Going by its numbers, the now minority Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caucus in the House of Representatives will be a decider on how the leadership of the lower house emerges in the incoming 8th Assembly. EDEGBE ODEMWINGIE reports

For the records, in the House of Representatives, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has about 140 lawmakers, as against the All Progressives Congress (APC) with over 200 lawmakers. Monitors say a bloc vote from the PDP caucus will swing the House leadership in the direction it pleases – APC zoning notwithstanding.

The PDP caucus on Monday gave an early warning that it will ensure that leaders who will emerge are people preferred and voted by lawmakers, not the choices of ‘outsiders’.

Some candidates vying for the Speakership have already urged House members to vote on the basis of merit over zoning.

Recalling the events of the 7th Assembly, riding on a bloc opposition vote, the outgoing House Speaker, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal (Sokoto/North West) snubbed a PDP zoning arrangement which favoured the South West to emerge as speaker of the House.

Traditionally, the political party with the highest number of lawmakers produces the National Assembly leadership. Well, the PDP House caucus is challenging the tradition.

Citing Section 50 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the House Deputy Leader, Leo Ogor stated on Monday that the National Assembly leadership in the 8th Assembly is not the exclusive preserve of the majority APC.

Ogor (Delta/PDP), a returning lawmaker, said constitutionally, any political party was allowed to produce the Senate President, House Speaker, their deputies and other principal officers – minority or majority status notwithstanding.

The Deputy Leader spoke on the sidelines of the 2015 induction certificate course on legislative studies for new legislators held at the International Conference Centre (ICC), Abuja.

Section 50 (1) states: (a) a President and a Deputy President of the Senate, who shall be elected by the members of that House from among themselves; and; (b) a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, who shall be elected by the members of that House from among themselves.

The incoming 8th Assembly of the National Assembly is due to be inaugurated on June 6, 2015.

Meanwhile, Ogor said the PDP caucus in the House of Representatives has not endorsed or adopted any candidate for the Speakership position in the 8th Assembly.

“Nothing could be further from the truth” the Deputy Majority Leader, Hon. Leo Ogor told newsmen while reacting to the reported “endorsement” of one of the Speakership candidates.

It was reported by some media organisations that a leading aspirant in the Speakership race, Hon Abdulmumin Jibrin (Kano/APC), might have secured the endorsement of PDP members in the House after meeting with the PDP caucus hierarchy.

“I saw the media reports last week suggesting that the PDP caucus met and endorsed a candidate. I stand before you to say nothing of such happened. Nothing could be further from the truth. The PDP caucus is still monitoring development and no decision has been taken”.



A South South Speaker?

As the APC meets on the zoning of key leadership offices in the National Assembly, an advocacy group, the Coalition for Justice and Fairness (CJF) warned the party on the dangers of excluding the South South geo-political zone from its zoning formula – specifically the House Speakership.

With the incoming APC administration already having the president-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari from the North West and the vice president-elect, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo from the South West, CJF raised alarm over reports of the APC zoning the National Assembly leadership to the Northern and South West regions, by implication excluding the South South and South East geo-political zones.

CJF in the statement signed by its convener, Muraina Ahmed, warned that the exclusion of the zones will negate the federal character principle enunciated in section 14(3) of the Nigerian Constitution.

The statement read: “For the records, the APC as the majority party has the conventional privilege to zone the offices of Senate President, Deputy Senate President, Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.

“The knotty issue that will test APC’s abhorrence of impunity, which was one of the major reasons Nigerians voted for the party, is the zoning of the listed leadership offices in the National Assembly.

“To be fair, there are extenuating circumstances that may hamper the even spread of Legislative Offices enumerated above to all the six zones in Nigeria. For instance, the South East has no APC senator at all and has not produced any ranking APC Member of the House of Representatives. The South South has one Senator who is a fresher and does not meet the ranking criterion. But the South South has four members – elect for the House of Representatives two of whom are ranking, with one of them, Hon. Pally Iriase parading impeccable credentials and legislative leadership experience.

“This is a golden opportunity that the APC must not miss. In the spirit of fairness and adherence of federal character, the position of Speaker, House of Representatives should be zoned to the South South geo-political zone.

CJF warned that there are dangers in deliberately shutting out the South South from the Speakership of the House of Representatives.

Six APC federal lawmakers from five geo-political zones of the country are jostling for the position of Speaker, House of Representatives in the incoming eighth Assembly.

Recall that the current speaker, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, has opted out of the legislature and has been declared governor-elect of his home state, Sokoto.

The six federal lawmakers vying for the house speakership position are: Abdulmumin Jibrin from Kano (North West), Yakubu Dogara from Bauchi (North East), Femi Gbajabiamila from Lagos (South West), Mohammed Monguno from Borno (North East), Pally Iriase from Edo State (South South) and Israel Ajibola Famurewa from Osun State (South West).

temitemi1:
Someone should please tell tinubu that this is not lagos,osun,oyo or ogun where is selfish intrests is always the best for his LAKEYs(the governors), This is FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA where nobody give a damn abt what his intrests are
GOD BLESS NIGERIA!
GOD PUNISH MY HERO(GEJ)
GOD PUNISH my ROLE MODEL(FAYOSE)
GOD PUNISH TEMITEMI1
GOD PUNISH MY ENGLISH TUTORS.

temitemi1:
Someone should please tell tinubu that this is not lagos,osun,oyo or ogun where is selfish intrests is always the best for his LAKEYs(the governors), This is FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA where nobody give a damn abt what his intrests are
GOD BLESS NIGERIA!
GOD BLESS MY HERO(GEJ)
GOD BLESS my ROLE MODEL(FAYOSE)
GOD BLESS TEMITEMI1.

Ogor (Delta/PDP), a returning lawmaker, said
constitutionally, any political party was allowed to
produce the Senate President, House Speaker,
their deputies and other principal officers –minority or majority status notwithstanding.

ijustdey:



PDP trying to prove law....
during their own reign did they allow any opposition to aspire for lofty political relevance which they are now claiming now

temitemi1:
Someone should please tell tinubu that this is not lagos,osun,oyo or ogun where is selfish intrests is always the best for his LAKEYs(the governors), This is FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA where nobody give a damn abt what his intrests are
GOD BLESS NIGERIA!
GOD BLESS MY HERO(GEJ)
GOD BLESS my ROLE MODEL(FAYOSE)
GOD BLESS TEMITEMI1.

Goke7:


don't mind the pdp, they are trying to get relevance by their usual bragging since Jona is still in aso rock, they forget that the dynamics will change from may 29, that 140 they have in the house of representatives will reduce in a few months time.

the Pdp has shown that majority of their politicians don't really have that staying power especially with the way they've been frolicking with the General after March 28. Time will tell

ECOTERRORS:
Tinubu will fail with all these is permutation, PDP will determine wHo the speaker of the house will be with their bloc votes and also to get back @ APC with their Tambuwal debacle

ionsman:
Now that the tide has turned against pdp,thats when they know the majority party musnt lead the national Assembly. That party is damn funny.

TeamSimple:
All I know is that the speaker will be an APC member in the house.

ECOTERRORS:
Tinubu will fail with all these is permutation, PDP will determine wHo the speaker of the house will be with their bloc votes and also to get back @ APC with their Tambuwal debacle