Last Thursday’s free-for-all fight by members of
the All Progressives Congress (APC) caucus in
the House of Representatives was a script well
planned and executed.
Saturday Sun gathered that the groundwork
that culminated in the show of shame on the
floor of the Green Chambers started some
days before, soon after the emergence of the
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon.
Yakubu Dogara.
Recall that Dogara had emerged against the
decision and popular will of his party leaders,
who had insisted that Femi Gbajabiamila was
the anointed choice of the party to occupy the
number one seat.
Members of the House who were actively
involved in the underground work told
Saturday Sun that series of meetings had been
held, both at the APC secretariat and at
Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja in a bid to
compel the leadership of the House to accept
the official position of the party in the selection
of principal officers of the House.
Saturday Sun further gathered from lawmakers
privy to details of the meetings that the party
had insisted that Gbajabiamila be made the
majority leader of the House.
But Dogara who is bent on checkmating the
growing influence of Gbajabiamila is opposed
to his emergence as leader. His fears are borne
out of claims that Gbajabiamila might use his
position to undermine his office and eventually
stage his eventual removal from office.
“Since the election of the Speaker and his
deputy some weeks back, there have been
series of meetings and consultations between
party leaders and APC members of the House,”
a lawmaker from North-west familiar with the
details of the meetings told Saturday Sun.
Speaking further, he said: “The party had
insisted that certain persons should emerge as
principal officers of the House. But some of the
names the party insisted on did not go down
well with the Speaker, Dogara who insisted that
the offices should go round the geopolitical
zones.
“APC wanted Gbajabiamila as majority leader,
but that decision did not go down well. In the
opinion of the Speaker, Dogara, the South-west
had already produced the deputy speaker and
it was only fair that other regions should be
carried along.
“I have attended all the meetings of APC
lawmakers loyal to Gbajabiamila at the
Transcorp Hotel. They were scared that Dogara
was going to disregard the letter from APC
leaders on who to emerge as leader of the
House. So, they agreed among themselves that
proceedings at Thursday’s sitting will be
disrupted.
“So, it was well-planned, but the Speaker was in
the know all along. He knew they were going to
disrupt the proceedings. That is part of what
happened.”
Meanwhile, members of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) appear to be the main
beneficiaries of the chaos in the House. The
PDP lawmakers who have fully thrown their
weight behind Dogara are bent on maintaining
the status quo.
A PDP lawmaker from the South-south equally
explained to Saturday Sun that with the current
crisis rocking the APC caucus in the House, PDP
stands to gain more.
According to the PDP lawmaker, Dogara will
have to rely on the numerical strength of the
opposition members in order to secure his seat
which is currently under threats from angry
APC lawmakers and leaders of the party.

Source:sunnewsonline.com/new/house-of-reps-free-for-all-the-inside-story/

What do you expect from thieves