.

Earlier, at a meeting with the National Assembly members-elect of Rivers State at the Executive Council Chambers of the Government House, Port Harcourt, Governor Fubara had explained that the declared support is to advance Nigeria’s interest.

He asserted that the position of the state should be in the interest of all elected national Assembly members from Rivers State who are expected to be formally admitted to either of the chambers when proclaimed.

The Rivers State governor charged members-elect not to veer off the declared interest of the state to remain focused on electing the preferred choices.

He admonished the members-elect to always work together as a team to make the desired impact and enjoy the dividends that follow.

Fubara also assured the members-elect of continuous support to remain relevant in national affairs.

Speaking on behalf of the members-elect, the Senator-elect for Rivers South-East Senatorial District, Barry Mpigi, commended Fubara for the strategic meeting and assured that members will certainly work in line with the charge of the governor as the leader of the state.

Meanwhile, The Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde has revealed that he and some of his colleagues would be at the National Assembly today to ensure the emergence of the preferred candidate of President Bola Tinubu as Senate President.

The Governor made this known yesterday in Ibadan during a post-second term inauguration interdenominational thanksgiving service, organized in his honour by the state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in conjunction with Fathers of Faith in Oyo State.

Makinde disclosed that he and others like him are supporting the emergence of Tinubu’s candidate in the interest of fairness, justice, and equity.

Speaking at the event held at the Oritamefa Baptist Church, Ibadan, the Oyo State Governor disclosed that just as they supported the emergence of a southern President in the 2023 election, they are ready to ensure Tinubu’s choice ‘who is a Christian from the South-South region of Nigeria’ emerges as the next Senate President of Nigeria.

“We are not playing religious politics but what is fair is fair. We stood for Southern presidency; we stood for justice, fairness and we are going to stand for equity as well,” he said.