There is a cyclone in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) rooted in a wave of forces arrayed against the zoning arrangement for the foundation of the 10th National Assembly (NASS).
Aggrieved aspirants for the principal leadership positions in the 10th Senate and House of Representatives yesterday stormed the party’s headquarters in Abuja to register their grievances against the zoning arrangement instituted by the party’s National Working Committee (NWC).
The protesters were demanding the drop of the forwarded name of Senator Godswill Akpabio and Tajudeen Abbas for the offices of Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives respectively, as the battle to constitute the 10th NASS rages.
Warring against the choice of former Akwa Ibom State senator, Akpabio and Representative Abbas, they called on the party’s leadership to go back to the drawing board by engaging in a new selection module.
At the receiving end of the rage was APC chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, who disclosed the news that yesterday, he received some aggrieved aspirants for the senate presidency, including Abdul’Aziz Yari (Zamfara), Orji Kalu (Abia) and Sani Musa (Niger) at the party’s national secretariat in the nation’s capital.
The aspirants, who said one of them, Osita Izunaso (Imo) was unavoidably absent, came barely 24 hours after some speakership aspirants were on protest at the national secretariat over the choice of Abass.
The aggrieved speakership hopefuls involved include Ahmed Idris-Wase, Deputy Speaker, Muktar Betara, the chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation; Yusuf Gagdi (Plateau), Miriam Onuoha (Imo), Sada Soli (Katsina), and Sani Jaji (Zamfara).
•Calm down, we’ll look into your issues, party chair assures
Reacting to grievances displayed by Yari, Kalu, and Musa, the party chair, Adamu took responsibility for the zoning list that had earlier been announced by the leadership, acknowledging that it was put together without adequate consultations.
The APC chairman called on the aspirants to cease the fire and wait for the outcome of another meeting when President-elect Bola Tinubu returns to the country.
He also assured me that consultations would be enlarged.
Adamu said, “As the chairman of the APC, I take responsibility for what has gone on air. I take absolute responsibility for that. Yes, there were no sufficient consultations with those who are contesting, and it is a simple principle of democracy that you get views and opinions. But, the circumstances that we found ourselves in after the elections frustrated our desire.
“We will go back to the drawing board. We owe our party that duty to take a look at whether what was done cannot be changed; what was done needs some changes or reviews.
“Hold the fire until the last word is heard from us. We are the custodians of the party as NWC, but we are not acting alone. The voice of the president-elect is essential. We must accommodate him, the best we can. I will not compromise on that.
Referring to the president-elect’s travel, the APC chairman added, “So, he is right now outside the country, and by the grace of God, when he comes back, we will go back to the drawing board and put our heads together again, and see what we will get.”
“I cannot pre-empt that, I will wait until we hold that meeting with Mr President-elect; the same team that we had the same meeting with. If we need to enlarge the committee, we will do so. We will be better informed through contributions that we will be made,” he said.
Adamu also said the agitation of the North-Central geopolitical zone for a reward, after massive voting for the party, was genuine and would be looked into, adding that votes were very important in a partisan democracy.
He said, “On the issue of the North-Central, I remain tongue-tied talking about the North-Central. Your argument is extremely plausible. I assure you, we will take a look at it along with what has been given to the public.
“I don’t want to believe that voting is not an essential thing. The vote remains the essential thing in every democracy because the vote is the opinion of the populace,” the former Nasarawa State governor said.
•Vow to work against party if zoning is not revisited
Earlier, the leader of the delegation, former Zamfara State governor, Yari, who presented a letter conveying their grievances to the APC national chairman, said they were not satisfied with the party’s choice for the senate president’s office.
He voiced that if the party’s zoning of the presiding officer of the Senate was not reviewed or reversed to consider the North-West which gave the APC the highest vote to produce the president, the people will turn away from it in 2027.
The former Zamfara governor warned that APC will lose the Senate Presidency if it is bent on maintaining its anointed candidate for the top job.
His words, “Now, if you look at the calculation of what we have, in the Senate, it is not a magic we are thinking of, because if care is not taken, if we play the way you presented to us, it is not acceptable. The opposition may do the nomination, and they have their way, which is going to be another problem for us.
“So, Mr Chairman, we are not undermining what you are doing, but we are doing this for the sake of this party to grow, and we are doing it in the best interest of the party, because where we are talking today if we from the north take another decision, it will not be good to all of us, and it will become history, which we don’t want to happen.
Yari added, “Only if we do justice will that protect that from happening…but we should all pick our pen today and write it, which is 11th May. Anything on the contrary, Walahi (I swear) Northern Nigeria, will take another decision.”
On his part, Kalu described the zoning formula as undemocratic and unconstitutional because it puts people’s names under stress. The Senate chief whip said they were going to challenge Akpabio the nominations of Akpabio and Abbas.
According to him, “We are going to say no. I am a party man, and we have never disobeyed this party. But this is the first time that we are going to say no on the floor of the Senate. The party should go back to the drawing board and re-zone, not by name, but by zones.
“You people have done it before, and we will do what you have done in the past. So, it is better, we settle properly as 59 senators of the APC. The difference is not much. If you count three or four of us out, you are losing votes already, and we can get more from the other side and our colleagues in the party.”
•The South-East argument
Making a case for the South-East in the race for the National Assembly leadership positions, the former Abia State governor said, “Vote is not a measurement. We had a hurricane in our zone. We need one another, and not the level of votes cast. Those who did not vote for the party today can vote for the party tomorrow if they are properly aligned.
“After all, we have made progress. Before, we used to be one or two senators, but it is no longer so. This thing did not only happen in the South-East. Many people from areas where the presidential candidates came from, voted along certain lines. I appeal to you people that you must cede something very reasonable to the South-East.”
Kalu also bellowed, “What happened is that there was a presidential candidate from the South-East, and the entire people of the area decided in a certain direction because if we look at the election, it was not only in the South-East that thing happened; every part of the country had the problem of voting.”
•North-Central position
Making his presentation, Musa expressed dissatisfaction with the zoning arrangement, especially as it did not favour the North-Central, despite its huge contribution to the party’s success.
“Our geographical settings have become like institutions. You cannot give positions to individuals. I would have expected my brothers from the North-West to stand against this template and say let us toe the line we have been towing since 1999. This injustice needs to be corrected.
“This injustice, we need to correct it. We have six geopolitical zones. The president is from the South-West; we have the Vice-President for the North-East. We have the office of Senate President, Deputy Senate President, Speaker, and Deputy Speaker. It is only fair to throw this out to the other four geopolitical zones.”
•Calming the storm: Umahi
Apart from the appeal to calm from the national chairman, Adamu, Ebonyi State governor, who is now a senator-elect and an aspirant for the senate presidency, lent a voice to members-elect to the National assembly to take things easy.
Umahi pleaded for the toning down of the leadership tussle, saying the APC will resolve the issue amicably.
He assured Nigerians that the NWC of the party would resolve the presiding officers’ tussle before the June 13th date of the inauguration.
Umahi, spoke in an interview after he delivered a paper at the ongoing one-week induction programme for the newly-elected senators and House of Representatives members for the 10th National Assembly.
The programme was jointly organised by the management of the National Assembly and the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies in Abuja yesterday.
He said, “Democracy is all about resolving all emerging controversies. The position of our party has given rise to some unavoidable controversies. There is no position the party would have taken that would not attract criticism or controversies.
“I think that the party and our leadership are very capable and full of wisdom to resolve whatever might be the differences. I am very sure they are working on it.”
The Ebonyi governor added, “I have said that the baseline to reset this country is patriotism. You cannot be asked to be patriotic if you are intentionally excluded.
“The country must be seen to be one, and the leadership must sit down and take a conscious decision to do things differently.
“We have to talk to all the zones and ask them what they want. We must provoke discussion and dialogue. I believe that doing that will help us unravel whatever might be the problem of the regions. Our leadership and the three arms of government must also be able to sit down and talk.
“We must make up our minds to put Nigeria first. It is based on that, built on equity, fairness, and justice that everybody will look at this country as their own and begin to put Nigeria first knowing that they are part of the project Nigeria.”
Calling for the examination of the principle of inclusiveness, he added that there is a need for the three arms of government to sit down and “ask ourselves one common question: Do we want to reset this country? If we want to reset this country, a lot of sacrifices must be made. There must be patriotism to reset this country.”
This, he said, “has to be done so that our people can see the country first. America is great because the people see America first. The country must be reset on the platform of equity, fairness, and justice.”
Umahi also condemned the idea of discussing the ongoing presidential election petitions tribunal in the media.
He said, “I think that INEC has done a beautiful job, and I think people should stop media trials. The National Assembly should be able to look at that. Fake news is another thing because it has influenced a lot of insecurity in this country.
In his view, “Somebody will just sit down in his house and just dish out fake news. Those who have said they won the election and will prove it has not been able to do that.
“Since they are doing a media trial, you have to be able to prove it before the media. You cannot be vomiting and kissing at the same time. You expect justice from the media and also staging media trials. Which one do we follow?”
Umahi’s advice on the way out: “I think the moment elections are over, we should respect the courts. We should have confidence in our judiciary.
“We should know that as they sit in judgment over the cases, they will also be under the judgment of God, and they have done very well in this country, and we have confidence in them.
“So, let this media trial of our election stop. I have been a party chairman for five years, deputy governor for four years, and a governor for eight years.”
