President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has reportedly waded into the tussle for the leadership of the 10th National Assembly (NASS), making his position known ahead of the inauguration of the assembly scheduled to hold on June 13, 2023.
The newly sworn-in President is said to have instructed the incumbent President of the Nigerian Senate, Sen. Ahmad Lawan, and the Speaker, House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, to ensure that double nominations were avoided in both chambers on the inauguration day.
It was gathered that Tinubu made his position known at the Presidential Villa on Thursday night, just as the Presiding Officers were said to have told the President that there was no way a zoning arrangement which excludes the North-Central and gives two slots to the North-West would stand.
CityNews reports that Tinubu had met earlier with the duo of Lawan and Gbajabiamila at the Presidential Villa on Thursday.
Their meeting was coming after the All Progressives Congress (APC) had announced the endorsement of Senator Godswill Akpabio and three others for the topmost positions in the National Assembly. Akpabio from South-South was endorsed for Senate President, Senator Jibrin Barau from North-West for Deputy Senate President, Honourable Tajudeen Abass, North-West for Speaker, House of Representatives and Hon. Benjamin Kalu, South-East for Deputy Speaker.
However, there were disagreements with the endorsement, especially by some members of the party and especially those aspiring for the positions of Presiding Officers in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Consequently, the Senate Whip and a former Governor of Abia State, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, a former Governor of Zamfara State, Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari, and Senator Osita Izunaso, among others, have continually kicked against the decision of the party while vowing to contest against the Akpabio/Barau ticket on Inauguration Day.
According to Vanguard, analysts, who spoke on the NASS tussle during the weekend, interpreted Tinubu’s directive to Lawan and Gbajabiamila to mean that the President believed that this was the only way the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) could win all relevant Principal Officers’ positions in the incoming National Assembly.
Tinubu reportedly decided to wade into the matter to find an amicable solution to the issue, which was already creating tension among senators-elect following complaints about the zoning arrangement of the two chambers of the National Assembly.
“The President has given the duo of Senate President and Speaker a specific assignment to resolve the crisis created by the zoning of Presiding Officers’ positions announced by the All Progressives Congress leadership last month.
“The President wanted to avoid all forms of distractions and ill feelings among members-elect of the 10th National Assembly so that he could concentrate on the onerous task of providing good governance,” the publication quoted a source.
The source added that Tinubu is currently tackling the issue of dwindling revenue, poor infrastructure and epileptic power supply, among others, and he needed to concentrate on putting his team together.
“As we are all aware, the National Assembly is very critical. Since the APC has the highest number of members in both chambers, it was the President’s opinion that the leadership must not be imposed,” the source added.
CityNews also learnt that Lawan and Gbajabiamila had asked all aspirants for Senate President and Speaker to put their houses to avoid rancour on the day of inauguration.
Meanwhile, the Akpabio/Barau Stability Group had met at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja on Thursday night for several hours. Also, the Senate Democratic Caucus, which parades Yari, Kalu, Izunaso and others as members, met at Destination Hotel in Wuse 2, Abuja.
A source at the Akpabio/Barau’s Stability Group meeting explained that most of the invited senators-elect failed to turn up.
The source said, “Invitations were sent out to all senators-elect by the Stability Group for the meeting, which was called by a prominent senator from the South-West but many of those invited did not turn up.
“It got to a point that some elders of the party like Aremo Olusegun Osoba and Abu Ibrahim were invited to the closed-door meeting, which had about 21 senators-elect in attendance.”
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