Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa on Monday met with one of the All Progressives Congress senators, Ali Ndume, contesting the Senate Presidency of the ninth National Assembly.
Although the agenda of the meeting was unknown to State House correspondents, Ndume denied that he entered an alliance with the Peoples Democratic Party to help him clinch the seat.
Leading the agitation on Monday in an interview with journalists was the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, who said history since 1999 had shown that any candidate endorsed by political parties as presiding officer, was usually rejected by lawmakers. “I am not here to dictate to parties. They have their manifestos and they know how to conduct their business. It is always better for the leadership of the legislature to emerge from members but where leadership has been forced on the people, it doesn’t usually endure.
Also, a former governor of Benue State, who is a senator-elect, Gabriel Suswam, wondered why the ruling APC failed to learn from history and desist from imposing candidates on the National Assembly. “There may be surprises even within the APC because there are lots of resistance. We are talking to a lot of them. They are just keeping quiet but what will happen on the floor will be different because we are going to vote on that day.
“The same thing is affecting Femi Gbajabiamila, who has been in the House for a long time. He is a very experienced lawmaker who will make a very good speaker but the fact that members believe that he is the party’s choice will lead to resistance. “I cannot contest against such candidate because I would not want to disobey my party. However, what I am saying is that they should zone the Deputy Senate President position to the South-East so that I will not disobey the party by contesting the office of the Senate president which I have the capacity to contest.
She said, “We have been told that voting on that day would be by secret ballot and the exercise would be properly conducted. Every senator has the right to contest any position so far they are qualified. In the eighth National Assembly, the two parties are represented. The APC produced the Senate president while the position of the DSP was won by the PDP.
“The National Assembly is supposed to be an independent arm of government, meant to check the executive. So, if the party is now giving us somebody that will be a rubber stamp, it means that whatever the executive brings will just be passed like that.
A member of Gbajabiamila’s camp in the House told one of our correspondents that the plot by the opposition to cause conflicts in the APC caucus had been uncovered, leading to a counter-move by the speakership aspirant. “But not all the APC members will work for Gbajabiamila and not all the PDP lawmakers will work against him. Gbajabiamila is also poaching members of the opposition and he seems to be the aspirant with the biggest offer and most massive moves for now. This is because he seems to have a clear picture of where he is going, unlike other aspirants who are still waiting for the party’s zoning formula.
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