The House of Representatives leadership tussle is far
from over despite the intervention of the committee headed by former Speaker
and Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal on the mandate of All Progressives
Congress leadership.
Speaker Yakubu Dogara’s group had announced the
concession of the Majority Leader to the Femi Gbajabiamila group.
It however stated that the position must not go to
Southwest and Northeast because the two zones had already produced the Speaker
and Deputy Speaker.
Speaking for Dogara’s faction, Abdulmumin Jibrin said the group’s insistence on
having all zones fill the six top positions in the House was in the interest of
peace and unity of Nigeria.
Jibrin said: “We went to the meeting and you have always
known our position, we believe that we did not go against any provisions of the
laws of the party or the provisions of the constitution of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria electing the speaker or his deputy.
“We also believe that there should be a level playing
ground for everyone in terms of the occupation of the remaining offices of
principal officers- that has always been our position.
“But after a very lengthy meeting with His Excellency,
the immediate past speaker, governor of Sokoto State, we were able to make a
far-reaching concession and this is to allow for peace to reign in the House.
“Three things we agreed, one, we maintain the position that we do not recognise
the letter written by the party in quotes and I give you reasons.
“We have utmost respect for the chairman of the party,
but that letter did not pass through the relevant organs of the party.
“It was neither approved by the National Working
Committee, the National Executive Council, not even the caucus was consulted
and it was a product of one or two governors and, of course, the National
Chairman.
“Let me maintain the fact that we respect the national
chairman and we will only respect a letter through legal organs of the party.
Our position is that we do not recognise the existence of such letter.
“Secondly, the principal officers of the House must be in
tandem with principle of equity and Federal Character as prescribed by the
constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
He affirmed that the six positions – Speaker, Deputy
Speaker, House Leader, Deputy House Leader, Whip and Deputy Whip – must go to
the six geo-political zones to reflect the principle of equity and fairness.
“And to that end after the deliberation, we have agreed
to concede the position of the House leader to Gbajabiamila’s group and we took
this decision, bearing in mind that we need peace in this House and we want to
get down to work.”
“We expect the Femi group to accept this concession so
that we can be able to move forward.
“In the event that they do not accept, we also provided
that it should be left for us to choose principal officers of the House in line
with the standing rules of the House, so we have to come back and hold an
election.
“The entire APC members would hold an election to elect
the House leaders. If someone says he has 174 members, fine let’s hold an
election and see if he actually has that majority he claims. Let’s hold
election in line of the standing rules of the House and that is our position,”
he said.
But the Gbajabiamila group, under the name “APC Loyalist
Group, House of Representatives”, has insisted that the position of its rival
group would not stand.
A press statement signed by Hon. Rufai Chachangi for “APC
Loyalist Group, House of Representatives,” said they had no agreement with any
group yet.
The statement reads: “We the 174 APC Loyalists group of
the House are aware that there was a private discussion between Governor Aminu
Tambuwal and President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday evening at the State House .
Also aware that Gov. Tambuwal briefed the press that there would be a meeting
between him and Speaker Dogara’s group same day.
“To the best of our knowledge, no counter-offer has been
made to the APC Loyalists group after her first meeting with Tambuwal peace
committee wherein the APC Loyalists clearly stated that in line with party
supremacy resolution reached at last APC NEC meeting, the position of the party
on Femi Gbajabiamila as the House Leader is non-negotiable.
“We understand that the Dogara group is now playing the
zoning card after same group had hitherto before the speakership election of
June 9th, 2015 rejected the zoning formula of the party prior to the mock
election. Interestingly the six geopolitical zones in the country are not
recognised by the constitution . But if they wish to play the zoning card then
the Senate and House cannot be headed by the North.
“For avoidance of doubt, the issue of Southeast being
denied a principal officer’s seat in the House is hogwash. We have respect for
people of South East but we cannot hold brief for a zone that produced only two
‘new’ APC members.
“The issue of exclusion of Southeast does not exist,
rather they are not qualified to be principal officers of the House. For
emphasis and clarity, the provision of standing rules of the House, Order 7
Rule 37 states that ‘only members with cognate legislative experience as
members of the National Assembly shall be eligible for appointment as principal
officers.”
“We are also surprised that a group led by Speaker
Dogara, who is a lawyer, is talking about a court action, presumably instigated
by him based on federal character, when a fresh Law School graduate knows that
the issue of federal character as enshrined in S.14 of the constitution is non
justiciable and of no legal consequence.
“In playing his mediatory role , the former House
Speaker, Governor Tambuwal agreed to take our position to Dogara group for
consideration and convene a joint meeting of both groups, which is yet to be
convened as at Wednesday evening.
“So, any purported decision reeled out to the public in
the name of the National Assembly peace pact before such joint meeting is
lopsided and not acceptable to the APC Loyalists group.
“However, as a group that wants peace and quick solution
to the logjam in the House, the APC loyalists group would equally subscribe to
an election among entire members of the APC House Caucus where all members,
irrespective of zones would exercise their right to elect their principal
officers.”
The House through a member of the House adhoc committee
on media and Publicity, Abdulrazak Namdas, has also reacted to outcome of the
Tambuwal meeting.
Namdas said: “For us, the position of the party has to go
through certain law, certain process: the party caucus in the House would be
involved; we believe that the caucus here in the House should be aware of the
position of the party.
“As far as the House is concerned, the party did not
approach anybody or zonal caucuses to say these are the names selected from the
party. We are not aware of that.
“Two, we also know for a party to take a position, to be
regarded as the party’s position, it has to go to the National Working
Committee (NWC).
“The NWC must have met and agreed on the position, but it
appears some members of the Working Committee are not even aware of this
position.
“Again, even if the National Working Committee agrees to
it, it has to be ratified by the NEC and the Speaker, Deputy Speaker are also
members of NEC.
“There has never been any time that this issue was
brought. But in any case, the first NEC meeting that was held, this matter was
not brought. So, that means clearly it is not the party’s position.
“We respect the party very well; we always obey the
party. We would prefer that anything party should follow due process and it
would be obvious that it is the party’s position.
“We believe also that the party that took this decision
will also not alienate two good zones from the sharing of the leadership.”
Dailypost
0 comments:
Post a Comment