[size=13pt]MPs bow to PDP, accept Mulikat[/size]



Members of the House of Representatives at the weekend caved in to pressure from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and withdrew their opposition to the appointment of Rep Mulikat Adeola-Akande as the new House Leader, Daily Trust gathered in Abuja yesterday.
The MPs had earlier rejected Mulikat as House Leader after they accused the Presidency and PDP of forcing her on them in a “move to check” Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal who was elected Speaker on June 6 in defiance of the party’s zoning formula.
Mrs. Akande, who hails from Oyo State, was PDP’s preferred candidate for the Speakership but lost to Tambuwal when the lower legislative chamber was inaugurated on June 6.

The lawmakers made a u-turn after intense pleading by Tambuwal and his deputy Emeka Ihedioha who “spent the whole of last week pleading with their colleagues and making them see reason in accepting Mulikat as House leader,” a source said.

Shortly after their election, Tambuwal and Ihedioha went to the PDP’s Wadata Plaza and apologised to the party’s National Working Committee (NWC), during which the PDP chieftains asked them to allow it re-zone the other Principal officers’ positions and subsequently re-zoned the Hose Leader to the South-west geo-political zone and endorsed Mulikat but the legislators kicked against it and insisted on giving it to Rep Muraino Ajibola (PDP, Oyo), who was also a front runner in the Speakership election before he was forced to withdraw by his political god-father, former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

On Tuesday last week, the Speaker announced the composition of all House Principal Officers except the House Leader which he said “we are still discussing and dialoguing and will be formalized in due course.” A member who does not want his name in print said, “The Speaker pleaded with us and made us understand that his truce with the Presidency and PDP will be jeopardised if Mulikat is not accepted.”

Tambuwal, according sources has been meeting with his colleagues at the weekend and Mulikat herself was said to have reached out to them and pleaded with them to accept her. “Before, she thought it is the Presidency that will make her House Leader, since she has their backing, but she has humbled herself and we are all colleagues and we have nothing against her person,” a member said.

The source said barring any last minute change, Tambuwal will announce Mulikat as House Leader tomorrow (Tuesday). The Speaker is then expected to move quickly afterwards to constitute the 84 House standing committees.

http://www.dailytrust.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=23307:mps-bow-to-pdp-accept-mulikat&catid=2:lead-stories&Itemid=8