On the forthcoming National Assembly, the APC will produce the new principal officers, having become the majority party after the March 28 elections. However, the party has been unable to agree on what zones to delegate the principal offices of the Senate and House of Representatives to and the ongoing impasse remains unresolved with just over two weeks to go.
What has hampered the APC more than anything else was its poor showing in the southeast geo-political zone. Originally, the party had wanted to zone the senate presidency to the southeast but all the 15 senators from the zone are from the PDP and in the House of Representatives, the APC only has two new members from Imo State.
With the matter unresolved, heated negotiations are ongoing with several zones all laying claim to the senate presidency and speakership. Already the northeast and north central geo-political zones are involved in a bitter fight over who should become the next senate president and the row threatens to allow the PDP exploit APC divisions and get one of its members elected.
Now, the spat has spread to the House of Representatives where the PDP caucus has said it will back Hon Yakubu Dogara from Bauchi State as the next speaker. Hon Samson Okwu, representing Oju/Obi federal constituency in Benue State, who spoke on behalf of returning PDP members, said members were more disposed to working with a speaker that will have a general appeal than someone who would likely be subservient to a godfather.
He also stressed that although members were elected on different political party platforms, what was of utmost importance to them as federal parliamentarians was the overall interest of the country. Hon Okwu said: “We are about 142 members out of 360 and as a minority, we are going to determine the leadership of the House of Representatives, especially the speaker.
“We are determined to do that and we want to do it in such a way that we will choose leaders that will have support across party lines and will also look out for the interest of the country and members. It is no longer about APC or PDP it is about the House of Representatives and by the time the eighth house is inaugurated, we are going to elect a speaker of our choice.
“Let no one make a mistake, the house has a precedence and a scenario that happened in 1999. When the PDP wanted Salisu Buhari to become the speaker but he did not last because he was not the choice of the members. This same scenario played itself in 2003 as the party wanted Matazu but the members did not want him and then elected Aminu Bello Masari as speaker and a similar thing happened in 2007 when Patricia Etteh was imposed on members."
Hon Okwu pointed out that since 1999, the House of Representatives always finds a way of getting rid of a speaker if it does not like if such a person is imposed upon it. He warned the APC not to make the same mistake as the PDP by insisting members must elect its candidate.
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