Before its inauguration, members-elect of the 10th National Assembly are up in arms over Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s inordinate desire to be the president and the defacto Head of the two legislative chambers which is brewing crisis in the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC
By Miracle Egbo
Since the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC zoned some of the principal offices of the 10th National Assembly, members of the party have been up in arms to either disassociate themselves from such zoning or embrace such. According to some of the aggrieved members of the party in this regard, the National Working Committee of the ruling party failed to consult all the stakeholders before going public to announce the zoning arrangement, insisting that such decision would greatly impugn the cohesion of the party as it goes to the floor of the National Assembly to join other political parties to elect the next principal officers of the National Assembly.
The zoning formula expounded by the APC in the 10th National Assembly has thrown up many characters who want to occupy some of the principal offices latching on the zoning formula of the ruling party. For instance, Senator-elect Godswill Akpabio whose former tenure in the public office is shrouded in alleged financial infractions has been anointed allegedly by the president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The choice of Akpabio by Tinubu had prompted the party’s leadership to issue a statement announcing the former Akwa Ibom State governor as the party’s consensus candidate for the Senate Presidency. The recent case in sight is his tenure as the Minister of Niger-Delta Affairs. His tenure was said to have thrown the Ministry into cesspit of corruption as evidenced by the narratives oozing out of the ministry, though allegedly. Since that controversial endorsement of his party as Senate President designate for the 10th National Assembly, Akpabio has been visiting all shades of politicians soliciting for support, insisting that his tenure as Senate President would impact positively on the generality of the polity. Information at the disposal of this medium revealed that the ambition of Akpabio is threatened by even some of the members of his party let alone members of the opposition parties who described him as unreliable.
Akpabio’s proposed Deputy in the arrangement of the ruling party, Senator Barau from Kaduna State in the North West region is not finding it an easy sail from the region where he comes from. His zone is not happy with the zoning arrangement, insisting that it is their turn to produce the Senate President, and cannot settle for anything less than that. The zone has thrown up Senator Abdilaziz Yari, a serving Senator and former governor of Zamfara State. Yari is said to be having a swelling support from his kiths and kin from his zone thereby putting a spanner in the works of the team of those who are propping up the candidacy of Akpabio for the position of Senate President. Even the zone where Akpabio comes from is not comfortable with the whole arrangement of enthroning of Akpabio as the Senate President because of the alleged baggage.
One zone in the calculation that felt abandoned in the whole scheme is the South East zone. Some of the ruling party’s members from the zone are miffed that they are being excluded in the scheme of things in the incoming administration. For instance, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu said that he is not going to go by the arrangement of his party in who becomes what in the 10th National Assembly. Kalu had since thrown his hart in the ring to contest for the presidency of the 10th Senate, citing justice and inclusiveness as the reasons he should be given chance to lead the incoming National Assembly. Sources have it that Kalu has gone far in mobilising his colleagues both in his party and across party divides to support his bid to become the next Senate President. It is said that he is deploying moral persuasion and political inclusiveness to persuade whoever cares to support his ambition. Kalu, according to National Assembly sources, is insisting that he might spring a surprise at the floor of the Senate just like the way Bukola Saraki did in 2015 in collaboration with the opposition party then, People’s Democratic Party, PDP.
One contestant in the Senate Presidency race who has been touted as the dark horse in the race is Senator Osita Izunazo. In most political circles Izunaso is not seen as the Trojan horse but the dark horse who might grab the post at the end of the day. Information at the disposal of Tentacle indicates that Izunaso is currently enjoying the support of the President-elect, Tinubu as well as Senators from opposition parties. Izunaso in one of the interview he granted said that he is one of the most qualified to vie for the position of the incoming Senate President because he has been a loyal party man for a very long time. According to him, some of the contestants are not originally members of the ruling party; they only joined party when the going became smooth. He said that South East region deserves Senate President in the forthcoming 10th National Assembly. According to an informed source, the governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has been largely responsible for the funding of Izunaso’s ambition, and it was further gathered that the governor is doing so at the behest of the president-elect.
In the House of Representatives, it is the same story, as the ruling party has endorsed Honourables Tajudeen Abass and Benjamin Kalu for the positions of Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively. That decision has created bad blood among members of the party from other zones. The North Central region has been vocal in saying that it has been shortchanged in the whole arrangement, adding that it is their turn to produce the Speaker of the 10th House of Representatives.
Ugochinyere Ikenga, the spokesperson of Coalition of United Political Parties, CUPP and the House of Representatives member-elect has thrown his weight behind Abass and Kalu in the race, claiming that 62 members of the House of Representatives have endorsed the duo. Some political analysts averred that if the push of the CUPP spokesperson sails through, it is going to put paid to the bid of the South East to produce the Senate President in the forthcoming National Assembly. Although some of the elected members of the House from other opposition parties have said that Ugochinyere should strive to speak for himself instead of speaking for the elected 62 members who, according to them were not properly consulted in the matter of who becomes the Speaker.
The coming election in June to determine who takes what in the 10th National Assembly as it affects the principal offices that are now vacant is going to be a hotly contested election. The candidate with popular appeal is likely going to win on the floor of the House because the influence of the ruling party might not save any candidate that the party throws up.
