Twenty days to the inauguration of the
new government of All Progressives
Congress, APC, there is still no sign that
the party has reached a compromise on
which geopolitical zone of the country
that will produce the next Speaker of the
House of Representatives.
Instead, the matter has so rattled the
party that two different committees have
emerged to broker a ruse amongst zones
and forces contending for the position.
It has also thrown up at least two zones
and two candidates who are now on a hot
race for the position.
They are north east and the south west
zones. While Hon. Yakubu Dogara from
Bauchi State jostles from the north east,
the south west through the National
leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is
insisting on the candidacy of the outgoing
minority leader of the House, Hon. Femi
Gbajabiamila from Lagos State.
It will be recalled that the party had on
May 22 at the Party’s leadership meeting
in Abuja appointed a two man committee
comprising the president-elect, General
Mohammadu Buhari and the National
Chairman of the Party, Chief John Oyegun
to resolve the issue when it became
obvious that the two zones were at each
other’s throat for the office.
But the Buhari/Oyegun committee has
not met and if it had, the outcome of the
meeting is yet to be made public. But an
authentic party source who also shares an
affinity with the House of Representatives
confided in Saturday Vanguard yesterday
that the committee’s willingness to meet
for the purpose was poor.
According to him, the president-elect may
have since taken a position on the matter
which is that the incoming members of
the National Assembly should be given
the liberty to choose who become their
leader without external interferences.
APC yet to formerly zone the slot
The issue of zoning offices in APC has a
faint recognition and may even be
jettisoned. This is even why another
member of the House, Hon. Abdulmumini
Jubril from Kano State recorded first in
launching his interest before any other
person.
But his interest could not fly die to the
simple reason that he came from the
same zone with the president-elect even
though he is subtly pushing.
As at yesterday, the party has not
officially ceded the slot to any zone and
most people believe that is the
springboard of the clash of interest
currently going on in the party.
With this, the race has almost assumed
the dimension of “do-or-die” affair
between Dogara and Gbajabiamila who
have intensified lobbying among the APC
and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP’s
members in the Green Chamber of the
National Assembly.
A source also told Saturday Vanguard that
Tinubu, Gbajabiamila’s backbone is leaving
no stone unturned to ensure that the
south west emerges victorious in the
contest.
APC Governors-elect float a peace
committee
Meanwhile, to broker a ruse in the
imbroglio surrounding the speakership,
the newly-elected governors of APC last
week set up a 5-man Committee.
Saturday Vanguard gathered that the
Committee which was obviously a
voluntary one was however parallel to
Buhari/Oyegun Committee.
The incoming Governor of Kaduna State,
Nasir El-rufai is the Head of the
committee with the outgoing House of
Representatives Speaker and Governor-
elect of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal
and the Governor-elect of Plateau State,
Mr. Simon Lalong as members.
Though, the mandate of the committee
was not specifically mentioned as to
whether it would take sides with either of
the candidates, it was learnt that its
objective was not however unconnected
with finding a middle ground so that the
looming crisis in the party would be
nibbed in the bud.
But unfortunately, the committee’s first
outing which took place last week
Tuesday, Saturday Vanguard gathered
ended in deadlock.
It was not ascertained whether they met
again this week but expectations are high
that the Committee would meet next
week.
Dogara’s support base gathers
momentum with 286 members on the
queue
Meanwhile, while, the intrigues
intensified last week, Saturday Vanguard
gathered that Dogara’s support base
witnessed a rise.
At the moment, 143 members from both
APC and PDP have pencilled down their
names in support of Dogara. Bulk of the
members came from the PDP’s 139
figure.
It was learnt that irrespective of any
apparent future pressure, the people
have sworn to swim and sink with him.
In addition to this number, Saturday
Vanguard source hinted that the camp is
also playing a smart game, using the
members to bring more to the camp.
To this end, each person among the 143
persons has the mandate of bringing at
least one more person.
Should this strategy pay off, it means that
the Bauchi State born parliamentarian
could becoasting home with 286 votes
out of 360 votes of the House’s numerical
strength. But nobody is sure.
“If the permutations work out and
members return to camp with at least
one more member, it then becomes
obvious that Dogara has already won
Gbaja”, the source said in confidence.
Gbajabiamila seriously networking
Even with Dogara’s game plan, Saturday
Vanguard also gathered that his
opponent, Gbajabiamila is not relenting.
He is seriously reaching out to both
camps as well.
Sources from the national assembly said
he wasn’t doing badly in his strategies but
according to them, it would be a fierce
battle between them.
It was further learnt that no one was had
any serious qualms with his candidacy but
those behind him.
“Gbaja may be a better candidate but the
fear that he may be subservient to one
person is a very serious factor many
people are considering. He may have the
support of the south west lawmakers but
I can guarantee him the votes of most
PDP members. Anyway, this depends on
future developments,” a source said.

www.vanguardngr.com/2015/05/house-speakership-tinubus-candidate-faces-fierce-battle-with-dogara/

Tell tinubu this is not lagos,osun,oyo or ogun where his selfish intrests is always paramount to his LACKEYS( governors). This is FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA where no one give a DAMN abt what his intrests are! GEJ my HERO! FAYOSE my ROLE MODEL!!





TWACI 4 MISS NAIRALAND!

BUHARI my HERO!
AMEACHI my ROLE MODEL!!
FASHOLA my GUY!!!

God bless Nairaland.

Dogara, Gbajabiamila or Abdulmumin,It will still be an APC controlled HOR, which is the main point.