House leadership: S’East Reps grumble over exclusion

THE two All Progressives Congress members of the House of Representatives from the South-East geopolitical zone on Tuesday grumbled over their alleged exclusion from the House leadership positions by the party caucus.

The South-East Reps rejected the argument that they were first-timers hence not qualified to hold principal office in the lower federal chamber.

They argued that the Senate Minority Leader, ex-Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio, was also a fresh member of the upper chamber.

One of the South-East Reps, Chuka Okafor, who had been initially nominated by the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, at the height of the leadership crisis in the House to serve as the Deputy Whip spoke on Thursday on behalf of the zone.

Okafor said, “You may recall that the South-East APC had nominated me for the post of deputy majority whip, a nomination that was duly accepted by the presiding officers of the House.

“As you already know, the final position is that the South-East is the only zone that is excluded from the leadership caucus, while one zone has two plum positions.

“On principle, I accept the outcome of that session in good faith and sincerely congratulate the new leadership of the House as presently constituted.”

He urged the national leadership of the party to stop placing the South-East on the fringes in the scheme of things, adding that as far as the Nigerian project was concerned, every region must count, if things are to go right.

He said, “If indeed our ideology of leadership involves, even in the minutest way, the integration of every section of our country, Nigeria, then our pontificating on Federal Character should go beyond lip service and rhetoric to practical embrace of every section of the country in the spirit of the change which we have promised.

“A number of persons hold the erroneous view that the APC did not have a good outing in the South-East but every sincere Nigerian that understands the politics of the region can attest to the fact that the party in the South-East fought against stupendous odds and the statistics are there to prove it. It is needless to mention that the region has been a stronghold of the PDP since 1999. In the last election, PDP in the South-East states merely managed a paltry average that was less than half a million votes due to the efforts of APC faithful in the region.

“In that election, APC in the South-East exhibited the highest level of courage, doggedness and fierce loyalty to the party; in most cases to the point of risking their lives.”

The complaint from the South-East lawmakers came even as Dogara and his erstwhile “enemy”, now the Majority Leader, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, said at the end of the APC caucus meeting midnight Wednesday that the leadership crisis in the party had been “buried for good.”

Dogara and Gbajabiamila had emerged from the APC caucus meeting smiling and holding hands.

The meeting, which was called by Gbajabiamila, was the first after the speaker conceded to the Lagos lawmaker’s nomination by the leadership of the party as the House leader on Tuesday.

“The closed-door meeting was attended by all members of the now collapsed factions in the House. It was to discuss as one family and strengthen the party as the majority party”, one member told The PUNCH on Thursday.

“You can see that all is now well. We are a family and we are better now,” Dogara also said.

On his part, Gbajabiamila, who was full of smiles, admitted that “APC has come out of the crisis, better and stronger.”

Facts however emerged on Thursday on how the warring factions resolved the leadership crisis in a last-minute decision to avoid going for caucus elections.

“As a matter of fact, what actually happened was that the members outsmarted the leadership of the APC by resolving the dispute internally among themselves as against going for elections,” a National Assembly official told our correspondent in Abuja.

Investigations showed that after the meeting President Muhammadu Buhari held with factions led by Dogara, and Gbajabiamila on Monday, they still held other rounds of meetings with the Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.

“Among the decisions taken was that either the members resolved the crisis amicably or the party would come in to conduct a caucus election for the principal officers to emerge.

“The original zoning of the leadership offices as recommended by the APC was retained for the purpose of the election,” the source, who spoke to our correspondent in confidence, added.

It was learnt that the only difference was that the party directed that the names of the candidates earlier recommended as leaders should be dropped from the list.

“But, the zoning plan remained the same: South-West to produce the Majority Leader; North-West to take Deputy Leader; North-East to bring the Chief Whip; and the South-South to produce the Deputy Whip”, another senior lawmaker informed The PUNCH.

Our correspondent learnt that the caucus elections would have started on Tuesday had the factions not met to resolve the dispute.

Findings showed that both camps reportedly became jittery, as neither was sure of what would have become the outcome of the zonal caucus elections.

For example, members of the Dogara faction were said to have observed that if an election was conducted in the South-West caucus for the position of majority leader, it was unlikely that any other contestant would have defeated Gbajabiamila.

“Similar anxiety was expressed in the Gbajabiamila group, which was also not sure of what would have happened in the divided North-West caucus, where Alhassan Ado-Doguwa would probably contest the seat of deputy leader,” one APC member from Kano State also said.

Both factions were therefore said to have looked at the “overall implications” of caucus elections, which could possibly result in one of them losing out in all the four positions.

This realisation reportedly forced the camps to adopt the formula of sharing the four principal positions “in a way that catered for the interests of both sides.”

Dogara later announced the positions around 3.19pm on Tuesday, making the option of elections unnecessary.

He named Femi Gbajabiamila (South-West) as majority leader; Buba Jibrin (North-Central), as the deputy leader; and Ado-Doguwa (North-West ) as the chief whip.

The post of deputy whip, said to have been promised the South-East by Dogara, went to Pally Iriase (South-South).

When contacted for comments, the Chairman, House Ad hoc Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Sani Zoro, told The PUNCH that Tuesday’s naming of the principal officers was a reflection of the caucus decision.

“Yes, the caucuses indeed held; there were caucuses,” Zoro stated.

But, a text message circulated to lawmakers some hours to the naming of the principal officers indicated that there would have been caucus elections between Tuesday and Wednesday (a day after).

The message read, “The resolution reached by both parties tonight at the national chairman’s house at about 12:11am is that the party’s letter stands.

“However, names earlier attached to the letter would be removed. While members at the zonal caucus level would elect their various leaders.

“Present zoning: House Leader – South West; Deputy House Leader – North-West; Chief Whip – North-East; Deputy House Whip – South-South.

“The zonal caucuses’ election would be conducted by the party between today and tomorrow. The party is likely to brief the press today (Tuesday).

“Should the Dogara camp do anything contrary to this latest agreement on the floor this morning it would be strange and amount to an affront to our collective interest, including that of the President.”